The shadows formed by the dense canopy of trees and vines had worked with Sari's pitch black fur to her advantage in evading larger, land-bound predators.  Now and again she leaned down by the winding stream she followed to pick a few berries or sip water from cupped hands, her tall vixen ears alertly listening to her surroundings. She was about to take another drink when her left ear swiveled to the side. It was a muffled bang, like a distant firecracker. She was surprised at the clarity of the sound until it occured to her she did not hear anything else in the area - not birdsong, not even the chirp of crickets or cicadas. Rising from her crouch, she climbed up the bank and struck out in the direction of the noise.<br/><br/>Sari was at once both explorer and merchant, searching out and selling artifacts and abandoned remnants of the advanced civilization that once flurished to the south. She was still a good two days hike from her usual searching ground, but she had no particular timetable and it was possible, if unlikely, that the bang might represent a stash of undiscovered 'tek-no-log-ee' ripe for the scavaging.<br/><br/>Brushing the bangs of her long, snow white headfur behind her perked ears, her scarlet eyes carefully searched the forest around her. Just then, she saw it - a structure. The vague, angular geometry long overgrown by the forest, was nevertheless unmistakeable. Cautiously, she began to circle around the building, navigating fallen limbs and hanging vines as she attempted to judge its dimensions. Before she managed to make a complete circle, she spied an opening. Sheltered by a canopy from the forest that otherwise enveloped it, was a door. It was open only a niche, but somehow it appeared greatly inviting to the ebony vixen. Crouching low, she watched the niche carefully for signs of occupancy.<br/><br/>Her tail swished energetically and her reddish eyes squinted in determination as she screwed up her courage to enter, but just before she poked her nose out of the treeline, she stopped and swiveled her ears. Others were approaching. She obviously was not the only one to hear the sound. Her heart skipped with a wave of paranoia as she considered the possibility that she was also not the first to arrive. Her neckfur bristled. Turning away, she crept back into the cover of the forest.