Akenna stood on the very edge of the sheer cliff where the jungle abruptly met the sky. She could hear the ebb and flow of the waves crashing against the craggy shore below. The light was fading over the horizon of the sea, and the wind whispered through her hair, causing it to fly around her face and shoulders as she gazed through the hazy mist that surrounded the isle. She shifted her eyes to the black-eared fox who rested at her side, his head cocked to the side as he mimicked her. She had missed times like this, a brisk sprint through the jungle with Phalyn on her heels as they leapt over the massive roots of the trees and breezed through the dew-heavy flora of the jungle.

Instead of peace she used to feel in these moments, they were now tinged with a new feeling, a feeling of anger at the injustice her new home had endured at the hands of the Flock. She had fought against it, but no matter how hard she fought, it never seemed to end. Her mind had drifted to these thoughts and feelings of helplessness as she looked out on the vast stretch of ocean before her.

“So, what will you do?” a soft voice said in a steely inquiry.

The question had startled her. She turned her head to find the source of the voice but found nothing and no one to answer. She shook her head and snickered softly, as she looked down at the fox.

“I think I’m hearing things.” She said to him; he barked at her as if in reply before his tongue wagged out of the side of his slender jaw.

Again, the voice came, sharper this time in its questioning, “What will you do?”

Akenna frowned as she turned in a circle and slowly replied. “What do you care, whoever you are?”

“You know me, but you’re scared to name me.” The voice said in a soft reply.

“You’re not Elspie. You’re not anyone I’ve heard before.” She countered.

She saw the eyes of something glint in the shadows of the trees, its brisk retreat had rustled leaves, sending Phalyn into a fit of barking and in swift pursuit of it. She didn’t stop him, he would come back and after all, she didn’t think he would catch whomever or whatever it was.

For now, she stood alone in the rolling mist of the evening, the question weighing heavy on her mind.

“What will I do?”