The sun grazed, digging deep through the same fur it caused a shine to. Skin began to warm under the sun's ministrations, gently lulling the doe in to sleep. She slowly disappeared.
***
A familiar old smell assaulted her nostrils, jolting Poplar wide awake. Thick grasses obscured her view. Was she in the birch? No, she never slept there. That smell... her head blurred until it became clear again. "MICHAEL? AUREIA?" The doe cried out, her vocal chords vibrating to the point of shrieking. She then hit the dirt like a small fawn. Quiet was the key here. And heck, Poplar did not know the location she had been dropped in.
'What am I doing here?'
Slowly the doe's nose raised to sniff the air. Coyote and rabbit, both old. Bear, old. Deer.... DEER! "Rosewood?" The doe hopped up as quickly as her thin legs would allow, straddling the place she had just been laying. Rosewood immediately caught her vision, but the doe seemed different. She was older, a fawn nursing beneath her as another tried to jostle for a position. They must not be her first.
The river rushed behind her, something she had not noticed before. It seemed to have grown swollen, signifying that it was still the snow-melting time in the mountains. The doe moved toward the herd, picking her way over familiar ground. The earth vibrated, if not from the river then from the herd as they raced about or strolled along. Everything seemed normal, then the wind shifted. Several deer raised their heads high, sniffing the air.
Apparently, Poplar was not remembered. Several does snorted and the ground shook with warning stomps.
