The boy is lonely. He's not quite sure what the feeling means, but he knows he hasn't always felt this way, and it gnaws at him like a maggot in his chest. He has friends, yes, but they're not like him. Nothing in this forest is like him. Not even his Mother.

He sighs, staring up at the sky through golden-dappled branches. A pair of badger pups tussle at his feet, but he ignores them. They will grow up soon, and move on. The boy will not. Sighing again, he rolls onto his side, watching an ant climb its way up a dandilion stem. The ant is not lonely. The ant is never alone. He wishes he were an ant, if only so that he has a family, a purpose, something to live for.

His ears twitch, an unfamiliar noise pulling him out of his melancholy thoughts. He sits up, chirping at the badger pups to go back to their mother. He doesn't know what this new sound- footsteps, but in a set of two instead of the normal four, and the beating of a heart- belongs to. Getting up, ears pricked and alert, he slinks closer to the source of the noise on all fours, sniffing at the air. The scent is strange. Off-putting, and yet... familiar. Why?