Starfall and Hilltop find trouble deep in the forest -- as usual.

Slowly, cautiously, she crept away from the holt, carefully placing each step so as to leave no trace of her passage. Her long, waist-length hair flashed white-gold in the shafts of sunlight that lanced through the treetops, and she finally tied it back loosely in a leather strap to keep it from getting tangled in the branches. She remained tense until she put a good distance between herself and the holt, then gave a small sigh of relief and relaxed upon deciding she was safe. “If Whitefox had caught me going out to hunt she would certainly have found some excuse to send someone with me,” the elf thought ruefully to herself. “I’m old enough to take care of myself! And just because I put a dagger through my foot when I was just a little cub, that’s no excuse to worry about my skill now! Humph!”

Now that she had managed to escape the holt unnoticed she settled down to hunt some game, then stopped and pricked her ears. A rustle in the trees above? Could someone have followed her. . . ? A sudden snapping of twigs, rushing of leaves, and a form quickly falling toward her --

“ Ha ha ha! I see you, Starfall!” Hilltop cried as she came crashing from the trees onto the startled elf.

“Oomph!” Starfall exclaimed as she was flattened to the forest floor. After taking a moment to recover, she growled playfully and rolled over to pin the cub to the ground. They wrestled for a few minutes, tumbling across the ground, until finally, exhausted, they both collapsed. Panting, Starfall rolled onto her side to look at a triumphantly grinning Hilltop. Grinning back, she asked, “And what do you think you’re doing here?”

“Hunting with you, of course!” Hilltop replied. “You didn’t really think you’d get away without me, did ya?”

Starfall sighed. She couldn’t very well tell her soulsister to go back to the holt. . . nor, as she thought about it, did she want Hilltop to; she liked the cubling’s company. It would be twice as hard to hunt while having to watch out for her, though. Oh well, they’d be careful -- and hunt small game.

“So fine,” Starfall said, “you can come with me. I just hope no one followed you.”

Hilltop snorted, “You didn’t even know I was there, no one else could have followed me!”

Starfall had to admit the little cub was good. “Well, you don’t have to sneak around anymore, we’ll travel a faster way.” She sent, *Sternwatch! You big lump of fur, c’mere!*

Grinning, the wolf loped out of her pre-arranged hiding place to greet the elves. She playfully butted her head into Starfall’s stomach and licked her face, and Starfall happily buried her face and hands in her wolf-friend’s thick, buff-colored coat. She leaped onto the wolf’s back, then looked down at Hilltop. “Well?”

Giggling, Hilltop clambered astride the wolf to sit in front of Starfall, and they road off deep into the forest.

Nearly two hours passed as the two elves and wolf wandered the forest without sighting a single creature. “Not even a ravvit!” Starfall thought to herself. “Where has all the game gone?” Though she didn’t voice her thoughts, Starfall was starting to get worried. The forest was too silent, silent as death. Suddenly Starfall tensed as she caught a whiff of a scent that confirmed her worst fears.

*Stop!* she sent to Sternwatch who, catching the thoughts behind her elf-friend’s command, tested the air and growled softly.

Hilltop, who was getting bored, looked at Starfall quizzically. “What’s wrong?”

“Ssst!” Starfall hissed softly to silence the cub. *I smell humans.*

The cub’s eyes widened slightly and she fell silent. *Which humans do you think. . . ?*

*Certainly not mages with quartz pendants like yours.* Starfall felt the gentle mage’s soul within Hilltop somberly agreeing with her. *This deep in the forest... catfoot humans.*

Hilltop searched the memories of another lifetime, of humans’ prowling habits, and knew it must be true. She tested the air herself and faintly scented traces of humans. *It doesn’t smell like they’re here now. . . like they were here and left.*

*I’ll find out.* Starfall sent. *Stay here with Sternwatch while I check it out, and if any come, run.* She then turned to her wolf-friend and sent, *Guard the elf-cub, protect her from humans.* The she-wolf growled assent and waited, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Starfall limberly leaped for the nearest branch and swung onto it. Quickly climbing to the uppermost branches she found a hole in the thick leaves and peered into the surrounding forest. With daring leaps she flew like a bird from tree to tree and searched for signs of her hated enemies. “If I find you, I’ll put a hole in your stomach like you did to my father,” she thought venemously. “Murdering, five-fingered filth. . .”

Hilltop watched as Starfall disappeared into the trees, then settled down to wait on Sternwatch. After a few minutes she quickly grew bored. Hunting all day with no results had exhausted her patience, and having to wait even more was just too much for her. “I know what to do!” she said. “Let’s sniff out the trail ourselves, Sternwatch.” She began to dismount, but the wolf growled warningly at her to stay put. “C’mon, Sternwatch!” She sent to the protective she-wolf, *Let’s help Starfall, we’ll search for the trail too.*

Sternwatch was confused. Her elf-friend had told her to guard the cub, which she could do best by being ready to flee at any moment with the cub on her back. But the cub said they could help better another way. * Help Starfall?* the wolf sent to Hilltop to make sure. Hilltop sent her reassurance that they would help, so she uncertainly let the cub dismount.

With a grin the cub leaped to the ground. Nose to the earth, she began sniffing around the surrounding area. Sternwatch nervously followed as the cub wandered away. Suddenly, Hilltop tensed and grew alert as she caught scent of a human trail. Excited, she followed it a little ways and found what she was looking for: a footprint, definitely not elven. The traces were obviously old; the humans were long gone. Deciding that meant it was safe for her to follow, Hilltop quickly set about tracing the trail. Good tracker that she was, and with some help from Sternwatch, she followed the trail through the forest until it entered a clearing. She stopped just short of the clearing, hesitant to leave the protective cover of the trees, and instead scampered up a nearby tree to get a better view. She peered into the clearing, searching for any sign of danger, but a thick blanket of leaves covered the forest floor and obscured the ground. Hilltop was about to decide to avoid the clearing and recover the trail on the other side, when a crystalline gleam in the middle of it caught her eye. It looked like some sort of pendant, human-made. . . she squinted but couldn’t distinguish exactly what it was. Her sense of caution warned her to stay away from the clearing, but her curiosity won out and she knew she had to find out what was in there.

She quickly descended from the tree and made for the clearing. Sternwatch tried to stop her and grabbed for the cub’s tunic with her teeth, but her fear of hurting the cub prevented her from getting a good grip. Hilltop pulled away from the protective wolf and leaped into the clearing. Sternwatch refused to enter and paced just beyond its edge, whining.

“What’s the matter with you, Sternwatch?” Hilltop asked, annoyed. *Sternwatch, come here!* she sent, but the wolf still refused to come a step closer to the clearing. Hilltop sighed and left the wolf behind, instead walking towards the glittering object in the middle of the clearing. The human scent was strong here and filled the clearing. As she got closer she saw the glittering was from a simple quartz pendant, cut like a star and gleamingly polished. “A good luck charm. . .” the mage said to her. “I wonder what for?” Despite its simple design, it was very beautiful. Hilltop decided to take it. “Shaped like a star. . .” she thought. “Maybe I could give it to Starfall as a present. Then we could both have human amulets!” She strode quickly to the center of the clearing.

Her sense of danger kicked in a moment too late. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet caved in to reveal a cleverly concealed pit with deadly wooden spikes set in the bottom. Hilltop screamed as she found herself sliding to a swift and painful death.

**ZEYN!!!**

Starfall had just decided that there were no humans nearby and was about to return to Hilltop, when she suddenly gasped in shock and almost fell from the tree as her soulname ripped through her mind.

**ZEYN! Help me!**

“Hilltop!” she gasped. Images of the cub clinging to the edge of the pit flooded her mind, and she felt the cub’s terror as Hilltop hung between life and death. **Alyssar! NO!**

Starfall leaped out of the tree and hit the ground running, following the fading sound of Hilltop’s scream. **Soulsister, I’m coming! Hold on!** She ran deer swift through the forest, dodging trees and hurtling shrubbery, and in moments reached the clearing. Flying past her relieved wolf-friend, the young elf dove for the pit and caught Hilltop’s hands just as they lost their grip and released the edge of the pit.

“High Ones!” Starfall gasped as she clung to the cub’s hands and looked into her terrified face.

“I’m sorry Starfall, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean --” Hilltop began to babble hysterically.

*Hush, it’s okay!* Starfall sent, too breathless to speak. *Tell me later. Right now we have to worry about getting you out of h --* She stopped in mid-send in fright as she suddenly felt herself sliding into the pit, dragged by Hilltop’s weight. *Sternwatch!!*

The wolf bounded into the clearing and jumped on top of Starfall, using her considerable mass to keep the elves from falling any further. She pondered for a few fear filled moments, then was struck with an idea of how to get her elf-friend out. First, however, she sent to Starfall to get permission to do so.

Starfall winced when she heard Sternwatch’s idea. It would hurt considerably, but there was no time to come up with another plan. *Do it.* she sent to the wolf, and gripped Hilltop’s hand’s tightly and gritted her teeth against the pain.

Sternwatch firmly grabbed a mouthful of Starfall’s long hair, right where it was tied together, and slowly began to pull her out of the pit by it. Inch by painful inch the elves slid out of the pit, until finally Starfall was able to gain steady footing on the ground and pull Hilltop out herself. She collapsed onto safe ground, her head throbbing and with a sobbing Hilltop in her arms. Starfall hugged the cubling and tried to comfort her, relieved that she was alive.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hilltop sobbed. “I should have listened to you! I’ll never do it again, never, n-never!”

“Shh, cubling, it’s okay, you’re safe.” Starfall whispered, stroking Hilltop’s hair. “It’s my fault too, I should never have come out alone without telling anyone. And I should never have left you!” She lifted the elf child’s chin so she could look into her eyes. “I think we both learned a lesson from this, don’t you?” Hilltop nodded tearfully. “Good.” said Starfall. “You’re calm now? Okay, I think it’s time to get back to the holt.”

After pulling all the strands of white-gold hair out of Sternwatch’s teeth, the elves mounted the wolf and started back to the holt.

“Of course, we’ll have to warn everyone about the pit when we get back, and that means telling them everything that happened. . .”

The two elves looked at each other and sighed. Why couldn’t either of them seem to last a single day without getting into trouble?!