[sub]He had not been an adult for too long yet. His long, gangly fawn legs hadn't changed much, but his body was longer, fuller, and his long tail had become a lovely fan.

His ears were no shorter, and sometimes he felt very much like a rabbit, but his hearing had become better, if anything, and his ability to spy had become that much greater.

His fawn spots had disappeared completely, and his pelt was a bright, cheerful red. He felt it was a bit of fun on the part of the gods to make him so painfully obvious to the rest of the world, but had become used to it.

Today he had been going about his normal business - that is, the business of making other people's business your own. He was not nosy so much as curious... He found he didn't care so much about what the individual he stalked had to say, so much as he wanted knowledge of their personality.

If I could learn more about them, he pondered, perhaps I could find out more about this forest. And maybe... Maybe I could even find...

His steps faltered. He strained for the memory, then his eyes went wide with panic as he realized he could no longer recall-

Wait. There it was. Her voice, her touch. The memory of his mother. He relaxed, and found he had to sit in the protection of a thicket because his knees had begun to shiver.

How could he forget the memory of his own mother? The only person - from that life - who had ever cared about him? His ears went flat against his skull and he moaned softly, pressing his forehead against the bush's trunk.

Crack.

He drew back, thinking he had broken a limb, but as his ears perked up heard it again - a sharp snap of crashing foliage.

Whatever it was was moving quickly, and he was right in its way!

Leaping to his feet, he scurried out of the way just as a massive, brindled stag came barreling through the trees.