The rain didn’t let up, hammering down in heavy sheets as Sea trudged forward, the weight of the small fox barely registering in his arms. The wind howled through the trees, rustling the tall grass that lined the narrow mountain path. Somewhere in the distance, a river roared, swollen with the storm’s fury. The flickering glow of lanterns from the village had long disappeared behind him, swallowed by the dense forest.
His rental house wasn’t far now—a modest, old wooden structure nestled at the edge of the woods, away from prying eyes and the constant hum of city life. It was exactly what he had needed when he decided to take this trip. A place to clear his head, to step away from the suffocating expectations of his family, the hospital, the endless cycle of responsibility. He had spent years healing others, patching up wounds that were more than just physical, enduring the weight of people’s suffering pressed into his hands.
And yet, here he was. Not even a week into his self-imposed escape, and he had already found something to mend.
At least this one wasn’t human. Just an innocent creature, broken and bleeding, without expectations or ulterior motives. The thought brought a wry smirk to his lips as he reached the wooden porch. His boots squelched against the wet earth as he carefully shifted the fox to one arm, pushing the sliding door open with the other.
Warmth greeted him inside, the lingering heat from the fire he had stoked earlier still clinging to the air. The room smelled of cedar and rain-soaked wood. He moved swiftly, setting the fox down on a thick, dry towel near the hearth.
She was small, even for a fox, her silver-touched fur dulled by dirt and blood. Her hind leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, swelling already setting in. Old wounds crisscrossed her delicate body, some fresh, others scarred over. This wasn’t just an accident. Someone—or something—had done this to her.
Sea exhaled, rubbing a hand over his damp hair. “Well, I guess I couldn’t just leave you out there,” he muttered, more to himself than to the unconscious animal.
He wasn’t a vet, but anatomy was anatomy. A fox’s body couldn’t be that different from the humans he’d treated countless times before. Setting a broken limb, cleaning wounds—it was all the same in the end.
Grabbing his medical kit from his travel bag, he crouched beside her and got to work.
His hands moved with practiced ease, despite the unusual patient. He cleaned the blood from her fur with warm water and a soft cloth, careful not to agitate her wounds further. The deep scratches along her ribs told a story he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he treated them anyway, murmuring absent reassurances as he worked. When he gently probed her injured leg, she let out the faintest whimper, even in unconsciousness.
Sea frowned. “You’ve been through hell, haven’t you?”
The storm raged on outside, wind rattling the windows. Inside, it was quiet, the only sound the crackling of the fire and the soft, steady breaths of the fox.
This wasn’t what he had planned when he came here. He had wanted solitude. A break from obligations, from fixing things, from fixing people. But as he wrapped the fox’s leg in careful bandages, ensuring it would set properly, he realized that some habits were impossible to escape.
For now, at least, he had a new patient. And unlike the world he had left behind, this one wouldn’t ask for anything more than warmth and care.