Danielle closed her eyes as the ground approached, bracing for impact. But it never came. Opening her eyes, she found that she was lying on a soft patch of green grass, as though she'd been asleep. She gazed around at her surroundings.
The air was beautifully clean and fresh, and the scent of nature was thick. A little stream bubbled merrily across a short expanse of grass, while on the opposite side of her, a stand of pines rose up into the air. The crisp, clean atmosphere reminded her of a visit her family had taken to the Blue Ridge mountains, so she guessed that she was in mountains, or at least foothills. She stood up, and found that Kat had been "kind" enough to clothe her in a simple, somewhat rustic dress. Danielle shook her head. Kat was apparently a master of cruel mercy.
She took stock of her situation. The water seemed clean enough, but where would she get food? The air was that of mid-spring, so excessive cold would not be an issue. But even if she could find food, how long could she go before going insane? Danielle realized just how alone and lost she was, and broke down sobbing, tears staining her beautiful fur. Alone. Lost. Humanity gone and gender changed. No hope of escape. She eventually cried herself to sleep in the morning warmth.
Danielle was awakened by the distinctive "clop, clop" sound of a horse's hooves on hard ground. Pricking her ears up, she located the source of the sound quickly. She stood up and began walking to the source, in the midst of the pine stand. She noticed that she was barefoot, but with the soft grass and her vulpine feet, it didn't matter. A road, apparently, ran through the stand. There were people here! On looking back, she realized how foolish it was for a fox-person, a lady no less, to go running towards what could easily have been a superstitious and trigger-happy traveler. At the moment, though, she didn't care.
Crashing through the pines and into the road, she turned and saw a figure on horseback walking away.
"Stop! Help me!" she cried. The figure stopped, turned, and begane trotting over. As he came closer, to her surprise, initial horror, and then relief, she saw that he was a fox-person like herself. He was apparently relatively young and fit, dressed like a middle-class colonial American (complete with tricorn hat), wore large, tough boots for travel, and had two revolvers and a sword on his person. He looked down and said...