I carefully trod next to Frexiin, my pet, a cute young raccoon. We both looked left and right for signs of life as a zephyr blew through my hair.

'Crack…snap…' I heard twigs snap sharply near by. Frexiin squeaked quietly in his throat as we crept silently toward the sound.

My pet leapt into the clearing with a chatter… only to frighten a kestrel and her young chicks into the air, screeching angrily at us from the sky.

I sighed in disappointment as Frexiin gazed overhead helplessly, wanting the kestrel, of course. It was then that I heard the high pitched yip. Not from the kestrel, for the sound was between a yelp and a bark. Only one creature made that sound; a vixen. I searched the area in excited interest.

Seven foot tall plants with greenish purple leaves that sprouted in the shape of arrowheads grew everywhere, blocking out the sky and the trees. These leaves were, at the minimum, a foot long. Ivy like creeping hands swarmed over the trees and ground, making it hard to see them. Next to me grew a five and a half foot tall plant with a huge orange and yellow flaming blossom, the color of a Bengal tiger. Its leaves were long and skinny with very bold veins running through them.

I looked past all this (which was the scene almost everywhere) and my eyes searched around the gurgling stream, where Frexiin was lapping up water and washing his "hands". Around the bank grew violet and ivory flowers that were so tiny, they were like little pinpoints against all the greenness.

Suddenly, Frexiin's head jerked up from the stream and his nose pointed at a large clump of raspberry bushes, mixed with ivy, of course, and he gave a sharp shriek. Until then, I hadn't noticed the bushes moving, softly, but moving none the less.

I crept confidently towards the motion, Frexiin now at my side. Just as we were about to approach the bushes at close quarters, a rusty streak zipped from the leaves and darted away, zigzagging toward no place in particular. At first I thought it was a rabbit by how speedy it was, but then I caught sight of the long fluffy tail with the pearly white tip on the end.

'It's a vixen!' I cried.

As I said the words, the wild beast stopped dead, moved its sleek head so it was facing me, and turned its gaze upon me. She seemed to call me, whispering,

'Lily! Come with me, Lily! Leave your problems behind and follow me, the Sun Fox!'

And that is exactly what I did.

'C'mon, Frex!'

So the chase began. I seemed to blow after the vixen, my hair streaming out behind me as Frexiin waddled at my heels. The vixen floated steadily in front of us, not even trying at all. Every time we got too close, she just floated a little faster, leaving the raccoon and I striving even harder to catch up.

When the Sun Fox left us really far behind, she stopped and gazed back, as if saying,

'Are you coming or not?'

I don't have any idea why, but I kept following that gallant vixen, Frexiin trotting faithfully some distance back.

I kept my eyes on the Sun Fox, not feeling the stinging blows across my face as the foot long leaves whipped my nose and eyes. She was enchanted, I'm sure of it to this very day, and she knew I would follow her through thick and thin.

I splashed through the stream which we found her by about ten times. She was running in circles, waiting for us to tire out. But I wouldn't give up… until I fell exhausted to the ground.

I looked up, feeling breath on my face, thinking it was Frexiin. But he was still behind me, catching up. It was the Sun Fox.

Her face was even more beautiful then from a distance. Her slender form shimmered in dusky light. The roseate color of her face was wondrous. I had never seen such cryptic, mysterious, and thoughtful features on an animal. This was truly the Sun Fox. She lowered her head and stared deeply into my blue eyes with her amber ones, seeming to say,

'You are faithful.'

Such a wondrous creature, I never wanted her to leave…

But when I blinked, she was gone. She wasn't a creature of Earth, this I realized fifty years later. She was the Sun Fox. A Queen in disguise.

With Frexiin at my side, I plodded home, the saddest I'd ever been. I was so upset that she was gone, even though I barely knew her.

Even now, I remember my mother asking me what ever was wrong…

'What ever is wrong, dear?' she had said.

I had answered with three words.

'The Sun Fox.'