As he ran, Tarek found himself quickly falling behind the faun girl. He expect as much, but twisted the loose tassels of his coat behind his neck so they'd stop catching on the branches. Whatever skills he'd learned in navigating forests flew out the window as he focused just on keeping up with the excitable girl. "Holly!" he yelled as he caught sight of her tail flitting between some trees. "I may not catch you, but...." he gasped for breath, nearly losing one of his boots in a rut beside a newly fallen tree. "...you're not going to lose me either!"

He said that, but he was on the verge of getting left behind anyway. If Holly hadn't slowed down, he'd be sitting on a tree stump sulking by now. He hurried to catch up, feeling an odd sense go through him. He realized he couldn't hear Holly's hooves on the ground anymore. Did she decide to wait for him? But that didn't sound much like her. "Holly? Why did you stop?" he asked as he finally pushed his way out of the trees. A clearing opened up and his eyes went wide. He got so turned around in the forest, but he realized they just came out at the path that led to town.

Holly wandered there, slowly making steps in the wrong direction. Tarek grabbed her arm, by the faun's side in a moment. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked, trying to keep the alarm out of his voice. It wasn't that he thought Holly couldn't walk into the forest. He trusted the hearts of these humans, but still he worried. Shouldn't she show more caution in the first place?