They started their journey, Declan holding on to the small wicker basket.
There was a path of sorts that led to the woods from the back of the cottage. Declan was in the lead, Faun following behind him quietly.
His injuries were long healed and he was as fit as ever to continue his journey but it felt inconsiderate to prod about Declan's findings on how to get to the North.
If he was being truthful to himself, he hadn't thought about leaving in the past couple days.
It was already roughly a week since he had been here and he had spent the entire time thinking about doing everything but leaving, that said a lot about his priorities.
"We're not going very far." Declan spoke up conversationally, pulling Faun from his thoughts.
Faun made a soft sound to show he was listening.
"It's just a place I wanted to show you, no one comes around here so you could spend some time here if you want privacy." Declan added, hoping that he wasn't being too obvious with it.
Faun obviously had no idea that he was onto him so he looked excited by the prospect. "Really?" He chirped happily, a slight spring to his steps at Declan's words.
"Yeah, I pretty much own the land around so anyone coming here would be trespassing." He had thought it would be nice for Faun to have a place he could spend time in his fox form.
"Wow." Faun's small sound of wonder breached his ears when they got to the opening, he hurried forward, heading for the fallen log first. "Is this the place you wanted to show me?"
Declan just stood and watched him move around quickly, checking out the log and then the piles of smooth, large rocks. He could almost imagine Faun running around in his fox form.
"Yeah." Declan answered, settling down on the log while leaning against a tree trunk.
The area was grassy so laying a blanket on it would provide a very comfortable spot to sleep but maybe some other time.
Declan had grabbed a book to distract himself; translated to; Declan had grabbed a book so that he could pretend to read to make Faun let down his guard.
Faun at first sat gingerly on a rock, his hair held back out of his face with a scrunchie, but after a couple minutes passed, he couldn't sit still any longer.
He snuck a glance at Declan and found him engrossed in a book, his face covered by the book held in his hands.
He stretched casually and glanced in Declan's direction again, nothing had changed.
Curiously, he got up to check what it was that had Declan's entire attention, sneaking around trees to stay out of sight.
His expression soured when he got a gander at the pages on the book, they were just words. No fun pictures like the cookbook that Declan had gotten him.
He had eventually mustered up enough courage to finally look through the books that Declan had gotten him and he had been pleasantly surprised to find out that there were a lot of pictures in them.
That was just last night.
He still had a hard time making out words but he wasn't entirely clueless either, not with the book that Declan was currently reading though.
He silently made his way back to the rock he was sitting on, he wouldn't be able to get past the first page for sure.
Another couple minutes of restlessly tapping a foot while getting distracted by every possible thing and Faun decided that he couldn't sit still anymore.
Declan was distracted anyway so he wouldn't notice if he decided to run around a couple trees.
He got up with one last look at Declan, chuckling quietly to himself when he found that he had fallen asleep, the book covering his face.
The trees around protected the opening from the glare of the sun but there were still rays of light pouring in through the middle of the opening where the trees couldn't provide shade to.
Faun went behind the first rows of trees in the opposite direction from where Declan was seated so he could still keep an eye on him.
He scratched his ear while hiding behind a tree trunk to get one last surreptitious look in.
He didn't plan on fully shifting into a fox because that would be a hassle in every way so he would just let his ears and tail out.
It was a relief to be comfortable in his skin after so long, he couldn't exactly shift while on the run with other hybrids.
For someone who had spent his entire life either in his fox form or at least in a partial shift form, it had taken quite the toll on his body.
At first, he moved cautiously, his tail flicking around as he curiously checked out the entire space.
That was only at first though, in no time, he was trying to catch rabbits and getting distracted by bugs, climbing up trees and rolling in the grass.
Declan was fast asleep so it was fine.
Faun's hair came loose as he lost his scrunchie but he didn't even notice, hanging off a tree branch happily.
He was grateful that he could do this anytime he wanted, even in the night maybe? Then he could hopefully shift fully for however little time possible, he would take what he could get.
Declan had moved to lying down on the slightly inclined trunk. It was a rather large tree so he could comfortably lie on it without falling to the side.
It was the perfect angle to watch Faun happily climb a tree, hanging off branches and moving higher up the big tree with ease.
His hair hung free, fiery gold in the morning sun as he hung upside down from a sturdy branch, his legs the only thing keeping him off the ground.
Declan quickly closed his eyes although it was the last thing he wanted to do, he wanted to watch Faun more but the hybrid had glanced in his direction at that moment.
He didn't want to be the cause of Faun cracking his head open on the ground below simply because he startled him.
Faun got down from the tree, his tail shrinking and his ears going back to normal as he quietly sat on the rock again.
He might have lost himself in his freedom there and almost forgot that Declan was just a couple feet away.
He couldn't imagine what would happen if Declan found out what he was, it made his chest ache a bit.
He wasn't just terrified about losing the only place that ever provided safety and comfort, not even about the mortal danger he would face but the look of horror on Declan's face.
He had seen it often enough, he knew it all too well, when a couple humans had stumbled on him in the woods.
So instead he reached into the basket to find something to eat while waiting for Declan to wake up.