Bragi felt his heart lurch as he realised it was a fox, which surely he’d known all along. It just really helped to hope.

But as he turned away from the fox (who fled) and regarded the kind stranger with her earnest words of cool determination, he felt exactly that — hope. She warmed the fearful chill in his chest, and he would’ve smiled had he not felt so anxious. But he also felt something else: guilt. She was evidently a busy soul, though very gracefully so, and he was outright disrupting her.

”Goodness — I couldn’t possibly ask you to help, miss. You’ve been so kind already, and I so selfish. Please don’t let me hold you up.”