Silver eyes were empty and cold, like his insides felt at the moment, but as he encroached upon a newly familiar, pleasant sight and smell - <i>the fog.</i> He was almost there, perhaps a few miles, but dawn would come soon, as the horizon began to glow from the rising sun. The distance from the thicket and fields to his den had been challenging, but as the morning came he returned to the cove and his hole in the hill, where he readily spit out the heavy mouthfull that had made every muscle in his head and neck agonizingly discomfortable.
His paws bled as he crossed the pebbled beach and entered the lake's waters, which was so cold that it chilled his burning body and throbbing legs. As he lapped the water gratefully, flashes of her crystalline eyes crossed his mind, and he thought fondly of his interaction with the ghostly female who had came and gone so swiftly, like a sweet dream.
Sweet dreams sounded like they were just what he needed, and the male retreated to his hole, bringing his leftovers to bed with him for safekeeping. As he pawed the den floor until it was just right before plopping down effortlessly. Hopefully he would be able to rest in the safety of his hole throughout the afternoon, with the sound of the shade trees swaying like a lulliby in the gentle breeze that seemed most perpetual. The fog began to lift just as he drifted into a peaceful slumber, tucked away in the foot of the hill.