She bent down to examine, more closely, the earthworm trodden flat into the dirt. The girl with the bear paw recoiled, ever so slightly, when once she would have extended a claw and scraped it up to sniff.
Distracted by the strange sight of the newly soft and pale flesh of her left hand, she furrowed her brow and tried to remember. When and how had she lost that soft, dark fur and those useful claws?
As she straightened up, tiny clumps of fur from her remaining paw, started to fall as silently and softly as an early winter's snow.
