Utoloto - Part 2

“I’m sorry,” adult Elara said, and she meant that too.

That night, she dreamed of a forest. Not a metaphor-forest, but the forest: the one behind her grandmother’s house, before her grandmother had sold the land. Elara was seven again, wearing yellow rain boots. She was following a fox with one white ear. The fox didn’t speak, but it led her to a hollow log where a smaller version of herself was hiding. Utoloto Part 2

The key fit.