Emilia

Emilia is a mainlander, growing up in a generic American suburb. She has a fairly average life, until her parents die in a car crash. After several months of paperwork and exhaustion, her friends suggest a trip to the wilds of Kanqisat, to give her space to breathe, and a chance to grieve. However, she gets caught up in a snowstorm, and thinks all hope is lost, until a tokota appears out of the blizzard, and leads her to safety. She finds herself staying with a strange man, and his even stranger pets, in a cabin in the woods. It should be a horror story, but somehow, it isn't.

Several years later, as she's watching her tokota compete in a race, it occurs to her that she hasn't left.