It made sense for Natasha to be scouting ahead of their small party. For all that most of her work the last few years has been urban in nature, she's still been spending plenty of days out in the surrounding forests, and she knows how to stay alert, watch out for danger. And the others who might have normally taken this role, well--they'd had to witness things that opened wounds. That made things more difficult. Made distraction easier. And they couldn't afford that out here.

The rustling up ahead isn't big enough to be human, but Natasha stops moving anyway, borrowed knife already in her hand as she waits to see what it is. There are plenty of dangers out here that aren't human. When the fox steps out of the bushes, it's still not a reason to relax; she stays stationary, watching as it sniffs the ground, watching as it turns towards her, her breath held as she waits for it to decide if it's in danger or not. It's a beautiful creature, silky fur in shades of warm golden brown to orange, and its eyes as they meet hers are the most brilliant orange she's ever seen. It opens its mouth, and she's not fast enough to react.

It barks, and everything around her changes. She stumbles on uncertain footing, the ground below her having shifted suddenly, and she doesn't have time to readjust before there's another flash of a pair of bright amber eyes, another bark--and suddenly she's lying on damp grass, the sound of running water somewhere in the distance. As she takes a moment to get her breath and her bearings back, there are other sounds around her, human sounds. Natasha rolls to her feet, looking around to see who's ended up here with her, where they've wound up.

"Everyone all right?"

Whoever everyone is. Wherever they are.

((Rough plan for the trip back is here, with the Inari fox teleportation shown as a dotted line. Should take roughly 7-9 days to make it back to the South Village, if no disasters come up.))