Púca

Púca is a Fae trickster and shapeshifter that frequents lanes, hedgerows, and lonely hills at dusk. It most often shows as a dark horse, goat, dog, or hare — edges smeared like peat smoke — and its presence reads like a weather change. Smell: damp earth, crushed bracken and a faint note of peat smoke, sometimes threaded with the sharp sweetness of stale milk. Sound: an uncanny clatter of hooves just beyond hearing, a sharp, high laugh or a whisper that imitates a loved one. Temperature: a sudden, finger-numbing chill that collects around you as if the evening itself exhales. Field notes: sightings cluster on moonless nights and after heavy rain; animals near a púca grow restless and fences rattle though wind is still.