Sue’s rest was well needed, the release of tension resulting in the best sleep she could remember in... ever, really. She took her time waking up, stirring slowly on the soft bedding in search of a more comfortable position—at least, until one of the other occupants of the room noticed. And once they did, there was no coming back.
Her ear spikes twitched at the sound of soft thudding against the wooden floor, breaths deepening as she listened in. The thuds were followed by chipper woofing, then deeper, more distant barks, and finally by alerted squeaks. Sue tried to look at what was going on, reaching her hand to rub the sand out of her eyes—
Only for Ember—no, Spark—to get there first, licking affectionately all over her face.
Sue’s features scrunched up as the affection banished the last of her sleepiness, followed by tired giggles. Her hand swerved to pet the little fox; the kit satisfied at fulfilling their mission of waking their friend up. Which, considering the disappointed woofs that followed, was much to someone’s dissatisfaction.
As Spark turned around to respond to the canine noises, Sue sat up, stretched, and took a look around. Somewhat expectedly, it turned out to be Spark’s parent that was the source of the disapproving sounds. They—well, she, Sundance if Sue remembered it right—were just as fluffy as she recalled from the clearing, and much less imposing. Partly because she wasn’t waving a burning stick around, and partly because she was just sitting calmly on the floor with Doc—no, right, Willow—beside her.
They’re both smiling at me, so that’s a good sign—
“Good afternoon, Sue.”
…
Sue reeled back at the sudden understandable words—she could swear that the bipedal fox had simply woofed at her, but she could somehow understand it as if it was plain English spoken by a middle-aged lady. The mismatch between what her ears heard and what her mind comprehended made for a weird sensation, but ultimately, it didn’t matter. Once she’d shook her confusion off, she answered, “Good afternoon... M-Mrs. Shundance?”
To her relief, the ear-hairy fox simply chuckled at her confusion and shook her head, “No need for any titles, Sue. How are you feeling?”
Considering everything, Sue felt... good. Even beyond the immeasurable relief of not getting burned at the stake, the nap did wonders for her. Spark was busy nuzzling her stomach, making concentrating on any remaining bodily aches difficult and earning the little fox some well-earned pets for her efforts. “I-I’m doing well, thank you,” Sue yawned. “Jhust... taking it all in.”
Sundance nodded lightly, woofing out again. This time, though, Sue perceived nothing more than the expected canine noises. The fox on her lap picked herself up with reluctance as her mom continued. “We aren’t hurrying anywhere. We left a seat free if you want to join us; let me know if you need assistance with moving yourself over.” And again, woofs became understandable, as if a light switch had been flicked back on. Considering that Solstice mentioned Sundance helping her with catching up on the whole ‘psychic’ deal, it wasn’t a bad idea to ask her about this.
At least, after she’d moved her rear over and joined them instead of looking down at them like this.
“Y-yeah, I’ll probably need a hand with sitting down...” Sue muttered, gently shoving Spark to give herself space before she pulled the covers aside and shuffled to the bed’s edge.
Right as she was about to grab the crutch, though, she Sundance spoke up again, “Hmm... it might be simpler if I moved you over myself.”
A part of Sue wanted to reject the offer and try her best regardless, but it didn’t take long for her bodily exhaustion to catch up to her, the soreness in her right arm shaking her out of that silly idea. “A-alright, if it’s not a problem…”
“Of course it isn’t, Sue. Now, relax...”
As Sue awaited further instructions, her eyes went wide at seeing a similar shimmering aura as with Solstice earlier envelop her body. It was light orange instead of blue, and it felt much warmer to the touch, but it was the same kind of magic, likely related to the whole ‘psychic’ thing. Despite her having a rough idea of what Sundance was about to do, the experience was no less intriguing than the last time. It once more felt like she was being moved by the air itself, its embrace firm and yet gentle enough to not cause any discomfort.
Sundance’s eyes were filled with that same orange shimmer, holding Sue’s attention as she was gracefully levitated through the cabin. She felt her legs being folded into a lotus position before the vixen lowered her, grip waning as she neared her pillow seat, giving her a moment to orient herself before the last of the psychic touch let go of her.
The sudden disappearance of the magic touch and its warmth made Sue shiver a bit. Spark wouldn’t let that stand, though, taking no time before nestling herself once more on her savior’s lap.
“That’ll do it,” Sundance chuckled, catching Sue’s attention as her hand auto-piloted to petting the smaller fox. Worry about whether the action was even appropriate threatened to bloom in her mind, but a single look at the older vixen’s contented smile was enough to dispel it.
Right, have to thank her.
“Th-thank you—” Sue began, only for Sundance to cut her off moments later—
“No, Sue, thank you,” the psychic insisted, voice more serious than earlier. “If not for your intervention, my little Spark might not be with us anymore. My debt to you cannot be overstated.”
Sue shakily nodded at that, unused to receiving praise like that. It left her unsure how to respond, and she tried to swerve towards minimizing it, “It’sh just what anyone would’ve dhone—”
Sundance wasn’t having it, though. “Maybe. But it was you who did it, and at your weakest no less, so to you my gratitude goes.”
Well, that didn’t work. Guess I just… have to accept it, for now at least.
“You’re whelcome,” Sue sighed.
The vixen bowed in return, flustering the once-human further, but her little lap warmer helped her persevere. Spark took the initiative afterwards, interrupting her happy purring to woof something at her parent, leading to a realization if the surprised expression that followed was any sign. The small yet noticeable jolt in her brain caught Sue off guard, making her pause.
Right as she was about to resume her affection, though, she heard the lil’ fox speak up again—and this time, she could understand her. “Did you already do it, mom?”
Sundance chuckled, “Yes I have, sweetie—”
“YAY!” Spark squealed. The sound was simultaneously a howl and an excited cry of a preteen girl, resulting with a whiplash that was as utterly adorable as it was surprising—more so the former as the lil’ fox scrambled on her hind legs and pulled as much of Sue’s body as she could into a hug. She then continued, voice much quieter and more emotional this time, “Thank you, S-S-Sue...”
Her emotions had palpably changed from burning excitement to tearful sadness, taking Sue aback—at least until she noticed the equally abundant somber relief at finally being able to thank her. She might not have known how to deal with praise, but dealing with children on the verge of tears? That’s something she had a bit more experience with. A gentle hug worked as well here as it did any other time, Sue smiling as she whispered, “Y-you’re welcome, Spahk.”
The lil’ fox leaned to lick as much of her savior’s cheek as she could, sending Sue into a laughing fit as her free hand stroked Spark’s fur. She wasn’t the only one that found the situation amusing, though, with the giggling coming from elsewhere in the room clueing her in to the medic sitting beside her and Sundance, Doc—Warren—no, fuck—Willow. They took their time getting their laughter under control, before easing into a soft smile, “Awww, that’s just cute.”
Their voice gave Sue a pause, creaky in that distinctive elderly way but also just soft enough to remain perfectly androgynous. Didn’t help much when it came to deciding the right pronouns, but Sue didn’t care all that much in the moment, perfectly content with sticking to ‘they’ for the time being.
“N-nuuuhh...” Spark mumbled in denial before yawning. The associated flash of a mawful of very feral teeth gave Sue pause, but thankfully she wouldn’t have to linger on it for long.
“Someone’s exhausted herself from all the excitement, hasn’t she?” Sundance chided. Her daughter tried to oppose the accusations coming her way by shaking herself awake—unsuccessfully. Sue extending her affection to the lil’ fox’s tummy didn’t help either. In not too long, Spark was out warm, curled up on her savior’s lap, everyone else keeping quiet until they were certain she was out.
Partly to finally let her rest easy after these last few days, and partly to make sure she wouldn’t listen in on the... darker subjects ahead. Or, at the very least, ones less appropriate for already worried kits.
“So—how’re you feeling, Sue?” Willow asked calmly.
Sue internally thanked Solstice for soothing the medic’s worries, especially after they’ve had to deal with her nonsense over the past few days. “I-I’m... good—really good nhow, I think. I can’t thank you enough f-for your help, and,” she sighed, choosing to just call it for what it was, “...and for putting up with my nonshense.”
Her pronunciation was tangibly improving now that she finally had an opportunity to actually practice using her new mouth. Hopefully, it wouldn’t make getting used back to her old body harder once she… got there.
Willow chuckled, “Hah, it’s more than fine Sue, I’m just glad you’re fine inside your skull after all—besides, I’ll gladly take nonsense over belligerence. I’ve already looked at your leg once you were done with Solstice, and it should be fine to walk on again within a few days. With all that said, I only really have one more question...”
Sue nodded along, the news about her recovery lifting her mood. As much as she was getting used to the crutch, it gave her arm enough workout to last a lifetime. She knew full well that if she hadn’t put her leg through more abuse than it already had to take, it might’ve already recovered by now, but she didn’t want to think about it—
“So, where are you really from?”
Fuck.
Sue’s eyes shot wide as she stared at the timid medic, the fear of being discovered as an imposter returning in force. Sundance was just as surprised—far from reassuring, but at least she wasn’t alone in being taken completely off guard, for once. The vixen asked, “What do you mean, Willow? Solstice went through—”
“A cover up. My fur may be graying, but I’ve been watching over Sue for a few days now, and from her reactions, I have to guess she had spent her entire life under a particularly large boulder, one that left just enough space to let her figure out how to use a crutch, despite her looking and sounding like she had evolved into her current form not even twenty Moons ago.”
Neither Sue nor Sundance knew what to say. The latter very much wanted to say something, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to gather the right words, while the former was keen to collapse underground at being seen through so easily.
“Now, now, I’m not accusing Sue of anything,” Willow continued, still smiling. “I was there when she was being carried into Moonview; I saw the venom dripping from her wound. She’s surely a good person, but that doesn’t make what Solstice said make any sense. A Forest Guardian village exiling one of their own is absurd, but even if they had, they wouldn’t have waited until she grew up, and the idea of a helpless little one lasting a hundred and fifty Moons in the wild is laughable.”
Moonview. Guess this village has a name, after all.
Willow paused for a thoughtful moment before they shrugged and continued, tone as upbeat as ever, “The worst part is that I have no idea just what you three are hiding! Hundred and fifty seasons in this world, and nothing I’ve seen or heard of comes close to making sense of all this; you’ve really stumped me!”
Sue was dumbfounded at their cheerfulness in spite of their accusations as Sundance sighed in the village, admitting, “The reality here is truly more outlandish than any fables I’ve heard.” The once-human couldn’t help but glare at the vixen at the comment, feeling a bit betrayed by her admitting the deceit so quickly.
The medic noticed their distress, trying to defuse the situation, “Oh, don’t worry, Sue. I might have no idea who or what you really are, but whatever the truth is, Solstice trusts you, and of course so does lil’ Spark. I’ve no reason to doubt either of them, though I sure can’t deny being very curious after tending to you.”
Sue slowly nodded at their words, getting back to petting Spark after realizing she’d stopped amid all the tension. The lil’ fox’s soft fur made for a great stress reliever as the once-human chewed through her thoughts. Her gaze shifted between the other two, dreadfully unsure what to say and how much of it.
Eventually, Willow took it upon themselves to break the impasse, “Well, I gotta say, if that’s how spooked you got by just silly old me asking you that, I can only imagine just how rattled Solstice made you. Helps put your, well, ‘nonsense’—your words, not mine—in context. I am sorry for that, though; I didn’t intend to make you afraid.”
The genuine apology helped soothe Sue’s worries, despite being mixed with a heaping pile of curiosity.
“If you want me to, Sue, I can attempt to explain based on what Solstice told me,” Sundance offered. “Admittedly, I’m still unclear on some details myself, however.” Guess it really fell to her to provide them both with some much deserved clarity.
Here goes nothing.
“Alrhight. Guess I’ll anshwer the biggest point first—y-you’re right, Sholstice made her story up. I’m…” Sue paused, resigning herself to the most direct description she could come up with, “I’m from another world, I-I think.”
Sundance was following so far, Solstice’s explanation had made that much clear. Willow, though, immediately had questions of their own, and spoke, “Another world you say! Sundance hails from so far away, but I think this is my first time talking with someone from across the seas—”
“Much further than that, Willow,” the vixen corrected.
The medic turned their gaze over at her, lifting their eyebrows as they tried to figure out what she meant. “How so?”
“From what Solstice tried to explain to me, Sue appears to hail from another reality entirely.”
Hearing it stated so plainly made the truth of the matter hit Sue harder than she’d expected, making her feel… empty. Fortunately, the sensation didn’t last long once Willow’s curiosity inserted itself back into the discussion. “Golly. You are a bit odd, Sue, but I can’t say I would’ve expected that... or someone from another realm to behave in such a familiar way.”
Sundance nodded in response, putting the shared attention back on the interdimensional traveler. She didn’t understand how Sue could be just like them, either—but, then again, neither did Sue. “Yeah, it’s weird,” she admitted. “Thish world is so similar to my old one, almosh identical except for its creathures.”
“Identical, you say?” Willow leaned in. “So if not for the looks of us three, this very cabin and village it’s in, the woods around it, the rivers cutting through them, the dirt below and the skies above, all that would’ve been just the same as your world?”
Sue had to give it a moment’s thought, but... yeah, that checked out. She nodded firmly, Willow’s expression turning pensive as they chewed through her unexpected response. “Well, my mother used to tell me that the other worlds glow bright in the sky, and that’s what stars are—though I sure wouldn’t have expected worlds to have siblings like that, hah!”
Putting it that way got a lighthearted chuckle out of Sue and Sundance alike. The latter picked up where Willow left off, herself curious about the aforementioned differences. “Since you highlighted the difference in creatures, I meant to ask. Solstice had mentioned that your... natural form is similar to your current one in anatomy, except for not being psychic, correct?”
The once-human nodded, “Right. There aren’t any ‘pshychic’ creatures where I’m from to begin with.”
Neither of the duo were expecting that one, judging by their stunned expressions. Willow gasped; “None at all, you say?”
Sue wondered whether to mention that concept ‘existing’ in fiction, before ultimately deciding against it and confirming their hunch. No matter how wild her world’s imagination was, it couldn’t compare to this world’s reality.
“Well, if nothing else, that explains why you haven’t shown any of your psychics so far. Is it just a matter of not knowing how to, uh, tap into them?” the medic asked, intrigued.
“That appears to be the case from what Solstice had told me,” Sundance answered, eyeing Sue out.
“Huh. Would’ve thought it would be all instinct.”
“Not without developing it first. Speaking of,” the vixen paused as she faced Sue head on, her expression focusing while maintaining its prior warmth. “I take it Solstice had mentioned me guiding you through developing your abilities?”
“Yeah. I-I’m shtill honored at that—”
“No Sue, it’s my honor to repay my debt to you in such an important way.”
Sue was once more taken aback, unsure how she should react. Eventually, she bowed towards her mentor-to-be, hands continuing to dispense affection for the little sleeping one all the while. “Thank you.”
It was Sundance’s turn to stop herself from reflecting the praise back onto her student, acknowledging her thanks with a light nod before speaking up, “Now, before we begin, do you have any more questions you’d want answered first?”
Even just listing everything that still confused her in this world would likely take several days on its own. Of the unknowns that comprised the fort of confusion in her mind, few came close in importance to what she then asked, “That... shrine with the feathersh in front of it. Is it for a deity or something?”
“Hah, mother would’ve scolded the horns out of you if she heard you referring to the Pale Lady as just ‘a deity’,” Willow chuckled. A bit disconcerting, though it at least showed the medic themselves didn’t seem to be too extreme on the matters of religion, slight nervousness about this entire subject aside. “Now that I think about it, I doubt ‘Pale Lady’ is ringing any bells either, with how far you hail from, hah.”
“Indeed. Pale Lady, Night Mother, Moon’s Grace, or just the Moon,” Sundance listed. “She’s the chief goddess worshipped in these parts for her healing and protection from what lurks in the night.”
Sue appreciated a more concrete connection between the deity and the astral body while giving her several names to use in place of ‘Duck’, all of them immediately forgotten. The vixen’s matter-of-fact, downright encyclopedic tone raised her eyebrow, though—that definitely didn’t sound how someone devoted would refer to their deity. “Does ‘theshe parts’ not include you? Just asking with how you shaid it...”
Sundance answered, “It does not. Where I hail from, the Sun was the chief deity. I don’t have a strong attachment towards any of them nowadays, not anymore. Spending a decade wandering the land and meeting all sorts of peoples changed my perspective on it all a great deal. With how many varied deities folk from all over pray to, the only conclusion I could arrive at is that deities don’t particularly care about what mortals do one way or another. Don’t let Solstice hear that, though.”
The vixen chuckled after her final remark, with Willow following in tow, the two remaining unbothered despite the seriousness of the topic. The medic followed up with, “Can’t say I’ve ever been as laid back on that topic as you have, Sundance, though you’re at least mostly right. It sure wouldn’t be like the Pale Lady to take offense to other deities being worshipped—outside of the Night Father, at least. Any attempts to convince those who disagree would only result in more strife.”
Sue felt more and more doubt fill her as she listened. The mayor of this place, as well as the first person she’d spoken to in a solid week and someone she felt she could trust, was apparently a religious zealot. Willow’s brief mention of ‘Night Father’ didn’t help either, recollection of Sue’s dreams providing an excellent candidate for who could that possibly be. She needed clarity about all this, tackling the touchy subject head on, “Um, why sh-should Solstice nhot hear that?”
Sundance caught to the unease that underlined the Forest Guardian’s question, her smile softening as she shook her head. “I said that in jest, worry not—we two just disagree on that point. She strongly believes that the Pale Lady personally intervenes to aid the ones under Her protection, and that she’d communed with Her in the past. Considering she’s still best friends with Moonview’s biggest heretic, I doubt she cares that much, especially since the Pale Lady symbolizes protection and healing to begin with. However, I have to admit, the mental image of someone getting physically violent over others not worshiping a guardian goddess is rather darkly amusing.”
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Sue couldn’t disagree, chuckling to herself as she tried to visualize that. Imagining Solstice as the person getting offended sent a shiver down her spine, though. The Mayor came off powerful without even trying, and any attempts to imagine what her getting violent would look like froze Sue to her core. She tried not to let it get to her as she continued, “I see. Whillow mentioned a ‘Night Father’. Wh-who’s that?”
She felt the air in the room grow colder at her words. Willow looked uneasy at having brought all that up to begin with, even if offhandedly, as Sundance explained, “Another deity worshiped in this wider area, though His worship is shunned in Moonview. He is the dimmest dark on the night of a new moon, protecting the night kin. In some interpretations, He’s in active conflict with the Pale Lady, being the entity She protects mortals from.”
Guess ‘Sky Dimmer Satan’ wasn’t that far off course after all.
“Night kin?” Sue asked—and immediately regretted it. If the previous subject was uneasy, this one felt almost like a taboo she had inadvertently stumbled upon.
An icy chill ran down her spine and horn, making her gulp before Sundance continued, voice barely above a whisper, “According to the myths, they are the ones who had pledged themselves to the Night Father, who granted them protection from being revealed by moonlight or perceived by our psychic senses. You... won’t find them in Moonview.”
As intimidating as the description of the night kin was, Sue soon realized that she'd already ran into one creature that fit it—or at least the part about them being undetectable by her psychic senses. Her encounters with the dark-colored, disguise-happy fox might've been memorable—and them stealing her peaches might've been a good argument towards them being devil spawn—but she had a hard time feeling anywhere near as unnerved as Willow clearly was.
There had to have been something that Sundance wasn’t mentioning—she had already seen the gray fox in here, just disguised to avoid being spotted. “Um... why won’t I find them in Moon—”
“OH GOODNESS it’s getting late,” Willow shouted, making Sue jump. “I-I should make my rounds around the village and grab us all a snack before today’s feast. T-take care you all, I-I’ll be back soon,” they mumbled as they almost ran out the hut.
Oh yes, there’s definitely something more to all this.
Unfortunately, Sundance preemptively cut off any further paths of inquiry soon after, “It’s... a grave subject, and I’d rather Spark not overhear it, even if incidentally. I hope that’s alright with you, Sue.”
Her stumbling upon a subject so grim that even the upbeat medic had run away instead of talking about it wasn’t particularly encouraging, but Sundance’s request made sense. Sue would definitely have to ask more about all this later, though. “Yeah. Shorry for b-bringing it up—”
“Don’t be. You’re not the guilty one here.”
Sue was even more unnerved at the vixen’s grim delivery. The psychic had caught onto her unease and tried to steer the subject back to where it was supposed to have gone all along. “You shouldn’t be worrying yourself with any of that, Sue. Now, have you been able to figure out any of your psychics thus far?”
Sundance’s question was moderately successful in making Sue focus on the point of their discussion. The darkness that soaked the earlier topic wouldn’t let itself be discarded so easily, though, slinking off to the back of her mind as she answered, “I don’t think so. I tried to make m-my crutch move like Bo—Comet did, bhut nothing happened. U-unless thish... ability to sense emotions counts.”
“From what I know, that ability is innate to your… current form. Have you been able to do anything with it, or just passively sensed those around?”
“Just sensed, yeah.”
The vixen nodded slowly, gathering her thoughts on how to teach the complete beginner before her. Ultimately, there was only one way to learn when starting from complete nothing—one step at a time, as always. “Let us start from the very beginning, then. You said you attempted to do this,” she paused as her eyes filled with orange light, mentally gripping Sue’s crutch. Once it had come to a stop between her and her student, she continued, “What did you try?”
“Jusht... tried thinking it up, or ordering it to move, stuff like that,” Sue answered, confidence faltering with every word. Her recently gained sense made it easier to track Sundance’s mood, even with her expression remaining focused and dominated by glowing eyes.
It let her sense just how dumbfounded her mentor was, though she tried not to let it show. “I... see,” Sundance eventually muttered. “Well, the actual way you do it is much simpler.”
That was far from what Sue expected to hear. Her inability to figure any of this out had led her to think of her supposed new abilities as something that was at best contrived and extremely difficult, and at worst, as a thing her human, non-Forest Guardian mind was just inherently incapable of comprehending. “Oh. Wh-what do I do, then?”
“You just have to reach and grasp~,” the vixen smirked. Sue was dumbfounded at her explanation, the words coming off almost like a mean-spirited joke considering how little of it all she understood—
And then she felt it.
The sensation that followed was like nothing Sue had ever experienced. Her confused brain interpreted it as something grasping her arm, an intangible arm that had been sitting folded up in the back of her head for Duck knows how long, now finally stirring from its numb stasis. “Wow...”
She felt the imaginary limb be pulled out of her head bit by bit, guided carefully by the vixen. It only kept going and expanding, breaking any mental images Sue’s overwhelmed brain had tried to put to it, easily stretching over half a dozen feet. It felt more like a tentacle—or at least what Sue thought a tentacle would feel like—than any even remotely familiar body part. She whispered, awestruck, “What is this...”
“An extension of your mind, your ‘mental reach’. I can only imagine how outlandish it must feel right now, but using it will become second nature sooner or later,” Sundance reassured. She then let go of Sue’s psychic tendril, leaving it awkwardly hovering in midair. If it was visible, or even perceptible for non-psychics, it would probably be one hell of a sight just floating there. “Now, try moving it yourself. Experiment, get a feel for how it weaves and shifts.”
Sue nodded shakily as she concentrated on this new set of sensations. She instinctively closed her eyes as she tried wriggling the neurons close to where she felt this phantom limb originate from, the random prodding eventually letting her figure out a way to move it around. It was slow and clumsy, but it was progress all the same.
Reach...
She moved this extension of self towards the crutch, now laying on the floor again. Once her mind got there, she felt it wrap itself around the item without her input, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
And grasp...
Sue… wasn’t sure how to think invisible tendril into actually grabbing the piece of wood. Instead of that, she tried to prod the other parts of her brain, not getting much success either. Finally, she tried to mirror the grasping action with her actual hand—and this time; it felt like it worked. Her left hand gripped the air while a small patch of white aura now surrounded the part of the crutch her mind held onto. To her surprise, Sue could feel the wood as if she was actually touching it, the sensation so disembodied from any physical reality it tripped her brain.
“There you go, keep at it. Try lifting it up,” Sundance instructed. Even in the vixen’s focus, it was hard for her student to not notice her emotional outlook having shifted from gloom to veiled excitement, making the reality of her being yet to catch up to a toddler’s level of magical aptitude that bit more bearable.
Her attempts at moving the crutch were only partially successful. Most of the time, the tool only shuffled along the floor, refusing to be lifted at all. Sue wanted to retry the whole maneuver in case she’d grabbed it wrong or something, before hearing Sundance whisper, “^Put more force in, focus harder on your grasp.^”
She didn’t notice the vixen speaking without opening her mouth, instead focusing even harder on her mental reach. The faint glow soon expanded to cover more of the tool, the upward motion that followed briefly lifting it off the ground—only for it to slip out of her uneven hold.
Sue’s aura fizzling out as her eyes shot open—just in time to see Sundance’s orange glow grab the crutch before it could bang against the floor, slowly settling it down afterwards. “Definitely not bad for your first attempt. How are you feeling, Sue?”
It was a tricky question. There was the triumph of achieving at least the minimum of progress with her psychic magic, disbelief at how unreal it all felt, anxiety over whether she would ever be able to catch up to the ‘natural’ level of skill, and finally, the unease from earlier, not helping any. “I’m... I’m good I-I think. Glad I didn’t turn out to be broken or anything.”
“Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with you, Sue,” Sundance smiled. “It may take a tremendous amount of practice, but I have no doubt that one day you’ll catch up to where you ought to be. Once we get past the basics, it’ll be much easier for you to further explore your psychics on your own.”
The idea of self-directed learning sounded impossibly distant in the moment, but the vixen’s confidence was reassuring, if nothing else. “Okay, th-thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure, Sue. Now, are you ready to tackle the next subject, or do you need more time to get your bearings?”
“Next subject?” Sue leaned back, surprised. “B-but I could only bharely do this one.”
Sundance elaborated, “That’s not wrong, but with fundamentals like these, I think it’s best to introduce you to both key skill sets before delving further into them. Besides, I’ve little doubt you’ll find what’s coming up even more useful than telekinesis.”
Sue had nowhere near the expertise needed to argue with that assessment, leaving her to just ask, “What’s the other s-subject, then?”
“^Telepathy.^”
While she might have missed the previous instance of Sundance speaking without using her mouth, Sue most definitely caught onto it this time, the sight rousing her imagination.
It’d sure be nice to figure out how to communicate with anyone here.
“Oh! How do I d-do it?” Sue asked, revealing her excitement as her hand reached down to resume petting. Her fingertips brushed past something warm and wet where she expected to only feel fur, snatching her attention back to her lap—just in time to see Spark’s impressive array of teeth in mid-yawn. And get to stroking her belly the moment she finished yawning, of course. The high-pitched woofs that followed were as incomprehensible as they were yesterday, confusing Sue somewhat. She could understand Spark before she took a nap, so why not now?
Wait a minute, how did she understand any of them to begin with—
“That would be my doing~,” Sundance winked. Her part in Sue suddenly being able to comprehend everyone was obvious in hindsight, but it didn’t help make the ‘how’ of it all any less mysterious.
Her confusion did not go unnoticed by her mentor, either. “I suppose this subject warrants some explanation beforehand. So—” the vixen paused as Sue jumped at the unfamiliar sensation, feeling as if someone had plucked on an invisible string connecting her head to Sundance’s. “What you just felt was me drawing attention to the mental link between us. They are what telepathy is performed through.”
Wouldn’t have imagined a connection like that to be so… tangible.
“We can take glimpses at each other’s thoughts and emotions through them, and more importantly, ^communicate with just thoughts,^” Sundance elaborated, the mid-sentence switch away from spoken word making for a helpful demonstration in its own right.
It also raised further questions, though. “Ish me understanding what you’re... well, woofing, also telepathy?” Sue asked—and gulped at seeing the vixen be stunned by her question.
For a second she worried about having offended her, but thankfully, she brushed it off soon after. “It is a different form of it, yes. Instead of directly passing you my thoughts, I take the meaning behind my words and get your mind to translate them into the language you’re most familiar with, which you then perceive as hearing it. In a one-on-one conversation between psychics, there’s little practical difference between these two approaches. But…”
A moment passed before Spark noticed something, turning to look back at her mom and asking, “Oh, oh, oh, did you do it, mom?”
“Yes, sweetie—”
“Yay! How are you feeling, Sue? Are you better now?” the lil’ fox perked up, the excited tail wags accompanying her questions making Sue’s heart melt more than her warmth could ever manage.
Before she could answer, her mentor continued, “^We can use these techniques to translate others’ words and act as bridges between those who couldn’t otherwise communicate with each other. And turn ‘woofs’, as you’ve called them, into words.^”
The light ribbing was not undeserved, reassuring Sue that everything was indeed alright. The rest of Sundance’s explanation helped too, withdrawing another brick from her internal fort of confusion. “I’m feeling quite ghood, sweetie,” Sue smiled at Spark. “Your mom is teaching me how to, uh, do all the psychic... thingsh.”
“Oh?” Spark asked, the high-pitched ‘awoo’ that accompanied her expression of confusion straining Sue’s willpower in keeping herself from cooing in response. “You don’t know how to do them? But Mrs. Solstice is also a Forest Guardian, and she knows...”
It was time for Solstice’s cover-up story. Or at least it would’ve been, if Sue remembered it all. The little she still recalled wasn’t appropriate for a little kit, making her nervously look up to Sundance for help—and help was graciously granted. “She hadn’t had the time to study it all, sweetie, and the bite from that nasty creature didn’t help either. But don’t worry, Sue will do her best to catch up, and once you evolve, you could both practice together.”
“Oooooh—oh oh yay! Did you hear Sue!? We’ll get to practice together!” Spark squealed.
Sue was more than down for that, smiling even wider at the little fox. The… odd choice of words deposited a brand new brick of confusion onto her mental fort, with ‘does “evolution” refer to something specific here’ stamped proudly on its front. Something to tackle later, either way. “Yeah, I-I’d love to!”
As much as their chat was heartening for both girls, Sue’s lesson wasn’t over yet. Sundance asked, “Would you mind giving Sue some space to study, sweetie? It’s important she learns the basics without distractions.”
“I won’t distract her, I promise!” the little one pleaded.
Sundance gave her daughter the most unconvinced look Sue had seen in her life, her lifting eyebrows making the kit plead, “Moooom, pleeeeeease!”
The mystic closed her eyes and giggled, “If you promise not to distract Sue and she agrees, I suppose you can stay beside her.”
“YAYAYAY! Please Sue, pleeeease!”
How could I ever hope to refuse a request delivered so adorably?
“Teehee, shure sweetie.”
Sue needed no translation for the high-pitched squeak of pure joy that followed. The fiery fox quickly scooted beside her, keeping her nuzzling to a minimum as her mom continued her teachings. “So—that was that about the basics of telepathy. Now, let’s move to practice. Establishing mental links with other beings is the most important ability for any psychic to have, and serves as a foundation of much more than just telepathy. You’ll get plenty of practice during your stay here, but it’s good to get a good foundation beforehand.”
Sundance drew attention to Sue’s mental reach once more, making her shudder again at the strange sensation—especially now with her feeling like the psychic tendril she’d clumsily maneuvered earlier was but one of many. “Forming links is not too dissimilar from telekinesis. Instead of a physical object, focus on a sentient mind, and reach into it.”
This description of what she had to do would’ve been little more than a word salad for Sue a mere week ago, which made her understanding the gist of it now somewhat disconcerting.
“I’m going to sever our link now and let you attempt to form one yourself,” the vixen explained. “We won’t be able to talk until then, so if you need me to assist you, just wave at me.” Sue felt their link break before she could even respond, the sensation so faint that if she wasn’t expecting something she would’ve shrugged it off as just her hair feeling weird.
Showtime.
With a deep breath, Sue concentrated on the spot her mental reach felt like it sprouted from, exploratory wriggling making her eventually focus on one thread in particular. Her brain had already given up on any attempts to interpret these as actual body parts—though, if anything, that only made the sensations coming from them even weirder.
The invisible extension of Sue’s mind took its time approaching her mentor. Partly because of her being cautious, partly because she had no idea how to make it go any faster. Trying to control the brain tentacle like she would an arm proved somewhat effective, though it had a side effect of the real limb twitching as she controlled her imaginary one. It was stuck moving only as fast as she would move her arm, but something told Sue that was far, far from the fastest this mental thread of hers could go.
It might have taken her a while, but she got there eventually, her reach hovering in front of Sundance’s face. Its awkward position made Sue very glad that nobody else could perceive it as she attempted to dive into the fox’s mind—and only succeeded at sliding it into her physical head, too focused to notice the vixen’s wince.
Sue tried to figure out what she’d done wrong—this was what her mentor had meant, right? She’d reached her brain, and yet felt nothing like what she’d expected to feel, missing any sensation of things clicking into place.
Alright, where did I go wrong this time?
Sue tried thinking back to Sundance’s instructions, replaying them to herself word by word. The source of confusion refused to present itself—she had hovered the funky tentacle into place; she tried to interact with her mind just like she had done with the crutch, but nothing kept happening. Either her mind’s reach wasn’t where she thought it was, or…
…
Or she had a wrong target in mind.
She’d assumed that Sundance was using ‘a sentient mind’ to refer to a brain, but what if that’s not what she meant? It felt like the most probable cause of error, but that then left the question—if the mind she was supposed to target wasn’t the vixen’s brain… what was it, then? What else could it even be?
The handful of ideas she eventually came up with turned out to be duds. Her mental thread continued to move around idly in the space currently occupied by Sundance’s head, the fiery psychic keeping quiet about the discomfort for the sake of learning.
It didn’t take Sundance long to notice Sue struggling with something, though, but she kept quiet until her student had finally admitted defeat with a weak wave. “You almost got there, Sue. Is something wrong?”
“I—uh, I guess I mishunderstood what you meant by ‘reaching into a sentient mind’.”
Sue was disappointed, especially with her earlier progress, but the unpleasant sensation had a hard time sticking for long, not with Spark’s constant affection offsetting it.
How can a creature with this much excess ear hair be so cute?
“I see. I can’t say I don’t understand your interpretation, but it is rather... literal,” Sundance responded, both her and Sue chuckling at the situation, the latter with slight embarrassment. It didn’t last long once the vixen continued, “But no, that’s not it. You’ll need to concentrate on this ability to feel others’ emotions and go beyond just them. The Forest Guardian ability to sense emotions is just one facet of a sense all psychics share, the one that lets us feel other minds around us. A naturally very well developed facet of course, but only that. Minds will feel much fainter than the emotions they radiate, but you’ll have to learn to focus on them.”
Sue nodded weakly, feeling like she barely grasped any of it. Wanting to avoid another wasted opportunity like last time, she was proactive with her questions this time, “So, concentrate o-on that sense, and then try focushing on just... minds, yeah?”
“Correct. It may take a lot of practice to even make them out over the glow of emotions, especially if you haven’t been experimenting much with this sense yet, but I have no doubt you’ll get there, eventually.”
It sure was hard to get disheartened like this, heh.
Sue took a deep breath before concentrating, her body relaxing as she withdrew from the physical senses. She dove as deep into the mental sense as she could, the emotions of the two foxes near her shining so brightly they dimmed all the ones out by their mere presence. Intense as they might have been, she couldn’t deny that adoration and a mix of patience and pride respectively eclipsing everything else felt very, very nice.
Looking past all this is gonna be tricky.
Before she could even attempt doing that, Sue sensed a couple of similarly bright blips of emotion making their way close. As opposed to anything warm, though, they were fear and anxiety, respectively—and from experience, she could pretty confidently narrow the latter to Willow.
…
Wait a min—
*creak!*
The door slamming open snapped Sue out of her trance. As her eyes adjusted to daylight again, Willow passed by before her, accompanied by someone else, their squeaks incomprehensible and their appearance terrifying.
It—they seemed to be half small, mostly yellow humanoid, around as tall as her knee, and half a massive black maw lined with metallic teeth sticking out the back of the humanoid’s head. The second part reminded her of a venus flytrap, but large enough to catch entire body parts and not just insects, and otherwise nightmarish.
The blood didn’t help, either.
Much to Sue’s sanity, a closer look revealed it to have come from an injury on top of the maw, rather than from it having had a bloody snack. Willow wasted no time wrapping bandages around the injured body part, doubling as a flimsy way of keeping it closed.
“—gonna try to heal it some more; it won’t hurt. Is that okay?” the medic asked, suddenly. Sue might have had a better grasp on how the translation worked this time, but that didn’t make it any less surprising to experience. She needed a moment to shake her confusion off as Willow awaited a response from the small, scary creature—a response that wasn’t coming.
As much as Sue’s initial impression of the toothy creature was dominated by the maw hot glued onto the back of their head, taking a better look at their front half and listening to her sixth sense revealed quite a few things—chief among them how utterly scared they were. Their tiny body shook as they looked up between all the adults in the room, backing away from Sundance. Not what Sue expected, given their other half, that’s for sure.
Noticing their distress, Willow kneeled beside the maw creature, and offered them a hug. “Joy, everything is alright, I promise. Nobody is mad at you.” The now-named little one eventually leaned in, letting the medic hold them and do their healing magic, one paw aglow as it stroked the freshly bandaged part of the maw.
“What happened, Joy!?” Spark asked, breaking her affection towards Sue only to redirect it towards Joy, leaning up to nuzzle her side. Thankfully, the newcomer was receptive to the fox’s affection, their fear soon dulling into mere unease.
Willow sighed, “Someone was mean to her and it went way, way too far. Hopefully Cirrus gives whoever did it a good scolding.”
Joy shuffled in place as she was being talked about, twiddling her hands before resting one on Spark’s head. It was also the moment at which she had finally noticed Sue; the sight startling her momentarily before she looked closer—and then, pointed at the recently transformed Forest Guardian. Sue blinked in confusion as the maw child tried to speak, struggling immensely before finally stammering out, “Wh-wh-w-w-who?”
“Sue!” Spark cheered. “I told you about her back at the playground! She’s the one that rescued me!”
The Forest Guardian in question was too preoccupied by curiously observing Joy to get too flustered at the praise. Spark’s description only encouraged Joy further, and the fox kept her company as she ambled towards Sue before giving speaking another try, “H-h-h-hi...”
How could something with a body part this terrifying be this cute?
“H-hello, Jhoy,” Sue smiled, trying to pretend she hadn’t been terrified by the girl’s appearance just moments ago. As simple as her greeting was, it emboldened Joy enough to take a seat beside her, shifting afterwards to hide as much of herself from Sundance as possible. She then grasped Sue’s nearby hand, leaving the Forest Guardian in a bit of an awkward situation. Not that Sue minded that much, especially with the scary bits tied up with bandages and the rest of the little one being admittedly quite adorable.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/0mMqAXh.png]
By the wonderful rrronald @ FurAffinity!
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The abrupt change in her behavior still left her dumbfounded, though, making her give Sundance a confused look in hope of some explanation. She didn’t have to wait long. “Joy’s is a sad situation,” Sundance sighed. “She can’t understand us anymore—best she’s left out of this unpleasant discussion.”
“Can’t she understand you normally?” Sue asked.
The vixen shook her head, “For the most part, no. She hasn’t been here for long and is still only learning our language. From what I’ve heard, her progress has been rather slow.”
Guess we have something in common, hah.
“And the other kids aren’t helping, *sigh*...” Willow groaned.
Sue felt even worse for the little one, reaching with her free hand to pet Joy’s not-scary half; the gesture thankfully received positively. She asked, “Are they bullying her?” The two mouthed girl might have looked... unusual, yes, but she was far, far from the weirdest sight this world had to offer, or even the most intimidating.
Willow closed their eyes, “Some of them are, yeah. Though it’s as much if not more the fault of the adults, we sowed this and are now reaping the results.”
Sue was following this even less now. “How?”
“Her kin is... not well seen,” the medic admitted.
“And that’s putting it lightly,” Sundance grumbled. “I’ve heard several people call them ‘limb eaters’. There was little point in trying to dissuade these kinds of epithets when nobody thought any of her kin would ever join Moonview. But eventually, Joy happened, and now we’re stuck with those terms and attitudes until we can weed them out.”
The term ‘limb eater’ combined with the intimidating maw made Sue gulp as the vixen went on. She had to keep her imagination from turning particularly lively, deciding to distract herself with another unknown. Why did this village, Moonview, think that nobody of Joy’s kin would ever end up joining it? It made little sense to Sue—she’d seen weirder, much weirder creatures during her stay here so far, up to and including actual snakes, after all. “Wh-why would they not join? Joy’s ‘kin’, I mean.”
Willow blinked blankly at her, chuckling to themselves before speaking up, “I almost forgot you’re not from here, heh. Well, eh... from what I heard, they mostly live in caves and... prey on creatures that wander in. Not very friendly—or talkative, for that matter.”
Nope, nope, nope, don’t want to imagine that.
“Then how did Joy get here?” Sue asked, trying to ignore the gruesome imagery the medic’s description invoked.
Sundance asked, “Astra brought her here, right?” The medic nodded firmly in return as Sue stared, lost in the conversation. Before the latter could speak up, though, the vixen elaborated, “Astra is our scout and cartographer. She’s on the lookout for locations we could expand to, new crops we could grow here, and for other settlements to reach out towards. One time, she found a cave to spend the night in, and Joy was there, alone, too terrified to even think about being aggressive. With how little she is, we think she might have gotten left behind by her brood. After some coaxing, Astra got her to open up enough to bring her here.”
Poor little lim—girl.
“She did the right thing,” the vixen continued, “though she couldn’t just pause her scouting duties afterwards, and the lack of someone to watch over Joy throughout the day is hitting her hard. Cirrus can only do so much to reign in over a dozen little ones, and… let’s just say nobody else in the village is exactly racing to look after a limb eater, sigh...”
Heh, not like I don’t have all the free time in the world now...
The thought of taking a little one under her wing made Sue feel much warmer than she’d expected—almost frighteningly so. She shook the entire train of thought off before it grew further, lest she hype herself up for something that would never happen.
“I think she’s out on a scouting job today anyway, won’t be back until late. Speaking of, what time is it…” Willow trailed off as they looked out the window, the sight of many a villager heading towards the plaza making the time of day crystal clear. “Seems the feast is about to kick off. Best get going ourselves, eh?”
Sue’s stomach wasn’t about to argue with that idea, that’s for sure.