Joy stuck close to Sue as the party headed out of the clinic, confused by the sudden commotion. As much as she appreciated Sundance stepping in to explain the upcoming feast to her, that didn’t make her fear the fiery vixen any less, opting to stick to the Forest Guardian of the group for the time being.
Sue didn’t understand her fear, but wasn’t in a position to investigate it. She sensed it all the same, though, letting the toothy child stay as close to her as she wanted if it would help—and help it did. Both Joy and Spark keeping close to her sounded like a recipe for someone getting smacked with a crutch, but they were pulling it off flawlessly.
“Sho, this feast. What will it look like?” Sue asked as they neared the last corner before the plaza’s entrance.
Sundance smirked at Sue from the front of the party. “Those who can help the cooks and the Elders in bringing the food to the hungry mouths. Those who can’t just take a seat somewhere comfortable. And, once all the meals are dispensed, the show begins.”
The Forest Guardian blinked. “The show?”
“You’ll see~!”
Sue wasn’t sure how to respond to Sundance’s tease—though if the vixen wasn’t giving her a straight answer, she guessed it was gonna be a spectacle she didn’t want spoiled. Even with that in mind, though, one detail still stood out to her. “Are you not on the Eldersh Council?”
The question visibly took the vixen aback, her smile deflating as she answered. “Not anymore. I’ve already had my share of bickering in this life.”
Sue supposed that only made sense, even if she wouldn’t have thought of that position as one that someone could just leave. She didn’t have much time to dwell on that as their destination came into view, though. The plaza was as filled as it had been in the morning, but all its occupants seemed to be concentrated in just one half of it, with the other left empty—seemingly intentionally. It wasn’t an issue; between the plentiful tables and makeshift fire pits on the grass, there was space for everyone.
Or so it seemed, at least.
It took a moment for Sue to realize why the fire pits were there, with so many available tables. A glimpse of a large quadruped passing by finally made it click in her head—not everyone could use the benches, after all.
Though there is that one famous painting of dogs playing poker, so what do I know, anyway?
Spotting ‘their’ table turned out to be much easier than expected. Comet was already there, distracted by the ghostly prankster from yesterday with the game of peek-a-boo that involved them phasing their face through the bench the infant sat on.
If his elated squeaks were anything to go by, Comet loved it.
“Finally!” the ghost-alike groaned, looking up at their group. “And here I was thinking I’d have to grab y’all. How’s Crutches doing?”
Spook’s—no, Hazel’s—voice was still as creaky and whispered as Sue remembered it, despite Sundance’s translation. It ended up rather tricky to understand as a result, almost enough for Sue to not even notice a nickname of her own—but only almost. She was about to speak up, before Willow cut her off. “She’s doing just fine Hazel, and you know full well that’s not her name.”
“Yeah, but it ain’t like she’s gonna tell us her real name, eh?” Hazel rolled her eyes.
Alright, now was her moment—
“On the contrary,” the vixen insisted, “she told it to us perfectly well. It only took a bit of help.”
Not the time, Sundance!
Hazel lifted an eyebrow. “So her brain’s not broken then, eh? Pop was guessin’ with all her gesturin’. What’s her name then?”
“Shue!”
The urgency and accidental volume with which Sue had said that made everyone look at her with varying amounts of confusion and concern. Before she could spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment, she cleared her throat and tried again, hoping to save face. “Um, m-my name is Sue.”
“...’Sue’, eh?” Hazel prodded. “Weird name. You from somewhere far?”
You have no idea.
“She is, but now is not the best of times to chat about that, Hazel. Is Poppy still in her kitchen?” the medic asked, stepping in front of Sue to draw the attention away from her.
“Dunno, Willow, prolly. She said Solstice was gonna come over once they were both done. Though... y’all are here and can look after the bowl cut, so I’m gonna go check up on them~,” the spook answered, her grin growing as she took the excuse to get away from the crowd. Before she left, though, she took a moment to pull one last funny face on Comet, stretching her face far beyond what ought to be anatomically possible. Joy and Sue could only stare, aghast, as everyone else just shrugged and approached the bench, far too used to the spook’s antics to pay them any mind anymore.
The professors at my biology department would kill to get some of the locals here under an X-ray.
With Hazel out of the way, the band got seated. Both Joy and Spark were practically glued to Sue, ending up beside her and on her lap, respectively. Comet wanted to join them too, but was quickly snagged away by the other adults as they sat down at the other side of the table. Once the entire group sat down, Spark leaned towards Joy, extending her affection to the other girl. The toothy tyke appreciated it greatly, especially with all the scary strangers around.
Judging by the plentiful empty spots around them, it’d still be awhile until the festivities kicked off properly.
Not a bad opportunity to sate my curiosity before doing the same for my stomach later.
“So... what ish Hazel?” Sue asked, interrupting the group’s idle chatter. She didn’t expect a question this simple to be this hard to interpret, shuddering at the multiple confused expressions turning her way soon after.
“Whatcha mean, Sue?” Willow asked, uncertain. “‘What’s up with Hazel’ or...?”
Their confusion made it clear Sue would need to phrase it in a cleaner way, but she was unsure how. Asking about Hazel’s species felt even more abstract than her original question. It wasn’t even likely to clarify anything, either—after all, she might have known now what her current kin was named, ‘Forest Guardians’, but that explained precious nothing about how her newfound magic worked. Guess she’d have to play even dumber, eh.
Sue tried to not think about it as she elaborated, “Oh, it’s just like, she’s khinda like a ghost with how she walks through stuff...”
“But Ms. Hazel is a ghost!” Spark clarified cheerfully, bluescreening Sue’s brain. The assertion of the ghost-like creature turning out to be an actual ghost somehow took her completely from the left field, despite her best attempts to brace herself for any more of this place’s insanity.
As her mind held on to a piece of wreckage to as to not sink, it eventually arrived at a possible explanation. Maybe the little fox just meant something else by ‘ghost’? Maybe it was just a species name, a weirdly perfectly fitting one, and didn’t actually mean what she thought it meant? That didn’t sound especially likely, but Sue wasn’t about to waste an opportunity to preserve a bit more of her sanity, asking, “Uhm, like... a ghost ghost? Came bhack from the dead and all—”
Spark frowned. “Mom told me it’s very rude to ask about that!”
What.
The kit’s clarification wasn’t doing Sue any favors, making her look up at Sundance with an unspoken ‘help’. The older vixen looked as uncertain about the ongoing situation as Sue was, but she was willing to give her an out—both to resolve the awkward situation, and to hopefully learn more about the world Sue came from. She explained, “Sue didn’t know, sweetie. She’s from very far away.”
“Ooooh. Really!?” Spark perked up, tail wagging as she turned to look at her big friend once more, her wide-eyed gaze melting through any residual embarrassment.
“Yeah!” Sue confirmed. “Really, really far away. I-I’ve never seen a ghosht...”
“Really!? But they’re not that rare... and you knew what a ghost was already?” the lil’ kit tilted her head.
Awfully perceptive for a fiery critter that doesn’t even come close to clearing my knee.
Sue cobbled together an excuse on the fly. “Well, I’ve heard of them, but thought they were jusht a myth or a scary story, y’know.”
“Noooo, of course not!” Spark giggled. “There are many of them in Moonview, and even more in the woods! Most of them are even nice!”
Sue wasn’t sure whether the ‘nice’ category included Hazel, but the reassurance that her soul would probably not be eaten by a wild, undead specter was appreciated. Even with that in mind, though, the shock of ghosts being real here still hit her hard—as if deities, fox shaped heaters, brain magic martians and plant people weren’t enough already. Then again, not like ghosts didn’t fit with all the fantasy wildlife either. She sighed, uncertain what she was expecting here exactly, and asked, “Uh-huh. Are they... dead?”
“Some are; others hatched like that already,” Sundance explained. “There’s no difference between them, and it’s considered very rude to ask.”
Guess now Sue knew that, even if it wouldn’t undo her unintentional faux pas. At least it didn’t happen in front of the being in question. Something something silver linings. She shuddered. “Oh. Sorry...”
“It’s fine, do not worry Sue. No way you could’ve known, after all,” the older vixen reassured. Her warm smile brought Sue relief, especially when combined with Joy hugging her hand.
Willow wasn’t done with the conversation yet, adding, “Though, not like Hazel hasn’t been outspoken about having come back from the dead.” Sundance tilted her head with an ‘I suppose’ expression at their words, leaving the once-human even more confused. The medic wasted no time before continuing; “It’s all a rather sensitive issue. There’s still some prejudice against ghosts that had returned from the afterlife, painting them as wanting to drag others to the afterlife or hurt the living out of spite. Hard to shake off for many. After Hazel arrived here, many accused her of having come back from the dead, and she eventually snapped and admitted it—and now, she wears it as a badge of pride, in a way.”
Seems the kind of ghosts Sue had heard of were still here, with the teensy tiny distinction of there also being non-undead ghosts. Somehow. Whether the latter counted as alive was a question Sue considered asking for a moment, before tossing it aside, primarily because of not having the slightest idea of how to phrase it. “Uh-huh. So, was Hazel someone else here before she... died?”
“No. We don’t think so, at least—personality didn’t match anyone who had recently passed around that time. I was under the mentorship of my uncle when she joined us, and preparing the dead for burials was part of our duties. We got to see everyone that kicked the bucket, heh,” Willow chuckled, reminiscing about a gruesome, yet important job.
Sue blinked. “Wouldn’t she remember?”
Sundance shook her head and sighed. “She would not. The returned ones don’t keep any memories of their past life. From what Poppy had told me, Hazel’s oldest memory is finding herself sitting on top of a hill under a cloudy sky, not remembering who, where, or even what she was.”
Sue shuddered at the vixen’s explanation. Her own arrival here was plenty traumatic, despite being far less drastic—to imagine it with no memories whatsoever, not even of her own name, made her want to give the spectral prankster a hug. “That’s horrible...”
The fiery fox nodded, not blind to the parallels between Sue’s case and Hazel’s. She stretched to reach across the table and lay her paw on Sue’s shoulder, the limb’s warmth comforting. “It is, yes. Eventually, however, she found us, and look at her now—you wouldn’t have guessed what had happened to her. It’s all gonna be alright Sue.”
“Yeah! Mrs. Hazel is doing good, and once your leg gets better, you will too, Sue!” Spark cheered.
“Heh. Thank you, Shpark,” Sue smiled weakly.
Spark’s enthusiasm combined with her mom’s reassurance brought a smile onto Sue’s face, netting her all the head pets the once-human could dish out. Her toothy grin was almost as precious as her giggling, though slightly marred by some of said teeth looking way sharper than they ought to for any creature this cute. She wasn’t done with her own curiosity yet, asking, “Oh, oh, oh! Where are you from, Sue!?”
Her mom reminded, “I told you Spark, she’s from very far away.”
“Yeah, but what is it like there? Oh, oh, oh, is anyone there like us?”
Sue was unsure how to respond, for multiple reasons. There was keeping the truth of her origins secret, and while she trusted Willow and Sundance to keep that knowledge to themselves, Spark was another case entirely. The even bigger issue, though, was just how uncomfortable the truth was, especially regarding the similarities between the intelligent creatures here and the… at the very least, not obviously intelligent animals of her homeworld.
The rest of the group was no less curious than the excitable kit, even if they expressed it in more subdued ways—Sue’s sixth sense let her pick up on all of it. Hell, even Joy wanted to hear more, intrigued by the mysterious faraway land her newly made friend had come from. Comet was the only one that didn’t care either way, content with his company and having very warm fur to snuggle into, expressing his approval with a high-pitched squeak.
Sue explained, “It’s... quite similar to here, in most ways at least. There are many kinds of creaturesh there, some like the ones here, but more... mundane.”
“Mundane? Like, Normal?” Spark perked up.
Sue could tell there was something more to her word choice, but couldn’t determine it from her mood alone. She prodded some more; “Like... th-there are creatures there that are shimilar in appearance to you Spark, just... without the whole, uh... fire, thing.”
Or sapience, for that matter.
Spark nodded. “So, Normal then! That sounds boring.” It didn’t take her long for her to realize her gaffe, looking apologetically at the medic before her mom could even give her the look. “Oh, sorry, Willow!”
“Oh, it’s alright sweetie, I get it,” the elderly medic chuckled. “Though, with that in mind, is that true, Sue? Does the place you’re from really only have Normal-types?” they asked, before correcting themselves shortly afterwards to maintain the pretense for the little ones, “Except for Forest Guardians, that is?”
A straightforward answer would’ve been a ‘yes’. A truthful answer would’ve been ‘what in the world is a Normal-type’. Sue went a step beyond either of those, playing dumber still, hoping to figure out just that bit more about how this weird world worked. “I-I think so, but I’m not sure about what ‘Normal’ meansh here...”
“Whaaaaaat?” Spark squeaked, “but it just means—”
Willow intervened, “No, no, Spark, that is a fair question! Especially if Sue had little to do with those outside her kin.”
Sue took the cue, nodding along eagerly, “Yeah, I-I’ve only lived with other Forest Guardiansh before...”
Thank Duck Solstice wasn’t around, else she would’ve had a hard time not laughing at such an obvious lie.
“See, Spark~?” the medic chuckled before pointing all around. “Well, Sue, you might’ve noticed how Spark and Sundance have a particular affinity for fire and warmth, while yourself, Solstice, and Sundance all have the gift of psychic senses. Hazel is a ghost, of course; you, Solstice, and Poppy have a special connection with the Moon. These are what some call ‘types’, though they’re a very vague description. Most beings have a type or another, or even two, but some just don’t. Those that don’t have any of those traits, gifts, or however you want to call them, are bundled together as the ‘Normal’ type—”
Spark cut in, “But what about—”
“Yes, yes, there’s a bit more to it than that, but let’s keep it simple for Sue for now.”
Sue slowly nodded, the concept making some sense to her. The two fire foxes weren’t the only fire themed beings in here, so having a ‘type’ to bundle them all under felt reasonable. It was just one of several kinds of… well, superpowers, and the poor schmucks without them were the ‘Normal’ ones. Considering the apparent power level of everyone else around, that sounded… awful. “Okay, yeah, there are only these Normal types where I’m from. K-kinda sad really...”
In another world, all the critters on Earth could’ve been sentient beings, able to communicate with each other and live for more than a panic fueled fight to survive and pass on their genes before a brutal death... oh well.
“Eh, I’d say it’s not that bad, personally,” Willow winked. “Though yes, that situation does sound peculiar and hard to imagine. But—I’m also curious about you specifically, Sue. What did you do back there?”
Oops. Guess if Willow also fell under the umbrella of ‘Normal’, then that group also had access to some magic at least, and stood a chance after all. Their question turned out even more difficult to answer than the first one. Sure, she could say that she is—or was, rather—a computer science student at a local university.
But then she’d have to spend ten hours explaining every word of that sentence, including all the concepts needed to make sense of her original answer and all the ideas needed for those concepts, and so on and so on, working her way up from the basics the rest of the group would grasp intuitively. Decent odds the feast would still not have been ready by the time she was finished, but Sue preferred not to push her luck. “It’s... very hard to describe. I-I can say I was studying how to use a certain very c-complicated contraption. For counthing, and other thingsh...”
‘Other’ was definitely the load-bearing word of that sentence.
Sundance hummed, tapping her claws on the table as she thought back. “Hmm... something like an abacus? I recall a few settlements using those in my travels, and I think one of the recent arrivals has even brought one with themselves. Completely beyond me how they function.”
“Uhm, yes! K-kinda like those, bhut more complex,” Sue nodded, sighing in relief that she was able to inch her way towards a somewhat coherent answer. The vixen’s response provided an excuse to redirect the conversation away from herself, at least for a moment—and Sue wouldn’t waste it. “D-did you travel a lot, Shundance?”
“Oh my gosh, you have no idea Sue!” Spark perked up. “My mom traveled around the world for years! Right mom!?”
The vixen chuckled at her daughter’s enthusiasm, moving one paw in a scritching motion. Her mental magic transferred her affection towards her little one at the other side of the table as she began, “I suppose that’s not a wholly inaccurate way to describe it, but ‘traveled’ makes it sound a lot more structured than it ever was, really. Never had a grand plan to ‘travel around the entire world’ or anything like that. I just wanted to wander until my legs fell off, see everything there was to be seen, everything and everyone, and figure myself out while at it.”
Sue could acutely relate to the desire Sundance had described.
She wasn’t ever in a position to just let go of all earthly attachments and hitchhike across the globe for a year or two, even if she daydreamed about it every once in a while. Hell, even once she finished college, she’d need to save up for a good few years afterwards just to afford a week-long vacation, let alone anything more than that...
It felt so much more possible just a few years back. She was about to wrap up high school, ready to take on everything the world had to show her, dad was still around… and then the diagnosis came, and a few months later, he was gone. Suddenly, any frivolities took a back seat to making sure she could make it through college without taking on too much debt.
Didn’t even really have the time to mourn, just had to grit her teeth and get down to holding on—
“Sue?” Sundance spoke up, expression concerned at Sue’s drawn-out pause.
Sue shook herself out of it. “O-oh, shorry. Just got lost in thought. I... definitely know what you meant th-there, and can relate a lot.”
“And haven’t been able to explore like that yourself?”
Not until now, at least.
Sue nodded, sighing deeply. She didn’t want to be questioned about why on the spot, though, immediately swerving the conversation back—“It’s alright. I-I’m curious though, why did you want to exphlore, and what did you shee out there?”
The redirection away from herself wasn’t exactly subtle, but Sundance wasn’t about to make a fuss about that. She couldn’t blame Sue for not wanting to talk about her past life too much, with it only reminding her more about being stranded here—and even beside that, prying would just be rude. “The ‘why’ question is much simpler than the ‘what’, because it wasn’t really my choice.”
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Sue blinked, the revelation painting Sundance’s travel in a wholly different light. “Wait, what? Were you kicked out?”
“Essentially, yes. It wasn’t an act of cruelty—not of explicit cruelty, at least. It was just how my kin... did things, out in the desert. Females were kicked out of the nest after they evolved and had to fend for themselves. Hunt, build their own nests, look for mates. Gain the experience and wisdom needed to one day be in charge of their own brood.”
Spark huddled on Sue’s lap as her mom went on, the once-human hoping to Duck that the poor kit wouldn’t be subjected to all that. The whole thing gave Sue a whiplash and a half—for how human-like the creatures here behaved, this revelation reminded her they weren’t humans, and that their animality extended beyond just appearance. And it’s not like Sundance’s parents weren’t aware of what they were doing, making it even more vile. It was no animalistic instinct.
It was a conscious choice.
“H-how could they do thish to you?” Sue asked, aghast.
“It’s just... how things used to be done,” the vixen began, shuddering. “The conditions my kin live in, out in the desert, are unpleasant. Dens are cramped, food is scarce, it’s hard to sustain a whole brood, and… compromises have to be made. Brood mothers have the final say on everything, and that level of responsibility requires grit and experience—or at least, that’s how my mother justified it. It’s heinous, no two words about it. But that’s how things were, and probably still are, out there. You won’t see me trekking back there to investigate.”
Sundance took a deep breath, shaking the mental muck off before continuing, “I wasn’t interested in settling down. The desert sands weren’t particularly fascinating, but I knew that vastly different places lay beyond, so I kept going—I wanted to see that different world. Every so often, I ran into someone else of my kin, another den. They couldn’t take me in, of course, but it was a common custom to offer a night’s respite and for brood mothers to share any wisdom and knowledge they had.”
She smirked, “And, well,” before flicking her arm upwards and sliding a stick as long as her forearm out of its hiding spot in her fur, its tip immediately catching flame. “Flames might not solve every problem—or even many problems—but they make for a very effective repellent from those mistaking you for easy prey. Especially with a bit of knowledge on how to apply them.”
“Oh, oh, oh, mom can you show Sue—” Spark woofed, excited, before her mom cut her off.
“Probably not the best idea for me to show off right before the main event, sweetie, don’t you think~?”
Spark grumbled, “I—I guess...”
The table giggled at the lil’ kit’s enthusiasm being extinguished, Sue not hesitating to make up for it with further affection.
“Besides, I never was one for strife. I know a flashy technique or two, but most of those are only ever useful in a life of violence, and I—” Sundance blew off the flame at the tip of her stick before sheathing it as swiftly as she had pulled it out, “—chose a different path. It took me over half a year—the desert was horribly vast, after all—but eventually I made it over to grasslands, and eventually, forests. Got to experience how delicious berries could taste and never looked back. Even most desert dwellers didn’t want to risk taking a bite out of me—you can imagine how much less alluring that became with everything in the vicinity now flammable.”
Oh shit.
Sue didn’t suspect the vixen of being willing to resort to something this dangerous without a justified reason. Even so, just trying to imagine the sheer damage she could do if she did was unnerving, not to mention humbling. Hopefully her lessons, be they with Sundance or Solstice, would cover self-defense before long. Or better yet, she’d get to go home…
It was hard for the fiery fox not to sense Sue’s desire. Still, she kept weaving her tale, wanting to avoid drawing attention to Sue’s distress. “It let me travel freely and relatively safely, if nothing else. Not to say there weren’t occasional fools who tried their luck, but most brawls ended in seconds with one side running away with some freshly charred fur. I saw many settlements, most of them tiny compared to this one, even back then.”
The change of subject helped Sue shake the moment of dread from before, eyebrow raising at the prospect of there being more places like this. Many, many more, judging by the way Sundance phrased it. “So, are there more townsh like this?” she asked, leaning in closer.
Sundance smiled. “Plenty. Ones as large as this one are few and far between, though. This town and the Central City, where me and Solstice just got back from, are the only two in this general area. To get anywhere else you’re looking for a weeklong trek, if not longer. Most settlements I’ve seen were much more modest, and by and large didn’t let outsiders stay permanently. They were more so several families banding together to share resources and watch each other’s backs than anything else. Still, they were usually welcoming, if briefly and at arm’s length. Many had unique spiritual traditions, which was the other thing I wanted to explore and witness.”
Sue thought back to Duck’s shrine, wondering how it stacked against other religions of this world, especially with Duck being real to some extent if her dreams were anything to go by. Of course, they also implied the Night Father was real, too, which probably made monotheistic religions… something of a hard sell here. “What did you shee?”
“Almost anything you can imagine, really. Worship of one deity, worship of multiple, worship of all, worship of none. Beliefs in an uncountable number of spirits all around us from times untold, in an upcoming end of the world, in the natural order, in the cessation of the natural order, in reincarnation, in hells and heavens of myriad forms. Far too much to summarize. Thoroughly humbling, one and all.”
Sundance paused to catch her breath, briefly closing her eyes as she sorted through a lifetime of experiences in her mind. “I was never particularly devoted to my worship of the sun, and seeing it all made me relax my faith even further. If there was one throughline to everything I’ve seen, it’s that nobody really knows why we’re here and what awaits us after death, so might as well be kind to one another, and to ourselves. An afterlife may or may not exist, but this life sure does, so why not make it a pleasant one?”
The insights weren’t anything extraordinarily deep, but they were reassuring. Sue chuckled, “Heh, I-I kinda thought you would’ve found some deeper truth of the univershe, or shomething...”
“Oh, there definitely are deep insights to be had. But the deeper the insight, the more specific it is,” the vixen explained, shuddering. “As far as broad principles go, being kind and not doing to another as you wouldn’t want done to you are the ones I’ve grown to appreciate the most over the years. I’ve heard more than one truth so piercing it made me want to incinerate the person I was talking to because of how painful, yet unerringly accurate, it was. As true as they rang, none of them would mean anything to anyone in a different position,” she sighed. Noticing Sue’s unnerved look, she quickly followed up—“I-I never actually incinerated anyone like that, just to be clear.”
Okay, phew.
Sundance chuckled softly. If it was someone more familiar with her, she would’ve gotten a bit offended by someone presuming something like that about her—but in Sue’s case, it was more than forgivable. Especially with the girl having no prior experience with fiery beings and Sundance’s soft brag about how fearsome she used to be.
Once Sue had calmed her heart down a bit, she could chew through the vixen’s words properly. And yeah, they largely made sense. It’s not like she knew just what kind of deep wisdom she even expected to hear. Maybe the golden rule was more profound than she had originally given it credit for? Something to ponder on another day. “Okay... n-now I’m curioush, what was the weirdest religion you’ve seen in your travels?”
“‘Weird’ is a very subjective metric, you know,” Sundance chided. “I’m sure I was the weird one for many. Though… I can’t deny that one place in particular was… memorable.”
The entire table listened in closely. From Sue and Joy ready to hear about that encounter for the first time, to Spark wanting her mom to tell it again, to Willow not remembering the details all too well, to Comet just reading the room and keeping himself quiet and comfortable in Sundance’s hold with a bubbly squeak. A perfect audience as far as the older vixen was concerned, but she still needed to establish some things first. “I take you’re not too familiar with the Allfather, right Sue?”
The name brought on the mental image of the Abrahamic deity, making Sue want to reply with a tentative nod. Still, she couldn’t be sure if that was quite it, leading her to shake her head instead.
Sundance took the cue, explaining, “Allfather, Allmother, the Ancestor... quite a few names for them. They are said to have populated the world with living beings. How they did it depends greatly, of course. I’ve heard tales about them creating life from dust, from mud, from salt, from their own wishes, or even by breeding with themselves. A lot of variation on that last point especially. They’re most often depicted as a small, pink creature with a long tail.”
“Do you really not know about Allfather, Sue!?” Spark squeaked, incredulous.
Sue was unsure how to answer Spark’s question. Sundance’s brief description did indeed make the being in question sound even more like the monotheistic deity she was familiar with, but it also had elements of other religions’ creation myths, so it was really hard to know for certain. Wouldn’t hurt to ask. “I—maybe? They also created the resht of the world, right?”
“That is not typically attributed to them, no. Most many-god faiths I’ve seen assign that feat to another deity. So, that eerie place I mentioned—they had a faith centered on the Allfather, but according to them, they were an evil deity.”
Evil creation deity was a new one. “How sho?” Sue asked, eyes going a bit wider.
“Their logic is surprisingly sound. If Allfather created all the creatures, then they did so deliberately and with a plan. The circle of life, the split between predator creatures and the prey creatures, and so on, are all deliberate, which makes the Allfather evil, profoundly evil, for knowing about the unceasing misery they were sentencing their creation through, but going along with it, anyway. Unsurprisingly, that faith was mostly held by lower, ‘prey’ species.”
Sue nodded along for now. The idea was outlandish enough that she’d need more than a moment to chew on it and find out if it truly made sense to her, but wanted to hear the rest of it.
Sundance continued, “As such, they worship another deity, whom they call the Usurper, for it is destined to usurp the Allfather’s throne and reign over mortal beings. According to them, this Usurper will bring on a new era, one that can scarcely even be imagined right now, one where the circle of life has been broken and its suffering ended. Its form is said to be beyond comprehension, an ever-changing mass of sunset and midday, of orange and blue. That wasn’t even the memorable part of it; that would have to be the chanting. I was hungry, tired, and had stumbled upon their ceremony. They invited me over and promised food afterwards, but until then, we were to chant, chant for their deity to come, ‘Arise Usurper!’, ‘Arise Usurper!’. It was... surreal.”
“Did they at least feed you after all that?” Willow asked, chuckling to themself.
“Oh yes, they did,” Sundance answered, shuddering. “They were rather hospitable, but I opted to get going by the next day’s sunrise. It all… unnerved me past a certain point.”
Wonder what, or who, they would’ve had for their next dinner had she stayed…
“Why did you stop traveling, mom?” Spark asked, supporting herself on the table with her forelegs as she looked up at her mom. All the tales so far have been exciting enough to make the little one wonder why one would ever want to stop.
And for that… Sundance didn’t have a simple answer. “Why did I stop? I don’t think there was a single, specific reason for it. Part of it was exhaustion, no doubt—I had been wandering around the world for over a hundred moons by then, almost two hundred. I was tired physically and mentally, felt like I had learned enough, and perhaps most of all, I finally wanted to contribute to somewhere where I could spend the rest of my days. After going over every single memorable settlement I had visited in my journeys, a decently sizable village by a small stream back in the south caught my attention. By the time I got back there, it had grown a lot since I last saw it, and now it’s plenty bigger than that still!” she smiled, taking a moment to take the surrounding buildings in.
“To this day, I’m not sure if I really remember when you visited us for the first time, Sundance, or if my failing memory made it up after you brought it up. By the Pale Lady, do I remember when you arrived for the second time, ha!” Willow laughed as the vixen tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes too much.
“Oh oh oh, what was mom like then, Willow? Did she do something cool!?” Spark asked, tail wagging even harder.
“She looked like she hadn’t slept in a week beforehand, and the moment we sat her down and gave her food, she dozed off and slept for two days straight.”
Sue tried and failed to hold in laughter at hearing that—she sure didn’t think that herself from the last semester would have so much in common with her newly found mentor, or at least her past.
“Yes, that entire time period was a blur,” Sundance chuckled, “but it’s hard to forget just how profoundly exhausted I was, and how relieving having somewhere safe to rest was. It’s something that I would never want to deny from another being, no matter their kin or type.”
The indirect jab in Sundance’s response went over the heads of everyone but its direct target. Sue wasn’t sure why Willow was squirming like this all of a sudden, but she knew she still had more to ask them. “How long h-have you been here for, Willow?”
The medic appreciated the distraction, eagerly responding, “How long~? My dear, my family founded this place!”
Now that was an interesting twist. “Really?” Sue asked.
“Mhm! Well, I suppose if you get down to the nitty gritty, someone else had a hand in it too, but that’s the gist of it, indeed.”
Spark might have heard this story enough times to not be as curious about it anymore, but that couldn’t be said about Joy, the little big maw creature standing up to peek at Willow from behind the table. Sundance held in a smile at her antics and tried not to look at her directly lest she get spooked, smirking, “I had to elaborate, Willow; we have the time for you to go into detail, don’t you think~?” she asked in a playful tone, winking at Sue and managing to conceal enough of her other feelings for not even the Forest Guardian to notice.
The once-human reached down to hold Joy closer while avoiding her back maw, the girl briefly wincing at the touch before relaxing into it as the medic sighed and continued, “We do, indeed. So~ a long time ago, before even my grandparents had hatched yet, my clan had a modest dwelling here. Just a large burrow and a small wooden hut on the outside. We weren’t proficient craftsmen, and, well, I suppose it’s not much of a surprise that we didn’t have the shared strength to put together a sturdier shelter, ha.”
That’s one hunch validated.
“We took pride in healing anyone who came, staying neutral in any larger conflicts and trying to compile all the medical knowledge we could. Part of it was tradition, of course, one started so long ago that the bones of anyone that saw it take form have long since become dust. But the rest was… us being rather easily pressured into inaction. We were bad craftsmen, but we were even worse at fighting, including any self defense.”
“If only you had someone soft spoken yet carrying a flaming stick to stand up for you back then,” Sundance smirked.
“Well, we do now, better late than never, ha! It was an actual issue at the time, though,” Willow continued, calming themselves down. “We were at the mercy of the woods in a very literal way, pleading for them to not send someone mighty with a vendetta our way. Fortunately, that wouldn’t be the case forever, thanks to Granite’s forefather.”
Before Sue could ask who that was, she felt her attention being drawn to one of the builders she’d seen yesterday, a gray creature with four arms sitting beside a small firepit a few meters away from them. Despite it being her second time seeing them, their similarity to a human being didn’t result in any less whiplash this time. As she took their appearance in, Sue noticed Joy looking around in confusion. She might not have known how to magically redirect the lil’ girl’s focus in the same way as her own had been moments prior, but she could point well enough.
She lightly tapped the back of Joy’s front head before pointing out the villager in question, trying to keep it inconspicuous. Though, considering the sudden uproar of laughter that took over Granite and the rest of their band shortly after, they probably weren’t paying too much attention to their group.
Once they had both taken in enough of the builder’s appearance, Willow continued. “Thank you, Sundance. Sadly, his forefather’s name has been lost to time, but not his actions. He had stumbled upon our little shelter in need of aid after getting poisoned, which, of course, we gave. In return, he vowed to repay us once he had completed his pilgrimage to a sacred mountain, which he was in the middle of. We were used to promises like that; most of them were never acted upon, and we didn’t expect much once he’d left. A Moon passed, then another, then a few more. I believe it had been almost twenty Moons since his original visit, but he eventually came back with a mate, and proclaimed that he was settling down near us and had taken it as his life mission to aid us and our cause.”
Sue blinked, surprised. “Soundsh... rather drastic.”
“Oh, it absolutely was,” the medic laughed, “we were just as dumbfounded as you are! Took a while to get an answer out of him; he was so dedicated to working hard that he never sat down for long. In short, his pilgrimage had been in search of guidance from the spirits, and help in finding a virtuous deed to dedicate his life towards. And, as he sat meditating on the mountain’s peak, he realized that our little clan was the right choice.”
“Didn’t he already want to help?” Spark asked.
“Yes, but that revelation changed it from maybe building something for us once as thanks to settling down permanently and helping us expand—and help us he did. That building you sleep in, Sue, was supposedly one of the first to be built by him. He helped us grow, and even more importantly, he made for a very effective bodyguard. We still healed all who came, of course, but now we could afford to be more assertive and work to make our corner of the world safer for everyone. And from there on, more people kept showing up. It’s much easier to grow past a certain size—more travelers will come by, and some will decide to settle down. Hundreds of Moons passed, people kept coming, we kept growing. We took to the Pale Lady’s worship, our nameless village turned into Moonview, we carved out a decent clearing that we’re only now finally filling in, continued to gather our knowledge and pass it down the generations…”
Willow took a deep breath, chuckling to themselves, and concluded, “And now, there’s just me left.”
Wait, what?
“Wh-what do you mean, only you?” Sue asked, stunned.
The medic calmly answered, “I’m the last of my clan, Sue. Once I’m gone, that’ll be it for us.”
The casualness with which Willow said that was chilling. For a moment, Sue thought it was a sorrowful resignation, admitting the inevitable, but they truly weren’t all that bothered by the harrowing realization, remaining as upbeat as ever. She blurted out, “B-but how?”
“We kept expanding for a while, but there’s only so much you can grow if you want to avoid mingling with close relatives, but once we had the people to pass our knowledge and mission to, it wasn’t an issue anymore. All things end; that’s just how life is. Considering everything, I’d say we had a pretty good run—wouldn’t you agree, Sue?” they asked, smiling.
How do I even respond to that?
The prospect of accepting one’s demise so calmly was completely alien to Sue. She had to exorcize the occasional thoughts about her inevitable death with hot cocoa and funny internet videos whenever they came up, just to distract her from her own mortality. Even brief forays into that subject threatened to send her into a panic attack, and Willow just... didn’t care. “I—I guess. That’s shtill sad though, isn’t it?” She asked, more shook by this than anything Solstice had told them about.
Willow shrugged, “In a way it is, I suppose. At the same time, the sorrow of a loss is offset by the joy of giving something else a chance to grow instead. Life keeps going, after all.”
Guess this was something she’d be taking to bed with her tonight, and without a pleasant distraction, no less. “I guess I-I never thought of it like this.”
“Makes sense!” they giggled. “You’re still young, whole life ahead of you, little point to coming to terms with one’s death just yet, ha! And speaking of things ahead of us~!” Willow looked away from the table as their expression lit up, the reason not hard to figure out—food was on its way!
Oh, and Solstice, too.
The other Forest Guardian was holding a bowl of freshly roasted treats in each hand, with a few more suspended in front of her with her magic. Her glowing eyes were even starker as the sunset crept on them, though Comet’s excited squeaks made it hard to focus on them.
“That ought to be most of it. Apologies for the delay—there was a sad mishap in one kitchen and it took longer to get everything prepared, but we should be ready to start soon. Are you all feeling alright?” Solstice asked as she leaned on the table, catching her breath while magically pulling her son out of Sundance’s arms and into her own. Joy huddled closer to her big friend at the Mayor’s appearance, but kept watching.
“We’re doing alright,” Willow smiled, “we were just telling Sue about Moonview’s history, and Sundance reminisced about her travels for the hundredth time.”
The older Forest Guardian chuckled. “Sounds like her, alright.”
Sundance couldn’t keep herself mature enough not to stick her tongue out in response, sending the rest of the table giggling. “As if you don’t have your own share of stories.”
Solstice rolled her eyes at that, the sight slightly unnerving considering their size. “Touche. I suppose I can be swayed into telling some of them again after the show—but first, mind lending us a hand, Sundance? We’re wrapping things up, and a couple extra pairs of hands would help a lot.”
“You got it,” the vixen answered without skipping a beat, rolling her shoulders as she got up from her seat.
With the two women gone and Comet begrudgingly left in Willow’s lap, Sue had a wonderful opportunity to inspect the food left in their wake, the display making more than one gathered stomach rumble in anticipation. Grilled berries looking almost like cuts of meat, thick stews, browned and spiced root veggies, even ice cream! Or at the very least, something very similar looking, smelling of sugared fruits and radiating coldness.
Spark’s excited barking interrupted Sue’s observation—and made her acutely realize she wasn’t gonna be doing much of any talking with Sundance gone. Despite the safety surrounding her, being left with nobody who could understand her was still chilling.
Sue tried to piece together what she could make out of the conversation that followed. Spark’s barks, a question most likely, were responded to with Willow’s firm squeak. The kit then tried to bargain a couple more times, eventually giving up and laying down Sue’s lap with a small grumble.
Sorry Spark, we all have to wait, which means so do you~
Her big friend’s pets helped the lil’ fox feel better, as did Joy joining in on them, even if hers were much clumsier and had nowhere to reach. Humble as her efforts were, Spark got noticeably happier at seeing the toothy girl contribute. Having the bridge of her snout petted made her sneeze shortly afterwards, though, a handful of sparks thankfully redirected into the air. As much as the sight took Joy aback, it made her giggle, too. The sound was rather hoarse, but adorable all the same.
The rest of the wait went by quietly, the encampment quickly growing calmer as the sun set and the last dishes were handed out. Even the firepits were snuffed out in not too long, the tension in the air feeling downright palpable. Sundance and Solstice kept quiet as they snuck back over to the table, Solstice sitting down beside Sue after fetching Comet from Willow.
“When’s it gonna shtart?” Sue whispered in anticipation, green hair standing on edge.
Solstice responded, equally quiet, “^Any second now—^”
*PFOOOM!*
A plume of flames erupted suddenly at the far side of the clearing, silencing all onlookers. Sue swept Joy up into her arms after noticing her desperately trying to peek over the table. She weighed more than expected, but nowhere near enough to dissuade her friend as the show got started.
The inferno burst into a five-armed shape at its apex, raining embers over the modest, raised stage and illuminating the two beings facing each other on its opposite ends. To Sue’s left, someone red-colored with yellow legs, white top, humanoid shape and a nimble build. To her right, someone blue with white accents, bulky build and a massive tail.
And then, once the first ember had touched the stage, they charged at each other, turning into little more than blurs.
The blue one’s horn glowing bright purple took Sue aback, the display intimidating. It was matched moments later by the red one’s flurry of burning kicks, brilliant flames leaving fiery tracers in the air. All the while, the blue one dodged and weaved, much faster than its size would hint at it being capable of doing.
Flames and violet glow mixed chaotically in a blazing fast back and forth of swings and kicks, the two contenders moving around the stage as they expertly dodged anything the other tried to dish out. With one last kick, the red one jumped into the shadows behind the stage, with an unfamiliar creature taking their spot—white with a single red part, smaller, shaped like a levitating torso.
They immediately got to work, launching volley after volley of glistening ice shards at the blue one, forcing them into endless dodging. Eventually, the latter counterattacked, spouting a gout of purple liquid at the white one. Their target faded from where it stood, disappearing into thin air—
And reappearing all around the blue one at the same time.
Each clone laughed to itself, filling the air with cacophony before the bulky one stomped the ground with all its might. Moments later, the earth erupted from underneath it, demolishing the stage it stood on and the illusions of the white one surrounding them.
The tremors made the dishes on their table ring a bit; Sue’s breath grew shallow. She was utterly transfixed by the show, too focused to notice anyone else’s reactions, or that Joy was observing the spectacle from behind her fingers.
Suddenly, the white one reappeared behind the blue one, a sphere of dark, crackling energy between its hands. An instant later, the shadowy projectile was launched with a blistering speed; the crowd gasped—only for yet another contender to leap onto the ruins of the stage and take the projectile onto itself, brown and vaguely bear shaped.
Sue’s heart skipped a beat, only to see them get only barely staggered by the blow. The blue one leaped back into the shadows as the brown one swung at the white one, its claws leaving dark tracers that distorted the air, forcing the white one into constant dodging. They finally made some solid ground with a hefty leap before answering with a brilliant blue beam that cut through the darkness, the brown one dashing away just in time for the ground behind it to erupt with massive ice crystals.
Their dodge didn’t give them any breathing time, the white one tagging out and the red one leaping back in with a fiery roundhouse kick. The brown one had to keep backing off from their aggression, aggression which left them open to a counterattack. The opening was capitalized on by the blue one charging in the shadows and stomping the ground with their heft again. Instead of an explosion, a massive stone spike erupted from underneath the red one after they only narrowly avoided being impaled.
At the same time, the brown one was charging up.
Small wisps of yellowish light gathered around its mouth before erupting into an honest-to-Duck laser, aimed at the red one and shooting off way into the sky. It looked almost like a thunderbolt against the backdrop of the night—but only almost, and actual lightning wasn’t about to be outdone.
After weaving and dodging the ray for a few moments around the tip of the stone spike, the red one leaped high into the air, just in time for another performer to show themselves—yellow, bipedal, hidden in the dark.
Roaring.
Their outcry was accompanied by a Thunderbolt shooting out of its body, up into the sky, and down onto the red one in the middle of an overhead kick. Sue’s heart skipped a beat as the bolt of electricity struck their leg before getting redirected downwards onto the blue one. The intensity of the attack kicked up dirt all around the stage, shrouding it for a few moments as everyone’s hearing recovered.
And then, once it had settled, the performers were all standing next to each other on top of what used to be their stage. They faced the audience, lit up by fading embers—and struck a pose each. The crowd’s reaction wasn’t too different from what Sue was used to, though, erupting into a mix of loud cheers, claps, and cries of adoration.
“By the Pale Lady, it feels like they cut it closer every single time...” Solstice whispered, finally letting out a breath she’d been holding. Her words fell on deaf ears, though. Sue was stuck staring wide eyed at the scene as the torches around the plaza were lit once more, with but a single thought thrashing in her head.
What.
The fuck.
Was that.