The caravan moved on.

It would take them three days to get to Ravenhill. For the time being Alex stayed close to his mother, not exactly sure how to act. He was keen on adjusting his own mind and body to the newfound recollection of memories.

Surprisingly it wasn't as difficult as reincarnation made it sound like. He didn't have split personalities, didn't have to access his memories on a hidden file on his brains or to deal with the adult/children mentality. He was a perfectly sane adult with a children's body. Sure, it could be better if he regained his memories with an appropriate age considering his own twenty-fiveish years of soul, but Alex didn't want to waste his childhood.

One of his regrets was not asking what was to come. Adulthood was a hydra, full of heads waiting to bite you in unexpected places at the same time. In his last life, if he knew better, he would have enjoyed his time while preparing more. 'Can't forget hormones will hit me hard again... Urgh, not looking forward to that'.

So, now that Alex had the time to enjoy his childhood and prepare, he took it. Even if it meant dealing with hormones and antics he didn't remember doing. Those, as he could notice, came naturally to him as it seems all children have instinctive curiosity in them and Alex wasn't an exception.

Those three days wouldn't be wasted, he promised himself. Alex enjoyed every single moment with his mom and asked her all sorts of questions his seven-year-old self haven thought of asking before.

"Why is that tree blue? Are there better carriages or is the normal kind? Are there monsters in these forests?"

These and other questions got him enough information, but Silvia started feeling annoyed and guilty when she thought 'I sure liked the silent Alex we had before'. Instantly she chided herself and propped her son out of the carriage to do some walking and see if he kept quiet for a while.

That, on the other hand, backfired. Seeing new things propped him to ask even more questions about road maintenance, sing placement, wood types and flower colours. She honestly didn't even know so many questions could be asked by a child in such a short time.

Alex ended up stopping when he noticed his excitement was getting the better of him and during the evening when they stopped for camping he wandered a bit around all the people looking for something to keep him out of that endless cycle of new information.

That was when he saw the hunter accompanying them bringing back some small game, a pair of birds and a few hares. Seeing him dropping the animals by the tents got him wondering how his food was processed back on earth. Alex watched intently as the man, with a normal build, black hair and wolf ears, skinned the rabbit.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Usually, that kind of sight might make a few people gag and get away if they are not used to. Alex, on the other hand, had seen his fair share of blood and gore. He watched many hospital series to know a few things about anatomy, and even though he took that knowledge with a pint of salt due to the excessive dramatization of life in a hospital, the gore was on point.

Opening a dead rabbit took practice, he noticed. The hunter har plenty of experience, using a knife to open it up in no more than two cuts. Skinning reminded him of a face transplant done backwards, by someone who didn't care about the end result too much more than keeping the skin itself in one piece.

There was not much blood, which Alex figured the hunter got rid before coming back to camp to not attract wild beasts. There were no monsters nearby and as his mom said to him "This forest is as safe as a forest can get", which means, boars, wolves and bears are still on the table.

Gutting reminded him of a few movies as well, not for good reasons. If there was something that almost made him gag it would be that. Seeing everything inside just falling outside was really offputting.

After finishing the first rabbit the hunter noticed him looking and motioned for him to come closer, which he happily did. Alex then ended up learning how to do those processes, even if he didn't have the necessary strength and practice to actually do them by himself.

The hunter was amazed at how the kid didn't flinch at the blood. He ended up regretting a little calling Alex to come closer as the dam of questions was let loose upon him, but after letting the kid try gutting a rabbit he laughed as Alex managed to get the knife stuck at the fragile rabbit bones.

Alex learned a few more tricks, asked as many questions as he could think, trying really hard not to disturb the wolf-kin too much. "Just call me Robert kid. And don't worry too much about me, I don't mind answering a few questions to someone wishing to learn". That last bit was sure because Alex started feeling nervous about asking more questions and Robert sure knew how to read a kid.

When they were finished with the last hare his mother came to fetch him. She was watching from a safe distance, enjoying the sight of his curious child. 'This trait is new' she thought 'sure, he was always curious, but being able to sit for more than an hour doing only one thing... That is probably the first time... Should I teach him to hunt? Or maybe some magic? No, he is still too young...'

Later, when Alex went to relieve himself, he took the moment to take a good look at his body. Alone, behind a few bushes, with a stream running parallel to the road, Alex took a peek at his bird and examined the best he could without a mirror.

His face, ears, tail and hands screamed 'WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY!!!', but the rest was pretty much human. Sighing with relief at having a normal willy flopping down, he began to check where his fur grew, how his paws worked and if there were any other noticeable things. 'This claws can be handy or a nightmare if I'm not careful', how his nose felt to touch 'Now it makes sense why all of the animals hate when you touch their noses. They can't simply complain about how you are basically reducing their sniffing capabilities. Even though it feels amazing to touch. I didn't even notice, but I end up cleaning them from time to time'.

This self-discovery session almost ended up with him embarrassing himself as someone started making their way through the bushes. Luckily he was not naked.

Sleeping together with his mom made him even more self-aware. She was pretty and smelled nice and inside his mind the adult Alex was feeling awkward. The issue was when she hugged him while sleeping, making his sleep more comfortable but even more troubling. The next morning he woke up in a pillow of fat, as skinnier women would call. He would disagree, they felt like heaven. He knew it felt.