“Call me that again, and I’ll bite it off!”

Sasha backed away, holding her magazine close, claws unsheathed on instinct. The girl in front of her seemed to relent almost immediately, the fire dying as her red-gray fur lowered.

“Sorry,” she said.

Sasha gave a small nod. “It’s okay. I don’t like my nickname either.”

Her response was a smile. One slightly bitter, but a smile nonetheless. Though she was a lot taller than the other kids, Sasha knew the fox sitting in the garden was the same age as them. Only kids eight and up got to play in the garden, according to the boys. Then again, they also claimed Ms. Tia was a robot…

“What’s that?” the fox asked.

“This?” she unrolled her magazine. “It’s Captain Q.”

“Captain? Is he strong?”

“He’s the strongest. You like comics?”

“I haven’t read any.” The fox poked at her notepad. “He looks cool.”

Sasha grinned, the fox’s outburst instantly forgotten. She dared to take a seat. She wasn't shoved away, but the fox seemed to tense up ever so slightly. Sasha set her comic down, finally noticing what the other kid had been drawing. It looked like a stick. But one that was shaped like a misshapen cross. The tip was angled and triangular like- Sasha instantly felt stupid.

A sword. She was drawing a misshapen sword.

"You don't have to stare, y'know," the fox said.

Sasha averted her gaze. "I wasn't staring."

"Uh-huh. And I'm the Dragon King."

Sasha smiled at that. The fox went back to doodling, her pencil running along the page in what appeared to be a person. She couldn't tell what he was, though. His triangular ears looked equally canine and feline.

"So, what's your name?" Sasha asked.

"Cecil," the fox said. "Cecil the Fox."

"Cecil? That's a pretty name."

The fox blushed. "You?"

"I'm Sasha. Sasha the Panther."

"Sasha?"

"Mhmm."

"I like that name too."

Sasha beamed. On a whim she reached, out to grab the fox by the hand, holding it up between them.

“Let’s be friends, Cecil.”

The fox gave her a strange look. Not quite contempt or annoyance, or even confusion, for that matter. She stared back at her for a few seconds. When Sasha didn’t let go, the fox’s ears seemed to rise.

“You’re serious?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Sasha said. “Let's be friends?”

The fox smiled, her tail wagging behind her.

“O-okay,” she said. “Let's be friends.”

***

Sasha ran a hand over the base of the statue. It was perfect. From her bushy tail right down to her red-gray fur. A bit too perfect, in fact.

“Who made this?” she asked.

“Big Sissie!” several kids cried out in unison.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sasha nodded. Figures. Cici did love to make things with her hands. All her toys were things she’d crafted from random junk they’d found on the island. And her notebooks were full of conceptual drafts and skeletons. It was only thanks to her and Iris they managed to turn the remains of a ship into a full-fledged hideout.

“This is the one?” Mr. Xan asked.

“Yeah. She’s a lot shorter in person, but that’s Cici alright. Stupid canine.”

She stared up at the statute only for her vision to grow obscured. Tibby was climbing over her face, the small bee continuing his efforts to get at the hair underneath her helmet. She pulled him off, handing him to the waiting Wendy. The minute he was back with his sister, he found a nice spot on her head to rest.

“Do you know where Ci- Big Sis Foxie went after she made the statute?” Sasha asked.

“Big Sissie flew up on her spayship,” said Lou the beetle.

“Really?”

“Sissie promised she would come back,” Charles said, mandibles clicking.

“Sissie has to fight the bad monsters up in space,” Wendy said.

“Bad monsters? Hmm.” Sasha stood up. “Guess I better go after her before she-”

She cut off as a wave of children all ran up to her, clinging to her with their many arms and somewhat sharp appendages. Though not enough to completely bisect her, the sensation of being grabbed by multiple cacti made Sasha want to scream her head off. She held it in when she heard the crying around her.

“No, don’t go, Big Sasha!”

“Don’t go, Sissie!”

“Sissie, don’t go yet!”

Her shoulders fell. Sasha reached out to stroke each of the kid's heads, the pain a small price to pay. They were just like her denmates. She looked to Mr. Xan for assistance only to find the panda several feet away behind a light post. No help there. She purred, gently hugging the kids she’d somehow been adopted into.

“Alright,” she said. “If you want, I can stay a bit longer.”

The kids all cheered and, much to her discomfort, some hugged her tighter.

***

With the skewer hug behind them, the kids were quick to drag Sasha along to show off their favorite play areas.

There was a tree covered in sap they liked to climb on and nibble at. She couldn’t quite enjoy the latter, but she’d learned to pretend pretty well growing up on South Island.

They took her to the watering hole where they liked to bounce around and fly over the surface. Sasha attempted the endeavor, only to end up soaked. Not that she minded.

They went to a mud park, a trash pit, a meadow of giant flowers.

Before long Sasha found herself completely forgetting the wider cosmos at large. She was back in Shiny. She was home. She invited Mr. Xan to play with them several times. The panda always stayed rooted several feet away.

"C'mon, Big Sasha," the kids were saying.

"Okay, okay, but this is the last stop I-"

She stopped in her tracks. A crater the size of a tournament arena sat in the center of a dirt field. Mounds of rocks and misshapen ground were scattered about, the area dotted with smaller holes here and there.

The kids dove into the craters, tumbling and laughing it up, but Sasha lingered at the edge of the cavity. She touched the ground, an odd sensation rising in her stomach. Signals. She could see something. An image. A white monster crashing down from the sky. The glitter of gems making contact. A fox's smile beaming bright. It all hung in the air for a few seconds, her mind holding on to it as she felt her throat turn into a barren wasteland.

The image faded away.

“Big Sissie?”

She rubbed her throat, looking down to see one of the kids tugging at her pant leg.

“I-I’m alright,” she said. The world around her returned to normal. She shook away the sensations. “C’mon, let’s- Uh. Follow their lead I guess.”

The kid’s mandibles clacked with glee, both heading into the chasm and rolling with the others.

Playing with her new denmates helped her get over the odd occurrence. Whatever she'd seen faded away as she lost herself in being a small cub again. Questions of how she saw what she saw were replaced with the desire to stop herself from hurling. She collapsed on the ground, the kids all falling next to her. The circle of wings and antennas resting against her was much of an improvement over the earlier iron maiden-like hug. Staring up at the sky, they could all watch the purple hue from the dual suns setting. A cue for bedtime if there ever was one.

“Do your guardians know you’re out here playing?” Sasha asked.

“What’s a guardian?” one kid asked.

“Point taken. All the same, you kids should be getting ready for shut-eye time. And I need to get back to my ship.”

The kids all groaned in unison. If not for the fact that she had a job to do, she would have loved to play with them even longer. But she knew the longer she stayed, the farther away Cici and Iris would get. And she could tell Mr. Xan was getting close to abandoning her out of spite.

“When will you be back?” one kid asked.

“I don’t know, really. But when I do, Big Sis Foxie will be with me. Then we can all play together, okay.”

That seemed to cheer the kids up. Sasha extended a hand. It was something they’d do back on Shiny every so often. And to her surprise, the kids seemed to understand without her explaining it. All their hands rose to hers, some having to sit up to reach and a few even flying. Sasha giggled.

“It's a promise, then. I’ll be back with Big Sissie in no time. I’ll even make sure to bring Big Wolfie back too.”

They all shook their hands as one, the oath solidified between the twenty or so of them as they parted. One she fully intended to fulfill.

"Big Sissie," Lou said. "Who's that giant man following us?"

Sasha snickered. "That's my liason. Don't mind him. But you're welcome to join us if you want, Mr. Xan!"

The panda didn't respond, simply watching them from behind a rock.