Some days, Mosor wished she didn't have to walk on all fours. Running an ice cream shop would be infinitely easier on the fox wolf otherwise, and the lunch rush would not be causing major panic.

Turns out, after saving all of Wysdom, and perhaps the world from a maniacal possessed wolf goddess, tended to encourage others to enter their shop, not only with the idea of buying ice cream, but also the idea of getting autographs from the heroes themselves.

The wolf fox shouted orders to the back, at two wolf coyotes: Vanos, the older brother, and Ahmond, the not even adult yet little sister. Both retrieved tubs of ice cream, along with cooking up fries and donuts.

"Having some trouble with the lunch rush?"

Mosor stared up from her work to see her half-sister, Kyofi, grinning at her.

"Yeah," Mosor admitted, and returned the grin. "It's kinda weird we're getting such a rush even though summer just ended." The Autumnal Festival, the biggest of festivals, began in a month, with the end of the fourth month of Voto.

"We're big heroes now, what'd you expect?" Kyofi asked.

"Are you going to help us?" Mosor asked while scooping some ice cream into a bowl.

"Not on my break. Also, if you could get me some mint, that'd be awesome."

Mosor dug her paw into a bowl, and smeared mint onto Kyofi's nose. "Good enough for you?"

Kyofi licked the ice cream off. "Yes."

Mosor rolled her eyes.

A bell went off, and three wolves summoned the attentions of Kyofi and Mosor.

"Uncle Paynut?" Mosor asked. "Aunt Honay? Baynana?"

Kyofi rushed to the back, knocking the counter on the way, and pushing a cabinet open. The three family members came over. "Why, we only see each other once a year, right before the Autumn Festival."

The wolves laughed. Uncle Paynut, the most confident and tallest of them, gestured to his family to sit as he stepped forward. "Mosor, Mosor, Mosor, we're allowed to see you any time we want, now aren't we? Actually, coming to that, we've been considering amongst ourselves if we could, if allowed, spend a week with you and your family?"

Mosor nodded and said, "Of course. Anything for family." Besides, they had enough money. Even if they didn't, family was family. "Please, you three, take a seat in the booths, please."

"We work our own shop," Honay gently reminded her. "If you need any help, it sure wouldn't be a bother."

Mosor shook her head. "No, no, get all your rumps in a booth. We've got everything covered now."

Vanos stared out the food prep room window, fixated on the wolves in the booths. As he slunk back, he muttered, "Wonder what's going on with them."

Kyofi asked, "You think they went broke?" Ahmond's eyes widened.

"Ahmond, how about you go upstairs?" Vanos asked, and Ahmond ran off. Vanos glared at Kyofi, and asked, "What is wrong with you? Don't you know she's only 40?"

Because all members of the Ice Cream Pack had dire blood, they lived a long time, but matured at a decelerated rate.

Kyofi said, "She's not a kid anymore."

"She is so a kid," Vanos said, and explained, "she is not old enough to vote, walk the streets after curfew, and other stuff."

Kyofi said, "What of it, Vanos? You're the only one who thinks she can't hear these things, and she thinks she can't because she's too afraid of the real world. What's your deal?"

"I'm trying to protect my younger sister, unlike you and your lack of effort."

Kyofi shot him a glare. "It's not like you turned out weird or anything because I read straight from the headlines."

"Okay, I'm sorry Kyofi, but at the same time, we're blood. Straight blood. We grew up together, and I don't want her getting involved in any gossip, or having her hear about how a shop went broke, or how that could happen to us. So awful."

"Absolutely awful," Kyofi agreed. "You think that's what happened?"

"Most definitely."

While Mosor fired off orders, both Vanos and Kyofi resumed a half hearted effort to work.

***

In a shady little block, away from Sunnyvilla's bustle, the family of seven entered an older house. Upon opening the door, their sights were greeting with a crimson wolf sleeping upon the couch. Mynt. Her belly was in the air, leaving a nice, exposed target Kyofi sometimes took advantage of. While most quadrupeds didn't bother with clothes, Mynt wore a navy colored vest, having developed a fascination with the authoritative feeling it departed.

Kyofi and Vanos snuck to the kitchenette for an evil, but familiar idea.

"Where are they going?" little Baynana asked.

Mosor leaned her head down. "Something very stupid and very wrong."

Pots and pans dangled from their teeth, as they stood in front of Mynt. A silent count to three, and they clanged the kitchenware together, above her ear.

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Mynt shot up. She jumped forwards, tackling Kyofi and Vanos to the ground. As they arose, Mynt was firmly attached to Kyofi's nape, but the much girthier hyena shook Mynt off.

"My sofa!" Kyofi said as she draped her fat body over, and twisted around. Now her underside was up in the air, exposed.

" So, family is here now," Mosor said, with a tinge of amusement.

Baynana grinned and said. "Yep, and we're here to stay!"

Suspicious looks crossed the elders' faces.

"Baynana," Honay said. "Sweetiefruit, how about you run along now? Ahmond can play with you."

Ahmond nodded. Both wagged their tails at each other, before heading outside.

Honay and Paynut met the wavering gazes of Mynt, Mosor, Vanos, and Kyofi.

"So, you're here to stay?" Mosor asked.

"Last I checked," Vanos said, "you only said you'd be here for a week. But I guess that makes sense. After all, Kyofi and I knew what's been going on, we've been talking it over." He stared up. "Your business failed, didn't it?"

"What!? No," Paynut said. "And while you're adults, your gossiping encourages me to scold you like mere whelps for assuming the worst instantly, instead of trying to ascertain other reasons we may be approaching our family."

Honay said, "Agreed. It is quite hurtful to make such accusations."

Kyofi said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kinda hard to take you both for real when you just told us a bold faced lie. So how about we cut straight to the point, and ask why you two are busting out here, playing games, instead of laying it straight?"

As both shrunk back, Mosor tilted her head. "Uncle Paynut, Aunt Honay, what's really going on here?"

Paynut was first to speak. "Unfortunately, your rumors and gossip are partly true, on the account that we had left our store. But, it was untrue on the premises that we mismanaged our funds, as much as instead we'd rather Baynana get an apprenticeship here. We understand that Ahmond got her start, and got her apprenticeship amongst you fine individuals, and we feel it's best to join your shop."

"We don't need extra members right now," Mynt said.

"Wait, that's not quite true," Mosor said. "We've had a lot of lunch rushes."

"Yes, and that will change and fade over time." Mynt snorted. "Not to mention winter is arriving. And when it arrives, we're going to lose business. And business that cannot be saved by having more employees."

Vanos admitted, "That's not unfair."

Paynut said, "We still live in a small town, and we think we can give Baynana a new start, a better start."

"Is Baynana getting bullied or something?" Kyofi asked.

Paynut said, "No, no, it's not quite that. We're not saying we're leaving her with you and that's that. No, we're still going to live nearby, and we're getting our own jobs. We're providing money for lodging, food, and other expenses as needed."

Mosor's eyes narrowed. Purple vines wrapped around her body, before a same colored wave spread into Paynut and Honay, conjuring a vision from the past, immersing the audience in a full 3d atmosphere.

It showed Baynana, with dark, geometric lines running down her body, in opposition of Mosor's organic purple vines. From those lines, Baynana spread a wave of dark magic into some hyenas, freezing them. Not unconscious, but more than just unmoving.

As the vision ended, Paynut said, "What right did you have to-"

"Stop," Mosor said, with the bark of authority in her tone. "You've been lying to us all day, and now we know she has a unique power."

Vanos recognized the marks, and said, "It'd be cruel if we turned our backs on them now."

Mosor said, "Very well. I guess, since we've dealt with those runes before, we'll help her now, okay?"

But Mynt stood her ground. "Need I remind you we haven't talked this over yet?"

"Need I remind you, we're family?" Mosor asked, standing up to the much taller wolf.

Mynt growled, but fell back.

Mosor said, "We'll be talking about this privately..."

***

Ahmond walked around her yellow cousin. "So, what kinds of games do you play?" Ahmond never was around Baynana often, despite being cousins.

Apparently, when Mosor, Mynt, Kyofi, and Vanos were children, all three family lines of the Ice Cream Pack used to live and play together. Unfortunately, that all changed. The pack banana split. Also, Baynana's parents moved. A lot.

Baynana said, "You ever play Towers the card game?"

"Yeah. Lemme go get my deck."

"No need, I brought a few of mine in my bag." She slung a bag from her back, and fished out two decks.

Wolf paws weren't exactly designed to hold cards, especially since their claws couldn't retract. Therefore, they had to play with strong sleeves that saved the cards from puncturing. Yellow sleeves. Usually a famous character adorning.

Baynana shuffled the decks, but Ahmond tilted her head, and asked, "Aren't we supposed to shuffle our own?"

"But I like shuffling."

"You could stack your own deck," Ahmond said, "so it's not that fair."

"Not a big deal," Baynana said as she put both decks down. Ahmond's smile faltered, but she drew the cards anyway - as it really wasn't a big deal.

None of the cards looked like any she knew.

"What kind of Deck is this?" Ahmond asked, trying to decipher based on the cards.

Baynana raised an eyebrow. "Water?"

"No thanks, I'm not thirsty."

"No, it's a water deck."

"I'm not sure we should do it," Mynt said, arresting the girl's attentions. They listened in. "There's no telling if they're planning anything, anything suspicious."

"It's kinda ironic," Kyofi said, "when you were the one who came here under false pretenses, that you wanted to assess Ahmond's education, when in reality I seem to remember you were just trying to steal the Firefly Diary."

Vanos said, "Yeah, it is kinda weird. Still, they lied."

Kyofi said, "It is pretty rude to just drop in, and it's not our job to raise their kid."

Mosor said, "Family is family, and we help family. So what if Baynana has some dark secret magic that knocks others out? We have some light secret magic that does all kinds of stuff."

"Yeah," Vanos said. "Baynana is from our blood too."

"Well, we're split," Kyofi said.

Ahmond muttered, "I have an opinion too, that would tip the scales." She stared at Baynana. "You know dark magic?"

Baynana said, "Yeah. You wanna see?" She sent a wave of dark runes at Ahmond, but instinctively Ahmond released a brown wave similar to Mosor's. Ahmond's waves countered Baynana's.

"Are you insane?" Ahmond asked. "You tried to use them on me!?"

"You asked!" Baynana accused, but both quieted down when Mynt opened the window.

"What's going on here, girls?"

Baynana opened her mouth, but if Ahmond remembered one thing, she was terrible at lying. "She cheated!"

Mynt raised an eyebrow, and said, "Play by the rules, would you?" She shut the window.

Ahmond said, "So, my powers stopped yours."

"What was it that you did?" Baynana asked.

Ahmond said, "Well, over the summer, we developed things from the Firefly Diary called qualities, and mine is Dependability. Vanos' quality is Willpower. And Mosor's quality is Empathy. But Mynt also has Willpower, it's really weird."

Baynana asked, "Are my runes a quality?"

"I don't know," Ahmond said. "We only saw the runes one time, and they were the runes of fear."

Baynana stared down. "If you can stop my power, maybe we should team up!" She wagged her tail.

As the adults returned to the living room to meet their aunt and uncle, Mosor said, "So, Uncle Paynut, Aunt Honay. We've been thinking about this a lot, and we have varying opinions, and we're at a stalemate."

"No we're not!" Ahmond flung open the door. "I can counter Baynana's power!"

To show it, Baynana released dark runes into the ground, but Ahmond deflected them easily. Everyone else in the family stared, realizing the implications.