Nikita, 17 years old, 4th month of 948
The most pleasant dream of my life came to an end, and I slowly opened my eyes. I slowly blinked before raising a hand up to rub at my eyes. Based on the light trickling through the tall windows, the sun had just peaked above the eastern horizon. To my left and right, Meera and Uma were still fast asleep, while Aashvi had managed to roll off the bedding and was curled up on the floor.
What was all of that…? Oof.
Alongside my returning consciousness came another sensation, one of discomfort. Discomfort that was coming from around my tail. I sat up with a start, now wide awake, and reached around to my backside. Responding to the mental command, both of my tails curled around either side of my torso. And my fur was silver.
It… It wasn’t a dream…
Antenora really had called out to me. I had gone from just another shrine maiden, albeit of a slightly rare subspecies, to one of the gods’ chosen four. To say I was euphoric would be understating to a sinful degree.
“Mmmh. Niki…?” Meera sat up slowly, my restlessness having roused her, “What’s…”
As her own sleep veil lifted and her eyes came into focus, she trailed off. Then those selfsame eyes widened at the sight of me; we all knew the stories. Beastkin were the closest race to the gods, so much so that our bodies underwent a physiological reaction to their presence: the growth of additional tails through evolution. Despite being extremely rare, it was a well-documented fact.
So well-documented that I already knew what my new subspecies was likely to be, even without undergoing an appraisal ceremony.
“Kitsune…” Meera exhaled, then reached behind her and pinched Aashvi’s cheek.
“Hrm… Five more-”
Meera pinched her again, “No, wake up! How could you be sleeping at a time like this!?”
Aashvi roused herself angrily, “Meera, what was that for?”
Instead of responding, Meera merely pointed at me. Smugly, I flared my tails out behind me. Ashvi froze, then muttered to herself, “...Still sleeping?”
She pinched her arm, then rubbed her eyes and looked on speechlessly, glancing between both myself and Meera.
Poor Uma.
I leaned over and gently shook my other nestmate; as impressive as this was, Lady Antenora had said she would produce an oracle. Assuming she’d done that straight away, then it was only a matter of time before the temple elders descended on our sleeping room. Even if she hadn’t, as soon as anyone else saw me, I would be brought straight to them; it wasn’t hard to spot the evidence of my divine interaction.
After Uma had been brought up to speed (and her own reaction was much the same as the other two), I set about telling the story of my meeting with Antenora. Starting from when I’d first woken up in the forrest, through how I’d found my way to her house. How the goddess had invited me in for a drink called “Coffee,” and how I had been chosen to be the Champion of Winter. All that being said…
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I can’t say her name.
I shut my mouth a bit awkwardly; any attempt to mention my second mission was being blocked. Clearly, Lady Antenora did not want it to be discussed openly. It was a bit irritating; if she wanted me to keep that a secret then she’d need only to have told me. There was no reason to restrict my ability to talk.
No, she must have her reasons… With these measures in place, I can’t talk about Stahlia even under duress.
It made sense; the goddess of cunning was leery after being bested at her own game. I took a deep breath to discharge the negative thoughts about my patron, “Sorry, my words ran away from me. Well, that’s what happened.”
Meera and Uma had a near-identical reaction; both of them clasped hands to their chests and were on the verge of hyperventilating from excitement. Of the four of us, they were the youngest; Meera the Mousekin and Uma the Bearkin were thirteen to mine and Aashva’s seventeen. As such, they were having trouble wrapping their heads around the magnitude of the occurrence. Fortunately Aashva was here for me to confide in more seriously.
Even now, she was regarding me with a solemn expression, “So the Oracle has already been given? Then we should prepare.”
I nodded, “I’ll get breakfast ready, if you could calm them?”
Aashva bit her lip, then placed a hand on the two younger girls’ shoulders, “Come on, you two; we’re all awake now; let’s get ready for the day.”
The three of them began moving around our room as I looked on. Both of them were pretty easily distracted, but Aashva was great with kids. As a dogkin, she was probably going to be placed in the orphanage next year, training further as a vaunted Motherhound. Then Uma and Meera would be given their own younger siblings to look after, just like we had been given them.
I think Uma might be good in the kitchen when that time comes.
Not that we had a kitchen. It was really just a pot and a firepit, with a mounting point for skewers to the side. Barebones, but such was life in the temple. Even still, I was going to miss it. For today, we were going to have a treat.
“[######].” I muttered a spell and lit the fire, then began filling the pot from the well water that circulated the temple and all its satellite shrines. After setting it to boil, I began preparing grain for a porridge. This in and of itself wasn’t anything special, but I had a secret.
I pried a small stone off the floor in the corner and withdrew a jar. This was my secret stash, where I kept a few things in private and away from my three siblings. Aashva saw me open it from the corner where she was combing out Uma’s hair, but that was fine. After today, it wouldn’t matter.
The jar contained a pittance of sugar, a gift from the Temple’s Father during the New Year’s festival. Uma and Meera had eaten theirs right away, while Aashva had been carefully tending her own over the months. For my part, I didn’t particularly have a sweet tooth and had been saving it for a special occasion. Now, I mixed it into the water along with the prepared grains to make a sweet gruel. It wasn’t much, but there wouldn’t be time for more.
Before long, Uma joined me by the pot. She was much calmer and no longer hyperventilating, but she still couldn’t keep herself from stealing glances at my tails. Not that I could blame her; they were beautiful.
“Here.” I held out my hand, offering Uma a brush, “I need to tend the food.”
She went wide-eyed, then accepted the well-worn hairbrush with shaking hands. Among the three of us, formerly being a Foxkin, I was the only one who had ever really needed to meticulously tend to my tail or ears due to the long fur; the brush Uma now held had been mine since I first entered the temple, a final gift from my mother before I left home. Until now, it had only ever been used by me. Together the two of us passed the time in silence until Aashva and Meera joined us, the latter looking on at Uma’s actions with unashamed jealousy.
“Come on, sit; we probably don’t have much time…” Aashva gently pulled Meera down by her shoulder, but her words caught the attention of both the younger girls.
“What do you mean?” Meera cocked her head and asked, “The sun’s barely up.”
Aashva bit her lip and looked at me. I sighed, “...This is probably the last time we can share a meal.”
It took a few seconds to sink in, but when it did, both of our younger siblings were aghast.
“What!?”
“It’s a lie!”
Aashva began laying out our wooden bowls and spoons with a heavy hand, “No, I’m sure of it. Think; the Templefather will want to send Nikita to the head temple, and… She won’t be able to refuse.”