Chapter 6: Reality

Sue’s rest was well needed, the release of tension resulting in the best sleep she could remember in... ever, really. Even after she began to come to, she took her time; stirring lightly on the soft bed in search of a more comfortable position.

At least, until one of the other occupants of the room noticed.

And once they did, there was no coming back.

Sue’s ear spikes twitched at the sound of soft thudding against the wooden floor; her breaths deepening as she listened in. The thuds were followed by chipper woofing, then deeper, more distant barks, and finally by alerted squeaks. All the while, she tried to look at all the commotion; a hand reaching over to rub the sand out of her eyes-

Before she could reach, Ember’s- no, Spark’s tongue began licking affectionately all over her face.

Sue’s features scrunched up as she was woken up the rest of the way, breaking into giggles. Her hand swerved to pet the little fox; the kit satisfied at fulfilling their mission of waking their friend up.

Which, considering the disappointed woofs that followed, was much to someone’s dissatisfaction.

As Spark paused to respond to the canine noises, Sue sat up and stretched before looking around the cabin. Somewhat expectedly, it turned out to be Spark’s parent that was the source of the disapproving sounds. They- well, she, Sundance if Sue remembered it right, were just as fluffy as she recalled from the clearing, and much less imposing. Partly because she wasn’t waving a burning stick around, and partly because she was just sitting calmly on the floor with Doc- no, right, Willow- beside her.

They are both smiling at me, so that's a good sign-

“Good afternoon, Sue.”

Suddenly hearing an understandable voice here took Sue just as aback as it did inside her dream. She could swear that the bipedal fox had simply woofed at her, but she could somehow understand it as if it was plain English spoken by a middle-aged lady; the mismatch between what her ears heard and what her mind comprehended making for a weird sensation.

“Good afternoon... M-Mrs. Shundance?”

To her relief, the ear-hairy fox simply chuckled at her confusion and shook her head.

“No need for any titles, Sue. How are you feeling?”

Considering everything, Sue felt... good.

Even beyond the immeasurable relief of not getting burned at the stake, the nap did wonders for her. Spark immediately began to nuzzle her stomach, making concentrating on any remaining bodily aches difficult; the little fox receiving some well-earned pets for her efforts.

“I-I’m doing well, thank you. Jhust... taking it all in.”

Sundance nodded lightly, woofing out again. This time, though, Sue perceived nothing more than the expected canine noises; the fox on her lap responding to her mom in kind as she picked herself up with obvious reluctance.

“We aren’t hurrying anywhere. We left a seat free if you want to join us. Let me know if you need assistance with moving yourself over.”

And again, woofs became understandable, as if a light switch had been flicked back on. Considering that Solstice mentioned Sundance helping her with catching up on the whole ‘psychic’ deal, it wasn’t a bad idea to ask her about this.

At least, after she moved her rear over and joined them instead of looking down at them like this.

“Y-yeah, I’ll probably need a hand with sitting down...”

A couple of light shoves conveyed the intent to Spark before her mom spoke up. She pulled the covers aside and shuffled to the bed’s edge. Right as she was about to grab the crutch, though, she heard Sundance speak up again-

“Hmm... it might be simpler if I moved you over myself.”

Part of Sue wanted to reject the offer and try her best regardless, but it didn’t take long for her bodily exhaustion to catch up to her; the soreness in her right arm shaking her out of that silly idea.

“A-alright, i-if it’s not a problem…”

“Of course it isn’t, Sue. Now, relax...”

As Sue awaited further instructions, she saw the same kind of shimmering aura as with Solstice earlier today envelop her body. It was light orange instead of blue, and it had much more of a physical presence, feeling warm to the touch.

Despite her knowing what was going on and having a rough idea of what Sundance was about to do, the experience was no less intriguing than the last time. It once more felt like the air itself gently pushed her around; its embrace firm and yet gentle enough to not cause any discomfort.

Sundance’s eyes were filled with that same orange shimmer, holding Sue’s attention as she was gracefully moved through the cabin. She felt her legs being folded into a lotus position before the vixen lowered her. The vixen’s grip steadily waned as Sue neared her pillow seat, giving her a moment to orient herself before the final bit of psychic touch let go of her.

The sudden disappearance of the magic touch and the warmth that accompanied it made Sue shiver a bit afterwards. However, Spark had something to say about that, taking no time before nestling herself once more on her savior’s lap.

“That’ll do it.”

Sundance’s words caught Sue’s attention as her hand auto-piloted to petting her daughter. A seed of worry about whether that action was even appropriate threatened to bloom in the once-human’s mind, though a single look at the firefox’s contented smile was enough to dispel it.

Right, got to thank her-

“Th-thank you-“

“No, Sue. Thank you . If not for your intervention, my little Spark might not be with us anymore. My debt to you cannot be overstated.”

Sue shakily nodded at that, definitely not used to receiving praise like that. It left her unsure how to respond, trying to swerve towards minimizing it-

“It’sh just what anyone would’ve dhone-“

“May be. But it was you who did it, at your weakest no less, and so to you my gratitude goes.”

Well, that didn’t work.

Guess she’d have to just accept it.

“You’re whelcome.”

Sundance’s resulting bow flustered the girl further, but her little lap warmer helped her persevere. Spark took the initiative afterwards, vocalizing her enjoyment of her constant supply of pets before woofing at her parent, helping her realize something if the expression that followed was any sign.

The small yet noticeable jolt in her brain caught the once-human off guard, making her pause. Right as she was about to resume her affection, she heard the lil’ fox speak up again.

And this time, Sue could understand her.

“Did you already do it, mom?”

“Yes I have, sweetie-“

“YAY!”

Sue simultaneously perceived the exclamation as a squeaky howl and a voice of a girl too young to even be in her tweens. The whiplash was as utterly adorable as it was surprising, the former angle getting reinforced as Spark scrambled on her hind legs and pulled as much of Sue’s body as she could into a hug.

“Thank you, S-S-Sue...”

Contrary to her prior excitement, Spark’s voice was now hushed as it struggled with her name; the firefox’s emotions palpably changing from hype to tearful, somber relief at finally being able to thank her saviour.

Sue might not have known how to deal with praise, but dealing with children on the verge of tears was something she had a bit more experience with. A gentle hug worked each time, no matter if they were tears of sadness, relief, or fear.

“Y-you’re welcome, Spahk.”

The lil’ fox leaned forward to lick as much of her cheek as she could, sending the once-human into laughter as her free hand stroked Spark’s fur. Giggles coming from her side made Sue look up at the medic sitting beside her and Sundance; Doc- Warren- no, fuck- Willow taking a while to get their laughter under control, easing out into a soft smile.

“Awww, that’s just cute.”

Their voice gave Sue a pause, combining the distinctive elderly creakiness with being soft enough to remain perfectly androgynous. Didn’t help much with deciding on the pronouns, but Sue didn’t care all that much in the moment, perfectly content with sticking to ‘they’ for the time being.

“N-nuuuhh...”

Spark mumbled out her denial into Sue’s shoulder before yawning widely. The associated flash of a maw-ful of very feral teeth gave Sue a pause, but thankfully, she wouldn’t linger on it for long.

“Someone exhausted herself out in all the excitement, hasn’t she?”

The lil’ fox kept trying to oppose the accusations coming her way by attempting to shake herself awake, unsuccessfully. Sue reaching in to slowly stroke her tummy didn’t help towards that goal, even if it made Spark feel better.

In not too long, she was out warm, curled up on her saviour’s lap. Everyone else kept quiet until they were certain she was out. Partly to let Spark finally rest easy after these last few days, and partly to make sure she wouldn’t listen in on the... darker subjects ahead.

Or, at the very least, ones less appropriate for already worried kits.

“So- how’re you feeling, Sue?”

Willow spoke quietly, their voice calm. Sue internally thanked Solstice for soothing the medic’s worries, especially after they’ve had to deal with her nonsense over the past few days.

“I-I’m... good, really good I think nhow. I can’t thank you enough f-for your help...”

Best to just call it for what it is.

“...a-and for putting up with my nonshense.”

Her pronunciation was tangibly improving now that she finally had an opportunity to actually practice using her new mouth.

Wonder if that’ll make getting used to my old body harder once... I get there.

“Hah, it’s more than fine Sue, I’m just glad you’re fine inside your skull after all- besides, I’ll gladly take nonsense over aggression. I’ve already looked at your leg once you were done with Solstice, and it should be fine to walk on again within a few days. With all that said, I only really have one more question...”

Sue nodded along, the news about her recovery lifting her mood. As much as she was getting used to the crutch, it gave her arm enough workout to last her a lifetime. Though, if she hadn’t put it through more abuse, her leg might have already recovered by now…

“So, where do you come from, really ?”

...fuck.

Sue’s eyes went wide as she stared at the timid medic, the earlier fear dripping back into her mind. A glance at Sundance revealed her to be just as surprised; at least she wasn’t alone in being taken completely off guard.

“What do you mean, Willow? Solstice went through-“

“-a cover up. My fur may be graying, but I’ve been watching over Sue for a few days now. It all tells me she had spent her entire life under a huge boulder, one with just enough space below to let her figure out how to use a crutch. Even though she looks and sounds like she had evolved into her current shape not even half a dozen seasons ago.”

Neither Sue nor Sundance knew what to say. The latter very much did want to say something, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to gather the right words, while the former wanted to collapse underground at being seen through so easily.

“Now, now, I’m not accusing Sue of anything. I was there when she was being carried to Moonview; I saw the venom dripping from her wound. She’s a good person for sure, but that doesn’t make what Solstice had said make any sense. A Forest Guardian village exiling one of their own is absurd, but even if they had, they wouldn’t have waited until she grew up, and the idea of a helpless little one lasting fifty seasons in the wild is silly.”

Moonview. Guess this village has a name, after all.

Willow paused for a moment, their expression thoughtful before they chuckled to themselves.

“The worst part is that I have no idea just what exactly are you three hiding! Hundred and fifty seasons in this world, and nothing I’ve seen or even heard of comes close to making sense of all this! You’ve really stumped me!”

Despite their accusations, Willow’s tone remained upbeat, downright jovial through it all. It left Sue dumbfounded as Sundance sighed in defeat.

“Reality here is more outlandish than any fables I’ve heard.”

The fox’s admission made Sue glare at her, feeling a bit betrayed at Sundance just admitting the whole deceit so quickly.

“Oh, don’t worry Sue. I might have no idea who or what you really are, but whatever the truth is, Solstice trusts you, and of course so does lil’ Spark. I’ve no reason to doubt either of them, though I sure can’t deny being very curious after tending to you.”

Sue shakily nodded at their words. She got back to petting Spark after realizing she’d stopped doing that in all the tension, her soft, warm fur proving to be a very good stress reliever.

The newcomer sat in expectant silence for a while. Her gaze shifted between the two interlocutors, not sure what to say in the heat of the moment. Eventually, Willow took it upon themselves to break the impasse-

“Well I gotta say, if that’s how spooked you got by just silly old me asking you that, I can only imagine just how rattled Solstice made you. Helps put your, well, ‘nonsense’, your words not mine, in context. I am sorry for that, though; I didn’t intend to make you afraid.”

Willow actually feeling apologetic helped soothe Sue’s worries, even if that emotion was mixed with a whole ton of curiosity.

“If you want me to, Sue, I can attempt to explain based on what Solstice told me. Admittedly, I’m unclear on some details myself.”

Guess it did ultimately fall to her to provide them both with some much deserved clarity...

Here goes nothing.

“Alrhight. Guess I’ll answer the bighest point first- y-you’re right, Sholstice made her story up. I’m… from another world, I-I think.”

Sundance was following so far, that much Solstice’s explanation made clear. Willow, though, immediately had questions of their own.

“Another world you say! Sundance hails from so far, but I think that’s my first time talking with someone from across the seas-“

“Much further than that, Willow.”

The medic turned their gaze over at the fiery psychic, lifting their eyebrows as they tried to figure out what she meant.

“How so?”

“From what Solstice tried to explain to me, Sue appears to hail from another reality entirely.”

Hearing it stated so plainly made the truth of the matter hit Sue harder than she’d expected. Thankfully, the resulting sensation of emptiness didn’t get to last long as Willow’s curiosity inserted itself back into the discussion.

“Golly. You are a bit odd, Sue, but I can’t say I would’ve expected that... or someone from another realm to behave in such a familiar way.”

Sundance ‘mhm’d in response, putting the shared attention back on the interdimensional traveler. She didn’t understand how Sue could be just like them, either. Then again, neither did Sue, the once-human only able to comment on the similarities.

“Yeah, it’s weird. Thish world is so similar to my old one, almosh identical except for its creathures.”

“Identical you say? So if not for the looks of us three, this very cabin and village it’s in, the woods around it, the rivers cutting through them, the dirt below and the skies above, all that would’ve been just the same as your world?”

Sue had to give it a moment’s thought, but... yeah, that checked out. She nodded firmly, Willow’s expression turning pensive as they chewed through her unexpected response.

“Well, my mother used to tell me that the other worlds glow bright, and that’s what stars are... though I sure wouldn’t have expected worlds to have siblings like that, hah!”

Putting it that way got some lighter hearted chuckles out of both Sue and Sundance; the latter picking up where Willow left off, herself curious about the aforementioned differences.

“Since you highlighted the difference in creatures. Solstice happened to mention that your... natural form is quite similar to your current one in appearance, except for not being psychic, correct?”

“Right. There aren’t any ‘pshychic’ creatures where I’m from to begin with.”

Judging by the duo’s stunned expressions, not even Willow expected that one.

“None at all, you say?”

Sue nodded at the medic’s question, wondering whether to mention them ‘existing’ in fiction. Ultimately, she decided against it; no matter how wild her world’s imagination was, it couldn’t compare to this world’s reality.

“Well, if nothing else, that explains why you haven’t shown any of your psychics so far. Is it just a matter of not knowing how to, uh, tap into them?”

“That appears to be the case from what Solstice had told me.”

“Huh. Would’ve thought it would be all instinct.”

“Not without developing it first. Speaking of-“

Sundance shifted to face Sue head on, her expression focusing while maintaining its prior warmth.

“I take it Solstice mentioned me guiding you through developing your abilities?”

“Yeah. I-I’m shtill quite honored at that-“

“No Sue, it’s my honor to repay my debt to you in such an important way.”

Sue was once more taken aback, unsure how she should react. Eventually, she lightly bowed towards her upcoming mentor, hands continuing to provide affection for the little sleeping one.

“Thank you.”

It was Sundance’s turn to stop herself from reflecting the praise back onto her student, acknowledging Sue’s thanks with a light nod before speaking up-

“Now, before we begin, do you have any more questions you’d want answered first?”

Answering that question to its fullest extent would most likely involve several days’ worth of talking just to let her air out every single brick that contributed to the fort of confusion in her mind. Of those bricks, though, few of them came anywhere close in importance to what she ultimately asked-

“That... shrine with the feathersh in front of it. Is it for a deity or something else?”

“Hah, mother would’ve scolded the horns out of you if she heard you referring to the Pale Lady as just ‘a deity’.”

Willow’s comment was rather disconcerting, though it at least showed her the medic didn’t seem to be particularly extreme on the matters of religion.

“Now that I think about it, I doubt ‘Pale Lady’ is ringing any bells either, with how far you hail from, hah.”

“Indeed. Pale Lady, Night Mother, Moon’s Grace, or just the Moon. She’s the chief goddess worshiped in these parts for her healing and protection from what lurks in the night.”

Sundance’s clarification helped establish a more concrete link between the deity and the astral body while giving her several names to use instead of ‘Duck’. Its matter-of-fact nature raised the once student’s eyebrow, though. That definitely didn’t sound like how someone devoted would refer to their deity.

“Does ‘theshe parts’ not include you? Just asking with how you shaid it...”

“It does not. Where I hail from, the Sun is the primary deity. Nowadays, I don’t have a strong attachment towards any of them. Spending a hundred moons wandering the land and meeting all sorts of peoples changed my perspective on it all a great deal. With how many varied deities folk from all over pray to, the only conclusion I could arrive at is that deities don’t particularly care about what mortals do one way or another. Don’t let Solstice hear that.”

Sundance chuckled after her final remark, with Willow following in tow, the two remaining unbothered despite the seriousness of the topic.

“Can’t say I’ve ever been as laid back on that topic as you have, Sundance, though you’re at least mostly right. It sure wouldn’t be like the Pale Lady to take offense to other deities being worshiped either way, outside of Night Father at least. Any attempts to convince those who disagree would only result in more strife.”

Sue felt more and more doubt fill her as she listened. The mayor of this place, as well as the first person she’d spoken to in a solid week and someone she felt she could trust, was apparently a religious zealot. Willow’s brief mention of ‘Night Father’ didn’t help either, recollection of Sue’s dreams providing an excellent candidate for who could that possibly be.

“Um, why sh-should Solstice nhot hear that?”

Sundance caught to the unease that underlined Sue’s question, her smile softening as she shook her head.

“I said that in jest, we two just disagree about that point. She strongly believes that the Pale Lady personally intervenes to aid the ones under her protection, and that she’d communed with her in the past. Considering she’s still best friends with Moonview’s biggest heretic, I doubt she cares that much. Especially since the Pale Lady symbolizes protection and healing to begin with. I have to admit, the mental image of someone getting violent over others not worshiping a guardian goddess is rather darkly amusing.”

Sue couldn’t really disagree, chuckling to herself as she tried to visualize that. Imagining Solstice as the person getting offended sent a shiver down her spine, though. The Mayor came off powerful without even trying, any attempts to imagine just what would her getting violent look like freezing Sue’s blood.

“I see. Whillow mentioned a ‘Night Father’. Wh-who’s that?”

She felt the air in the room get ever so slightly colder at her words. Willow looked uneasy at having brought all that up to begin with, even if offhandedly.

“Another deity worshiped in this wider area, though his worship is shunned in Moonview. He’s the dimmest dark on the night of a new moon, protecting the night kin. In some interpretations, he’s in active conflict with the Pale Lady, being the entity she protects mortals from.”

Guess ‘sky dimmer satan’ wasn’t that far off course after all.

“Night kin?”

If the previous subject was already uneasy, this one felt almost like a taboo she had inadvertently stumbled upon. An icy chill ran down her spine and horn, making her gulp quietly before Sundance continued, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You... won’t find them in Moonview. According to the myths, they’d pledged themselves to the Night Father, who granted them protection from being revealed by moonlight or perceived by our psychic senses.”

The intimidating nature of the description conflicted immediately with the dark, disguise-happy fox she’d ran into twice by now, even if them stealing peaches provided a good argument towards them being devil spawn. The rational part of Sue couldn’t help but think there was something that Sundance wasn’t mentioning, especially with her having already seen the grey fox in here, just disguised to avoid being spotted.

“Um... why won’t I find them in Moon-“

“OH GOODNESS it’s getting late. I-I should make my rounds around the village and grab us all a snack before today’s feast. T-take care you all, I’ll be back soon.”

The uncharacteristically abrupt interruption, followed by Willow almost running out of the hut at the mention of the subject, cemented the idea that there was something more to it all. Even with that, Sundance soon made it clear she wouldn’t be humoring that question either.

“It’s... a grave subject, and I’d rather Spark not overhear it, even if incidentally. I hope that’s alright with you, Sue.”

Her stumbling upon a subject so grim the previously upbeat medic chose to just run away instead of having to talk about it wasn’t particularly encouraging. Sundance’s request only made sense, though. She would definitely have to ask more about this topic at a more private moment later.

“Yeah. Shorry for b-bringing it up-“

“Don’t be. You’re not the guilty one here.”

The vulpine psychic caught onto Sue’s unease, swiftly steering the subject back toward where it was supposed to go all along-

“You shouldn’t be worrying yourself with any of that, Sue. Now, have you been able to figure out any of your psychics thus far?”

Sundance’s question was moderately successful in making Sue focus on the point of their discussion. The darkness that soaked the earlier topic wouldn’t let it be discarded so easily, though, the issue shifting to the back of her mind.

“I don’t think so. I tried to make m-my crutch move like Bo- Comet did, bhut nothing happened. U-unless thish... being able to sense emotions counts.”

“Hmm... from what I know, that ability is innate in your k- current form. Have you been able to do anything with it, or just passively sense those around?”

“Just sensing.”

Sue’s mentor nodded slowly, gathering her thoughts on how to teach the complete neophyte in front of her. Ultimately, there was only one way to learn when starting from complete nothing.

One thing at a time.

“Let’s start from the very beginning, then. You said you attempted to do this-“

Sundance’s eyes became shrouded with orange light as Sue’s crutch floated over, stopping in mid air in between her and the once-human.

“What did you try?”

“Jusht... tried thinking it up, or ordering it to move, stuff like that.”

Sue’s extrasensory perception made it easier to track the changes in Sundance’s mood even as her expression was dominated by the increasingly less intimidating glowing eyes. It let the girl sense just how dumbfounded her mentor was at that answer, despite it not showing on her features.

“I... see. Well, the actual way you do it is much simpler.”

That was far from what Sue expected to hear. Her inability to figure any of this out had led her to think of her supposed new abilities as something that was at best contrived and borderline incomprehensible, and at worst, as a thing her human, non-Forest Guardian mind was just inherently incapable of comprehending.

“Oh. Wh-what do I do, then?”

“You just have to reach and grasp~.”

For a couple of moments, Sue was utterly dumbfounded at Sundance’s explanation. The words came off almost like a mean spirited joke considering how little of it all she clearly understood-

And then, she felt it.

The sensation that followed was nothing like anything Sue had ever experienced. Her confused brain interpreted it as something grasping her arm, an intangible arm that has been sitting folded up in the back of her head for Duck knows how long, now finally stirring from its numb stasis.

“Wow...”

The imaginary limb was pulled out of her head bit by bit, Sundance continuing to guide it all the while. Any sort of internal mental image of it broke down as it kept expanding, soon reaching over half a dozen feet in length. More like a tentacle, or at least what Sue thought a tentacle would feel like, than anything even remotely similar to any human body parts she was used to.

“What is this...”

“An extension of your mind, your mental reach. I can only imagine how outlandish it must feel right now, but using it will become second nature sooner or later.”

Sundance let go of Sue’s psychic tendril, leaving it awkwardly hovering in midair. If it was visible, or even perceptible for non-psychics, it would probably be one hell of a sight just floating there.

“Now, try moving it yourself. Experiment, get a feel for how it weaves and shifts.”

The student nodded shakily as she concentrated on this new set of sensations, instinctively closing her eyes as she tried wriggling the neurons close to where she felt this phantom limb originate from. Eventually, this random prodding let her figure out a way to move it around. It was slow and clumsy, but it was progress all the same.

Reach...

Slowly, she moved this extension of self towards the crutch that had been lowered to the floor in the meantime; her reach subconsciously wrapping itself around it once it got close enough.

And grasp...

Being unsure how to think the invisible tendril into actually grabbing the piece of wood, Sue was left trying to prod other parts of her brain. Finally, she tried to mirror using her actual hand to grasp. And, unexpectedly, it felt like it worked.

She opened her eyes to look at what had happened; her left hand gripping nothing as a small patch of white aura now surrounded the part of the crutch her mind held onto. To her surprise, Sue could feel the wood to the touch, the sensation so disembodied from any physical reality it tripped her brain.

“There you go, keep at it. Try lifting it up.”

Even in her concentration, it was hard for Sue not to notice Sundance’s emotional outlook having shifted from gloom to outright excitement. It made the realization of her attempting to crawl up to a toddler’s level of magic aptitude that bit more bearable.

Attempts at moving the crutch were only partially successful. The piece of wood shuffled weakly on the floor, refusing to budge upwards at all. Sue wanted to retry the whole maneuver in case she’d grabbed it wrong or something, before overhearing Sundance whisper-

“^Put more force in, focus harder on your grasp.^”

Sue didn’t notice the fox mystic speaking without opening her mouth, focusing further on her mental reach instead. The faint glow soon expanded to cover more of the tool, the upward motion that followed briefly lifting it off the ground-

Only for it to slip out of her uneven hold, Sue’s aura fizzling out as her eyes shot open. Just in time to see Sundance’s orange glow grab the entire tool before it could bang against the floor, settling it down afterwards.

“Definitely not bad for your first attempt. How are you feeling, Sue?”

It was a tricky question. The triumph of getting at least the minimum of progress with her psychic magic mixed with disbelief at how unreal it all felt and anxiety about her being unable to catch up to the ‘natural’ level of skill. Unease from earlier didn’t help, either.

“I’m... I’m good I-I think. Glad I didn’t turn out to be bhroken or anything.”

“Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with you, Sue. It may take a tremendous amount of practice, but I have no doubt that one day you’ll get to where you ought to be. Once we get past the basics, it’ll be much easier for you to explore your psychics further on your own.”

Sue nodded weakly in acknowledgement. The idea of self-directed learning sounded impossibly distant in the moment, but Sundance’s confidence was reassuring, if nothing else.

“Okay, th-thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure, Sue. Now, are you ready to tackle the next subject, or do you need more time to get your bearings?”

“Next subject? B-but I could only bharely do this one.”

“That’s not untrue, but with fundamentals like these, I think it’s best to introduce you to both key skill sets before going further on them. And besides, I’ve little doubt you’ll find what’s coming up even more useful than telekinesis.”

Sue had nowhere near the expertise needed to argue with that assessment, leaving her to just ask-

“What’s the other s-subject then?”

“^Telepathy.^”

While she might have missed the previous instance of Sundance speaking without using her mouth, Sue most definitely caught onto it this time.

It’d sure be nice to figure out how to communicate with anyone here.

“Oh! How do I d-do it?”

It was Sue’s turn to reveal her excitement as her hand reached down to resume petting. Her fingertips brushed past something warm and wet where she expected to only see fur, making her look at her lap; just in time to see Spark’s impressive array of teeth, the kit getting caught mid-yawn.

And immediately nuzzling her tummy once she’d finished yawning.

The high-pitched woofs that followed were as incomprehensible as they were yesterday, confusing Sue somewhat. She could understand Spark before she took a nap, so why not now? Wait a minute, how could she understand any of them to begin with-

“That would be my doing~.”

Sundance’s part in Sue suddenly being able to comprehend everyone was obvious in hindsight, but it didn’t help make the ‘how’ of it all any less mysterious. Her confusion did not go unnoticed by her mentor-

“I suppose this subject warrants some explanation beforehand. So~,”

The sensation that followed caught Sue off guard, feeling as if someone had plucked on an invisible string connecting her and Sundance’s heads. Its abruptness made the once-human jump, resulting in Spark becoming even more affectionate towards and worried about her. A quick application of pets thankfully helped undo the latter.

“What you just felt was me drawing attention to the mental link between us. They are what telepathy is performed through.”

Wouldn’t have imagined a connection like that to be so… tangible.

“We can take glimpses at each other’s thoughts and emotions through them, and more importantly, ^communicate with just thoughts.^”

The mid-sentence switch away from spoken word was a helpful demonstration in its own right, but it raised further questions.

“Ish me understanding what you’re... well, woofing, also telepathy?”

Sue gulped lightly at Sundance getting stunned by that question, worried about having possibly offended her. Thankfully, the firefox mother quickly chuckled it off afterwards.

“It is a different form of it, yes. Instead of directly passing you my thoughts, I take the meaning behind my words and get your mind to translate them into your language, which you then perceive as hearing it. In a one-on-one conversation between psychics, there’s little practical difference between these two approaches. But~”

A moment passed before Spark noticed something, turning to look back at her mom and asking-

“Oh, oh, oh, did you do it, mom?”

“Yes, sweetie-“

“Yay! How are you feeling, Sue? Are you better now?”

The excited tail wagging that accompanied Spark’s questions made Sue’s heart melt more than the little fox’s warmth could ever manage.

“^We can use these techniques to translate others’ words and act as bridges between those who couldn’t otherwise communicate with each other. And turn ‘woofs’, as you’ve called them, into words~^”

The light ribbing was not undeserved, helping reassure Sue that everything was indeed alright. The rest of Sundance’s explanation helped too, withdrawing another brick from her internal fort of confusion.

And now to answer the little one.

“I’m feeling quite ghood, sweetie. Your mom is teaching me how to, uh, do all the psychic... thingsh.”

“Oh?”

The high pitched ‘awoo’ that accompanied Spark’s expression of confusion really strained Sue’s willpower in keeping herself from cooing in response.

“You don’t know how to do them? But Mrs. Solstice is also a Forest Guardian, and she knows...”

Guess this was where Solstice’s cover up would come in. Unfortunately for Sue, she didn’t remember the entire story off the top of her head, and the little she recalled wasn’t too appropriate for the little kit. Sue nervously looked up at Sundance for help, with an out being graciously provided shortly afterwards-

“She hadn’t had the time to study it all, sweetie, and the bite from that nasty creature didn’t help either. But don’t worry, Sue will do her best to catch up, and once you evolve, you both could practice together.”

“Oooooh- oh oh yay! Did you hear Sue!? We’ll get to practice together!”

Sue was more than down for that, smiling even wider at the little fox. The… odd choice of words deposited a brand new brick of confusion onto her mental fort, with “does ‘evolution’ refer to something specific here” stamped proudly on its front.

“Yeah! I-I’d love to.”

“Would you mind giving Sue some space to study, sweetie? It’s important she learns the basics without distractions.”

“I won’t distract her, I promise!”

The look Sundance gave to her daughter was rather obviously unconvinced; lifting eyebrows prompting the kit to start pleading-

“Moooom, pleeeeeease!”

The mystic closed her eyes and sighed with a light giggle, looking over at her pupil afterwards.

“If you promise not to distract her and Sue agrees, I suppose you can stay beside her.”

“YAYAYAY! Please Sue, pleeeease!”

How could I ever hope to refuse a request delivered so adorably?

“Teehee, shure sweetie.”

Sue needed no translation for the high-pitched squeak of pure joy that followed. The fiery fox quickly scooted beside her, keeping her nuzzling to a minimum as her mom continued her teachings.

“So- that was that about the basics of telepathy. Now, let’s move to practice. Establishing mental links with other beings is the most important ability for any psychic to have, and serves as a foundation of much more than just telepathy. You’ll get plenty of practice during your stay here, but it’s good to get a good foundation beforehand.”

Sundance drew attention to Sue’s mental reach once more. The girl shuddered again at the strange sensation, especially now that it felt like the psychic tendril she’d clumsily maneuvered earlier was but one of many.

“Forming links is not too dissimilar from telekinesis. Instead of a physical object, focus on a sentient mind, and reach into it.”

This description of what she had to do would’ve been little more than a word salad for Sue a mere week ago. Which made her understanding the gist of it now somewhat disconcerting.

“Now, I’m going to sever our link and let you attempt forming one yourself. We won’t be able to talk until then, so if you need me to assist you, just wave at me.”

Sue felt their link break before she could even respond, the sensation so faint that if she wasn’t expecting something she would’ve shrugged it off as just her hair feeling weird.

Showtime.

With a deep breath, Sue concentrated on where her mental reach felt like it originated from; exploratory wriggling eventually focusing on one thread in particular. Her brain seemed to have given up on any attempts to interpret these as actual body parts. Though, if anything, that only made the sensations coming from them even weirder.

Now, towards Sundance.

The invisible extension of Sue’s mind took its time approaching her mentor. Partly because of her being cautious, partly because she had no idea how to make it go any faster. Trying to control the brain tentacle like she would an arm was somewhat effective, though not without the side effect of the real limb twitching as she controlled her imaginary one.

It was stuck moving only as fast as she would move her arm, but something told Sue that was far, far from the fastest this mental thread of hers could go.

It might have taken her a while, but she got there eventually, her reach hovering in front of Sundance’s face. Its awkward position made Sue very glad that nobody else could perceive it as she attempted to dive into the fox’s mind-

And only succeeded at sliding it into her physical head.

Sundance’s wince was thankfully not seen by her student as Sue tried to figure out what she’d done wrong. That was what the firefox meant, right? She’d reached her brain, and yet felt nothing like what she’d expected to feel, missing any sensation of things clicking into place.

Alright, where did I go wrong this time?

Sue tried thinking back to Sundance’s instructions, replaying them to herself word by word. The source of confusion refused to present itself-

Unless...

She’d assumed that Sundance was using ‘a sentient mind’ to refer to a brain, but what if that’s not what she meant? It was the most probable cause of error, with everything else being obvious enough. Or at least, feeling obvious enough now that she got to literally flex her mind like this.

What else could it be, then?

The handful of ideas she eventually came up with turned out to be duds. Her mental thread continued to move around idly in the space currently occupied by Sundance’s head; the fiery psychic keeping quiet about the slight discomfort for the sake of learning.

There seemed to be an issue of some sort, though.

Eventually, Sue had to admit defeat, sighing quietly and giving Sundance a weak wave, a crystal clear voice soon responding-

“You almost got there, Sue. Is something wrong?”

“I- uh, I guess I mishunderstood what you meant by ‘reaching into a sentient mind’.”

The admission was disappointing considering her earlier progress, but it was hard for Sue to feel too bad about it, not with Spark’s constant affection.

How could a creature with this much excess ear hair be so cute?

“I see. Well, I can’t say I don’t understand your interpretation, though it is rather... overly literal.”

Both Sundance and Sue chuckled at that, the latter with slight embarrassment. It was swept aside right away as her mentor continued-

“But no, that’s not it. You’ll need to concentrate on this ability to feel others’ emotions and go beyond just them. Forest Guardian ability to sense emotions is just one facet of a sense letting all psychics feel other minds around us. A naturally very well developed facet of course, but only that. Minds will feel much fainter than the emotions they radiate, but you’ll have to learn to focus on them.”

Sue felt like she barely grasped it all, nodding weakly. Wanting to avoid another wasted opportunity like last time, she was proactive with her questions this time-

“So, concentrate o-on that sense and try focushing on just... minds, yeah?”

“Correct. It may take a decent amount of practice to even make them out, especially if you haven’t been experimenting too much with this sense yet, but I’ve no doubt you’ll get there.”

It sure was hard to get disheartened like this, heh.

The Forest Guardian nodded firmly before concentrating, her body relaxing as she withdrew from the physical senses. She dove as deep into the mental sense as she could, the emotions of the two foxes near her shining so brightly they dimmed all the ones out by their mere presence. Intense as they might have been, she couldn’t deny that adoration and a mix of patience and pride respectively eclipsing everything else felt very, very nice.

Looking past all this was gonna be tricky.

Before she could even attempt doing that, she sensed a couple of similarly bright blips of emotions making their way over. As opposed to anything warm, though, they were instead anxiety and the desire to comfort, respectively. From experience, she could subconsciously narrow the latter to Willow pretty confidently.

Wait a min-

*creak!*

The door slamming open snapped Sue out of her little trance. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to daylight as Willow passed by in front of her, accompanied by someone else; their squeaks remaining incomprehensible without Sundance’s aid. After she came back to, Sue was immediately startled by the other creature’s appearance, even as the medic held their hand.

It- they seemed to be half small, mostly yellow humanoid, reaching to more or less her knee, and half a massive black maw lined with metallic teeth sticking out of the back of the humanoid’s head. The second part reminded her of a venus flytrap, but big enough to catch entire body parts and not just bugs, and otherwise nightmarish all around.

The blood didn’t help, either.

Much to Sue’s sanity, a closer look revealed it to have come from an injury on top of the maw, rather than from it having a bloody snack. Willow soon got to wrapping bandages around the maw, doubling as a flimsy way of keeping the scary body part closed.

“-gonna try to heal it some more; it won’t hurt. Is that okay?”

Sue might have had a better grasp on how the translation worked this time, but that didn’t make it any less surprising to experience. The once-human needed a moment to shake her confusion off as Willow awaited a response from the small, scary creature.

A response that wasn’t coming.

As much as her initial impression of the toothy villager was dominated by the maw hot glued onto the back of their head, taking a better look at their front half and listening to her sixth sense revealed quite a few things. Namely, how utterly scared they were, their tiny body shaking as they looked up between all the adults in the room, backing up away from Sundance.

Not what she expected, given their other half, that’s for sure.

“Joy, everything is alright, I promise. Nobody is mad at you.”

Willow slowly knelt beside the now named little one, wordlessly offering them a hug. The chompy one eventually leaned in, letting the medic simultaneously hold them and do their healing magic, one paw aglow as it carefully stroked the freshly bandaged part of the maw.

“What happened, Joy!?”

It was Spark’s turn to chime in, the lil’ fox breaking her affection towards Sue only to redirect it towards Joy, nuzzling their side. The newcomer was rather receptive, thankfully; their anxiety gradually dulling into mere unease.

“Someone had been rather mean to her and it went way, way too far. Hopefully Cirrus gives whoever did it a good scolding.”

Joy shuffled in place as she was being talked about, twiddling her hands before resting one on Spark’s head. It was also the moment at which she had finally noticed Sue; the sight startling her momentarily before she looked closer and relaxed again.

And then, pointed at the recently transformed Forest Guardian.

The recipient was left confused as the little maw tried to say something, evidently struggling intensely with speaking in general-

“Wh-wh-w-w-who?”

“Sue! I told you about her back at the playground! She’s the one that rescued me!”

Fortunately, Sue was too preoccupied by curiously watching Joy to get too flustered at the praise. The tiny one only got more encouraged by Spark’s description, slowly walking over to Sue before giving speaking another shot-

“H-h-h-hi...”

How could something with a body part this scary looking simultaneously be this cute?

“H-hello, Jhoy.”

As simple as the greeting was, it emboldened Joy enough to take a seat beside Sue, shifting afterwards to hide as much of herself from Sundance as possible. She then lightly grasped a hand that happened to be laying nearby, leaving the Forest Guardian in a bit of an awkward situation.

Not that she minded that much, especially with the scary bits tied up with bandages and the rest of the little one being admittedly quite cute. The abrupt change in her behavior still left Sue dumbfounded though, the once-human giving Sundance a confused look in hope of some explanation.

“Joy’s is a sad situation. She can’t understand us anymore; best she’s left out of this unpleasant discussion.”

“Can’t she understand you normally?”

“For the most part, no. She hasn’t been here for long and is still only learning our language. From what I’ve heard, her progress has been rather slow.”

Guess we have something in common, hah.

“And the other kids aren’t helping, sigh...”

Willow’s interjection made Sue feel even worse for the little one. Her free hand reached to pet Joy’s not-scary half, the gesture thankfully received positively.

“Are they bullying her?”

Joy might have looked... unusual, yes, but the two mouthed girl was far, far from the weirdest sight this world had to offer, or even the most intimidating.

“Some of them are, yeah. Though it’s as much the fault of the adults, we sowed this and are now reaping the results.”

Sue was following this even less now.

“How?”

“Her kin is... not well seen.”

“And that’s putting it lightly. I’ve heard several people call them ‘limb eaters’. There was little point in trying to dissuade these kinds of epithets when nobody thought any of her kin would ever end up joining Moonview. But eventually, Joy happened, and now we have to work on weeding terms and attitudes like that out.”

The term ‘limb eater’ combined with the intimidating maw made Sue gulp quietly as Sundance went on; the student having to try her hardest to keep her imagination from becoming particularly lively. Instead, she focused on this village, Moonview, having thought that one of Joy’s kin would never end up joining them, the idea making little sense to her. She’d seen weirder, much weirder creatures during her stay here so far, up to and including actual snakes.

“Wh-why would they not join?”

Willow blinked blankly at her, chuckling to themselves before speaking up-

“I almost forgot you’re not from here, heh. Well, eh... from what I heard, they mostly live in caves and... prey on creatures that wander in. Not very friendly or open to chit chatting.”

Nope, nope, nope, don’t want to imagine that.

“Then how did Joy get here?”

“Astra brought her here, right?”

“Indeed.”

The vulpine mystic continued before Sue could even think of speaking up, realizing she needed to elaborate-

“Astra is our scout and cartographer. She’s on the lookout for locations we could expand to, new crops we could grow here, and for other settlements to reach out towards. One time, she found a cave to spend the night in, and Joy was there, too terrified to even think about being aggressive. With how little she is, we think she might have gotten left behind by her brood. After some coaxing, Astra got her to open up enough to bring her here.”

Poor little lim- creature.

“She did the right thing, though she couldn’t really pause her scouting duties afterwards, and the lack of someone to watch over Joy throughout the day is hitting her hard. Cirrus can only do so much to reign in over a dozen little ones. And suffice to say, nobody else in the village is exactly racing to look after a limb eater, sigh...”

Heh, not like I don’t have all the free time in the world now...

The thought of taking a little one under her wing made Sue feel much warmer than she’d expected. It led her to shake the entire train of thought off, though, lest she’d hype herself up for something that wasn’t gonna happen.

“I think she’s out on a scouting job today anyway, won’t be back until late. Speaking of, what time is it-“

The medic picked themselves up off the floor and looked out the window; the sight of many a village folk heading towards the plaza making the time of day crystal clear.

“Seems the feast is about to kick off. Best get going ourselves, eh?”

Sue’s stomach wasn’t about to argue with that idea, that’s for sure.