The Fox's Flower

"Ah, hello Miss Emily. With the festival dying down, it's a touch dangerous to be active, even this far from the capitol. You weren't followed, were you?" As a cloaked figure entered his shop, the brunette man, maybe thirty eight or forty years of age, closed the door behind her, drawing the blinds.

"No, I'm quite sure that I wasn't followed, don't worry." She threw her hood back, and as always, the shopkeeper politely averted his eyes so as not to stare- she was, in equal parts, gorgeous and terrifying as somebody around here went. Hair rippling around her shoulders in fluffy, short waves, gray as the ash after a firebomb settled. Skin like porcelain, and, as her cloak fell away for a time, moved to the coat hook, long, feathery gray wings ruffled. This woman was monochrome, save for the brilliant, pulsing orange of her irises, like magma, like a smithy's forge. 

"Alright then, Miss Emily. What brings you here, then? Considering the time, I can only assume that it's urgent." 

"Yes, I suppose it is fairly urgent. I've found a young woman on the beach, and I'm not sure that she'll make it, she's bleeding, scraped up and clammy-"

"Now Miss Emily, as much as I do respect you, I cannot shelter anybody that isn't, well-"

"Quiet, Lif, I intend to ask you no such thing. You are a good man, helping me, and the last thing I would do is go out of my way to be the reason behind your head on a pike. The trouble is, I believe… I believe it's that girl. I'm going to need some of your language magic. I've got the coin here," She added quietly, producing a small coin purse.

"A-Alright- but, you're sheltering her, then? That's idiocy, if you're disvcovered-"

"Lif, I do adore you, but I've had a very long evening. If I have not been discovered in sixteen years by myself, and twenty overall, then I will not be discovered. Considering our… predicament, anyway, I intend to leave when summer arrives. Now, will you give me the potion?" 

"Ah, yes, and message received, ma'am, truly." Lif nodded, slowly exchanging the gold for the potion. "Just… Please know that my concern is only that- you have lived here for many years, and I daresay I will miss you, when you're gone, even knowing you're safer. I wish not to stop you, but…" 

"Maybe one day, Lif, things can be different. I promise to come visit you before I leave, barring the unforeseen." Inspecting the potion and seemingly satisfied, Emily turned, picking her cloak back up. "This is all I needed for tonight, Lif. Have a good night."

"A good night to you, too, Miss Emily," Lif whispered into the still, silent air of his shop once the cloaked visitor closed the door behind her.

===

Once the young woman hit the water, there was an indescribable pain, and then her vision cleared, the scenery changing around her. Crickets chirruped, somewhere, and she'd landed on her side in a field of grass alive with the light of lanterns. From somewhere nearby, the sound of laughter could be heard- and not of one, but of many. Slowly, she got to her hands and k

nees, then stood up, looking around, forgetting for the moment that she was nude. 

Around her were a great number of people, of species, rather- too much to absorb, from human-looking men standing fourteen feet tall to goblins at under a foot. Amorphous, slug-like masses, eyeballs covered in thin membrane floating about, girls coated in fur with the wings of ravens, and something like a withered figure of charcoal and gasoline, squelching about. Yet, no matter the species, they all seemed to be sharing in some sort of festivities.

"Hello? Have you only just arrived?" A small voice. She looked down, and there, a maybe a half foot shorter than her, stood a young woman dressed modestly in a dark cloak, pants and shirt, with boots to match. Jet hair fell to her shoulders, almost entirely straight, and the ears of a fox poked through her hair, as did the tail protrude from her cloak's fabric. This stranger smiled, her canines pronounced and doubled at eight fangs in total.

"I… I have," Spoke the prisoner who did not know her own name, meeting this fox girl's amber orbs- eyes that shone like honey. "Where, exactly am I?"

"This is the court. I noticed you looking confused and wanted to help you to understand, a bit better," The fox spoke earnestly, her lips twisting into a small smile. "You're dead, badger, but not for long. The court is for souls that have died but aren't yet ready to return. Comas, injuries, magically-forced imprisonment… it's hard to say what put you here."

"I jumped off a cliff-"

"You- and, and you aren't dead?" The fox angled her head, confused. "Oh, my manners. My name is Nara."

"Uh, well met, Nara. Why did you call me badger?" 

"Have you not looked into a mirror?" Nara angled her head again, this time the other way, with catlike curiosity.

"I… I don't know who I am," She admitted, rubbing her eyes with soft, somewhat small hands. "I just, I woke up in a cell, to be executed, and all I knew was to run, as fast and as far as I could. In the end, throwing myself off the cliff was the lesser of two evils. I don't remember who I am, what I am… before I got here, I wasn't even able to see clearly, everything was a haze. I just, adrenaline, and…" She trailed off, quiet.

"So, you were born, only to die…? But you won't stay dead, not yet- not if you're here." Nara thought for a moment. "Unjust, awful… so I'll make you a promise, okay? I'll keep you safe, from the horrors of your world, as best I can. Even if I'm no help, I'll give you my shoulder, okay? You can't say no, by the way." 

"Are we…" She laughed, quietly, at the way that this was posed to her. "Are we even of the same world? Why would you care to make an offer like that?" Nara only shrugged, though.

"Because I'm a bit like you- I've been in the court for months, and your memories start to fade here. It takes a lot out of you, you begin to lose yourself… but I remember that I made a promise to protect others, and I promised that to somebody who mattered a lot to me. So if I have somebody to protect, maybe I can have another shot at life soon- besides, what's wrong with wanting to protect a pretty lady?" A pause, then. "Please? I can't explain it, but, I made a promise to protect those that have been wronged by the world… plenty of killers and the like here, but nobody as pure as you." 

"Pure…?" The prisoner mumbled, quiet, confused.

"People who are such a clean slate. So, will you let me protect you?"

"You- didn't even answer me- are we from the same world?"

"That doesn't matter for my kind, we wander among dreams, and are bound to no one reality. You can turn me away, but why not take the protection of a stranger? Even if it's just a visitor to your dreams, somebody to talk to."

"I think there's more to this than you're telling me."

"Mn…" Nara sighed, quietly. "It's because you remind me of somebody I promised to protect, once. So, please?"

A long quiet, between them, but it was comfortable, somehow, and finally, she nodded, Nara's face melting into a soft grin, relaxed.

"So, got a name, badger? A real one, I mean."

"No, I don't think so," She replied quietly as Nara turned, gently guiding her toward a bench beside a wooden walkway. Looking around, the prisoner called badger realized they were in some sort of enclosed garden, with a building visible in the distance like some sort of red, white and black palace. Walkways with their own roofs and railing squared in a handful of small gardens, along the grounds. 

"Well, my people have a tradition where the first person to recognize us as a sentient being not of their own dreams is permitted to name us. What if I were to give you a name?" Nara smiled sheepishly, looking away as if for fear of judgment.

"Well, would you name me Badger?" The prisoner asked gently, with the faintest hint of a smile.

"No… No, I would name you, Hua. In the language I learned first, it means flower. Because that's what you are right now; a sprout able to bloom and flourish or wilt and die, needing time and support to get on your feet, to become what you can." 

Another moment of silence.

This one stretched out…

"I-If you hate it, just say so-" Nara began, looking away, but the prisoner cut her off. 

"It's lovely to meet you, Nara. My name is Hua. Have you told me the truth, about why you want to protect me."

More of that accursed silence.

Another grin, bigger than before, tugging at Nara's lips.

"I really do want to keep a promise to somebody I once cared about, yes. That I wouldn't stand by and watch, or run the risk of innocent life being torn apart. Now, as much as I'd love to answer more of your questions, I think we'll have to finish this up later- I'll find you, I promise!" Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Nara laughed lightly, stepping back, and before Hua could question her, the world pulsed, time seeming to slow, shapes becoming distorted- a myriad of disorienting shapes and colors blotting out the universe.

"Nara-?" Hua tried to speak, confused, body and mind sluggish, fading.

"Just relax- I promised to come find you!! Be safe, okay?!" Nara's voice reached her as her vision began to go dark, and with a great falling sensation, Hua's world went dark once again.