Tails and Tales of a Diminutive Traveler
It was late in the afternoon already.
The bright sunlight had crept past the forest canopy. A trickle of those rays had fallen to rest directly against my eyes. I grimaced, lurching backwards to avoid the affront to my senses, I blearily awake to face the day ahead of me.
Hesitant to rise, I stared up at the viridian ceiling that let the light through. This was wrong, but I didn't want to fight. I watched the colossal trees rustle in their duty of holding the roof aloft. Strands of ivy twined with the darkly shaded bark, bridging itself between trees, and mingling with leaves where it grasped at branches hanging overhead. Patchworks formed of lichen and fungi divided the trees into irregular patterns. While a fragrant, emerald carpet of grass stretched from the tree roots into the landscape, speckled by mossy outcrops.
A smile twitched onto my face in the process of soaking the sights; I found myself wishing only to return to sleep so I might avoid the apparent problem longer... But it was too late to rest, it was midday after all. Rising to sit upright on the bedding of moss, the nagging voice in my head heightened into intensive dread. I felt a chill in my spine, and that fickle smile was gone. Unease rose in my throat as my widening eyes drifted downwards.
Silvery fur grew as a coat over my diminutive body, interrupted at the neck by a cloud of white fluff which hung like a massive winter scarf. My short legs terminate in a set of trembling black paws, twitching anxiously where my hands must have once sat. As though doubting reality, I pressed them to my mouth. Poking at the sharp teeth within the muzzle which sprouted unnaturally from my face. A massive white tail involuntarily flicked about nervously, its wavering tip darkened into a reddish hue. Oversized, inquisitive ears wiggle with anticipation for the puzzled shout building in my chest.
It takes an effort to calm the sensation into a sigh. What previously was overwhelming panic had melted into an excitable curiosity. Questions begging for answers conflicted in priority, What's wrong with me? How'd I get here? My head tilts at the thoughts, my expression had contorted into a pensive frown, and I was racking my head in search of an explanation. My memory was known to suffer, though this seemed even beyond that. I may have slept outside before, but I was never an animal! The typical haze of past details was replaced by a total lapse in my recent memories, this couldn't have been a fault of mine. This was pointless, and there was no point in dwelling on what I could not answer for. Shaking myself from the deep stupor, I rise on unsteady feet and quiet the static in my thoughts.
Trembling, I push one foreleg forward, my body begrudgingly allowing the deliberate first step. Proceeded by tumbling into the dirt, tripping upon my own hind-feet. Being placed on four legs felt immediately unnatural to me. Each step held this new instinctual presence behind it, conflicting with years of prior routine. Wandering away from where I once laid, repetition improved after each stumble, until walking felt natural once more. I knew adjusting was not going to be optional, but I had an uneasy feeling about this.
...Will I forget how it felt to have stood taller?
Still, progress left me fulfilled, and a smile returned to my dour face. The concerns of my circumstances had vanished, and an idea sprouted in my head. Pausing and looking back, I confirmed that I was alone. Lowering my stance and stretching forward, I pounced forwards into the tall grass. My grin grew into a fit of merry laughter, trailing behind my sprint along the forest floor. Carefree feelings had stirred, I knew for certain I'd never been here before, yet a distinct familiarity was ingrained like fragments from dreams. A childish glint of curiosity overcame my once fear-ridden face. The shadows beneath the trees were teeming with wonders, and I no longer wanted to question where the journey might take me.
The entire world seemed far more vast from this point of view, trees stood as towers, grass tingled my nose, and boulders loomed like cliffs. My sightseeing travels are cut short in front of a flowing stream, flanked on either side by a dirt path dipping beneath the current. Reeds sparsely decorating the edges wobbled along the breeze. Peering over the riverbank into the clear water below; A cold realization washed over me at the sight of the stony riverbed.
It wouldn't be possible to feel the bottom anymore, what once would have been gentle creek I now likened to an impassable river. The consequences of being of this size were growing apparent, my eye level peaked approximately only a foot off the ground. My gaze shifted inquisitively, focusing on the choppy reflection now skewed over the water. Offering the opportunity to see my own reflection for the first time, if only partially so. Two wide topaz eyes were gleaming with wonder, betraying the deeper worries felt by the fox behind them. Leaves had gathered on his escapade and clung loosely to the thick fur adorning his head and neck. Drawing closer and sharing a timid smile with my sundered reflection, I felt the earth beneath me collapse, and myself slipping into the water soon after.
Fear rooted into my thoughts, I had barely learned to run again, I couldn't swim!
I felt myself blindly thrashing in the water, reaching for the bank. My fears were exactly as I had believed, the water was too deep, and its current too swift. I struggled to pull myself free from the river's hold, clawing through roots and stems to clamber to the safety of land. Falling back on a patch of moss a safe distance from the churning waters, I rested to regain my bearings. Moisture mats the once cloudy fur messily against my body. Sighing in a mixture of relief and distress, I notice my ears twitching involuntarily, twisting and listening intently to the only voice I'd yet heard. Laughter was ringing out in the otherwise serene forest. Circumstance distorted the noise into an intimidating tone, I couldn't stick around. Crossing the river felt like a monumental ordeal, but emotions clouded any will to turn back.
Hurriedly, I scoured the stream for a way across, peeking up and down the horizon. Downstream from the path, a collection of algae covered stones rose from the water like islands, spanning the width of the stream unevenly.
...Hopping from one rock to the next. This wasn't the first time, it would be easy!
I backed away from the water's edge, took a running start from the distance, and pounced from the bank towards the first island on the chain. This rock was slippery, the claws on my paws scratched to catch any traction, stripping away the growth of algae in search of support. I'd survived through the first step, and giving up had long since been out of the question. Lowering my posture for another leap, I push off the rock! My back leg loses its footing prematurely, and my momentum falters far too soon.
Thump
I dove headfirst against the oncoming stone, with only the cloudy tuft upon my head to halt the impact. Blinding stars fill my vision and I'm swept into the stream once more. Far too dazed to resist this time. Winded by the blow, my only reaction is to hold in what little breath remained. Once the pain dulled and my sight cleared, I found myself not beneath the current, but floating away upon it.
Releasing a sigh of relief, I watch the stones I'd fallen from fade on the horizon, shuffled into distant memory... Bereft of a plan, I content myself with drifting on the stream, alone with the noise of my thoughts once more. Numerous questions rise; one weighing heaviest on my mind that demands an answer immediately,
...Where am I supposed to go?
My heart sunk, not only did I still have no answers, but I realized I'd fled from the single voice carried through the quiet forest air. A streak of optimism reminded me that I could only move forward, and to pray to not repeat my mistake. Relaxing against the current, I understood to make the most of the time I was given.
Hours in the water slipped by, and the sun had begun to sink from its seat on high. Ahead, a tree steeped its spindly branch into the stream before me. It was offering an exit from the ride. I scrambled for a grip as it passed by, biting down on the drooping arm, chaotically carving away the stem to climb upward. Sitting atop the base of the branch, that earlier instinct urged me to shake myself dry. Giving in and tossing away the water from my coat like a dog; I was overjoyed seeing the previously matted fur had recovered its shape nigh perfectly.
A guilty smile flittered on my face, succumbing to the absurdity felt right, almost as though I had gained a new sense of freedom. Holding back a chuckle, I search the darkening woods from my perch, the setting sun guided my gaze towards a vibrant hill teeming with flowers. Jumping down to the earth once more, I trudge on through the tall, olivine grass.
Ascending the hillside meadow is unmistakably easier standing on four legs than it was with two. Tall flowers of all shapes and hues sway gently overhead in the breeze, forming an arch above my quiet passage. This hill's summit sits comfortably above the surrounding forest canopy, revealing the cloudless sky for the first time. The sunset melting between far distant mountains painted the firmament in swathes of amethyst, that dwindled into bright shades of fire rising from the forest roof.
The view of the woods grew towards all corners where the sun's light still shone, offering no hint of civilization anywhere close by. The fruitless search ends with darkening skies paving way for the moon to crown the night sky. Stamping my feet at the peak of the hill, a comforting bed of grass and flowers is molded to the primal delight growing in my heart. Laying down and rolling to my back in the meadow's embrace, I stare at the gems gleaming in the void above. The stars shone brighter than I'd ever known possible, yet the sky itself seemed different. Were the stars out of place? I can't help but dismiss new concerns, enough questions were already without answers.
Everything I'd experienced today was absurd, so why was I growing comfortable with it...?
Rousing weakly in the morning, I stretch my new limbs again, reasserting the fears that this was reality. I grumbled, lamenting about hands before a realization shocks me fully awake. None of my feet felt the ground beneath me, and a row of sharp teeth clasped firmly on the back of my neck. Something is carrying me, like an unruly kit being dragged home by its parent. Worry instills my mind, my ears twitch, paws tremble, and I immediately search for an escape. A reflexive yelp escapes my mouth while I wriggle in the holder's grasp.
"P-Put me d-dow-wn!" I cry. I feel staggered by the sound of my own voice hitting me for the first time. Quiet, like wisps spoken on a breeze, remaining just as distressingly weak at it's peak.
A muffled male voice responds through a mouthful of fur behind me, "Quit fighting me, I'll set you down."
My panicked struggle subsides at hearing another's voice again. Its owner gently places me on the ground in turn. Turning back to face my captor, I shudder with wonder at the sight. Towering over me stood a pale blue fox, accented by snowy white extremities. Numerous twisting tails each swipe independently behind his body, and a pair of cold, sapphire eyes bore into my quivering form. My gaze drops from his icy stare, settling onto one distinctive feature... A silver scarf barely able to fit was tied about his neck, it was tailored to something of a smaller form...
Softly muttering the only string of words I can think in this reverential state, I ask, "Wh-What are y-you?"
His attentive ears perk up at the question, tilting his head in confusion, "What's the matter friend, have you not seen a ninetales before? I can't be that much a rare occurrence... That time in Capim alone there was the other vulpix who---" He cut himself off, the meaning of his words were lost upon me. Speaking with a different approach, reassurance rang in his words, "Look little zorua, I'm nothing special. Seeing anyone be taken by the current in an insignificant stream left me worried. It didn't seem right to ignore you, and you left a rather conspicuous trail in your wake for that matter."
What little sense I gleaned from his words felt sincere, my trembling eased, and I focused on what to say, "I-I'm sorry, you're not making any se--" Shaking my head, something was more important to ask, "No no no, you just kidnapped me! e-exp-plain y-yours-s-self!" I stumbled on my words, making demands from someone twice my size and thrice my strength filled my head with dread, I feared what I was dealing with.
His giggling response made lightly of my nervous disposition, "Forgive me, but you're a heavy sleeper little guy!" His voice carried an infectious warmth to it, "I hoped to wake you early in the morning and speak properly... But the sunrise had come and gone across my efforts. I may have made a few assumptions on what was the right thing to do for you... uhm, what should I call you?"
I smiled, even in a new body, oversleeping still addled me. Fears I clung to had waned under his patience, "It's alright, my name is... um... I-It-It's F-Fern!" My grin fidgeted anxiously, was it the right thing to say?
His expression shifted towards surprise, before abruptly returning to its previous calm, "Is that so? Then you may call me Ciel. If i may ask another question of you, how did you end up alone out here?" His gentle voice betrayed any hint of the shock that had just crossed him.
But Ciel was no name I'd ever heard of, and the mountain of oddities piling since my 'arrival' weighed heavier than the conversation itself. I raised my foreleg in an imitation of deep thought, I needed to be truthful for information to flow, but what did I know in the first place!? I snapped at him after an exasperated sigh, "I don't even know where here is! I-I'm not some zorua, I should still be human... I don't know how I got here, or what to do now..." My light voice made a mockery of my frustration... It was too kind to suit anger.
Ciel beamed with a childish delight at the word human, in stark contrast to the serene guardian he appeared as a moment before, "Is it true? And you really don't know anything about...?" The how or why no longer interested him, twisting his neck, Ciel reached into a satchel that hung from his side. Withdrawing a rolled sheet by its edges with his teeth. He lays out a map between us and speaks, "You're on the grass continent, Fern! Over there is the port of Capim, and... we are somewhere around here!"
The map on the ground was yellowed by age, its ink had long started to fade, and the edges were scarred by tears. Yet fresh markings decorated the surface, dotted lines laid out routes, circles outlined towns, and numerous crosses were scattered over the continent. Ciel's paw rests on a forest distantly southeast of Capim, nestled between his foreleg and civilization lies one smaller such town, labelled in a language not unlike hieroglyphs. Staring at the unusual continent shattered any sense that I might return to normalcy, but I finally had a foothold on what reality had become. Peering up at my cold companion, I open my mouth to speak. My voice is replaced by a low rumble, and my abdomen tightened.
Meekly, I admit that hunger had caught up to me, I couldn't recall the last time I had eaten anything.
Ciel responded with a comforting laugh, and his excitement cooled in turn. Stowing his map, he laid himself at rest on the ground, positioned so that his bag directed towards me. "Take something, I'm a bit over-prepared for the way this trip has ended..."
Accepting the offer with a nod, I poke my face beneath the cover and peek inside. Despite his lack of proper hands, Ciel's satchel is surprisingly, functional and organized. His map is cradled between the bag's wall and an eye-catching ball, sparkling with reminiscence to the prior night's sky. Colorful fruits are nestled into a small pile on the opposing side, interspersed by translucent, white... gummy vitamins? Most notably however, is the central pool of nuts and seeds. A mixture of shapes filled half of the free space, but a single type alone dominated the remainder. This majority of seeds appeared to be wreathed in shells of fire, or maybe likened to burning pine cones frozen in time. I had so many new questions...
...His travel preparations were akin to a dainty picnic basket in my eyes.
Plucking the only food remotely identifiable, I withdrew with one of the oversized gummies clutched in my jaw. Sitting back against my new companion, I bit into it. The taste could only be vaguely described as a condensed, fruity, frozen dessert... How the unusual treat could taste frozen was confounding me anew. A lingering sensation clung after the unusual snack had gone, and I had been stuck pondering a description to myself when Ciel nudged me back to reality.
"I'm sorry to keep you, but where exactly were you taking me again?" He had been nothing but patient with me, but I began to feel bad for delaying him for this long.
"Well, I believed once we made it to town I could have sent you home, but if you're... I suppose you have no one to return to, huh?" Ciel paused, "Actually, there's been no shortage of tales about your kind in Capim. I haven't been there in a while though, and I couldn't speak for the truth of it." His face shifted nervously, "I-I hate to make lightly of your problem, but I'm admittedly curious! I'd put my adventure aside to help out, if you'll have me."
"O-Others!?" That news was the spark of hope I was missing. My uncontrolled excitement forced my tail to swipe excitedly at the air like a pleased animal might express itself. "We can't just hang around here then!" Hopping along the path on my own accord, I'd begun unconsciously humming.
Ciel matched my pace and spoke up, interrupting my tune, "F-Fern we're not going directly to Capim! There's a small place I'm still returning to first, a cozy little spring along the way. Just a few things to take care of! Besides, we had no chance to arrive before late at night on account of your sleeping ha--" Catching himself late, Ciel fell silent.
I could only smile at his remark, I was burdened by enough questions to clear the air for him in the hours to come, "So... What kinda name is Ciel?"