FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Just some getting to know each other in this chapter.

While this particular chapter has no mature content, the story as a whole does, so this is marked as Adult.

Gentle Moons

Chapter 3

They were uninterrupted for the ten hours that Nyia slept. The fox woke, unable to sleep successfully, after about four hours, but laid still, listening to the sounds of the tunnels around them. He finally fell asleep again from exhaustion as the night wore on, numerous hours before the activity around them ceased.

The khajiit slept about ten hours, waking at one in the morning, lifting her head abruptly in surprise at not knowing where she was. Once she looked around, she relaxed, petting and grooming the fox that wa curled up around behind her as she worked to be calm again.

His ear flicked and he murrrbled in his sleep, then his eyes blinked open at the touches. "Harrurrf?" he asked quietly, not completely coherent. He didn't wake up startled though.

Staying quiet, she just petted him. She'd woken up with a lot of hard-hitting thoughts. Was her caravan okay? Did the estate think she was dead? How long was she drugged with the argonians? Petting him soothed her, so that is what she did.

"You feel unhappy," he murmured, giving her a consoling hug. Now that he was awake, he was able to sense her distress. She could tell that he quite obviously worried about her.

"Worried about my caravan. Worried about the estate. Worried about how long I've been gone." She twisted in his grip and rolled to face him, holding him close.

"Sometimes you can remember events when they have you drugged, but not really how much time is between them," he observed. "The traders we met said I was missing for weeks, not months. I think they captured me before they got you. I recall you being dragged in while I was drugged and caged, and I don't think they caged you. So I think they captured you on the day they failed the ritual." He licked her gently. "If not, the most you could've been gone is a few weeks it feels like, but I don't think that's the case."

She buried her face in his chest fur with a heavy sigh. "Your people are nocturnal because it's safest?"

"We're not nocturnal," he said. "We're..." he took a moment to try to remember the word. "I forget what it's called, but we sleep twice. We're up in the morning and evening, and sleep during the darkest park of the night and the brightest part of the day."

He thought about the word more, than shrugged. "Anyway, we do it for extra safety. People can't see us, but they can see the things we have changed after we change them. So we do more in the twilight. Deep night is icky though and the swamp gases can come up this far, so we don't stay out too late at night. So we get the rest of our sleep then."

Still clinging, she nodded. "You should introduce me to your people before we leave."

"I will. They'll want to know that I'm okay and that I'm going wandering." He looked around. "I don't hear much movement, so probably early morning." His ears twisted and he focused on something for a few seconds. "About one in the morning, so most people will waken in about two hours."

"Oh. What do you do for your estate? I mean, your den?" She squirmed and headed to the toilet hole, fretting for a moment about the lack of a privacy barrier, but he was relaxed and not particularly paying attention, so she'd make due.

"I did some guard duty recently, then I spent time cooking and making nombars. I'm better at making the nombars than at cooking fancy things to make them from. I got captured while I was on hunting duty." He rolled onto his back and stretched languidly, his fur ruffling in the dim glow of the fungi. "Many of us do a lot of jobs because there's so much we need to know and stay good at." He went into the hidden chest and found a nombar for her to nom on.

She returned when she was relieved and lounged, sniffing at the food. It was completely scent-free. She nibbled it curiously. "Do your people keep books?"

"Some, but in our personal storage and the elders keep some I think. The swamp is not kind to paper though and we prefer to tell and hear stories than read them." He pointed to the nom she was nibbling. "It's still intact and not smelly, but how is it? It's an egg one. Some people don't like egg nombars because they're harder to make correctly. It's never fun to end up with a whole supply of nombars gone bad because one was made wrong."

She'd only nibbled a little, but she set it aside and curled up. "It's good. I'm just not hungry. I'm going to nap until people are awake then, since you don't have any books you can show me and I don't want to be in the way or wake people up or put them in danger."

"Okay," he murmured, feeling like he disappointed her somehow. He curled back up with her when she went to sleep, but after an hour he woke, unable to sleep anymore. He went to the chest and opened it, pulling out a partially-carved piece of soap. Then he sat and silently resumed carving it with his claws.

It was nearly three when she woke again, her eyes flicking open though she didn't move. She watched him carving with a feline smile as he was so engrossed in his work that neither her scrutiny nor the sounds resuming outside in the tunnels disturbed him. He was working with very fine details with his claws and holding it carefully to avoid breaking any of the details.

His ear flicked as he slowly became aware of her attention. She was just thinking approval in his direction so as to not startle him and make his claw slip. Finally, the ear twisted to focus on her and his hand paused as he looked up. "Err.. good morning. I didn't want to wake you up, but I couldn't sleep anymore."

"What are you doing? Can I see?"

He blinked several times as he looked at the carving and was embarrassed for a moment, but he reconsidered. "I carve some things in my spare time. This soap doesn't require any magic to carve, so it's better for practicing quietly." He held out the carved bird that he was working on. In the dim light, the details were down to even individual feathers and scales on the tucked legs. He was not done, but looked close to it.

"That is..." she drew in a breath of amazement. "...really nice. Even altmer who have worked their whole lives do not make things with such detail except maybe in wax."

"They don't use their own claws," he pointed out, his whiskers twitching. He considered, then set down the bird he was carving and peeked into the open chest, pulling out a carved wooden fish and a stone turtle. The turtle was hugely more detailed than anybody could reasonably expect carved stone to be. There were limited tools that could work to carve most stone.

"These are very nice!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide and ears perked with a sense of awe and pride as she examined the two carvings he offered her.

"I try for realism most of the time, but I made some decorative things too," he said with a smile. He took the wooden bird and set it back into the chest carefully. "The soap gets smished really easily and doesn't last. The harder wood and the stone keeps the details better."

She watched his hands intently as he pulled more pieces of soap that were carved with less detail. One was carved like a water bird and the other had decorative scenes on the outer surfaces.

"The scenes wear off when you use the soap," he said sadly. Then his ears perked. "But my soap molds will be ready by now."

He pulled out a tray that had soap bars molded in it and popped out the soaps. "I won't put more soap into it. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow or next week, and the bars are mostly for travel or for dens where people can't get it fresh."

She took the molded soap and smiled. "What do you make the soap out of? It's not as harsh as anything I've ever seen."

"Soaproot core sap," he told her. "It's a good cleaner, isn't poisonous like most of the swamp is, and doesn't hurt your eyes or mouth or anything. I mean, I wouldn't eat it, but it's very nice. It takes about a week to congeal into a solid when it comes out of the root bulbs the tree stores it in. Cubs learn to tell days by emptying the flasks in the baths when they are close to too old. Some dens put smells or oils in it, but that's not too common. Our den gets so much sap from out trees that we have to dump the excess pretty often."

"Tree sap? Hmm. And a lot of extra? Take a bunch with you then. We can sell it and maybe you can make some scented bars for the estate as a gift."

"Take it with me?" He was confused. "What do you mean? Should I ask for a bigger bulb?"

"Oh, so your den is a commune. Um, yes, a bigger supply than you need. The gold may not mean anything to your people, but the things you can buy with it and bring back might."

"Oh. Okay. I'll ask for a bigger bulb," he said with a nod. But he was still confused. Finally he stopped thinking about that and tilted his head curiously. "How big a bulb do you think I'll need?"

"Not more than we can fit into two packs. We still have to carry it everywhere."

His ears went up in surprise. "Packs? We have to carry them? Does something out there block holes?" He considered. "Or do people steal your holes there?" He shivered. "A rambunctious cub tried to steal my carving hole once. He was put on sludge duty for a whole week."

She looked at him and made a "Meowl?" sound, tilting her head and taking her turn to be confused. Maybe she'd said something khajiit. "Hole? Umm..." She craned her neck up and inspected his ears. "You fit soap in here?"

He made a face. "Holes? Private little gates? I'm pretty sure they taught me that mages all over the world make gates." It was true. Many mages knew the spell to make gates that they could step through to places they'd been, though it was a complicated process and rarely used except in the field to return to a safe place quickly. But they were -usually- people-sized or bigger, good for making non-mages dizzy, and used usually rarely and in extreme situations.

"We have our places, and we make our holes to them," he said sagely, as if reciting a lesson. "Place with anchor, hole to place. Place with anchor, hole to place. The swamp is too dangerous to carry around a lot of stuff. So as long as nobody steals your hole or your place, you're fine. Then you can have all your things close by all the time."

The idea that anybody at all would use gates - even small ones - as an everyday commodity was absolutely ridiculous. She stared at him. "Promise me that you will never speak to an outsider about them again. That knowledge would be worse than your nombars getting out." She wondered what else his race had as hidden surprises.

"Ummm...? 'Kay?" He was utterly confused. This was like somebody telling him not to tell other people that he had a tail. "I won't."

"When your people are ready to rejoin the world, I hope they understand the value of their magics. It would be bad if somebody took advantage of you."

His ears wilted as he felt scolded. "There need to be enough of us and we need to understand the rest of the world better. I know that our hiding spells would be a big enough problem if other people got them." He peered at her searchingly. "You make it sound like our holes would be a problem too."

"Problem... eh..." She speculated for a moment. "More of something people would want to know how to do. Many of them may not be respectful when they ask, or how they use it. The dunmer took moonsugar from the khajiit and turned it into skooma. They turned a blessed connection to the moons into a horrid drug, and the khajiit get the blame for it."

"Good point," he agreed with a sigh. He looked at his hand and his ears laid to the side with a worry that he tried and failed to hide from her.

"You do not have anything to worry about. I am sure your elders will have a plan when the time comes." She went silent for a moment. "That means I will be traveling alone and you will just be observing until you can return home."

"Alone?" His ear tilted. "No, I will be with you. AND..." he tapped her nose with a finger gently. "I can't just observe. If you get hurt, it hurts me. Same if I get hurt. So if somebody causes a problem, they will definitely feel my wrath.

"I wonder if there is any way to turn off my spell without allowing people to see all of us," he mused. He was still worried about something, though it was hard to say why.

"That seems like a risk, and too many questions. Is that what you are worrying about?"

He shook his head. "I worry because my holes seem to be broken. Otherwise I could've gotten us food on the way back."

Her ears flicked. "What does that mean?"

"All my stuff I store is in my holes, but when I tried to open a hole to get us food, it was solid on the other side. That shouldn't happen, so it worries me."

"You said the holes lead to places, so go and check on your things in the places. Make new holes to the places if you need to. Right?"

"Well, yes, but if a place is opened in person, it takes an elder to seal it shut again."

"They want me gone, so they will do whatever it takes to get me out of here, including setting back up your things."

He peered at her. "You make it sound like they are mean."

"Not mean," she said, shaking her head. "They just have a goal. For their own protection, they want me gone."

He waggled his head. "Okay, true. They are usually busy, but you're right, I think they will make time. I should probably let people know I'm back and safe, and check on my places, and see from there." He blinked in surprise. "I understand it now! You wanted us to take soaps or soaproot sap with us. When my holes work again, we have it with us."

"You do not have to. I just thought it was an idea to make the trip more worth your time," she said, fidgeting.

"I mean, we don't normally carry things with us because we have our holes. Stuff that we carry can be dropped and found by others. Holes can't. Everybody in my den has a hole to a soaproot bulb and all their places. So we'll have it, but we won't have to carry it. I confused about the idea of taking it with us since we leave it here and get it anywhere. How would we stay clean and fluffy otherwise?"

"Everyone else in the world has to carry what they need. Some even starve because they do not have it."

"It's something we're not used to, which is why I was confused. I mean, we still know how to find food, like the birdvines, but for a foxen to be without their holes is sad."

"There are no birdvines out there. You know that, right?"

"That's why getting my holes fixed is so important."

Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back. "I am ready to meet your people." She hugged him as he opened the door for her and followed him out into the maze of passages. He led back the way they'd come, but then took a different passage. All the branching and twists and turns had her lost in short order, so she was glad to have him leading.

Soon they passed a few other foxes heading various directions through the system of tunnels, though not too many of them. The lack of much or any clothing on them gave Nyia cause for concern that she might not be able to get clothing of her own though. She had a shiver of fear and hurried as they passed through a section of tunnel that bore the distinct feeling of a large amount of water flowing around it.

Gannen fluffed at her fear until he realized it was from her and not his own. "What's wrong?"

"I have a bad history with drowning."

"The water? It's in roots. The plants clean it for us, which is why we have so much fresh water. We send it all over the den by root. Except the hot water. The trees wouldn't like that."

"Wh-what if the roots break? Would you all drown?"

He shook his head avidly. "The trees wouldn't want that. If the root broke, it would hurt the tree too. It would cut the water off in that root though." He shuddered and murmured, "It's bad to break roots. It makes trees unhappy."

A short walk later and they passed a section that gave her a shivery feeling of 'don't notice me' when she walked through it, and soon thereafter was a lot more noise. In a moment, they rounded a bend to a bustling communal area.

The massive cavern had lilmothiit eating at big tables, doing things at various benches, sitting around chatting, and everything else that an underground fox might do to pass the time. There were at least three groups of ten to twelve kits each listening attentively as they were addressed by two adults per group. The variety of coat patterns was immense and now, here, she finally saw some lilmothiit in clothing. The variety of clothing was as vast as the variety of coat patterns, making it look like they came from many different places A lot of food smells and some pleasant non-food smells filled the air, and despite the number of people and all the conversations, it was not too noisy.

Niya was much more relaxed now and her ears perked and her whiskers twitched as she entered the living area. The smell of food that was not nombars and the looks at his culture made her smile. She performed a small bow to almost every person she passed, the training her altmer estate had given showing through. As occupants noticed, by sight or scent, that she was present, a few curious glances went in her direction, but nobody was concerned. She kept her eyes open for any clothing that was vaguely shirt-like. Despite half the foxes, including hers, being completely bare, she was not keen on such a thing herself.

Gannen started weaving his way through the area, making his way to the other side, when there was an exclamation.

"Gannen!"

An entire table's worth of foxes jumped up and dropped to all fours, rushing up to them. Nyia slinked back as they approached, but they pulled up short and stood when they arrived, looking the two over.

"What happened? You've been missing for weeks!"

"We were kidnapped by tribal argonians," he said, his ears wilting. "This is Nyia. We're heading to see the elders about our problem."

The little khajiit bowed as she was introduced, wrapping her tail around herself to be more covered. "Thank you for allowing me into your home."

Gannen's ear twitched and he looked at his denmates. "Thria, where do you get those great big shirts you sometimes wear?"

"I get them when the trading group comes from Lesset," the vixen said, tilting her head.

The fox wilted. "Oh." He thought hard. "Can you take Nyia with you and see if you are willing to let her have one she likes? I'll make it up to you." The vixen brightened. "But not the usual way." At this, the vixen wilted, but before she could ask, he shook his head. "It's complicated."

Thria nodded, then perked. "That's okay." She turned to Nyia. "Wanna come see my shirts?"

Nyia's ears had been following them as they spoke. "Are they like those?" She pointed at a shirt among the clothing around them. "I would like that very much. If it is a problem, I can live without."

"They're loose shirts that cinch around the waist, but it would be super-long on you. It stops just about the base of my tail, so they'd probably go halfway down your stifles."

The khajiit's eyes brightened and her tail went high. "That would be perfect! Some lengths of cloth would make a perfect belt too."

"I have belts for them too!" Thria exclaimed, cheering up at Nyia's better mood. "It's all coordinated and nice."

"I hope it is okay, that they do not cost you too much," Nyia said, looking up at them.

Gannen smiled and his ears turned pink. "Thria's a denmate. It'll work out." He looked across the big area. "It'll give me a chance to wait for an elder to help too."

Nyia looked at him and her ears wilted. "Thank you."

He frowned at the wilt, dropping lower on his legs to be even with her. "Why sad?"

She smiled and shook her head. "It is nothing. Did you want me to go with Thria while you tell them you are waiting?"

He considered, and not she could tell he was worried over the link. "Yes," he agreed, nodding. "She'll help you and bring you back when you are happy with a shirt. Then I will probably wait a lot more."

She kissed him on the chin. "No worrying. Just a moment of discomfort."

He wilted a little and could not avoid his fretting, but bit his tongue and nodded again. Then he kissed her softly and headed off.

Thria watched him depart before turning to Nyia. "Do you want to see them here, or do you want to come to my room?"

Nyia bounced, excited to finally have a chance to have a shirt, but she turned very formal. "Whatever is best, mistress."

The vixen flicked her ear and mouthed the word 'mistress' silently, quite confused about such an appellation. "I don't want you to feel embarrassed looking at something as silly as clothing in public. I know some people think clothes are taboo or weird."

"That won't make me feel weird! I want clothing. Once I have a shirt, I will feel so much better."

"Oh, okay!" Thria exclaimed, taking her hand and leading her to an empty, smaller table. "Must be one of those things in the rest of the world. Here!" She gestured at the air and a rip appeared in reality, opening down into a chest full of folded clothing. "What colors do you like best?"

Nyia was wide-eyed at the sudden tear in the air and she peered at it cautiously. "Gold," she said quietly.

One of the stacks of clothing was moved inside the rip. The vixen worked in the space as casually as anybody just poking in a wooden chest. She found four shirts that were marigold and gold-orange colored and extracted them. "Like this?"

"My parents used to have such nice dresses in that lovely color," Nyia trilled, taking one and hugging it to her chest like a long-lost friend. She unfolded it and found that it was made for the larger vixen, so it would be big big on her, down to her stifles. Tucked inside the folded shirt was a matching belt and two small loops would hold that, but very low on the feline.

"That one is pull-over. It ruffles my fur. The rest are buttons and ties."

Nyia disregarded the concerns and pulled the shirt on, ignoring the belt loops and tying the belt at her waist above them. It was big on her, but she was so damned happy it didn't matter. She grabbed the vixen suddenly and hugged her close, purring.

"You like it then?" Thria asked with a smile.

"I love it!" Nyia exclaimed, letting the vixen go and doing a spin. "Thank you so much! I will try to send something back for you with Gannen when he returns."

She closed the hole and paused, peering at Nyia. "Returns? Is he going somewhere?"

"He is going wandering. I am sure he will tell you all about it. I will have him bring you back a necklace or a bracelet. There are so many things that would look lovely on your beautiful coat."

One fox ear laid to the side. "Jewelry? That would be silly for me. We've been wondering if anybody would go wandering again though. Nobody has come back with stories for a long time."

"Silly?" Nyia wilted.

"We don't really wear jewelry."

"You don't really wear clothing but you have a lot of shirts."

"Yes, so I can find a way to make people happy with the shirts. Also made them happy by taking the shirts."

Nyia looked down and started to undo the belt. "I can't accept this then. I have nothing to trade you." She stopped when the vixen touched her hands and took them away from the belt.

"Are you taking back your happiness at getting it and making me have to keep it now? We have plenty of things. When we have these things, they are just things. When we give them to somebody who likes them, there is happiness and more space to make more things. If the things we make or have are not good enough, nobody will take them and then we run out of space to have new things."

The cat stared at her. "I... I will make sure he is returned safely then," she said, bemused.

Thria cheered back up. "Thank you. Now I have room to get a new thing that makes me happy, and that will make somebody else happy and give them room to get or make a new thing." She took a deep breath. "Thank you for offering to keep him safe too. Even though he's not a sire, we want to keep everybody alive as we can." Then she shook off the moment of worry and perked. "The shirt looks good on you."

"Thank you. I feel much better being covered."

"Not showing off your beautiful fur?"

Nyia's ears turned pink and she looked around, then focused on the air where the rip had been. "You all seemed really happy to see Gannen back."

"He's our denmate. We grew up together and take care of each other and we're family. It's very sad to lose a denmate."

"It's nice to have people who care," she murmured, holding herself closed and withdrawn.

"People are supposed to care," Thria protested. "How could we exist if we didn't?"

Nyia looked down and flattened some wrinkles in the shirt, making sure her tail was in the split portion in the back. "I should get back to him," she said fretfully.

"Let's go. He's going to see the elders? If I know them, he'll be waiting for a few more hours."

The vixen led the way across the common area, but Nyia became more discomfited at the growing crowdedness. She stayed small and tried to vanish, a behavior pushed into her mind by constantly being scolded and accused of being in the way. She looked around anxiously, wanting to get back to her fox.

"Here," Thria said suddenly and Nyia found herself with the vixen's tailtip being presented to her. "Hold this. It will help you stay with me."

Nyia brightened. "So fluffy!" she exclaimed, momentarily distracted from her separation anxiety.

"Yes, but not common. And if a lilmothiit ever lets you ride them, it means they really like you." She turned and made her way through the crowd, the fluff of her tail keeping people from cutting between the two. They soon reached a more open waiting area at the side of the cavern with numerous foxen cooling their shanks and chatting, but no sign of Gannen.

"Where is he?" She looked around, clinging to the tail more tightly as her ears fell and her anxiety pressed in.

Thria was confused. "I don't know. He couldn't possibly have gotten in yet. I see some people who've been waiting since midnight. Maybe he..." Her words trailed off as she spotted Gannen coming back from a side tunnel that connected to the waiting area, four other foxes walking with him and talking avidly. "Four elders? Wow... Something big must be going on."

Nyia's ears flattened to the sides and her tail curled near her legs. "It will be fine. He is there and coming back," she said quietly, trying to reassure herself.

Gannen was trying to pay attention to the elder that gesticulated wildly at him while his attention was also pulled by Nyia's worry.

"...good thing!" the elder was saying as they drew nearer. "I mean, yes, it has bad parts, but there is still good in it. Always find the berries in the birdvine."

Gannen's whiskers wriggled. "It just worries me, but I'll try to..." He spotted Nyia and stopped. "Nyia!" He jumped over and hugged her worriedly, then held her at arm's length. "You're... happy with the shirt, but all sad about something else. What's...?"

Without warning, the elder who'd been talking to him kicked him in the shank, making him yelp and jerk his leg up in pain. The same pain flashed across the khajiit's face and she tugged her leg up before crouching low and hissing at the offending elder. Her eyes narrowed in focus and her claws were out at this sudden assault. Her tail whipped with agitation and feline warning and she moved between Gannen and the elders.

All four elders looked at each other and the one who'd done the kicking laid his ears to the side as Gannen healed his own leg of the bruise and glared. "Sorry about that. I had to confirm the link." He dropped to his haunches to try to be less threatening. "The slave spell is very broken, but still holds sway. Gannen says your name is Nyia? Thank you for apparently being a good person."

She straightened some, still wary, and looked at Gannen. "Broken how?"

The elder looked between them. "It doesn't have the correct ends. It sounds like the goal was to capture him as a slave. But there is no master. They bound both of you as slaves to each other. It's a terrible spell passed down by dark things. We've recovered some of our people who have been bound by it, but there is nothing that we know of that can remove it. This binding is all broken though." He grinned. "I wish I could've seen their faces when they realized they did it wrong. By his description, the look didn't last long though. It's not convenient for either of you to be stuck like this, but it could be much worse. Like I always say, find the berries in the birdvine."

Nyia squinted. "Berries... in the birdvine?"

"Bird vines are deadly to anything caught in them, but they still have tasty and useful berries. It means look for the good in what seems bad. We don't want to force you to stay here, but we've been reluctant to send anybody wandering because none have returned recently. But with the bad spell, you have a reason to help Gannen stay safe, so there's a better chance for him to return."

She straightened up. "I will make sure he returns to the edge of the marsh safely as long as you make sure he is prepared for the trip."

They all nodded and the squatting one stood. "He had some problems with his holes because he was poisoned and drugged for so long. We're going to escort him to fix that now. I was going to ask if you want to accompany him, but now I have no doubt that you do."

Nyia grabbed Gannen's hand and held onto it tightly, not keen on being separated from her fox, and Gannen nodded. "Let's go, then," he said.

The elders escorted them to a nearby tunnel that led to a structure similar to a storage warehouse, with parallel hallways cut through solid stone. They traveled several hallways up, then along the branch, and stopped at a solid rock face. One of the elders examined the stone, then pushed on it and the stone seemed to liquefy and melt away, opening a hole into a cave pocked with glowing fungi. One of the other elders continued up the aisle while the other three gestured into the cave. The cave had stone divisions and many containers with nothing in them.

"We'll use this opportunity to provide you with more space," one said. "Link your holes here."

Gannen sucked in a breath, overwhelmed.

"What's wrong?" Nyia asked in a whisper, squeezing his hand gently.

He pointed to one of the closet-like divisions and then to a small chest-like stone container. "I used to have half of each of those. This is a lot of space."

"Wanderers need to have a place to put their finds," she said with a grin, watching as he walked around. "They will be so happy when you show them things and tell them about where you got them." She could sense absolute concentration from him, but there was no outward sign of it. She fidgeted as the moments passed and stuck to her spot, not liking the feeling of being an outsider. "What...? Umm..." She looked down.

He laid his ears back and concentrated harder, trying to do his thing more rapidly, and finally let out a breath. "Okay, got it all."

"We'll move your current possessions here before the end of the wake," one of the elders advised.

Gannen nodded, then dropped on his legs to look Nyia in the face. "I'll need your help. You were right. They're happy to supply me, but..." His ear flicked and he looked embarrassed. "Nobody here knows what I'll need for the outside world. They're reluctant to recommend anything because they're not sure if any recommendations contributed to others not returning. If I drop my protection spell completely, everybody will be able to see me, but not others of my kind. But if I keep it on, people might think you are odd talking to yourself."

She smiled softly. "I'm already a tiny white khajiit. I'll just stay quiet and talk to you in private places. Don't drop your spell. I don't want people to try to do bad things to you. If things get bad, can you escape back to here through a hole?"

"Yes, but unless I set a hole where we left, I wouldn't be able to get back there without walking."

"Just in dire emergencies. Hopefully you won't need to use it. You need to be kept safe."

"You're important too," he pointed out, his ears laying to the sides.

"A dead you is probably visible, so if you are going to die, you should die here, not out there. I'll take care of out there."

He shook his head avidly. "I'm with you to the end."

She pursed her lips and glanced at Thria, then thought more. "Mostly travel stuff and a place to drop off notes and send messages back. Hmm. Maybe a tent. Need a place to sleep if we are out in the wilds. Let me think... what else...?"

One elder cleared his throat. "With the message drop, you can ask for more as you go, so you can go. Sooner. Like now."

Nyia's ears flattened and she hid behind Gannen.

"Sorry Elder, we'll get out of the vaults now," he said, flustered and worried about her reaction.

"Good! You'll leave at the end of dark wake today," the elder said, shooing them out.

Nyia hid more, crowded by the people, and whispered up to her fox, "They want me gone. I... I should go wait for you in the swamp."

He was taken aback. "Definitely not. Not safe at all."

"Then I'll be in your den," she whimpered. "I know the way."

"We'll both go together," Gannen decreed, guiding her away from the scary old foxes and back through the tunnels. Not being surrounded helped her feel less bad, but she was still unhappy. Then they emerged back into the common area and the crowds and bustle were enough to cause Gannen to pause and look for a good route through.

The poor kitty was not at all happy with this, the fear of not belonging and being unwanted clinging to her fur like a miasma. It was all she could do to avoid dropping to all fours and streaking between legs like white and gold lightning to escape.

Some of the nearby lilmothiit gave them curious glances, but several did a double-take and after a quick discussion jumped up from the table they were seated at, rushing over and smiling.

"Gannen! We heard you got found! You have a friend?" one of the males said. "She's so small! You haven't been starving her to make her small, have you? Come on, come eat and talk! You both look like you could use food."

Gannen was well aware of how uncomfortable Nyia was with the link bleeding it through to him. "Did you want to eat, or did you want to get some air first?" he asked, knowing she was uncomfortable with the crowd.

Nyia froze, watching them. Their body language and attitude was much different from the grumpy elders and that helped calm her a little bit. "I do not want any more nombars," she said quietly.

One of the females laughed, a high bark of amusement. "All you've had are nombars? Wow, he has been starving you!" she teased, dropping to her haunches in front of Nyia. "We'll take you to get you nice food and he'll have to eat nombars."

The khajiit clung to her fox like a scared kitten, stuttering. "N-no, we were out and esc-scaping bad people and the swamp and that was just in the roosts and he brought me here so w-we're safe a-and..." She finished with a frightened whimper at the thought of being taken away from him and out into the sea of foxes.

Gannen put his arm and tail around her protectively. "It wasn't by choice. We just got back from escaping from being kidnapped and we barely survived. We're lucky we could even get nombars!"

The vixen looked aghast and ashamed, her ears wilting as the others looked on awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I was just teasing," she said, starting to fret now herself. "We'll all get food together and you'll be okay. You're here now."

He wasn't able to ignore the nearly-agoraphobic stress flooding through the link and looked around. "If we stay, we need to get away from the crowds. I'm still recovering," he fibbed so as to not have his feline friend worry about them thinking less of her.

She nodded emphatically, suddenly starving for real food. "Quite foods please," she whimpered, almost begging the vixen.

The five new foxes looked at each other and thought, then the second vixen offered up an idea. "Maybe we can convince Srenna to let us in early?"

The squatting vixen brightened, "Oh, yes! Srenna loves us, that'll work." She stood up and looked across the huge common area. "We can hug the wall and skirt the... no, then we'd hit..." she muttered quietly to herself. "Oh, it's all just so crowded today with all the teaching and stuff going on."

Gannen perked his whiskers forward, then disengaged from Nyia just enough to drop to all fours and stick his head between her legs from behind. She squeaked when he stood up easily with her on his shoulders and now well above the sea of vulpine ears. "Does this help?" he murmured up to her quietly as his friends looked extremely surprised.

Nyia was immediately alert-eared and her tail stopped threatening to bludgeon everything behind her. "Yes, this helps so much... I don't feel expendable up here," she whispered to him, cuddling his head and giving his ear a lick with an approving trill.

"You are never expendable," Gannen said quietly, but with great conviction as he strode straight into the crowd toward the destination, his friends gawking as they followed behind.

She was more noticable now, getting attention because of her height. Her feline features made them think of a super-tall khajiit and they made way. Then they noticed she was just on Gannen's shoulders. This seemed to intrigue them even more though and they made way more quickly. Their happy curiosity helped her relax more, though not completely. She waved at some folks and sniffed the air, realizing just how hungry she was as they approached the smell of food. She also was curious about why Gannen was so much enjoying carrying her on his shoulders, but she was too distracted to ask at the moment.

Soon enough they were approaching the closed doors of a large covered area on the outer edge of the cave, like a hut built against the cave wall underground. Gannen's friends squeezed by and one dropped to his chest curiously to peek under it while the vixen scratched lightly at it.

"Srenna? We have an important guest for noms! Will you please let us in?"

"Your people eat more than just nombars?" Nyia whispered into his ear as he walked up behind the others.

"Of course," he said softly. "Nombars are travel and duty food. Out in the swamp you need to eat quickly or things will eat you. It's bad to stop moving for too long usually. We also make and eat the whole meals that we magick into nombars."

There was movement inside and the door opened slowly, a face appearing within. The old vixen's eyes were milky white, her blindness obvious, but her ears were hyper-attentive and her nose twitched smartly.

"An outsider? I haven't had a khajiit visitor in ages," she said softly.

"Our friend doesn't like the crowd," the first vixen said. "Can we escape into here and get something to eat?"

"This time, and for a khajiit guest, yes," the blind vixen said, stepping back and ushering them in. "I am still cooking, but I will have food for you soon."

Nyia jumped off Gannen's shoulders once they were in and looked around. The place was small and cozy with tables and chairs like an inn or restaurant. The kitchen was the back section of the room, with chopped somethings on counters and the shimmering heat of magefire making some delicious smells. "Thank you," she said. "Can I help in some way?"

Srenna tilted her head curiously at the height that Nyia's voice came from. "Oh, no, just find a place to sit and relax," she said, closing the door and gesturing at the tables before she returned to cooking with her back to them but her ears focused on everything.

The seven of them found a big enough table and Nyia pulled her chair closer to Gannen's, leaning against him as he slipped an arm around her.

"So what happened?" one of the males asked.

"We were captured by tribal argonians," Gannen replied.

"Yeah, but then what?"

Gannen looked at Nyia and decided not to go into full details. "Hard to say. We were drugged and forget all of it until we were well on our way on our escape."

They were disappointed at that answer, having hoped for a great story, but another male broke the silence. "Why is she so small?"

Nyia's ears perked and wiggled. "Because of my moon phase."

The second vixen elbowed him gently. "You remember what we learned about khajiit, right? They are different sizes and shapes."

"Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed. "What are you going to do here?"

"The elders don't want me to stay, and I don't want to be stuck underground here, so I'm going to help him explore and go wandering to see things to tell you all. He'll come with me to my home on Summerset and we might go more places too if he stays a long time. When he's ready to come back, I will make sure he gets safely to the edge of the swamp here."

All of the other foxes wilted a little. "I wish it were easier for visitors that we like," the first vixen said. "Having to send people out to see what's going on everywhere is hard. Especially when nobody's come back recently."

"Are you having fun with Gannen? Is he treating you well? Do you like him? Did you save him or did he save you?" another male asked.

Nyia snuggled her fox and he murred and leaned closer to her. "If I could be invisible too I'd love to stay for a while, but your magic seems to be reserved for foxes."

"Yeah, we get the spell before we are even aware," the vixen agreed. "You'd have to stay in the common areas if you stayed."

"What about my questions too?" the male asked, upset at being ignored.

The vixen elbowed him again. "They look happy," she said with a smile.

Feline pupils narrowed to slits as she focused on the male. "I was taught to not talk about such things," she said with a huff. "I like him a lot and I will be sad when we have to part ways."

The male's ears got all sideskance. "Not talk about things? Every khajiit I've ever met talks about everything. One told a two hour story about something he pulled out of his ear."

"Not all khajiit are the same. Are all lilmothiit the same?"

The male considered. "Well, in some ways, yes. I mean, we all look like foxes. So I figure all khajiit must have some khajiitness, right? But if they don't, well, that's why I'm asking so I can learn." He perked happily at his explanation. "Who taught you not to say things?"

"I was raised by altmer. They have a lot of things that they do not say outside of private places with people they know well on the estate."

"They'll get mad at you if you talk about these things, like liking Gannen?"

"They... they get embarrassed by things and they put a lot of value on keeping the estate honor and acting respectable. They would not want me causing them shame."

The male thought about this more. "Sooooo... if you say something to us, they have a scrying spell on you that will embarrass them and they will be shamed by you?"

She huffed and giggled. "No, it's just... I don't know... It's just the way I was taught and what I was told to do and what I know."

"What if what you know is wrong? I thought I knew that all khajiit talk about everything and their ears, but that's wrong, right?"

She pulled Gannen's hand closer against her side. "I've been an altmer more than I've been a khajiit."

He drew his head back in surprise. "You look like a khajiit. Did you used to be an altmer and they changed you into a khajiit?"

"No, I... I was born a khajiit but I was brought up by the altmer and I only met a few other khajiit and the estate always got angry at them and didn't like me talking to them so I only know what the elves taught me." She huffed. "If you were thrown aw..." she winced and changed her words, "...born somewhere else and raised by khajiit, you would never know about the swamp or what your people do or are like, right?"

"I would still be a lilmothiit even if I didn't know lilmothiit stuff. But yeah, I think I understand." He worked through it. "You are a not-khajiit-like khajiit just like a lilmothiit raised by khajiit somewhere would be a not-lilmothiit-like lilmothiit." He paused. "Right?"

She nodded. That was probably as close to understanding as she could help him get.

"So you won't ever tell me who saved who," he finally decided with a pout.

"That poison was powerful," she agreed with a nod. "But we escaped."

"And you like each other at least," the vixen observed. "It would be sad if you were going to try to wander with him and didn't like each other. Though..." She paused, one ear laying to the side as she thought. "How did you convince Gannen to go wandering with you? I mean, he could have just had somebody help you to the edge of the swamp and let you do home from there." Her gaze narrows and she grinned slyly. "He must really, reeeeally like you for some reason."

Nyia let out a laugh. "Sewing wives, huh? Maybe he sees an opportunity to bring back stories instead of doing chores and making nombars?" she said with a trill, snuggling closer to her fox.

The snuggle didn't get past the other female. "Okay, that makes sense," she said with a smile, glancing at the confused males. "You do look happy enough for him to really like you."

There wasn't a chance to answer as the blind proprietor moved in to put plates in front of everybody. "Almost ready!" she said cheerily, patting Nyia on the head with surprising accuracy.

Nyia purred her thanks, then turned her attention back to the gossip. "I don't know a lot about lilmothiit, or what to say. You all seem happy with each other."

"I don't think most people know much about us, since we don't exist according to them," the vixen agreed. "But if I was going to Summerset I doubt he'd come with me. So he definitely likes you a lot."

Her ears drooped. She knew he was going with her because his life and hers were linked by the spell, not just because he liked her. "What kind of meats do you have here in the swamp?" she asked, changing the topic.

Gannen felt her sad and leaned his nose down to lick her ear affectionately. "I do like her a lot and I hope that she's not too quick to send me back," he said. "I want to get the chance to like her more as we go."

Nyia's ears turned a touch pink as Gannen thought about the meats question, but he was unable to answer before the blind vixen returned with a platter. A big roast the size of a melon with a variety of cut plant things that she didn't recognize around it and spices and sauce on top.

"You're really spoiling us!" one of the males exclaimed. All of the foxes simply reached to pull off pieces of meat with their fingers.

"We have a khajiit guest," the blind vixen said as she departed again. "Remember that I'm going to open for everybody else in about half an hour, so it will get crowded in here."

Nyia pulled off a long string of meat and found that the string broke easily too when bitten. The whole roast had no bone and she didn't recognize any of the plants, nor the roast itself, though she enjoyed its spicy-sweet flavor. "What is it?" she finally asked.

"It's a dranib tongue," Gannen replied. "I don't think they live outside the swamp. I also taste puckfruit."

"It also has tomsroot, squeet, and halaran and naralah," the blind vixen called from where she was cooking. "It's topped with dentle egg sauce with my special spices."

Nyia purred at the food. "I like it a lot. It's just the right mix of sweet and spicy. Altmer food isn't nearly as nice."

"Maybe Gannen should make some of this into nombars for them to try?" a fox offered.

"No. Those should be kept secret until you are ready to be found. If they find out where something like that is made, they'll come looking for you. One bird vine berry and they'll know it's from here. Bird vines don't grow anywhere else." She was adamant and worried about that and her emphatic response left everybody silent for a short time as they before she spoke up again.

"Everybody wants everything that's not theirs. The altmer want everybody to bow to their gods, and even though there's less of it, there are still skirmishes and fights if not all out war. Well, except the khajiit. My estate says the khajiit are lazy and want their gold and moonsugar, otherwise we're just beasts."

Gannen made a face. "Beasts? That's rude."

"I worked hard to earn my place in the estate," Nyia said, finishing nibbling on food as she began to lose her appetite at the thoughts she was having. "I'm sure they miss me."

The fox stroked her back to soothe her. "They'll be glad to know you're safe."

The blind vixen came and took the remaining roast away as the others finished eating and Nyia stood, wanting to be back in a more private place. She looked up at Gannen, fidgeting, unsure whether she should ask to be on his shoulders again though the crowded area, but he sensed her desire before she decided and scooped her up.

"Are we going to do anything interesting?" one of the other foxes asked.

Nyia shook her head. "I'm still recovering, I really need a cat nap."

"Okay, we'll be around!" They headed out and Gannen followed them more slowly so Nyia's head wouldn't hit the door frame.

"Your family is nice. I hope they are okay with me taking you away," Nyia said softly. "They're brothers and sisters?"

"They're denmates, but not related to me by blood," Gannen said, flicking his ear. "Well, some may have the same sire. We'll head back to my den for your nap." He weaved through the crowd and dropped onto all fours when they reached the open tunnel, shifting her to his back when the way was clear.

"You really like that I'm small enough to carry?" she asked, picking up the feeling from him.

"What? Oh, you're easy to carry, yes, but I'd enjoy carrying you even if you were bigger." His ears went to the side shyly.

"But whyyyyyyyy?" she mewled, glomping onto him.

"Lilmothiit only carry things that are very important to them," he said, almost too softly to be heard.

"Oh! Is that why they were so surprised to see me on your shoulders?"

He nodded. "Everything we need is in our portal holes and anybody we need we go to see or walk beside. So for us to specifically act to carry somebody means they're really important to us."

She hugged him. "I am happy to be important. Do you think I'd be as important if we weren't linked?"

He thought about it long and hard as he walked through the tunnel, speeding up briefly when they went past the section with rushing water since it upset her and he could feel that. "I think that without the link it would be harder to know that I want to be with you, but I would still."

"I'm glad you know," she purred, cringing at the water sounds until they were well behind her.

"I'm glad I know too, and I'm glad you're somebody I'm happy to be with. I wouldn't be happy to be with you if I didn't want to be with you anyway. I'm glad I like you even without the link." He pushed the door of his room open without standing up, padding over to the bed.

"We'll take a short nap because I have a full tummy," she said, climbing off his back and pulling him onto the bed with her, curling up against his back and wrapping her arms around him.

"It's still the start of early wake," he pointed out.

"That's okay. Cat naps can happen any time. You should nap too. We had a difficult time in the swamp." She toyed with the fur on his tummy. "Maybe when we wake up we can find a nice different thing to fill me with instead of food," she purred, licking his ear.

"Ooooooooooh," he said, his ear flicking. "Why not now?"

She giggled. "Sleep, silly. It'll be a short nap."

He stretched. "Okay, I'll try."

With her glommed to his back, they did both manage to fall asleep.

Now do this...

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