{"sf1_id":938987,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Alice Dippleblack in The Jellybane, Ch1","author":"minatek616","words":7752,"posted_at":"2015-11-29T15:58:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Anthro","Anthropomorphic","Bear","Female","Fox","Jellies","Male","Opossum","War","hunter","monsters","sword"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/938987-alice-dippleblack-in-the-jellybane-ch1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/938987","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=938987\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"Hey guys, this is the first chapter in a novel I'm putting together. The story follows a young anthro fox named Alice, who supports herself by hunting the jelly monsters that occasionally harass her village. Her life is simple until she meet a pair of runaways that change everything.\nThis is meant to be a young adult novel so don't expect my usual raunchiness.","content":"\nAlice slashes at the jelly again\nand again careful not to damage the precious core.  Jellies have no organs to pierce, no real\nflesh to rend, or bones to break.  The\nsimple semitransparent hemispherical creatures only have three parts to\nthem.  First was their outer layer.  This was the layer exposed to the air and was\nas transparent as the rest but thicker and served to hold the creature together.  It was about as tough as supple leather.  A pointed stick could pierce it, but would\nhave trouble dealing much damage to the creature itself.  Fortunately, Alice had a sword, left to her\nby her father, with which she whacked away at the green blob.  The plane broadsword easily cuts through the\nouter layer of the creature as thick gooey jelly flying out in wet green arcs,\nthe jelly creature itself wobbling with each blow and getting steadily smaller.\nThe jelly within, for which such\ncreatures are named, is the most dangerous part about the wild monsters.  Jellies, while slow and only a minor nuisance\ncan, in fact, be rather devastating to anything they touch, given enough\ntime.  The jelly is a digestive goop.  Whenever the Jelly creatures manages to find\norganic matter, they allow it to be absorbed through their outer layer and into\ntheir viscous insides where the matter is dissolved.  The more matter a jelly dissolves the bigger\nit becomes until it can split, forming two identical if smaller jellies.  Alice had seen them do this.  As with all things the jellies did, it was a\nslow process, but helped explain their continuous presence in the area.\nAs Alice swings her sword, she\nscatters more and more of the mildly corrosive goo until the creature is about\nthe size of her head.  She then lowers\nher weapon and takes an accomplished breath as she reaches in for her prize,\nthe core stone.  This is the third and\nmost valuable part of the jelly.  Each\none that Alice had ever encountered has had a spherical core stone, generally\nthe same color, if a bit darker, than the jelly itself.  Though not actually hewn from the earth,\nthese hard little pearl like treasures were what made the jellies worth the\neffort to hunt, at least for a young girl with few other talents.  Valued for their beauty and faint glow, the\ncores were often used in jewelry and other goods.  \nAlice shakes off the rest of the\nslime from her eyeball sized treasure, than wipes it off on her tan trousers\nbefore putting it in her shoulder bag with the others.  She then takes a few steps to a fairly goo\nfree zone and plops on her rump.  She\ndrains what's left in her water skin and takes a few deep breathes, forcing air\nslowly into her lungs rather than panting as her body wants her too.  She then lifts her side pouch into her lap\nand grins at the days work.  \"And you\nmake six.\" She announces proudly.  Six of\nthe small orbs light the inside of her cloth bag with their mysterious radiance.  She gives them a little shake, their hard\nsurfaces tapping together as they settle. \n\"I should get enough to go on a new adventure with this.\" She says to no\none in particular.\nAlice Dippleblack is a young female\nTokala, or anthropomorphic fox.  Her coat\nis a bright orange-red, the two triangular ears atop her hear look as if their\nvery tips where dipped in black ink, just as her feet, hands, nose, and tail,\nthought the later must have been dipped in a different well, for it was white\nas snow.  Alice also had a streak of\nwhite fur that started from her chin and drifted down her throat.  She wears what once had been a white blouse\nbut now is more gray and brown with dirt where it isn't covered with green\njelly stains.  Her tan trousers are\nfunctional if worn, with good deep pockets and a slit in the back for her long\nfull tail to poke free from.  Her feet\nare bare as are most peoples, her toes wiggling and tail wagging on the grass\nas she admires her haul of cores.\nAlice's sharp ears pick up the\nsubtle sound of movement and she looks to see another green jelly slowly\ndrifting along only a few yards away. \nShe glances at the setting sun making its way to the horizon and in a\nsecond, gauges the time, remaining stamina, and the energy it will take to walk\nback to the village.  She smirks at the\ncreature, \"I think we can get in one more,\" and picks up her sword.\nIt was rare to encounter jellies so\nnear each other this close to the village but it was an opportunity Alice\ndidn't want to pass up.  She hefts the\none handed broadsword in two hands, neither of her slender arms quite ready to\nhandle its full weight alone, and charges the jelly.  The jelly's only reaction was to wobble a bit\nat her high pitched battle cry, though Alice didn't think they had ears.  Jellies have no features, no face or arms,\nand almost all of them look like gelatin that was molded to a hemisphere bowl\nthen dumped out.  The only noise they\never made was when they slid on a dry leaf or twig and it crackled under\nthem.  And so Alice's intimidating shout\nand ya!-ing was unlikely to affect the creatures but made the somewhat smaller\nthan average girl feel brave and strong.\nAs ever she is careful to avoid\nhitting the core while knocking away as much of the goo as she can.  Alice had tried before and so she knew it is\npossible to cut a slit in the outer layer, reach in through the thick jelly,\nand grab the core, but as she had discovered, the viscous ooze irritates the flesh\nand is difficult to clean from fur.  And\nwhacking at them was more fun besides. \nShe slashes enthusiastically until its safe enough to reach for the\nstone, this one not as big as the last. \nAs jellies dissolve matter, their gelatinous forms grow, this was true\nfor the cores as well and so one can generally expect larger cores from larger\njellies.  This one wasn't all that big,\nbut didn't take long to dispatch either. \nA perfect jelly to end the day on.\nAlice cleans off her prize and\ntucks it into her bag with the others. \nShe wipes her sword on the grass and then gives it a once over with a\nbit of her blouse knowing goo on metal leads to rust.  Goo on clothes tends to ruin them also, but\nAlice only ever bought cheap clothes, knowing they wouldn't last her\nanyway.  The young fox catches her\nbreath, sheathing her sword on her back, and gazes at the setting sun.  She would have to hurry if she wanted to make\na supply run today.  She tries to take a\ndrink from her water skin, only to remember that it was empty.  With an annoyed sound, the little fox dashes\nfrom the edge of the forest to her village. \nAlice had always been swift and graceful if not large or overly\nstrong.  To anyone looking, she might\nseem to fly just over the grass, her feet carried her so swiftly.\nWhile Alice did not live in the\nvillage, she did frequent it enough that she was known by many there and most\nof them were aware of her talent for getting rid of the pesky jellies that\noften crept out of the nearby forest.  As\nsuch, she had acquired the title of monster hunter, of which she was very proud.  A few of the villagers smiled or waves as she\nblurred past them heading to the local trading post.  She held her bag tight as she ran, not\nwanting to lose any of her precious cargo in her sprint to reach the store\nbefore closing.  Her lungs burned as she\nforced more air into them, her throat dry enough to make her tongue stick in\nplaces, and her legs ached to the point of wobbling, but she made it.  The simple wooden door was still standing\nopen.\n\"Here she comes mom!\" Ashleigh\ncalls from the doorway as she comes out to greet her.  Ashleigh Graysen was one of very few Alice would\ncall a friend.  The Didel, or opossum\nanthromorph, is of an age and height with Alice, kind, and somewhat envious of\nthe other girl's rather venturous lifestyle. \nThe only daughter of the trading post's owner, the widowed Ms. Graysen,\nshe was often expected to stay by the shop, learning the various tasks needed\nto keep it running.  She had lost her\nfather in the current war just as Alice had, though she at least had her mother\nstill.  Alice had lost both parents, her\nfather to fighting and her mother to the grief afterward.\nThe young opossum wore a plan sky\nblue dress over her light gray fur.  She\nwas slim but not terribly so, white faced with cute rounded black ears, large\naqua marine eyes, and a small pink nose at the end of her angular muzzle.  She had an abnormally long hairless dark gray\ntail that tended to drag behind her leaving a trail anywhere she left a\nfootprint.  As Alice slows to a stop,\npanting hard, with hands resting on her knees, Ashleigh asks excitedly, as she\noften did, \"How many did you get today?\"\nAlice briefly holds up seven\nfingers and Ashleigh bubbles, \"That's wonderful!  You beat your record!\"  The Didel has a cup of water held in her pink\nfurless fingers and holds it out to the exhausted fox and after a few more\nbreathes, Alice gratefully accepts it. \nAshleigh waits patiently, smiling at Alice as she downs the water in one\nlong drink.  Alice hands back the empty\ncup and wipes her mouth on her sleeve, \"Thanks, Ash.\"  Ashleigh grins widely, taking the cup along\nwith Alice's wrist, \"Come on come on, moms waiting.\"  The opossum then hurriedly leads her into the\nstore.\n\"Alice.\" Ms. Graysen greets warmly\nfrom behind the counter, goods of various sorts stacked neatly on shelves\nbehind her.  \"How was hunting today?  Get some nice cores for me?\"  Ms. Graysen looked like Ashleigh might in a\ndecade or so, similar in color and shape though her eyes were brown as was her\nsimple dress.  \"I got seven.\" Alice\nannounces with pride, placing her bag atop the counter before the kindly\nwoman.  \"Seven?  Goodness you are getting good at dealing with\nthose monsters.\" Ms. Graysen says impressed. \n\"It's a new record momma!\" Ashleigh adds excitedly, peering into the\nbag.  She always liked to see Alice's\nhaul.\nMr. Graysen pulls out one of the\norbs for inspection, \"Mmm, some nice ones here too.  What can I get you for the whole load?\"  \"Two loaves of that nut bread and some smoked\ntrout if there's any left please.\"  Alice\norders hopefully.  She almost always came\nin from hunts rather late after most of Ms. Graysen's stock was gone.  \"You're in luck.  I made sure to save one just for you when\nAshleigh saw you headed out this mornin', figured you'd work up a hunger.\" The\nopossum woman says reacheing somewhere under her counter to produce a whole\nfish wrapped in paper, its tail sticking out of one end and grabs two long\nloaves of bread from a basket on a shelf behind her.  \"Thank you, ma'am.\" The young fox returns,\nputting her purchases in her shoulder bag, the bread half poking out under her\nslender arm.  The matron picks up the\nsmallest core stone, \"Looks like you still have some left over.  You wanna spend it now or put it to the\ndebt?\"  \"I'll put anything left over to\nthe debt ma'am.\" Alice replies, adjusting her sword and bag straps.  \nAfter the news of Alice's father's\ndeath reached home, her mother gave in to a horrible grief.  It took her slowly.  Sometimes Alice would find her in the middle\nof a chore and just start to cry inconsolably, other times she would have\ntrouble getting out of bed.  As it got worse,\nshe couldn't work, and wouldn't eat. \nEven the cries of her terrified child couldn't convince her to.  Eventually she withered away and passed,\nleaving Alice alone.  During this time\nshe had worked up a debt which passed to the young Tokala.  Without the money to pay it, her home was\ntaken and she was left on the street.\nAlice had kept the sword left by\nher father.  He was a great swordsman and\nhad finally felt Alice was old enough to learn when he and all the other men,\nand even the able boys, were called to war. \nVery few had yet returned and they only because of grievous and often\ncrippling wounds.  With the men gone, the\nwomen, young boys, and girls had to take on the additional work loads.  The labor shortage meant limited supplies and\nincreased prices for everything.  Some\ngood did come of it though.  The men\ngenerally cut back the forest every now and again, keeping plenty of space\nbetween the village and the monster filled woods.  But with no one to do the work, the forest\nsteadily grew closer as did the threat of monster attacks.  It took time but Alice eventually got the\ncourage to face the jellies, the least dangerous but most commonly encountered\nof the monsters, and began to fill an important niche as the local monster\nhunter.\n                Ashleigh\nclasps her hands and begs her mother, \"Can I go walk with Alice please?\" Hey\nmother purses her lips, \"Alight, but be back home before sundown, and don't\nleave the village.\"  Ashleigh gives a\nlittle cheer and Alice smiles preparing to depart, \"Thanks Ms. Graysen.\"  \"You got it honey, keep safe out there!\" the\nolder opossum calls as Alice heads out the door, Ashleigh following close\nbehind.\n                The\nmoment the girls step out Ashleigh bubbles, \"Seven in one day!  You're so amazing Alice, I wish I could go on\nhunts too.  Remember when you brought in\nyour first one?\"  Alice smiles and nods,\nletting her friend get out all her pent up conversation, \"You were so proud\nwhen you showed it to mom, you covered in jelly and mud from head to toe.\" She\ngiggles.  Alice remembered that time\nwell.  Being alone, it was\nterrifying.  She survived with the help\nof some of the kinder people in the village, Ashleigh's mother included, but\ntimes were tough and no one could afford to give much.\nIt was raining a lot then.  The jellies tended to dry out if caught in\ntoo much sun, so they rarely left the forest. \nThe rains, though, would make days dark and wet, perfect for the slow\nmonsters to venture forth. Her first encounter with one had been by complete\nsurprise.  Alice had seen her father\ndispatching jellies with ease when he was alive and knew how it was to be\ndone.  But knowing and doing are two very\ndifferent things.\nIt was dark that day, even at noon,\nit had rained all night and finally stopped in the morning.  Alice was allowed a bed at a villager's house\nwho had lost a son in the war, but she couldn't afford to feed her so she was\nwandering about in the wide fields between the village and the forest, her\nstomach growling.  She had been eating\nedible plants she could find, wild spinach and dandelions mostly but\ndesperately needed something more filling. \nAs she walked, eyes searching the ground for more, she came across a\nsmall green jelly.\nAlice was frightened at first.  She had her sword true but had rarely swung\nit.  At that point it was mostly a heavy\nweight on her back that reminded her off all she had lost.  But as she watched the jelly slowly making\nits way seemingly without any interest in her, she grew more curious than afraid.  She watched it for a long while as it moved\nalong, somewhat like a slug, a trail of discolored grass in its wake.  She dropped a few bits of green grass atop it\nand watched as it absorbed them, the grass slowly loosing its color and form as\nit drifted through the viscous ooze until it too was left in its trail.  She tried shouting at it and tossing rocks,\nbut it didn't seem interested in either. \nShe finally decided to draw her sword, heavy and cumbersome in her untried\nhands.\nAlice first tried an over handed\nswing but missed, the blow kicking up grass and mud.  She tried several more times, and finally\nmanaged to hit the edge of her slow moving target, but the jelly simply kept\nmoving along, the skin shifting around the blade and reforming, leaving a goo\nfilled slit, that disappeared moments later. \nAlice was not deterred by her waning strength or the jelly's\nimperviousness.  She continued to side\nstep along with the creature, flailing away at it until its tiny core stone, no\nbigger than a coin, was left in a puddle of ooze.  She bought her first meal that day.\nAshleigh talks on about how boring\nit is running a store and how fun and free it must be to go out hunting\nmonsters, while Alice reminds her of the pros of having a safe job dealing with\ncivilized people.  It was a conversation\nthey had often.  Ashleigh had a rather\nromanticized view of what her fox friend did; bravely saving the town, living\nwithout walls, and exploring the wild forest. \nWhile Alice did occasionally rid the village of a stray jelly or two,\nhad no walls to live in, and led expeditions into the forest, she also had to\nmake an exhaustingly simple living, fighting almost every day just to have\nenough to eat.\nThe young hunter was improving and\ngrowing better all the time, but things were not all heroism and fun.  Jellies, while not overly dangerous, could be\ntroublesome if not treated carefully. \nOften while hunting, Alice would end up with globs of the corrosive goop\non her bare fur, and if she didn't have enough water to wash it off within a\ntime, it would lead to a horribly itchy rash that might last days.  This tended to happen mostly on her feet,\nhands, and sometimes ears.  A major rash\non the feet might keep her off them, which meant no cores and no food.  Even now there were times when she had to\nchoose between enduring the, sometimes intense, irritation or going hungry.  And fighting monsters on an empty stomach was\nno easy task.\nThe two girls reached the village\nwell, and Ashleigh turns the crank to bring up the water bucket.  She often did, something the tired young fox\nwas always grateful for, all while talking about going on a hunt with her,\nmaybe, at some point, in the future. \nThis was also something Ashleigh did often, talking about various\npreparations she'd make, how long they could stay out, how many jellies she'd\nlike to find, but would always shoot her plans down knowing her mother would\nnever let her do something so dangerous. \nAlice found it fun talking to Ashleigh about hunts, it gave her someone\nto bounce ideas off of and it made her happy to share her knowledge of jellies.\nThe girls talk as Alice fills her\ntwo small water skins.  In her\nexperience, it never hurt to have extra water. \nShe drinks most of one to refresh herself and fills it again.  \"Maybe if I had a weapon mom would let me\ncome with you.\" Ashleigh considers allowed, \"What do you think would do?\"  The small village had no blacksmiths and\nAlice's sword was a rarity.  \"A good club\nmight do.  Jellies aren't terribly tough,\nand if you hit hard enough you could probably do one in.\" the young fox\nsuggests, putting the straps of her water skins over her neck and then adds, \"I\ncan try to find you a stout branch in the woods next time I'm out.\"  Ashleigh claps her hands, \"Oh, would\nyou?  That would be wonderful!  Then we could fight monster together.\"  The young opossum takes a few swings with a\nphantom club.\nThe sun is dropping over the\nhorizon making everything cast long shadows and Alice parts from her friend\nwith a hug. \"Be careful, Alice!\" Ashleigh waves as she heads back home and the\nmonster hunter heads out into the field. \nJust as dusk settles in she makes it to her own home, a small tent atop\na hill in the shadow of a large oak tree. \nIts summer now and there won't be any need to start a fire in the ring of\nstones she has set up just for such a purpose. \nThe fox unloads her gear and sits with her back against the great tree's\ntrunk with a water skin and her paper wrapped trout.  \nThis was a rare treat that she only\nallowed after an exceptional hunt.  \"Beating\nmy record counts I think.\" She says aloud, unwrapping her feast.  She takes in a deep breath through the\nnostrils, taking in the smoky mouthwatering aroma.  As if on cue, her stomach burbles, and she\ndigs in.  As Alice has her supper, she\nlooks to the forest some ways off and sees no sign of jellies.  Alice had chosen this spot for her camp for\nseveral reasons, the main being that it gave her a nice view of all that land\naround her.  Jellies tended to slip out\nfrom the forest at night when it was cooler and their silent pace meant an\nunwary hunter might wake up with one in her bed.  She hadn't had the problem since she saved\nenough for the tent, but had had it enough to be habitually watchful of\nactivity before she went to bed.  It was\nclear tonight.\nOnce the young fox had her fish and\na bit of bread, she picked her teeth for a while with one of the fish's slender\nbones.  She thought of many things, but\ntried to focus on one.  With the extra\nbread she'd bought, she finally had enough to make another expedition into the\nforest, even if only a short one.  Alice\nhad always wondered where the jellies kept coming from.  It seemed no matter how many she vanquished,\nmore would always appear.  As she had\nstarted collecting enough of the core stones to merit extra supplies, she had\nalso begun mounting trips deeper into the forest.\nAlice learned things on these trips\nand was eager to go on another.  She had\ndiscovered the bit of how they multiply. \nAnd more importantly, she had discovered that there were different colored\njellies.  While green was the most\ncommon, she had seen brown yellow, blue, and even red.  The reds were very rare and thus their cores\ncould be traded for more.  She had slain\none, the only she'd ever seen, which is how she managed to afford her tent.  But the less common colors were also a prize\nworth fighting for.\n                The\njellies of different colors did not seem different in any other way, still\nponderously slow and indifferent to outside stimuli.  Alice had pondered the reasons for the\ndifferent colors many a night and thought it might have something to do with\nwhat they ate.  The green ones often\nseemed to have dissolved a lot of grass. \nThe browns, perhaps some wood. \nAlice could only guess the others manage to slide through some flowers\nto get their hues.  The red one\nthough.  Alice had never seen red flowers\nin the forest or otherwise.\n                After\nsome thought, the tired hunter yawned and decided it was time to get some\nsleep.  Dark was nearly upon her but keen\nvision made it simple to gather her meager belongs, and pack them and herself\naway in her small beige tent.  Pushing\nall her gear off to one side, the little fox stretches, yawns once more, and\nfalls asleep on a pillow of relatively clean clothes.  But it didn't last.\n                A fast\nstorm blew in during the night and brought with it several powerful crashes of\nthunder.  Alice jolts awake at the first\nand simply had to endure the rest.  The\ncleverly made tent kept the weather out for the most part, but as rain dampened\nthe ground, the cloth floor of the tent was too.  It was very late when the last of the\nterrible cracking thunderclaps stopped and Alice could finally get to sleep and\nwhen she did, she dreamed.  She saw her\nfather brandished her sword, surrounded by formless shadowlike creatures.  He swung the weapons into them only to have\nit pass through harmlessly.  The shadows\nbrought him down and began dragging him away. \nHe dropped the sword and clawed at the ground as Alice ran far too\nslowly after him screaming soundlessly for her father.  She picked up her sword but it tugged at her\narm as if too heavy to lift.  She looked\nto see it was her mother pulling at her wrist as she knelt weeping on the\nfloor, and calling her name, \"Alice, Alice! \nHer father grew more faint in the distance and Alice desperately reached\nfor him, her name ringing in her ears, \"Alice! \nALICE!\"  She jolts awake again for\nwhat seems far too short a time, still hearing her mother screeching, but it\nwasn't her mother, it was Ashleigh.\n                The\nyoung opossum wasn't screeching but calling urgently into her tent from\noutside, \"Alice?  Are you awake?  We need your help!\"  It was entirely too early for the young fox\nand her body felt horribly sluggish and sore from the day before.  She meant to ask what was wrong, but only\nmanages an unintelligible grumble. \n\"Alice?  Jellies are near the\nvillage! Can I come in?\" Ashleigh asks anxiously.  The little hunter turns herself clockwise\nwithout actually rising and reaches for the pull string for her tent's door\nflap.  After a few tries she gives it a tug\nand Ashleigh pokes her gray furry head in, \"Oh, Alice, you have to get up,\nthey're getting closer!\"  The Didel girl\nbegins to shake at Alice's shoulder and rubs her muzzle against hers.  \nAlice's eye lids are heavy and dry\nas she forces them open and sees her friend, blurry, over her. \"Ok, ok.\" she\ngroans in mild frustration as she places a hand on the Didel's fluffy cheek and\npushes her away.  Alice sits up and Ashleigh\ndrapes the shoulder bag over her head, lifting an arm so it sits at her side.  The young opossum does the same with her\nsword, placing it on the fox's back and begins pushing her, \"Go go, it's hero\ntime!\"  Alice grudgingly gets to her feet\nand shambles out of her tent.  The ground\nis still wet with night's rain though the sky has cleared.  The sun is just rising and already she spots\na few jellies.\nThe creatures wander aimlessly,\nsome drifting in the general direction of the village but it seems more luck\nthan design.  Ashleigh dashes from behind\nAlice, heading straight for the small settlement shouting back and waving,\n\"Come on, come on!\"  The sleepy hunter\nrubs her eyes and starts after her, slowly picking up speed as her body\nawakens.  Soon she's bounding after the\nopossum, feeling invigorated by the easy access to more jellies, and thus, more\nsupplies.  She was feeling rather\nconfident that once she cleared any near the village she could sweep the fields\nand really cash in.\nAs the girls neared the village,\nthey could hear the irritated cries of a woman. \nAlice adjusted her course to the sound and found her first opponent of\nthe day.  An angry squirrel woman was\nwhacking away at an oncoming dark green jelly with a broom.  The jelly ignored it for the most part,\nwobbling with the impacts while slowly moving towards her garden.  A tiny squirrel girl looks on from a doorway\nand cheers at the sight of the young hunter, \"Yay!  Momma look, it's Alice!\"  The squirrel woman cries, \"Alice!  Please, before it gets my vegetables!\" \n                Alice\ndraws her word from the sheath at her back and takes up a position beside it,\ncareful not to stand in its path.  The\nwoman backs away to watch as the hunter makes a hard vertical slash cutting a\ngenerous portion from the rear of the jelly. \nBefore it can reform around the blade she pulls the sword away from it\nhorizontally flinging the gooey slice away and into the dirt road.  The slice is almost instantly rounded back\nout as the jelly shrinks, undeterred. \nAlice continues to take off pieces of the jelly until its small enough\nto reach in to get the core stone.  Once\nshe pulls it free the rest of the jelly collapses in on itself, no longer\nanimated.\n                As she\ncleans off her prize and sword, the squirrel woman thanks her and tells her to\nwait as she heads inside her house.  The\nlittle squirrel girl hops out to Alice cheering, \"That was amaz-oh.\"  She stops and looks around at the bits of\ngreen goo and pinches her nose.  \"It\nfarted!\" she blurts and Alice smiles, \"Yeah, tell your momma to throw some dirt\non the pieces and be careful not to step on them.\"  Alice had grown used to the smell but it\ntended to surprise most.  The gooey part\nof the jellies smelled awful and the moment their thicker outer layer was\npierced a stench like swamp water would fill the air.\n                The\nmother squirrel came back out, her broom replaced with three cookies.  She smiles as she approaches Alice but then\nis visibly struck by the smell. \"Oh, word.\" She exclaims waving a hand in the\nair then giving Alice the treats, \"Thank you dear, we're so lucky to have a\ngirl like you around to deal with these, things.\"  Alice smiles her thanks as the little\nsquirrel bounces up and down, \"Momma, momma, Alice said we had to put dirt on\nthe pieces and we're not supposed to step on them and can I have a cookie?\"  \"Did you just slay an evil monster?\" the\nmother asks raising an eyebrow to her daughter. \nThe little squirrel frowns and stops her bouncing, but brightens back up\nas Alice hands her one of her cookies. \nJust as the girl tries to take a bite, her mother lifts a finger, \"Ah,\nwhat do we say when someone gives us something?\"  \"Thank you, Alice!\" the girl squeals and\nbegins gobbling down her snack.\n                As\nAlice turns to look for more jellies, she sees Ashleigh grinning widely at her\nand gives her a cookie too.  The opossum\nthanks her and takes a bite.  Alice does\ntoo as the two walk down the road finding the cookie to be crunchy with nuts\nand sweet with honey.  But before she can\nfinish it a young brown furred mouse boy calls for her, \"Alice! Alice!  We got a jelly, come quick.\"  The hunter gives Ashleigh a look and they\nboth cram their cookies in their mouths and race after the boy.\n                He\nleads the two girls to the small communal orchard, a key source of food for the\nvillagers.  Several other children and\nconcerned women look on as a rather large lime green jelly absorbs fallen\napples from a turned over basket.  As far\nas Alice was aware, jellies could not climb trees, so the apples in the\ncanopies were safe.  But, if fallen\napples kept a jelly around too long, they could damage the trunk and any\nsurface roots they lingered over.  As she\nnears the orchard she shouts for everyone to get back and brandishes her\nbroadsword in both hands.  The jelly had\nalready taken several apples, and they floated around near the bottom of it\njust starting to decay.  Alice kicks the\nbasket away and steps to its side as she had done before but makes horizontal\nslashes to spare any of the nearby tree's precious roots.  She had learned early on that horizontal\nslashes were only effective if she held the blade at an angle as to cut and\nremove bits of goo.  Any of the syrupy\ngunk left on or near the jelly would reform into it.  The small gathering of people stepped further\nfrom her as green slime began to fly everywhere.\n                After\nan exhausting bit of work Alice was left with a nice sized lime green core and\na few haphazardly sliced bits of browning apple.  The kids cheer and the adults share their\nthanks, and apples.  \"Wow, that was\ngreat!  You were like, Get back! And then\nwoosh woosh woosh!\" Ashleigh exclaims swinging an imaginary sword as the girls\nstep out into the fields.  Alice grins\nand flops on the ground trying to catch her breath and clean off her weapon.\n                \"Well,\nwell, Ms. Dippleblack, you've managed to save the village once again.\"  The girls look over to Ms. Graysen making her\nway to them.  \"Mom!  Did you see? Wasn't Alice amazing?\"  Ashleigh bubbles.  \"She certainly was.\"  The older opossum agrees and then hands a new\nwhite blouse to Alice, \"Here child, we can't have our hero walking around in\nrags.\"  Alice looks over herself, her\nblouse torn in places and covered with stains, old and new, and then gratefully\naccepts the blouse, \"Thanks Ms. Graysen.\" \n\"Mm-hm,\" the mother opossum nods and then tells her daughter, \"Ashleigh,\nI could use your help at the store.\" \n\"Oh, mom, but I'm helping Alice with the jellies.\" She whines.  \"I'm sure she can manage, and you have your\nown job to do.\"  Ms. Grayson\ncounters.  \"Ugh, fine.\" the young Didel\ngroans and then waves as she follows her mother, \"Bye Alice, I'll see you later\nright?\"  Alice waves, \"Yeah, I'll\nprobably stop in this evening!\"\n                As the\nyoung Tokala watches the pair leave, a sudden pang of loneliness grips her\nheart.  Before the old foe could\nstrengthen its hold, she shoves it away and gets to her feet.  Alice then walks back to where she had seen\nsome jellies wandering earlier.  Trails of\nyellowed grass made the creatures easy to find in the fields.  Two had progressed towards the village but\nwere still a ways off.  It was nearing\nnoon now and the sun seemed to slow the monsters even more.  Alice dispatched them easily despite her\nwaning stamina and followed a third trail for a time.  Bringing down its maker before deciding she\nwas done for the day.\nBagging five cores, the little hunter\nheads for the stream, which was a popular spot for fishing, cleaning, and\nbathing due to its proximity to the village. \nAlice, finding the coast to be clear, slips out of her dirty goo covered\nclothes and wades in.  She gets deep\nenough to be able to submerge herself in the cool slow moving water while\nseated on the rocky bottom.  She does\nwhat she can to wash the goo off her blouse, but knows it'll mostly only be\ngood as rags and bedding now.  Her\nsturdier pants, however, will survive a few more battles.\nAlice washes the jelly from her fur\nchecking and rechecking to be sure she's got it all, toes, ears, back and tail,\nall get a thorough cleaning.  She is\ngoing through the later when she hears the sound of a blade chopping into wood.  She submerges into the water, only letting\nher head show, and turns to the shore where she left her belongings.  There, Arnold Duncan is trying to pull out her\nsword from the tree trunk he's managed to lodge it in.  \"Hey, get away from my sword!\"  Alice shouts from the water.  The bear boy gives her an annoyed look and\nthen gives the handle a few more tugs. \nAlice manages to slip on her soaked pants as she shouts again, \"Get away\nfrom it, NOW!\"\nArnold gives up on his efforts and\nturns to face Alice.  If he were green,\nArnold Duncan would look very much like a hairy pear.  His small head and rather bulbous body were\ninstead covered in brown fur.  He wore a yellow\nshirt that struggled valiantly but failed to cover his round stomach and gray\npants.  His beady black eyes glare at\nAlice as he lumbers to the shore line but before his feet reach the water he\ngrowls, \"Or what?  You can't do nothin'\nwithout that sword.\"\nLike most the village's children,\nArnold's father was taken by the war. \nThe boy was too young at the time to be recruited and without a father's\ndiscipline, the years since had turned him into a bully.  Urock, or anthropomorphic bear, people were\nlarge by nature and Arnold was no exception. \nPerhaps two years younger than Alice, he still managed to outgrow her by\na considerable sum in both height and weight. \nAlice, however, knew that much of the time he got by on his size alone\nand hadn't yet learned to wield his strength to any great effect.  But Alice knew her strengths, she was smaller\nbut faster.\nAfter some quick calculation Alice\nmakes her move.  Covering her modest\nchest with one forearm, she makes a splashy sprint for the boy who raises one\nclawed hand back to strike.  On her\napproach Alice hurls her soaked blouse into Arnold's snarling face.  In the seconds it takes him to wipe the wet\ngarment away, she's hefts a fist size rock from the river and brings it down on\nthe boy's hairy foot with as much force as both her slender arms can\nmuster.  The boy howls in pain and\nimmediately tries to grasp the aching appendage over his girth but loses his\nbalance and falls to his back.\nThe little fox darts to her bag and\nslips on her new blouse doing just a few buttons buttons as the large boy rolls\naround crying on the ground.  She then\npushes rather than pulls her sword free and brings the tip to Arnold's\nthroat.  She waits a moment to let the\nsituation register through the density of the boy's skull and then speaks as\nevenly as she can manage, \"If you ever touch my things again, I'm going to skin\nyou and wear you as a coat.\"  Arnold\nquivers, his eyes stuck to the swords edge, and a moist spot appears and expands\nrapidly over his pants.  Alice grins, \"Don't\nruin my coat.\"  With that she gathers her\nthings and heads back to her camp leaving the boy and his puddle.\nBack at her tent, Alice hangs her\ndamp trousers and blouse on a branch to dry while pulling on another pair.  These are blue and a bit bigger so she needs\nto tie a bit of rope at her waist to keep them over her slender hips.  She then plops down on her butt to check her\nsword for any damage and sighs when she finds a chip in the edge.  It's one of several but this one is\ndefinitely new.  She gets her sharpening\nstone and tries to straighten out the area around it the best she can.  Alice tires quickly, the lack of sleep,\nbattles with jellies, and bears sapping her limited reserves of stamina.  But she is determined to finish her precious\nwork.  \nOnce she is satisfied, She replaces\nher prized position in its sheath before falling to her back, arms spread at\nher sides.  She wants nothing more than\nto take a nap, but the sun is already starting to set and if she wants to make\nany trades with her new cores, she would have to leave now.  The tired littles fox grumbles as she places\nher sword over her head on one shoulder so it hangs diagonally down her back\nand then gathers her bag of precious cores and heads back to the village for\nthe second time in one day.\nShe's made good time and is nearly\nto Ms. Graysen's store when a gruff female voice bellows, \"Alice Dippleblack,\nhow dare you threaten my cub with that sword of yours!\"  Alice jumps and turns to see a massive figure\nlooming over her.  Arnold's mother was\nnearly as wide as she was tall and Alice has to pan her gaze upward just to\ntake her in.  Very similar in appearance\nto her horrible child, though with a darker color to her fur, Ms. Duncan towers\nover her.  Glaring with her beady black\neyes and baring a mouth full of sharp teeth, the large woman looked terribly\nfierce from Alice's low vantage point. \n\"You will apologize to him right now!\" she roars pointing back to her\nplum son, who grins absurdly from behind his imposing mother despite not having\nyet changed his pants.\nAlice, perhaps too tired to\nconsider that with one swipe Ms. Duncan would end her days as a hunter, or\nsimply being at a stubborn age, began in a voice she felt sounded very grown\nup, \"Arnold stole and damaged my sword while I was bathing in the stream.\"  \"She's lying momma!\"  Arnold shouts in defense, pointing a fat\naccusing finger at Alice.  \"He told me\nyou attacked him with that weapon and said you'd skin him and wear him as a\ncoat!\" Ms. Duncan growls back.  Keeping\nas composed as she can manage Alice continues, \"Then I'm sorry that he is a\nliar, a bully...\"  she then makes a show of\nlooking at him hiding behind his mother, \"and a coward.\"\nThe bear woman roars her anger and\nadvances on Alice, snarling ferociously, \"I've always said you were too young\nto have a dangerous weapon like that! \nNow you've threatened my cub, MY CUB! \nYou will give it here right...\"  \"Ms.\nDuncan that is enough!\" Ms. Graysen shouts from her store doorway just behind Alice.  The opossum woman steps out and puts a hand\non Alice's shoulder while looking the large Urock in the eye.  \"It is a known fact that your cub has become\nquite the trouble maker of late.  As such\nI tend to believe Alice when she says your boy was the one who instigated whatever\nhappened between them.\" She asserts and stands her ground even when Ms. Duncan\ngrowls back, \"How dare you say such things about my cub, he is a paragon!\"  \"Hardly,\" the Didel shoots back, \"My Ashleigh\nsays he's grown rather fond of pulling and stepping on her tail.\"  Other parents, attracted by the commotion,\nreveal similar grievances including hitting, pushing, and scratching all\nperpetrated by Arnold.\nReinforced by the other villages,\nMs. Graysen says, \"If you don't get your boy in check, you'll have to find\nsomewhere else to buy your ham and fish.\" \nThe Urock mother huffs several times and looks ready to explode, but\ninstead snorts angrily and turns, grabbing Arnold by the arm and nearly drags\nhim away.  Ms. Graysen lets out a breath\nand seems to shrink a little.  Her tail\ndropping to the ground from where it had lifted behind her.  Alice finally lets herself shiver, fear,\nanger, and adrenaline finally taking their toll as she looks up to the woman,\n\"Thanks Ms. Graysen.\"  The opossum woman\ngives her a small smile as Ashleigh comes up beside her, \"Phew, that was\ntense.\"\n \n\"Hush child.\" her mother chides as she kneels and turns Alice toward\nher, both hands on her shoulders, \"Now Alice, you should know better than to\nantagonize that woman.\"  \"But Arnold\nstole my sword and even chipped...\" the young fox whines, a tear threatening to emerge\nas Ms. Graysen interrupts, \"I have no doubts he did, that boy has been a\nproblem for a while now.  But I have to\ntell you, if Ms. Duncan lost anymore of her temper,\" she takes in a breath and\nlooks after the lumbering Urock, \"I don't think the village together could have\nstopped her from tearing you apart.\" \nAlice looks at the bear pair too and sniffs, \"I'm sorry Ms. Graysen.\"  The opossum woman gives the little fox a hug,\n\"It's alright, all's well now.\"  Ashleigh\njoins in squeezing her muzzle in between her friend and her mother making them\nboth smile.  \"I have some more cores to\ntrade if you're still open.\"  Alice\nannounces proudly.\n                In Ms.\nGraysen's store, Alice traded her five jelly core stones for more bread, she\nwas horribly tempted to get another trout but decided to get more of the\ncheaper food.  Just as Alice is accepting\nher goods from the older opossum, Ashleigh bursts, \"Did you really say you were\ngoing to skin Arnold and wear him like a coat?\" \nAlice grins, \"Maybe.\"  The Didel\ngirl laughs, \"You are so brave Alice, I wish I could tell him off like that, oh\nthat boy is just terrible.\"  Alice nods\nher agreement as she places her order into her shoulder bag and Ashleigh asks,\n\"What did you buy all that bread for? \nYou know it'll probably go stale before you can eat it.\" then she sucks\nin a breath, \"Are you going on another one of your expeditions?\"\n                \"Yup,\nI'm heading out tomorrow morning.  This\nshould last me a couple of days.\"  Alice\nreplies and Ashleigh bobs on her feet, \"Oh that sounds so exciting, I'd love to\ncome with you...\" \"But you have chores to do right here.\"  Her mother finishes from the counter.  Ashleigh frowns, settling down and then asks,\n\"Mom, can I go with Alice to the well?\" \n\"Not today dear, I need your help closing.\" The adult Didel returns as\nshe hurries about placing displayed items back into containers for the\nnight.  \"Awww,\" the young opossum moans\nand leans in to whisper to Alice, \"If you can, try to find me a good clubbing\nstick.\"  \"I'll try.\" Alice whispers\nback.   Ashleigh grins and saying in her\nnormal tone of voice, \"Bye and take care, I want you to tell me all about it\nwhen you get back.\"  \"Be careful Alice,\nif things get too dangerous you come right back, you hear?\" her mother adds.  The Tokala hikes up her shoulder bag and\ncalls back to both, \"I will!\" and heads out the door. \n                After\nfilling her water skins, Alice heads back to camp, has the rest of her first\nloaf of bread for dinner, settles into her tent, and immediately falls asleep.\n \n"}