Last time in The Fire Fox...
(And Enoli wondered where he was.)
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Aneira looked down at the strange fox at her feet. “Who are you?”
He pushed some leaves from his fur. “Name’s Enoli. What’s this place, who are you, and what kind of magic do you have?”
Aneira jumped back, her ears twitching. “Magic? There’s no such thing as magic. And Enoli? What kind of name is that?”
His gray eyes sparked, and one of his pale orange paws gripped tighter. Aneira could see his tail as it lit on fire like a torch. Slowly he released his fist. “Magic is real. My name is Enoli Fricracker, and I hail from the town of insert name in the fair country of insert name. Who are you, not-believer-in-magic?”
Aneira chuckled, her eyes closing. “Aneira of the valley is what they call me. Now, Enoli. Our town is famous for its hospitality. You should stay the night. It is afternoon closing on evening, after all.”
Enoli shook his head. “My mother will be wondering where I am. I told her I’d be back by dusk, so no. I just have to ask the phoenix to help me go home.”
Aneira crossed her arms. “There’s no birds big enough to carry you. You’d have to walk, as Arbol is going down, and the woodland isn’t very nice after dusk. At least get a meal.”
Enoli hesitated still. His gray eyes looked to the north, distant and wet. His shoulders fell, and the fire in his tail all but vanished. “I suppose. But I’ll be leaving tomorrow, right as the sun rises.”
Aneira stepped away. “Very well. Come along, fox.”
She wove between the huge oak trees, her ears pointed back so she could hear the fox following. For all her sixteen seasons, this was the strangest sight she had ever seen. First, a strange huge bird made of fire dropping a young fox into the woods. Then, that fox claiming to be magic, and having evidence to back it up. It just wasn’t possible.
Magic wasn’t real, was it? Enoli, the fox with the strange tail, seemed to prove otherwise. But her mother and her father and all the elders of her village claimed magic wasn’t real.
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And a picture of Aneira!
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