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The bright visage of dual pink moons took up Kari’s vision, black locks whipping above her as air rushed around her falling body, a small smile on her lips, allowing the high atmosphere chill to press against her back.

 Sometimes her hair would block out the unusual phenomena happening above her, yet that was also a part of her training, and the pale light touching her eyes was truly something to behold as the colossal, celestial objects blurred in a long pattern—past and present—and it may only be a short peek, but she was doing it.

In the clear night, she fell freely through the sky, arms and legs stretched out while attempting to peel back the folds of time by expanding her spiritual perception to peer into antiquity, if only a little.

The blushing spheres twinkled in the ruby-hued heavens she flew past, giving the green planet she was using as a testing stage a rustic sheen, and even though there was only one moon that orbited it, Kari had a faint view into segmented sections of the past as if gazing upon stained glass.

Vision attuning to the higher dimensions, the stars blurred as the past position of the earth unfolded various visages of the heavens to her 4th-dimensional vision, making her mouth part in wonder at the unusual majesty of the twinkling nebula and beautiful streaking comets—it seemed to go on forever—and then… she struck soil.

Dirt erupted around her, yet still, she could see beyond the falling debris by gazing into a time the ground was solid and air clean; although the layer of falling earth clumps and dust filling her nose didn’t help her concentration.

Swiftly closing her mouth and holding her breath, she closed her eyes as the upturned earth veiled her, cycling her spiritual energy to provide the needed sustenance to her body.  Internal physical generation was far easier for her than external, which Vulpes excelled in.

It didn’t take too long for most of her soft blanket to overlap her, and Kari used her spiritual aura to lift herself out of it instead of pushing through the soft clay, mud, and dirt herself.

Rising out of the crater, she looked down at her dirty bare skin and chaotic hair—she didn’t need them being destroyed like last time—and smiled.  I can do it, Mom…  I think I beat Sora to it.

Her mother’s soft giggle reverberated through her Core.  “You’ve been doing well, yet let’s not forget that Sora is working on primarily staying ‘in’ her clothes and not just destroying them, Honey.”

I know, Kari mumbled, floating to the nearby pink-tinted lake to wash off.  I’m just glad I am making progress, too, and hehe, I can tell her I’ve got a leg up on her.

“Aiden is making substantial progress, as well; he’s even surpassed your regenerative feats.”

Yeah, he’s doing great, but uh…  Liz is having a bit of a personal crisis.

“It was inevitable—she is a typical Vulpes, severely malnourished for well over a century, and trying to learn something she’s never taken seriously… and against Founders, at that.”

Oof…  It’s gotta be tough, but White said he’d help her…  Although, after what we learned with Tola…

“Yes, I was wondering when the topic of having a male instructor would come up.”

Wait…  You could have said something, Mom, Kari growled, entering the warm waters of the conjured world.  Or… was it because it wouldn’t have the same impact?

“Hmm…”

Kari stilled for a moment, vision closing as she focused, projecting a personal image for her mother to take; Alva shimmered into existence at the edge of the pool, only a private illusion of sorts—a self-deception—that she alone could perceive, yet it had become one of the greatest things her mother had taught her.

“What’s up?”  Kari asked, taking care with getting the clumps of soil out of her hair.

Crossing her legs in the air while gazing around the silent and clear night, a calming smile was on her mother’s lips.  “Mmh…  I am torn trying to be your teacher and mother… Kari, I am not really your mother, but I know you need it.”

“This again?”  She frowned, shifting to view her mother from the side beyond her dripping black locks.  “I still don’t get what you mean by that…  My mother created an Intelligent Construct, and sure, it wasn’t complete, but Inari helped fill in the gaps.  In all intents and purposes, as far as I see it, you’re my mom’s attempt at being my mother…  Why’s that wrong?”

“Huu-haaa…  It’s a complicated feeling that may have more to do with my emotions and be more of a technical understanding of what I am…  Naturally, as an Intelligent Construct, I know I am not Alva but an extension of her will to accomplish a specific purpose.

“Not in the slightest can I see myself as your true mother because if every Intelligent Construct could take the place of their source… it would be quite problematic.  Which is why Spiritual Constructs are quite frowned upon, as it can become… messy… even if you know what you’re doing.”

“Bla-bla-bla… is all I hear,” Kari said with a small grin.  “I get it’s hard for you… but it’s not for me, and I’m not going to change my opinion.”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm…  No, I don’t expect you to.  I am merely explaining my conundrum,” she said with a sad half-smile while leaning forward to prop up her head to watch her wash.  “I want to believe so many things about myself… that I took certain steps, yet I’m afraid I may not have, and so there are topics I hesitate to discuss with you.”

“Haha!  Don’t even know yourself, huh?  I can’t help you there, Mom…  I just wish I wouldn’t have taken so much time for granted,” she mumbled, vision falling to the rippling waters, she breathed, trying to find her voice.  “...With you and with Tiri.”

“Mmh…  I can’t tell you what the future will hold, and… so much of my former knowledge is fractured.  It makes me wonder… what did I want so desperately to hide?”

Kari moved to her knees to dunk her head and rub her ears.  “Umm… do you think it has something to do with my dad?”

“Possibly,” her mother mumbled, a touch of concern in her voice.  “As I’ve said, it is something that is… conveniently missing from my memory… something I am not likely to omit as a trivial bit of information, and how Nilly responded to you had both Inari and me questioning who your father might be.”

A slight blush touched Kari’s cheeks as she recalled her father's deep voice.  “Mmh…  I’m just happy I have one…  Heh, well, I know I had one, but… he wants to know me, and he said it would be soon…”

A pout touching her wet lips, she rolled her eyes.  “Haaa… then again, when it comes to Founders and stuff, as Sora pointed out… Soon™…”

“Hehehe… I find that expression so silly and amusing.”

“Gets the point across!  Seriously, what’s up with all of you guys being so cryptic all the time?”

Her mother gave a helpless shrug, following Kari’s gaze to her long dripping tail poking out of the water.  “Ultimately, it’s because we know it will affect things in a way we do not want to try to correct; better to sail the clean skies and smooth breeze while you can without brewing a storm that will slow your progress to the destination.”

“Uh-huh…  Anyway, as you said before, we can’t really worry about my dad and stuff since we don’t know anything, to begin with!  You can’t sense the same thing that Sora has in me to be unlocked, right?”

“Unfortunately, if it is there, neither Inari nor I can see it, which means…”

“Hehe, above the 12th dimension!”  Kari finished with a grin.  “So, my dad must be a bigshot, huh; because you weren’t that high, which means you couldn’t have locked it away.”

“Hmm…  Indeed, and why Nilly could observe something we could not…  At the same time… Sora’s being sealed in a manner 12th-dimensional entities can observe means the option to unseal her father’s half was given to Mia, who gave her approval to Inari.”

“Mom!”

“Hmm?”

“You worry too much!”

“Hehe, I can’t help it, Dear…  I want to protect you.”

“Because you’re my mom—see!”

“Haha… there’s no winning with you.”

“Nope!  What can I say?  I’m a stubborn wolf!  So, uh… can you give me a progress report?”

“Ooh,” her mother leaned forward with a sly smirk, fluffy silver-coated tail swaying to the left, “looking to show off to your friends?”

“W-Well, I was just thinking—you know, I’m doing so much better than last week, and I want to show I’m not slowing them down…” she mumbled, sinking further into the water to look at her mother and hide her colored cheeks; she wasn’t accustomed to feeling embarrassed at showing her achievements.

“How cute!”

“I…”

“Hehe, blowing bubbles makes you look like a child again.”

“Mom!  I’m trying to get stronger!

“Aiden can already look forward in time to see possible outcomes, and like you said, his recovery is better than mine.  Plus—plus, he was a total weakling before we started training, and now he’s freaking fighting Sora and taking Null-Void blasts with a grin on his face!  I can’t do that!”

“Eh-heh, Honey, by ‘a smile on his face,’ you mean getting an arm blown off and it recovering…”

“He still does it!”

“Then there’s Sora—she went from an average human to like a super Vulpes outer-existent Founder—I don’t know what—Null-Void mega fox in like six months!

“She went beyond the 13th dimension before you, or any of the Second Generation Founders, and I’m still stuck here trying to get a good look in the 4th dimension, taking a smack of Null-Void in the head like a gong!  If I don’t get stronger—”

“Mmh…”  Her mother slowly nodded, features softening.  “I know, even if Sora would never abandon you, there will be places she goes that you cannot, and then there’s Eyia and Jin…”

Kari shivered, thinking back to Monday earlier this week when Sora asked to have the pair join them; as was expected, Sora fought the Valkyrie—Kari understood why the Null-Void Vulpes didn’t want her to face the temperamental blonde—leaving Kari to face Jin.

Forget fighting; Kari couldn’t even land a blow against the insufferable, taunting Second Generation Dragon Founder as she lazily used dimensions to utterly bypass any chance of Kari so much as touching the Korean girl’s smug face and proving how essential understanding dimensions were.

To make matters worse, when she stopped slipping through space, she read Kari’s movements by peering through time to evade her every move—tripping her on more than one occasion—it had been infuriating and totally embarrassing.

At least Aiden didn’t fare any better, having his regeneration and intangibility shut down in an instant for the Dragon to simply teleport in front of him and tap his forehead with the back of a single finger to knock the bird out cold.

Jin more or less played a game of tag with them where she never got touched while casually watching Eyia and Sora’s battle in the heavens.

Eyia was the only person so far able to deflect Sora’s blows, having discovered a way to deal with her Null-Void in a way Jin admitted she had yet to uncover; according to the Valkyrie, her father had instructed her on how to defend against such forces in a manner she couldn’t share with them, nor would it help.

The Valkyrie hadn’t put said advice into practice until meeting Sora in the sky, yet apparently she was just that skilled.  At least she allowed Sora to try whatever she wanted against her, standing perfectly still, their game being for Sora to force her to move—naturally, that never happened.

Worse, Kari found out her first friend had been holding back this entire time, and even against Aiden, who was getting more of a punch as he could recover the damage.

Finished cleaning off, Kari transformed to her Fenris Form to exit the lake and shake herself off, spraying water everywhere before returning to her human state.

Grimacing down at her now only slightly damp skin and hair, she breathed in deeply.  “Haaa…  How am I doing, Mom?”

Her mother moved to stand a few feet away and watched as Kari got dressed.  “In short, you’ve learned how to control your size better, enhanced your ingestion attributes, have greatly accelerated your regeneration, can better utilize your physical and spiritual unity, and have vastly improved your defenses.”

“Ugh…  Only for ‘in-Existence’ stuff, though.”

“Hmm-hmm, Kari, did you honestly expect to master something I don’t understand—no less in a mere eighteen weeks?”

“It would have been nice to at least have an idea by now,” she grumbled, pulling her tank top on and flipping out her hair before adjusting it.  “I mean, sure, it’s cool.  I can literally fall from the atmosphere in my human form, hit the ground, and just walk away, but that’s strong 3rd-dimensional stuff…”

Her mother’s imaginary fingers closed around her cheeks, lifting her head to look into her reflected amber irises.  “You must start somewhere, my Little Wolf.  Aiden and Sora are certainly impressed.  Be proud of yourself.”

“I guess…”

Hugging her illusionary mother, Kari broke away and asked for the room to take her to Sora; it was nearing the end of Friday of their third week in training, meaning eighteen weeks had passed for them, and she’d learned so many new and interesting things about Aiden and Sora.

Last weekend they’d had a marathon of something called ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to help Tola understand romance in a comedic fashion—according to Sora, at least—the new mother had promptly had her daughter skip ‘certain’ scenes while highlighting others.

Eyia and Jin had been enthralled in the tales, and they were set to continue the series tomorrow—after Emilia’s morning fashion show—the little girl promising to have things to make plenty of treats once they got out of training tonight.

Kari wasn’t against it—she would take anything the little girl made—Emilia had turned out to be quite the little chef in such a short time; it made her wonder how many of her lessons were dedicated to the act.

Looking up with a frown as the room took her to the time-accelerated area where Sora’s friend and servant were, Kari walked forward, scanning the white space.  “Spending a bit of time with Wendy and Mofupsi?”

“Hmm?”  Sora glanced up from the armchair she sat on, placed by Wendy’s resting head.  “Ah, yeah, I try to make a visit here at least once every other day…  Hmm…  She’s changing, and I wonder how she’ll take it when she wakes up.  It worries me a little.”

Sliding her fingers between her back and damp hair, Kari found her elbow while stopping in front of the beds to study the two; streaks of Wendy’s brown locks were turning either copper or white, and the same could be seen on Mofupsi, including her tails.

Kari pulled in her lips for a moment.  “Mmh…  It’s a tug-of-war against which part of your essence will take dominance in them, huh?”

“I guess…  Huu-haaa…  From what my aunts told me, we won’t know exactly what form my two sides will take with them.  Wendy could become a big battle-ax like my dad, a chakram like me, or something else entirely… maybe a Vulpes and not a weapon—who knows.”

A smirk lit Kari's cheeks.  “If she does, Emi could have two people to call dinner plates.”

Sora turned a dry look her way.

“Her words, hehe!”

“It does make her giggle,” Sora mused, a sad smile lifting her bright emerald eyes.  “I've got my fox form down now, so she doesn’t wake up with my chakram around her body… I think she feels a little disappointed at that but likes cuddling up against my belly.”

Taking the seat across from her, she followed Sora’s gaze to the changing pair.  “It’s nice seeing her always so happy…  How’s she doing with Tola now spending more time with you after the lessons?”

Running her fingers through her hair, Sora chuckled.  “Thrilled…  She’s a little expert on love now, talking about holding hands and dropping little playful hints that, hehe, are really no help to Tola at this point, but it makes her flustered with the illusion demonstrations she makes of the pair of them… usually in a school scene.”

“Pfft-hehe, yeah, sounds about right for her.”

“Mmh… it makes me wonder if she’s subconsciously telling me she wants a similar experience that I had with school.”

“Uhh…”

“No, heh… she doesn’t have any of the bad memories, so it’s all boy crushes, classes, homework, and spending time with Wendy.”

“Oh, that’s… nice… only seeing the happy stuff… before I ruined everything.”

Sora shrugged, not looking too bothered.  “Gloria showed me all the happy moments I kind of buried behind the bad ones, and that’s behind us now…  You were going through your own nightmare.  Did you have any crushes?”

Kari leaned back, arms folding under her bust as she crossed her legs to stare critically at her brown shorts.  “Crushes…  I guess that really depends on the word.  I may have lived as a human for three years, but I wasn’t all that steeped in the culture… as much as I tried to be.”

“Hehe, c’mon… When you looked at someone, did it make your heart bump—was it hard to get them out of your mind?”

“Hmm…  Not… really?  My mind was always on making sure everything didn’t collapse under my feet… My brother wasn’t invading my territory, or the pack wasn’t having outside issues… defying orders…”

“Eh-heh… sounds exhausting.”

“Really was… looking back,” she mumbled, crossing her legs to bob her foot and looking back at her memories.  “Still… it kept my mind off other stuff.”

“Yeah… hmm.  I suppose you were just trying to survive.  You do know some interesting bits of pop culture, though.”

“The pack…  ahem, girls… tried to get me to look at sites or videos they thought I might like, which is how I got into the whole motivational speech stuff.”

“Nice…  We both just want to make new memories…  Kari?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think my dad’s doing?”

Head shifting to the side of her chair, Kari gently shook it.  “I… couldn’t tell you.  I wonder the same thing about my own dad.  Heh, mine was M.I.A. for my whole life, and yours took off into the Null-Void…  Crazy life, huh?”

“Crazy… dysfunctional families,” Sora forced a laugh.  “Oh!  How’s time been with your mom?”

“Amazing!”  Kari leaned forward with a grin.  “I can do this kind of self-illusion thing—it’s like she’s sleeping on the same bed as me—I can talk to her and see her when we’re discussing stuff!”

“Wow!  Hehe, it sounds like you’re in heaven…  I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks… uh, it wouldn’t have been possible without Inari.”

“My aunt…  Yeah, everything kind of changed when I met her…”  A soft smile lifted Sora’s cheeks.  “I know my mom was scared to expose me to her because of, well…”

“Heh, yeah, your tails and forcing the change.”

“Mhm…  Yet Aiden helped me through that…  Heh, he’ll never take credit, though!”

“Pfft!  Aiden?  The man can’t take the last roll off the plate without feeling guilty!”

“I know!  Someone, heh, needs to tell him how to be a bit more selfish.”

“Tell me about it!  Aiden… mmh…  I used to think he was annoying, always following around my brother like a puppy, and then when everything changed…  I hated how he kept my brother stronger than me, so…  I guess he’s really just never felt like he’s fit anywhere but with Eric.  Tiri really liked him…  I guess that’s one reason why he took her death so hard.”

Her throat constricted, thinking back on her grinning eight-year-old little sister.

“Liz seems to be good for him.”

“Good?  Hehe, she’s practically taken him by the throat and forced him out of his shell!  I was surprised by how bossy she is, considering how she was when still ensnared by Nephesh’s curse.”

“She can be a bit that way.  Hehe… still, Aiden kind of… needs someone to need him—I guess—and she does that pretty well.”

“Huh, I never thought about it like that,” Kari muttered, looking back at their life.  “When I’m with him, he talks a lot about Nathan too.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, which is a bit weird since they didn’t know each other that long… but it sounds like they really connected.”

Looking off to the side, Sora hummed.  “I mean… I suppose he hasn’t had that many male role models to look up to…  Mary and Inari were kind of there for me when I needed them, and they sort of filled that place…  What about you?”

A little flustered, Kari’s vision fell to her thighs.  “My role model…  Not to sound weird, but… it’s been you.”

“Really?”

“Don’t look so surprised.  I had no one… almost no one… and then you came along and slapped me on the face and asked me to be your friend—chewed me out about being so gloomy, and said you’d be there for me when I’m feeling down… cause that’s what friends do.”

Looking up, she found a soft smile on her friend’s face.  “And look at us now.  We’re growing up, huh?”

“Uh—someone has a daughter!”

“Not wrong, and she’s all sorts of fluffy adorable!”

They giggled, slowly dying down as Kari looked back on the impossible journey they’d taken together, moving from enemies to friends—her first real friend—and now her life was opening up more with the reintroduction of her mother.

“Mmh…  Well, isn’t this wholesome?”

Kari’s ears stood on end as Sora and her vision snapped to the sofa to their right, where a smiling, mischievous Seiōbo sat; the woman was dressed in a Miami summer hat, sunglasses, blue thigh-high dress, and brown heels.

Two black tails folding atop either side of her crossed legs, she aimed an amused smile in their direction while removing her shades to place it on her hat.  “How have you been, my Little Niece?”

Sora’s emerald eyes lit up as she instantly floated over the table to hug the Vulpes Founder.  “Aunt Seiōbo!  You’re back—where’s Aunt Nari?”

“Mmh, there’s the warmth,” she snickered, returning the hug as Sora’s flaming aura accidentally slipped out in her excitement.  “My, you’ve been making strides—look at you, all coppery like my sister’s daughter!  Nari?  She decided to stop by and surprise Emi first; I’m sure you’ll find her face filled with sweets by the time we meet the helpless addict.”

Kari sat back and listened, giving Sora time to enjoy her reunion; a lot seemed to have changed with the woman’s attitude since they’d last seen her, and she appeared to be enjoying her time in Miami, following Sora’s history.

“Hehe, pretty bad?”

Sapphire blue eyes rolling and head shaking in exasperation, Seiōbo released a short hiss.  “You have no idea…  We’ve stopped by every sweets shop in Miami since she discovered chocolate, and now she’s talking about exploring the U.S. as a veiled excuse to find more to sample.”

“Haha!  I love it.  Emilia’s is something special, though!”

“I’m sure.  Nari was nagging me to return last week, but I need some way to motivate her to try and battle me seriously—she needs work—she plays too much.”

“How long are you going to stay—a few days?  Maybe you can help us with Operation Pearly White!”

“Ooh, this little charity project with Tola?  Mmh-hehe, I do not believe my assistance is necessary; White’s days of ‘sobriety’ are numbered with girls like you on the case!”

“You make it sound so bad,” Sora blushed, Kari not far behind, yet a giggle touched the Vulpes’ throat.  “How long are you staying?”

“Mmh, let’s see…  Nari will need more time than me… she can’t help cooing at some of the things your father did with you when you were younger, saying she wants to do something similar with her kids.  So…  tomorrow night should be enough time.”

“Great!  We have extra rooms in our house—Emilia will be so happy—and we’re having a fashion show and, wait…”  A dubious look crossed Sora’s study of her aunt’s shameless smile.  “You knew Emilia would be baking, having a movie day, and fashion show, didn’t you?”

“Wouldn’t miss the darling’s first little strut, showing how much she’s learned, and I have no doubt she’ll want to dress all of us up—it’s a chance to allow the girl to stretch and find a fashion for herself!”

“Aww…”

Kari couldn’t help but smile, herself; Sora’s aunts really seemed to be trying to be a part of her life, which was something she knew the girl needed.

Getting up, Kari stretched a little, drawing the pair’s gaze.  “So, should we get to the party?  It’s almost 8 P.M.”

“Yeah!”  Sora took one last hopeful look at Wendy and Mofupsi, taking a deep breath before having the room teleport them to her house.

Kari chuckled as Sora opened the door to be greeted by Emilia’s squeals.

“Mom!  Mom!  Aunt Nari!  Aunt Nari’s back!”  Rushing into the hallway, tails stiff as a board and chest panting, her big eyes centered on her other grinning and waving aunt.  “A-Aunt Seiōbo!”

The grinning black-haired Vulpes opened her arms for the girl to float into it, almost losing control of her magic to send her face-first into the smooth stone floor.

“Breathe, Emilia,” Seiōbo soothed, hugging the girl to her breast as tears fell out of her eyes, smiling happily.  “Hehe, we’ll be here until tomorrow night, and I don’t need your mother’s wrath if you have a spiritual collapse and end up in bed.”

“Hehe, I didn’t expect her to be this excited,” Sora laughed, taking the hiccuping girl from her aunt.  “Hey, yeah, it’s okay—they aren’t just going to vanish—Aunt Seiōbo wanted to be here for your fashion show.”

“R-Really?  I’ve been using everything I’ve learned—Tola helped me know how to get everyone’s sizes—I made some for Aunt Nari and you, too!”

Sora set her down for Seiōbo to look further into the house.  “I’m so excited!  I can’t wait to show it off, hehe—is your Aunt Nari currently pigging out on some of your old snacks?”

“Am not!”  Nari called from the kitchen.

Emilia snickered, braided hair bounced as she nodded.

“Hehe.  Well, we’ll have to make some more.”

“Yeah!”

Kari enjoyed the heartwarming atmosphere, allowing it to wash through her as Sora shared her family time with Tola and her—White had bowed out the second Nari showed up—and Emilia walked them through making chocolate pasta with hazelnut cream sauce, white chocolate shavings, and fresh berries.

After, she introduced them to the concept of the ‘cosmic brownie’ that they’d be making that had Nari and Kari salivating at her illusionary display in the baking process.

Not wanting to ruin tomorrow’s show by starting the next episode, Nari and Seiōbo gave a recount of their travels through time, enjoying the culture Sora grew up in to better connect with her while following along parts of her life.

Kari didn’t even know some of the things the pair talked about when discussing the trips they followed Sora on, like the Tahiti resort vacation, and the party was shocked when discovering Kari had never been to Disney World, despite living in Miami for three years.

Emilia was so hyped up that she crashed by the time 11 P.M. came around, causing the end of the night, and Kari waved her goodbye, opting out of Tola teleporting her back to her little residence—she didn’t need much space—deciding to walk the night.

Breathing in the clean air, hands in her pockets, Kari wandered the streets for another hour, doing something that had come naturally to her over the last few weeks; everywhere she looked, Sora’s influence on the Realm was present.

Peace had come to the Realm, granting it freedom it hadn’t experienced before, yet still, most humans and Vulpes retained a semblance of their previous habits, gradually branching out little by little with the new interactions they had.

Qebhet appeared to be tempering things so they wouldn’t grow overwhelmed with the sudden spark of agency that had been released within them; Liz didn’t have that luxury, causing her to jump on a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows, but now that the snake goddess was guiding the Realm, she was doing better.

Overall, they influenced the Realm—she had a small part in that—which meant a lot to her; she had done something good, no matter how tiny it had been.

Reaching her temporary house, she got ready for bed and sank into the magical mattress that put her to sleep in seconds.

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