Hello there dear readers! Here is another chapter of The Fox's Path for your reading pleasure! As usual, be sure to check out my other stories here on TGS. The Thaumaturgist and Hairball! Also, be sure to take a look at my fanfics over on FanFiction.net! The Door and my newest addition Welcome to Sunset Valley, and of course Found! I sure hope that you enjoy!

 

 

The Fox's Path (Chapter 15)

 

by

 

Elite Shade

 

 

 

Taylor tossed and turned on her temporary bed. She whimpered before sitting up and looking around, blinking in confusion. She shook her head to banish the fragments of the nightmare she had been having. Shortly after returning home from school, Taylor had felt exhausted, and decided on taking a little cat nap... or rather a little vixen nap. She wiped her eyes and sniffed a little. After the storm of emotions subsided, Taylor sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, hugging herself.

"Hey there, sweetheart." Taylor looked over to see Laura standing in the doorway, giving her a warm smile. Laura strode over and sat down next to Taylor, pulling her close in a hug. She said nothing as she gently stroked Taylor's headfur for a few minutes.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

 

"... It was just a nightmare, that's all..."

 

"It was just a bad dream," Taylor mumbled, her cheeks blushing. Being held like this after a nightmare made her feel like a little kid. Laura gently lifted Taylor's muzzle to look her in the eyes.

 

"Would you like to talk about it, hun? I promise that it's all okay," she said while continuing to nuzzle the vixen.

 

"I... I dreamt I was back in my original world... but I was still a fox... and a girl. People called me a freak and... even my own parents were disgusted by me. I was captured to be dissected to see how I was biologically possible, and then I woke up." When she had finished, Taylor realized that she had been crying the entire time she had been talking. "Back before I came here, I wouldn't have cried as much about something like this," Taylor said, her ears laying flat.

"Would something that terrible really have happened back on the world you came from?"

"... Well... no... or maybe? I mean... I don't know. I do know that my folks would not want to deal with all of what's happened to me, and pretty much just leave me to deal with it myself... they did that a lot. I had to deal with some bullies from time to time...and other stuff...but nothing like... being some kind of scientific freakshow..." Taylor trailed off and looked away.

 

"You've been through a lot sweetie. I'm so sorry for everything that you've been through. Just know that we're here for you." Laura emphasized this with another hug. After the embrace ended. Taylor thought of something.

 

"Uhm... Laura?"

 

"Yes, sweetie?"

 

"Uh... I've kinda been wondering about something." Taylor looked down at her paws. Laura waited, a warm smile on her muzzle. After a few minutes, Taylor looked back up.

 

"So... for a while now... Lily's been calling me her baby sister... and... uh..."

 

"Are you perhaps wondering if little Lilypad has decided to call you that as a term of endearment or if it means something else?" Laura finished, summarizing exactly what the vixen was wondering. Taylor nodded, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

 

"Hmm...well, I'm not sure how things involving children who appear to be homeless or otherwise abandoned are done back in your world, but here in Levastia, it's not particularly difficult for a family that takes in such a wayward child to be granted temporary guardianship over them, provided that the neither the family nor the child object."

 

"So anyone can just take in a kid?"

 

"Well, temporarily yes. During this time all information of the found child is taken and investigated, as is the family that has taken them in."

 

"When does the temporary guardianship end?"

 

"Well, the proper authorities can end it at any given time, provided that they have evidence of abuse or criminal acts. Aside from that though, it usually ends 90 days after guardianship has been granted. At that point, if for some reason the child cannot go back to their blood family, then they can either choose to be placed in an orphanage or a foster home, or they can choose to stay with their current guardians, whom if also agrees, shall be granted full guardianship status. At that point, they can file an official adoption request, if they and the child again both agree."

 

"So that means that you have temporary legal guardianship over me?"

 

"It sure does!" Laura hugged Taylor closer. "Since Abe is a doctor and a master healer mage, his initial exam of you when Shaun brought you home was sufficient for the medical examination necessary for the temporary guardianship," Laura explained.

 

"He examined me? As in... he s-s-saw me... n-nude?" Taylor's cheeks flushed at the thought.

 

"Oh no." Laura smiled while waving a dismissive paw, "he simply touched your forehead and performed a reading. Aside from some exhaustion, he detected no medical anomalies whatsoever." Taylor relaxed a little.

 

"So... when the 90 days is up... what happens to me then?" Taylor asked nervously, wringing her paws together.

 

"Well... what would you like to happen?" Laura asked.

 

"... Can I stay here?" Taylor asked, her voice barely audible. Laura smiled and nuzzled the vixen.

 

"Of course." Laura continued to nuzzle Taylor, who sat there taking it all in. A small smile appeared on her muzzle. After a while Laura stood up and smiled again at Taylor. "I'm going to be getting started on dinner tonight, Taylor, would you like for me to come and get you when it's ready?" Laura asked.

 

"Uhm... a-actually, I need some help with my homework... with my Rune Stones," Taylor said.

 

"Oh? Let me guess, the fire Rune?"

 

"Uhm, yeah?"

 

"Well then I'll see if Abe can supervise you with that then," Laura said, noticing how much more perked up Taylor appeared to be.

 

 

Half-an-hour later...

 

 

The front door opened as Shaun entered, a wide grin on his face.

 

"I'm home!" The teen wolf boy called out, suddenly taking in the sight of Taylor trying to put out a fire in the dead center of the coffee table. Seconds later Abe ran in with a large glass of water which he promptly dumped onto the table, extinguishing the flames. In the center of the doused scorch marks was the still slightly glowing Rune stone Taylor had been practicing with.

 

"I'm so sorry Abe," Taylor began, her tail tucking itself between her legs, but the large bear immediately laughed and waved her apology off with his massive paw.

 

"Taylor, it was no one's fault but my own," he said while clapping his paw down on her shoulder. Taylor winced and her knees buckled a little under the added weight, but she quickly recovered. "I was supervising you, and instead of stepping in with some stabilizing energy, I chose to see if you would do it yourself in time," Abe explained as he ruffled her headfur.

 

"Besides, if I had a delm for how many times I set some of my father's furniture on fire back when I was in school and practicing... well... I'd have seven delms." Abe then noticed Shaun standing there in the doorway with an awestruck look on his face. "Hey there Shaun! How was training?"

 

"Uh... it was pretty cool," Shaun said as he closed the door behind him and took off his backpack, setting it over near the sofa. "We're covering a lot of stuff I wasn't expecting."

 

"Oh? Like what?" Abe asked as he handed Taylor her Rune stone before picking the table up in one arm and started walking it to the garage door, opening it and disappearing inside for a moment. He came back in and snapped his fingers, pointing one at the wet patches. The water that had dripped onto the carpet all began to float up into the air just in front of his finger. He walked over to a window and opened it with his other hand, still pointing at the floating water droplets. With a flick of his wrist, he sent them zooming out onto the manicured lawn, before shutting the window and turning back to the two teens.

 

"Uh... well, a lot of alchemy, some minor transmutation, and religious texts, in addition to a bunch of defensive and offensive magic stuff as well, which I had expected from the get go."

 

"Hmmm, makes sense to me. There's a lot of strange and unique things in The Badlands, so more than a few rare alchemical ingredients abound." Abe chuckled. "I'm not gonna lie, the transmutation aspect is a little strange to me. But let me guess, the focus on the religious aspect is more along with those of the former Sargael empire, right?" Shaun nodded.

 

"Again, makes a lot of sense. The Badlands contain many ruins of their cities and most likely their towns too. That architecture was influenced by their beliefs, in some way or another," Abe lectured while Shaun nodded and flashed Taylor a smile. It was then that Laura poked her head into the room.

 

"Dinner's almost ready everybody." Laura then noticed the absent piece of furniture and looked at Abe. "Honey, what happened to the coffee table?"

 

"Oh uh... I spilled a drink on it and so I'm going to work on it in the garage," Abe said, absentmindedly scratching his neck while looking away.

 

"Uh-huh. You mean the glass of water you filled up and then ran back out there with?" Laura asked, an eyebrow raised.

 

"Uh.. .yup." Abe was now rubbing the back of his neck. Laura rolled her eyes as she turned back around. Shaun snickered and Taylor looked away guiltily, just before they both found their heads being ruffled.

 

"HEY!" They both said as Abe chuckled.

 

"So, Taylor, do you feel up to practicing some more with your Rune stone after dinner?" He asked.

 

"Oh... uhm... sure?"

 

"Great! If nothing else, what happened a little bit ago can be utilized as a learning experience." Abe smiled as he walked off. Taylor looked down at the stone in her paw and let out a sigh.

 

"I burned my tail once when I first started practicing with a fire Rune." Taylor looked up to see Shaun giving her a sympathetic smile.

 

"It takes a bit of practice to really get the feel for each one."

 

"It's just so strange... I could never stare at a rock and make it burst into flames back where I came from..."

 

"Sure you could. You were just never shown how," Shaun said as he walked over to the vixen. Taylor felt a twinge of guilt as she realized that Shaun was talking about the fake backstory of her growing up in a Lescht compound that he still clearly believed. Taylor did not have long to dwell on this though as the teen wolf boy gently took her paw, holding the Rune Stone, into his. She blushed and started to feel a little warm all over.

 

"Do you feel it?" He asked. Taylor was about to ask what, when she started to feel the faint flickering sensation she had felt earlier, as her paw started to become warmer and warmer. She closed her eyes as Shaun did the same and focused on the feeling within.

 

"There's a lot of different energies that are associated with fire, and even more equations when it comes to understanding each and every one of them," Shaun explained while Taylor listened.

 

"But when starting out on one like this, you first have to focus on the feel of the energy. Feel how it almost seems to have a mind of its own?"

 

"Yes," Taylor said, feeling what the energy seemed to want to do.

 

"For some magics, you simply have to follow that feeling. For others, like this one right here, you actually have to go against that feeling. Not so much that you completely ignore it, but enough to sort of curb it." Taylor opened her eyes to see that Shaun had let go of her paw, which was covered in a white flame. While it felt warm, it didn't burn or feel uncomfortable at all. Taylor stood there, her flaming paw outstretched for a while, focused on remembering what she was feeling at this moment to duplicate it in the future. A few more minutes later, and Taylor focused again, extinguishing the flame in her paw. The stone glowed before becoming dull once more.

 

"Th-thanks Shaun," she said, blushing. Shaun smiled and blushed back, before they both headed into the kitchen for dinner, Lily thundering down the stairs and rushing past them on the way. During dinner, Taylor noticed that Ben and Molly were absent, but decided against asking about it. Afterwards, she practiced some more with Abe supervising in conjuring a flame from the Rune stone, succeeding each time, not catching anything else on fire.

 

"Great job Taylor!" Abe praised, making the vixen smile.

 

"Thanks Abe, Shaun gave me a few pointers right before dinner."

 

"Ah, I see. Still though, I'm very proud of you," he said, ruffling her headfur one more time. Taylor sighed as he chuckled. Abe then helped her focus on a couple of the more difficult runes, before his phone rang.

 

"I'm sorry, Taylor, I have to take this," he said after pulling it out and looking at the screen. He tapped it once to answer.

 

"Hey there, Renny, how're things?" Abe stood there listening to whoever was on the other end.

 

"Woah, slow down there. What happened?" Abe's face grew serious. "I see... okay, I'll be there in five," he said before hanging up. He looked at Taylor and smiled. "Sorry, Taylor, but I gotta head on out. There was another attack today and a lot of people were hurt," he said as he walked over to his jacket, grabbing his keys off the coffee table. "And I'm on call tonight so..." His voice trailed off.

 

"I get it, Abe, really. Besides, you helped a lot," Taylor assured. Abe smiled and pulled her into a hug, almost crushing her in his vice-like grip. He then went into the kitchen to explain the situation to Laura, giving her a kiss. Soon he was out the door and pulling out of the driveway. Taylor watched him go in the evening light, suddenly remembering the gates closing at sunset, but then just assumed that certain exceptions existed for residents who were healer magi on duty, or something along those lines.

 

Taylor headed back upstairs and into the room she was sharing with Lily, to find the wolf girl sitting cross-legged on her bed, her pet Humphrey's scaly body draped around her shoulders. His blue scales glistened in the light, as it made a hissing noise at Taylor as she walked by, grabbing her magical encyclopedia and a text book from her book bag.

 

"Oh hush, Humphy Dumphy!" Lily admonished him and then turning to Taylor.

 

"I guess he's still getting used to you, Tay-Tay," she said as Taylor took a seat at the desk and started to do the rest of her homework.

 

"It's cool, Lily," Taylor said as she pulled out her notebook to start working on the questions at the end of the designated chapter.

 

"So did dad leave?"

 

"Yeah, there was an attack, and he said something about being on call."

 

Lily just nodded. "It happens sometimes. Plus, I heard about the attack from my friend, Liara. She said that there was a zombie outbreak downtown."

 

"Wait, zombies?" Taylor asked, swiveling the chair to turn to face Lily, who nodded.

 

"Yep. As per usual, no one knows how they could have gotten out of The Badlands and into Risen City. From what Liara told me though, the Guild was able to get everything under control, and the people attacked are being treated right now."

 

"... Doesn't that mean that they're infected though?"

 

"What, you mean like something you could get from the mouth of a rotting animated corpse?" Lily asked, a little confused. "I'm sure that that can be treated at the hospital with some anti-biotics and warding spells," Lily explained.

 

"But... won't anyone who gets bit.... you know... become one?"

 

"... Ooooooooh... I think that maybe you've been hearing an old Lescht wive's tale," Lily said. "That's not how you become a zombie. There's actually a couple of ways that I know about, but those both involve being exposed to some kind of really dangerous radiation for a long period of time, and not getting any treatment for it," Lily said before getting up and heading out the door into the bathroom, setting Humphrey down in his tank where he stared right at Taylor and hissed, repeatedly.

 

Taylor turned back to her textbook and shook her head.

 

Okay... this place is definitely nuts, Taylor thought.

 

 

 

And there you have it dear readers! I certainly hope that you enjoyed the newest chapter! And I definitely hope that you'll feel free to leave a review!