After Dawn and Amilya had left, the fox returned to his den to try to rest.  As he curled up, he found his thoughts spinning between all the things he had learned through the link, with the words that linked to concepts.  He shifted restlessly for a time before he could finally calm his mind and fall asleep.

Waking up near dawn, he immediately raced off towards the human village, arriving at the hill he’d been waiting on, but didn’t see any of the children outside yet.  Since he didn’t see any of the humans yet, he decided to run off to the fields to the other side and snack on some mice.

With the help of his illusion, he found it far easier to catch the mice, as they wouldn’t even notice him until he had caught them.  After catching and eating two of them, he headed back to the hill.  The children still hadn’t shown up, so he sat down to wait.

After a while of waiting, the gates finally opened, the children coming out to play.  Along with them was the human with the bird on his shoulder, who headed straight towards him along with Dawn.

Unnerved by the strange human, he whined and backed up a bit as they approached.  Dawn continued forward to scratch his head while the other human stepped back and sat down.  As he reconnected his link with Dawn, she pointed at the other human, naming him as Morris; the hawk she named as Kel.

Dawn settled onto the ground beside him, petting his head as they began going over ideas and words again.  Morris asked something and Dawn translated it into concepts as best as she could; Morris was questioning if they had a link so soon, normally it took much longer.  As she responded to Morris, she stopped petting him and he gently grabbed her hand and whined until she resumed scratching.

She stopped a moment in thought, then sent through the link that he needed a name like everyone else, along with another thought that at the moment he was ‘little nipper’ currently.

He sat thinking for a while, a name was something he had never considered before, he was himself and that was good enough for him.  But interacting with humans was hard when everyone had a name but him.  Dawn called him little nipper, and he didn’t want to completely ignore her name for him, but it didn’t feel right.  After some more thought, he decided to keep nip and add a sighing sound of phru giving him Niphru, which he then spoke with his illusion.

Dawn grabbed him and squeezed him to her chest as Morris clapped and Kel screeched.  Dawn let him down and smiled, sending congratulations through their link, scratching behind his ears again.

Shortly afterward, Dawn had to go back into the village for what was called school, a place where she had to go to learn.  Before leaving, she made sure to explain that yes or a nod meant acceptance and no or a shake meant denial.

Following his example from the night before, she asked, “Niphru at dawn?”

Niphru nodded his head and replied through his illusion, “Yes!”

Kel hopped back up to Morris’ shoulder and they all left to return to the village together as Niphru turned and headed back to the forest.  A moment later he yelped in pain, having forgotten to disconnect his link from Dawn, causing it to snap from the distance.

Niphru headed back to his den, despite the pain at the end, he was content with having learned so much for the day.  Upon arriving he curled up in his home before going to sleep, his mind reviewing what he had learned until it faded into slumber.

Upon waking up in the evening, he decided to go check out the other foxes he had seen near the pond along the edge of the forest again.  Heading towards the trail of smashed trees, he ate a few berries from bushes along the way as a snack.

As he headed down the trail, he heard a sudden loud hoot that startled him, a massive owl flying overhead and landing on a tree as it gazed at him before looking away.  Somewhat spooked, he then used his illusion to hide himself before continuing.

Arriving at the pond, he spotted the illusion in the same place as before, seeing one large fox  present, glowing red antlers and quills on its back, with bones of two smaller foxes laying on the ground nearby.  Shocked by the sight, he decided to get the humans attention about it, once he knew how to describe it tomorrow.

He ran back to his den, troubled by what he had seen, and lay down to rest until dawn.  As he waited for sleep, he practiced more with his illusions, trying to make them more realistic until he finally fell asleep.

Waking up in the morning, he remembered that last time he was early.  This time Niphru decided to hunt for a bit of breakfast before heading to the village, and went into the forest.  After a while, he smelled a rabbit in its burrow and dug in, unearthing the rabbit and attacking it.

While normally he was able to catch rabbits unharmed, this time it kicked him fiercely in the side as he tried to kill it, staggering him even as he latched onto its head and began shaking.  As it stopped moving, he moved his foxfire to cover the bruised flesh and began to feast.

Once he finished eating, he headed towards the human village, hoping he wouldn’t be too early as he was last time.  Upon arriving, he saw the children already out and about, Dawn and Morris sitting on the hill waiting for him.  He quickly ran up, jumping into Dawn’s lap and grabbing her hand for a moment until she started scratching his chin.

After attaching his link to Dawn again, the first thing he did was form an illusion of the beast the hunters had helped him defeat.  He then pushed a questioning feeling through the link, waiting for a response.  Upon hearing it was called a monster, twisted, or tainted, he then shifted the illusion to one of the fox he had seen, including the skeletons within it.  Morris looked shocked for a moment as Dawn spoke with him using words Niphru didn’t know yet.

Niphru then shifted the illusion to the path of shattered trees, moving through it to the pond, including the fox there.  Morris watched carefully, then stood up, holding his arm out as Kel descended from the skies.  After focusing on Kel for a moment, Morris tossed him into the air again, and sat back down.

Meanwhile, Dawn resumed teaching Niphru, teaching more abstract concepts today.  After several dozen cycles, Morris stood back up, reaching into the air to catch Kel and shift him to his shoulder.  He then spoke with Dawn again and headed towards the forest alone.

Dawn turned back to Niphru before speaking, “He thanks you for sharing monster location.  He hunts it now.”

Niphru felt slightly conflicted about that, as it was a fellow fox.  On the other hand, he had seen how it had massively changed, and what fox would eat its own kits?  In the end, he decided it was the right choice even if it resulted in the death of the other fox, as it was indeed a monster.

Facing Dawn, Niphru responded, “Sad, confused, glad.  Fox wrong.”

Dawn grabbed him and held him close to her, petting his head as she sent a comforting feeling through their link.  After a few moments, he spoke up again questioning, “Learn more?”

Dawn smiled, letting go of him but continuing to pet his head.  They then began again, switching back to more concrete subjects, this time related to humans and their village.  Among the things he learned was that humans were scared of allowing animals near their homes due to the risk of them becoming monsters.  One of the few exceptions were mages who often raised animals until they became Awakened like himself or Kel.