“Hey, Lianna! Chief wants to speak with you!”

The words of Leon filtered through the wooden door of Lianna’s home.

“Okay, give a moment,” replied Lianna.

 

In northern lands lies the Northern Wildwood. It is land defined by the trees that give its name: towering giants, each the width of half a dozen men and with a height that seems to touch the sky itself. Among these giants dwells two groups: the first of which are the large beasts who prey upon the smaller creatures - to understate the beasts’ power is to be a fool. Fortunately, their reign is a seasonal affair, as the winter brings them to hibernation.

The other group are the Foch; a collective name for humans who have made pacts with the spirits of this land. Their defining visual trait are the ears and tails of the fox - inherited from the land spirits themselves to aid in calling the Wildwood home.

Such were the stories told to Samuel, anyway. His father spun them in between dealings with his subordinates. Now, Samuel was seeing the land and peoples his father told him about - though, not under the best of circumstances. He had been found outside the village, being preyed upon by a bear in the forest that still hadn’t started hibernation yet.

“Well, I apologise if my scouts were unkind to you. My name is Elenora. May I ask your name?”

Elenora, a woman with brown fox ears of a Foch, who looked to be in her forties. She sat behind a desk, in wherever room they had taken Samuel. Samuel, perhaps too nervous to answer or too scared to do anything, did not respond. Elenora frowned.

“Oh, dear,” she said, putting her face to her palm. “What in the name of the land is going on with the humans… Valea, can you help me here?”

Elenora stood up from the chair behind her desk and began to walk around it. While this was happening, a fox jumped into the air, as if from behind Elenora. This fox came up to Samuel’s face - gravity evidently being a mere suggestion.

“Hm… what do you want me to do? This isn’t an invader, it’s a child. I’m not sure what your point is?” said the fox.

The fox spoke with a feminine voice, one slightly higher than Elenora’s deeper tone. Elenora followed up behind the fox and knelt slightly to be on eye level with Samuel. “This is Valea, the land spirit with me. Can you not share your name?”

Samuel, far out of his comfort zone, stammered a reply. “Samuel.”

Valea turned to face Elenora. “I don’t know what to say. This is hardly an invader… or any sort of diplomatic thing.”

Elenora nodded in agreement.

“Valea… I don’t know what’s going on with the humans, and I can’t do anything about it right now. But you’re right, this is a child,”

She turned back to face Samuel. It was here that she noticed a slight lean on his part - he was avoiding putting weight on his left ankle. “Hm,”

In an abrupt motion, Elenora gave Samuel a hug and picked him up clear of the floor. Samuel made what could generously be called a noise, before failing to escape her grasp. “Shh, shh,” Elenora said.

She put him down on a chair on the side of the room. “You hurt your left foot, or ankle, or something. Don’t want it to get worse.”

By this point Valea had disappeared behind Elenora, leaving simply her and Samuel in the room.

“Samuel, I don’t know what’s going on with the human convoys, but I do know that something is going on, and for whatever reason you are involved with it. But…”

She watched as Samuel nervously looked at the entrance to the room.

“Somehow I feel like it’s something that you don’t want to be a part of, or isn’t your fault.”

Samuel suddenly turned back to look at Elenora at the end of her last sentence. She gave a slight smile at the sudden action.

“Sounds like I hit something there. Well, I can’t be certain what’s going on, but--”

Elenora’s statement was cut short by the entrance of two other Foch through the doorway. The first of which pushed the door open in a haphazard motion, and called:

“Elenora! I’m back, and I got Lianna with me!”

His name was Leon, with his silver-coloured ears and tail. Behind him came Lianna with golden-tinted ears and tail.

“Is this something to do with the boy?” Lianna asked.

Elenora looked at the two who just entered. She motioned to the chair with Samuel in it with her hand.

“Good timing, you two. This is Samuel,” she said.

She sat down on the top of her desk, and sighed.

“That’s unfortunately all I know currently about him, but I have some hunches. Now, Leon, where did you find him?”

Leon stood straight. Thus, he started on his report:

“He was a short way from the village, actually.”

Elenora closed her eyes for a moment, and sighed. “That’s good enough for the moment. For now… Lianna.”

Lianna looked at Elenora.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know this boy’s story, but my hunch is that he’s a runaway.” said Elenora.

Leon and Lianna looked at Samuel, and then back to Elenora. 

“...why? What makes you think that?” asked Lianna.

“I don’t know. But here’s what I do know. He seems injured, and even if he wasn’t, I’m not going to send a child back out into the Wildwood when winter is about to begin. Besides…”

She turned to face Samuel. She gave a soft smile and said:

“I think you want to be here, don’t you?”

Samuel looked down to hide his face - Samuel was trying his best to hide his embarrassment.

“Hahaha! Don’t be embarrassed. The fact that you made it as far as you did tells me enough. You’re lucky enough you aren’t dead, the Wildwood is a harsh place for a lone human, let alone a child. Don’t worry, you’re safe here.”

Elenora turned to face Lianna. “Can you take care of him?”

Lianna gave a minor pout. After a pause, she answered.

“...Okay,” she said.

Leon patted her on the back.

“I guess this means you're off the scout team for now, then.” he said.

Elenora continued with the instructions for the pair.

“Leon, I’m gonna have you follow those two back. I’m not sure exactly what his injury is, but I want to deal with it.”

Leon nodded. Lianna walked over to the chair Samuel was sitting in, and knelt down to match eye level. “Hey, are you up to walking?” she asked.

Samuel nodded to signal “no”.

“Alright,” she said.

Lianna picked up Samuel, and princess-carried him out of the room, back to her residence. Leon followed behind, only to stop and turn around when he reached the door.

“Chief, why Lianna?” he asked.

Elenora shrugged. “I trust Lianna’s judgement in doing what’s right. I think she’ll find out his story just fine. Besides, she was here already. Makes it quicker to get things sorted.”

Leon nodded and left.

Valea appeared again from seemingly nowhere. She danced around Elenora, and then asked: “Do you think he looks familiar?”

Elenora walked to the door and watched as the three travelled the walkways between the trees. “...you know what, Valea, the name does seem familiar. I’m not sure why, though.” she said.

 

Having brought Samuel back to her residence, Lianna put him down on the chair in the living space. She hadn’t noticed it before, but Samuel didn’t seem prepared for a trek into the Wildwood - he had no supplies of his own beyond a knife for self-defence when they found him. Now that he was in a safe situation, the questions began to mount on Lianna. However, she had more immediate things to tend to.

“Now, then. Elenora said you were injured. Do you know where?” she asked.

Samuel pointed down to his left ankle. It looked a little swollen compared to his right one.

“I stepped wrong, and rolled on it.”

Elenora turned around and called outside.

“Leon, can you wrap his ankle? I know you’re out there.”

Leon called from outside to confirm, and that he’d return in a few moments. Lianna turned back to face Samuel. Samuel looked back at her. Mustering all the courage he had, he asked:

“Um… are you a Foch?”

Lianna looked at him with a strange stare.

“What do you mean, of course I am. Isn’t that obvious?” she said.

“No, I mean, my father told me stories about you, but I’d never seen them in person. But the lady- Elenora, I mean, this fox came from behind her, she called it Valea, and--”

“You saw Valea?” Lianna asked.

“Yeah, a fox came out from behind her,”

Leon arrived in the room, with a roll of fabric intended for Samuel’s ankle. Having overheard part of the exchange, he first asked:

“Am I interrupting anything?”

“Hardly,” was Lianna’s answer. “Can you wrap his ankle?”

Leon knelt down and began wrapping Samuel’s ankle.

“Now, don’t mind me asking, but, presumably you came from a convoy, yes? Humans have convoys, right?”

Samuel looked down at Leon, mid-wrap.

“Y-yeah, of course we do,” Samuel said.

“I’m sorry, I’ve only been here for five years, and Lianna’s one less. We haven’t seen any convoys here. Elenora says it’s due to a schism, but I don’t have a solid grip on all that.” explained Leon.

Samuel’s expression darkened.

“Leon, don’t scare him;” chided Lianna.

“No, no…” Samuel responded. “I’m stuck here anyway, I should probably explain myself eventually…”

Lianna looked at Samuel. Leon, having completed the wrap by this point, stood up and did the same.

“No, he’s right, I was from a convoy. The Fredericka convoy, to be precise.”

Leon and Lianna looked at each other. They didn’t fully understand what that meant, but it seemed reasonably important to both. Lianna turned back to ask more questions, but Samuel was instead leaning further back into the chair. Suddenly he was fighting back fatigue - the adventures of his day must have done a number.

“That’s no place to sleep… okay, let’s shuffle you off to bed, then.”

Lianna picked him up and brought him to a spare bed. Putting him down in it, she told him:

“Get some rest. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to chat.”

Samuel smiled, as he fumbled his way through the blankets. Lianna returned to the main area, where Leon still was.

“So, what do you think?” he asked.

Lianna frowned at him. “You think I can make a judgement call this soon?”

She poked him on the forehead. Leon recognized that he went a little far there, he apologised:

“Hey, I don’t mean it like that, Lianna,”

At this point, a fox jumped from Lianna. Much like Vanea earlier, jumped was a relative term.

“Oh? Philas? What’s up?” asked Lianna.

The fox had a brown coat, and began speaking with a fairly boyish voice. “I don’t think he’s bad, at any rate,”

“Wow, that’s unusual, coming from you.” said Leon. “What’s gotten into you?”

“More like what she’s gotten into me. Stop painting me like a vile beast.” chipped Philas.

Lianna had seen this routine before. Knowing enough about Leon and Philas’ two-man routine, she quickly moved to stop it.

“You two, stop it. There’s nothing we can do to answer those questions now. I don’t want either of you waking up Samuel,”

The force of Lianna’s words made the two of them shut up quickly. Leon then muttered about the report he had to make for Elenora, and left. This left Lianna and Philas alone, while Samuel in the guest room rested. Lianna turned her attention to Philas, and spoke.

“Still, Leon has a point. You were the one who was thinking he’d be hostile. Quite a change, isn’t it?”

Philas looked back at Lianna. “You saw him. Even I would admit, if you were invading, that’s not how you do it. Can’t be some form of a spy, his behaviour doesn’t make any sense for that.” he said.

Lianna closed her eyes in thought. When she opened them, she explained: “Well, we aren’t going to get answers right now. Fortunately, winter is upon us. Humans may be fools enough to fight amongst themselves, but they aren’t fools enough to fight against the weather. If they are planning on such a move, they aren’t going to anytime soon. Besides…”

Lianna sighed, and looked up into space. Her face - if it could talk as its own entity - spoke intrigued.

“Something still bugs me. Elenora described him as a runaway, and I’m inclined to believe her. The question is then, why did he run away?”

Philas looked down, pondering the same question Lianna was.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot we don’t know.”

He looked back up at Lianna.

“But he seems friendly enough. I’m sure we’ll find out in time.”