Stepping through a nearby mirror, she opened the connection to her own home.
Her house was outside their Skulk's territory, sitting ontop of the border at a steep Himalayan cliff with a pretty view of the mountainside, almost carved into the stone and close to invisible from the outside. A Nest and place of her own, a place where she could sometimes just be. Not protected, not frail and without the long shadows of River and Asils sometimes stiffling protectiveness. She loved them, and trusted them beyond all doubt but still they only tended to see the small broken girl she had been not the woman she had grown into. She made her way through the whide hallway opening a door next to the fridge and ran a couple of narrow stairs downwards.

The Lab that came into sight was quite expansive; there was glass everywhere, vials and potions carefully sorted into the cabinets. Colorful lights, descending from a specially commissioned Lamp from an Arabian bazaar above her lit the cave-like room in brilliant light. A  long window streched out on one wall, giving a free field of vision to the outside. Snowcapped mountains in the distance, and endless skies. 

Long stretches of grass and rock not a single tree grew in these heights. Clouds floated around, some below some high ontop. 
Tally looked outside with a smile. Spreading out her arms, she shouted. "Broooo! I am getting my ninth tail soon!" She announced and then huffed in satisfaction. Her ninth Tail. 

Finally.

She fully displayed her tails, not bothering to hide them inside her cozy home. It always felt so stuffy to keep them hidden. Now she could finally keep the promise she had made to her brother. Be a Ninetails, be strong, and be everything she wanted. There where few beings that could fight a Ninetails in their world. Dancing through her Lab, she started magically gathering her portions. Placing them on top of a large wooden table that filled out half the room, sorting them to use, rarity, and strength.
After a while, she was finished and, from another shelf, took a slender bracelet. It could have been more precious looking but something cheap with glass stones. She injected a fine tendril of her magic and then, one after another carefully sorted the potions inside the glass beads.

A beard for each kind.

"Preparation is half of a life." She sang and put the bracelet on. Then she wandered to yet another shelf humming as she went through the many small trinkets on it.
"There we go. This will work quite well." She muttered and put it on her neck. A small, frail-looking necklace with a golden pattern on it. "All I need to do now is figure out who my bodyguard will be and then make sure to ditch them." She muttered and let out a grumble. She didn't want a bodyguard or need one, even as a noncombatant; she was a fully-fledged sorcery fox. She would make him and everyone else finally see her as more than the broken child they brought home by getting her ninth Tail all alone.

The mirror door chimed suddenly, and she had both her ears perk up. Tucking away her displayed tails, she marched to her entrance door. A giant mirror and peeked through it. "Asil." She muttered a name she had not thought about in a long time. A Name that had the potential to physically harm her only by mention if she permitted it so.
Suddenly the smell of blood tingled in her nose that always came with him. It was probably a game her mind was playing with her. Asil hadn't been to any battlefield ever since then. He spend most of his time prettying himself up, grooming his tails, and chasing Vixens and Human Beauties.

"Tallu, my little foxling, would you be so kind as to let me in." He asked, and Tallu knew with his Tail count, he could have easily forced his way in. But instead, he asked. Like always.
"Sure." She opened the mirror to let him step in. Tall as he was, he had to duck inside and stand quite close to the ceiling in her foyer.
Those one ninety showed, even when he had himself under the illusion of perfection, concealing the scars she knew he wore everywhere. She disliked this version of him; it felt like a lie.
She led him into her living room, where he stood aside admiring the view. "It's Beautiful. Is this the Himalayas?"

"Mhhh, it is." She answered him.

"This is a security nightmare." He noted, and she shrugged her shoulders. It appeared he was here on business.

"It's the Himalayas, not exactly very frequented. The only people walking past here are extreme sportsmen and occasionally one of the locals. The locals and I know each other and politely keep out of each other's way. Most I know from babyhood on."

"I know," Asil said and looked at her. "They call you a mountain spirit."
Silence filled the room.

"I only helped out sometimes." She said and shrugged her shoulders.

"A bit more, but I will not argue. So River told me you intend to trigger the magic for the Ninth Tail. Are you sure about it?"

"Yes." She answered him with determination. "I am; I can prove myself. I prepared ahead for it for almost two years now."

"Some prepare for twenty years and die in the first five minutes. No one knows what their magic will challenge them for, nor the ability they may gain. The test is dangerous; only one in five normal foxes make it. Among Sorcery foxes, only two in history made it." Asil tried to persuade her to stop, and Tallu bit her lower lip. She knew all of that, she was aware of it, but she didn't want to be weak; she wanted to be strong, to be taken seriously, and basically, no one did so until she would possess Nine Tails; she had her reasons. Never again she wanted to be anyone, a little girl or a victim. "River only worries about you."

"I know." She answered him and shrugged her shoulders. "But how do you want to accompany me anyway, as a Bodyguard? I didn't even know it was possible to get the magic involved to agree on that."

"I stake a tail of my own," Asil answered her. "That is all. I stake my Tail to accompany you on your quest to get a new Tail."

Tallu stilled.

"No!" She said then. "Then I need even less a Bodyguard."

"Tallu, I got plenty of tails, more than even River; even if it fails, losing one isn't something I'd miss a lot; I simply regain it at some point."

"I know how you got your last Tail." Tallu then mumbled. "I don't want you to lose it."

"He would have wanted it."

"B-But...."Tallu knew her chances stood miles better with Asil at her side, but she remembered how he had gained his last Tail. It was all she had, everything that was truly left of her brother.

Tallu was anything but happy about her Tail coming at the risk of one of Asils. But he seemed to be unbothered.

"I will accompany you." He said and swayed a silver-white Tail. "also, I'd never risk my prettiest of Tails." He stated Tallu knew that the grey Tail he had gained was the weakest, the scrawniest, and least pretty looking, but Asil always said it was the most beautiful of them all.

"Asil...." She said weakly tears in her eyes, unable to really speak against him. Asil was special, and River probably knew she wouldn't throw the bodyguard issue into his face.

"Tallu, I won't let you go there alone." He stated, and she let out a grumpy huff.

"I will show you I can do it on my own." She stated and earned a head pat, like a child. Like usual. "I am well prepared."

"That I believe, but I'd, rather know you safe."

Tallu knowing she didn't stand a chance against River and Asil in an argument, wanted to refute once again, but then bowed her head, feigning acceptance.
"Okay." She said, pressing her lips together until they turned almost white.

I'll show you.