~Part Three ~ Afterthoughts~

~Chapter Twenty Six~

Slowly the dream faded away and distant in the background I could hear the soft crackling of a fire. I felt it's warmth and as my mind cleared I realized I had been moved. I definitely was not in the same place as before, the cold winds and freezing snows were gone; my water soaked clothes were gone, replaced by a warm, comfortable blanket that was bundled around me. Slowly opening my eyes, blinking away the fog of sleep that had clouded my vision, I found myself staring up at a wood ceiling. There was the reddish, pulsating glow of a fire casting itself over it faintly, I must have been brought there while I had been out, while the cold of the weather had numbed my senses.

What was that? I wondered, still staring up at the ceiling, remaining almost perfectly motionless. The dream had been so real, like something out of a memory, but it couldn't possibly have been. Then again how would I know, the answers were sealed away, the keys lost and scattered and all the memories were just broken shards of a mirror, too small too reveal anything. All I could remember was the dream, though I would have thought it would have been lost as well, it couldn't have been, but for all I knew it could have just been some ghost from the past coming back to haunt me.

Perhaps it had all been a memory, at least then I would have some kind of clue, some answers to my questions, at least it seemed to answer a few questions like who I was. At least I had a name now, something to bind myself to and something to build myself on even with the lack of knowing 'who'. Still lying still I stared at the ceiling, the dream playing itself over in my head, casting itself into physical manifestations in the constantly shifting, glowing lights upon the ceiling.

"Ah, so yer up?" A voice asked, echoing off the ceiling, interrupting the soft, soothing crackle of the fire, I snapped my head in the direction of the sound to find an elderly fox, draped in a simple robe, getting up from a large, overstuff chair by the fire. The flames roared behind him, casting an ominous shadow over the fox's features as he made his way towards me, hobbling a bit. Finding some source of strength I backed myself up against a barrier, glancing around I found that I was in a cabin of some sort in a bed that ran along one of the walls. Not knowing whether I could trust the fox or not I began searching for an exit or at the very least, some means to fight and then I found it.

"Back up." I ordered in a hushed voice, jumping off the bed, wielding a long bloodstained dagger that had been lying on a small wooden table next to the bed. The fox immediately halted his progress towards me, leaning heavily against a table set in the middle of the cabin, sighing a bit.

"Nobeast does 'ave trust these days do they?" He smiled a bit strangely. "Do ye really tink dat I'd kill ye jus' after I rescued ye from dat storm?"

"You rescued me?" I asked, unsure of if I was trying to buy time or not, the fox began his progress towards me as I slowly lowered the blade, but still keeping it in a tight grip, ready for use. Rolling his blue hued eyes, the fox came a little closer and stopped well within the range of my blade, obviously trying to show that he meant no harm.

"Yep I certainly did, ye were about frozen solid when I came across ye." The fox smiled a little, I loosened my grip on the blade a bit. He seemed sincere enough to me and didn't really seem like the type to backstab though it went against my view of his species. "Why would I 'ave bandaged ye?"

"Yeah . . ." I muttered, glancing down I saw that my midsection had been tightly bandaged, only a bit of crimson showing through the strips of white cloth. It had most definitely been deadly wound before; the snow must have kept the bleeding down to a minimum until the fox had come along. "Thank you." I muttered softly, I was thankful, but confused over why the fox had saved me, any sane beast wouldn't have wasted their time, assuming that I was dead by the storms wrath.

"No thanks needed, I did what I 'ad ta." The fox bowed a bit, grinning as I put the dagger back onto the small table.

"Why did you have to?" I asked with a bit of confusion leaking into my tone, the question was still bothering me as I climbed back onto the bed, legs dangling off of the edge. The fox merely shrugged in response.

"Mebbe curiosity, mebbe chance or mebbe fate. An' a da on'y thing dat matter's is that it happened. No need ta get into da why o' it." The fox shook off the question, going back to the fireplace; I watched as he mixed something in a small, black pot that hung over the roaring fire. "What were ye doin' out there anyways?" He asked over his shoulder.

"I'm not totally sure . . ." I had to have been out there for some reason, probably dragged out there to be executed for some reason, if only I knew why.

"Ye ain't sure?" The fox turned from the fire, rising with a small cup he had dipped into the boiling cauldron, slowly he began limping over to the bed.

"I don't remember why . . ." I trailed off, glancing over at the knife again.

"Ye don't remember eh? Well, I can tell ye one thing, somebeast don't like you very much. I found that near you, it's probably your blood on it." The fox had picked up the small dagger, turning it over in his paws he examined it carefully, running a finger across the blood stained edge. "Newly sharpened too." He muttered drawing back his finger to reveal a long thin slice on it, blood already beginning to seep out through it.

"Well . . ." I began, not so sure where to go, but I didn't get the chance as the fox luckily cut me off before I could sound like an idiot.

"Y'know what I want ta know?" He asked, wrapping his finger with a small roll of cloth taken from a pocket hidden in his robe, it began to turn a crimson hue almost immediately.

"What?"

"What would a beast 'ave against a young ferret like yerself . . ." He trailed off into silence, glancing over the dagger once again with his keen eyes; I stared at him for a moment before saying something.

"Ferret?" I asked, slightly curious.

"Yeah ferret. Don't tell me ye don' even know that . . ." The fox glanced up from the blade, a look of surprise mixed with a bit of amusement on his face, chuckling a bit he set the dagger down on the table once again. "Mebbe I should take a look at yer head again in that case." He moved to the very edge of the bed, motioning for me to glance down at the floor he began brushing some of my fur away, trying to get a clear view of my head.

"Anything?" I asked after he'd been searching through my head fur for a few minutes, muttering to himself quietly as he examined my skull.

"Well I don't really see anything that'd keep ye from rememberin', but I could be wrong. I ain't exactly the best at this sorta thing. Ye remember anything at all?" He took his paws away allowing me to sit up straight again, brushing my head fur down I though for a moment. There had been something in that dream . . .

"My name I think . . ." I started, struggling to recall that one piece of the dream, it seemed to be buried beneath the other parts, namely the vixen and the building.

"Well, if ye know it, ye know it." The fox said, smiling a little as he leaned against the table heavily.

"Avel?" I wasn't too sure, but it sounded about right, I struggled a bit to remember the vixen's name as well, it had been something like 'Rill', 'Real' or something like that.

"Well, if you say it is then it is. 'Lo Avel, me name's Ryo." The old vulpine stuck out his paw for me to shake; nervously I took it, shaking his surprisingly strong paw. "Welcome to me humble abode." Grinning Ryo bowed, waving a paw over his small, but comfortable home. It looked like it was made almost entirely of wood save for the rush roof. Dark brown stones built up a small fireplace and lead upward into an impressive looking chimney; it was decorated mainly by a number of weapons on the inside as well as a huge circular shield. Around the fire place sat two large chairs as well as a small table that looked like it was used more for food then anything else.

"It's nice." I glanced around some more; it was a rather simple setup. In fact the chimneystack was probably the only notable thing in the entire cabin. It was very basic, just a door, a few windows and the fireplace really, a few pieces of furnishings and not much else.

"Yep, ain't much, but I'd say it makes a nice lil' home." The fox smiled with pride at his meager home. It definitely felt like a home more then any other place I remembered, but of course that's really not saying much. "Well I've got some food almost ready if yer hungry . . ." He muttered, slightly nervous sounding as he pointed towards the boiling pot over the fire, " . . .it's jus' some stew, but . . ."

"Sure, that sounds good." My stomach was already growling and I began to smell the stews aroma, it was something with meat of some kind, probably a few vegetables thrown in. I didn't really care though, at this point I'd eat almost anything, I quite literally had a hole in my stomach.

"Good, shouldn't take much more than a minute or two." Ryo smiled a little returning to the fire, stirring in a few more things into the stew as tendrils of steam rose up through the stack. In a few minutes we were both sitting around the small table, now cleaned up and adorned with an old white tablecloth, the stew was really good. A bit spicy, but it gave me the feeling of warmth and security.

"Mmm . . .that was really good, what's in it?" I asked curiously taking a sip of some wine that Ryo had taken from a nearby keg where all of his dishes, all of them wooden, were stacked precariously.

"Chef's secret, me daughter would kill me if I were ta give out our old family recipe." Ryo winked a bit, smiling he lay back in one of the chairs he had pulled over from the fire, he was probably reliving some old happy memories, good times with his daughter.

"Where is she?" I asked, just trying to keep a conversation going and besides that, I figured that the fox was a beast with a history; at a glance I could see ancient scars in his fur, mostly healed.

"Your guess is as good as mine. She left with her mother a few seasons back an' headed south towards Mossflower. Never seen 'er since then." Ryo slowly shook his head at the memory, obviously depressed by it; I quickly tried to find something else to talk about, something happier.

"What was she like?" I asked, she had to have been a light in his life if he was depressed by her absence.

"Well she's probably different nowadays, but back then she was greatest little kid I could 'ave ever asked for. Nice, beautiful an' all of that." He glanced into the fire, probably seeing old memories dancing among the flames, disappearing into wisps of smoke. "That was awhile ago, no need to dig old memories . . ."

"Why not?" I was a bit envious of the fox; at least he had something to remember, why would he want to forget something like his own daughter?

"I'd jus' rather not dig 'em up, that's 'bout it though. Do I need another reason ta avoid 'em?" The fox chuckled at some unspoken joke; I simply sat and stared at the old vulpine. If he was trying to avoid answering he was doing it very badly. I was about to say something in response, but I was cut off, as there was loud banging of the fox's door, he rose with a look of confusion on his face

"Who'd be knockin' on the door in weather like this?" He wondered aloud as he hobbled towards the door slowly, casually grabbing an old curved dagger as he went, he sidled up next to the cabin door. "Anybeast there?" He asked softly, just barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah an' their freezing their tail off too." A voice called back, it must have been pretty windy, glancing to the window I saw that darkness had fallen on the woods and ice now caked the glass. Raising his dagger Ryo slowly let the door creak open and with a gust of wind it fell in.