-Selvar's adventure-
"Mom Natsu set himself on Fire again!" Sora called waking me from my nap. Inwardly I groaned but I tried not to show it. My responsibilities as a mother and a goddess had been sapping my strength so much over the last few years I was finding it hard to keep up. It's become so draining that I've had to ask Lupa to fly the moon chariot at night just so I can sleep as much as possible. And my hunters are watching my children after dinner so I can rest even more.
"Mom!" Sora called again. Sighing I rolled out of bed and slipped on suitable clothes before heading out to deal with my son. Natsu was seven now and he was becoming even more of a handful. He had more energy now than ever and his destructive streak had grown as well. For a while now he's been setting himself on fire because he thought it made him look cool, and subsequently set just about anything he touched on fire as a result.
Exiting my tent it didn't take long for me to find him. Natsu had climbed up a small stone outcrop near our camp and was now jumping from rock to rock chanting "Can't catch me!" while burning. I'm just glad that we started dressing him in fire proof clothing otherwise we would be making/purchasing clothes on a daily basis. Walking over to my son I cloaked my hand in holy fire and grabbed him by his scarf as he was mid jump. I could never get him to wear a shirt or any of his brothers for that matter, the best I could ever get was a vest.
"Mom." Natsu whined
"Don't mom me! Your father and I have told you not to set yourself on fire many times and yet you did it again! You could have hurt yourself and then no one would have been able to help because you were on fire, not all of us are immune like you are."
"I'm sorry." He said visibly deflating.
"Good, but you're still grounded."
"Aww!" he whined
"Yes and you're going to be helping Phoebe and Carmen in their duties for the next week clear."
Natsu looked like he wanted to protest but a look from me ended that "Yes mom." He said extinguishing his flames.
I handed Natsu off to my aforementioned hunters and decided to look for his siblings. Lupa was off helping her father and Anubis deal with a problem in Albion involving an out of control magician of some kind. Sora, Morgiana, and Shirou were standing next to the stones seemingly unsure of what to do now that Natsu was taken out of their game, tag I believe. Cloud was sitting behind one of the tents looking towards the forest. I checked his tent/room and our food stores but I couldn't find Selvar.
"Has anyone seen Selvar?" I asked.
"I think I saw him with the wolves in their shelter just after dinner." Thalia replied. "Though I haven't seen him since."
"Thank you." I said walking towards the enclosure, the wolves raised their heads as I approached and I scratched a few behind the ears.
"Hey have any of you seen my Selvar?" I asked hoping they knew who I was speaking of. All animals could understand my words but they were limited by their own intelligence and my wolves were just normal wolves.
"Moon child is hunting the bushtails by the forest." One of my older wolves replied
"Thank you."
Selvar POV (hours earlier)
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After dinner I went over to the wolves like normal to play. They weren't very smart but at least they could understand me. Aside from my parents and siblings most of the hunt couldn't understand me at all and the one that did really only knew bits and pieces. As a result they treated me like I was their pet, an intelligent pet but a pet nonetheless. And the baby talk was seriously demeaning.
Most of the younger, more energetic wolves were out patrolling the camp while the older ones were in the enclosure and they didn't feel up to doing anything.
I thought about going to see what the patrol was up to but mother usually gets mad when I bother them while they are working. I wandered to the edge of camp and saw a few squirrels rushing about collecting various fallen nuts and other things.
I watched them for a while and a thought came to me 'The wolves chase them all the time but they never catch any.' I thought 'But if I could catch a few maybe the hunters would treat me more like a normal person.'
.
I slowly stocked closer to them like Papa and Sis taught me to, being careful not to make any noise. There was a big brown one with a really bushy tail inches from me and I pounced. "Got ya!" I growled but the squirrel slipped through my paws.
"Dang it!" I practically screamed as it took off. I set out after him as I ran across the forest floor. It turned sharply to head up a tree but I smacked it off before it could get too high. It recovered quickly and was running the second it hit the ground. This time it was smart enough not to try to climb another tree since I would catch it if it did, but it could run and jump as fast as I could.
I'm not sure how long I ran after it but the chase ended abruptly when a much larger fox shot out from under a bush and snatched it up in his jaws. "Hey he was mine!"
The bigger fox stared at me but its eyes didn't hold any real intelligence, he was just an animal. We stared at each other for a few more minutes then he wandered off with his prize. 'Well that was a serious waste of time.' I thought. Turning around I meant to go back, but I realized I wasn't sure which way was home.
Years later I would realize that I could have simply followed my own scent home but at the time I was scared. Then I heard voices, walking a short distance I spotted a blond haired man sitting on the fringe of the woods with his daughter or at least I think it was his daughter. There was a town in the distance but my attention was on the little family and the cow that was laying on its side. It had a number of wounds in it, I couldn't really tell from what though. Intrigued I went closer to see what they were up to.
"Okay Cally' remember what I told you." The man said "First clear your mind and focus on the task at hand. Second reach deep within for your power,your light, and pull it to your hands." The girl, Cally, nodded and after a moment her hands began to glow. "Good now focus on having the skin regrow and the wound closing and repeat after me azentus restuna helosis."
The girl repeated her father's words and the light around her hands took on a greenish hue. She placed them over one of the cuts which slowly faded away leaving only raw pink flesh in its place. "I did it!"
The man smiled and rubbed her hair "You did great." he told her "Now I want you to know you technically don't need the incantation but it can help guide the spell if you are having trouble."
"Yes father."
They two of them kept talking but I tuned them out. When the girl used her magic I saw things moving, structures and shapes in the air shifting I'd seen them all my life but no one knew what they were. I would describe them to mom and everyone one else and they would just say "You have such an imagination Selvar."
Those things just moved floated through the air most of the time. Every once in a while they would move in odd ways but this was the first time I saw them react directly to someone else's action. I wanted to see it again and I could only think of one way to get it. Walking over to the cow I put my paws on one of the wounds. 'Step one' I thought 'clear your mind. Step two reach in for your light...or something. How was I even supposed to feel light inside me? Can even you feel light from the sun. Well I guess it is warm but…Wait that's it!' I thought about mom and when she'd let sit in her lap and talk with me. I thought about how it would make me feel happy and warm, then I focused that feeling into my paws. Slowly the wound on the cow closed and just like before the shapes shifted and changed.
"Holy!" The girl exclaimed, making me jump. Looking up I saw both were staring at me and I didn't know what to do. "How did he do that?" the girl asked, looking at her father.
"He must be a nature spirit." he replied after a moment. "Nature spirits can come in many forms both animal and humanoid and they almost always have an affinity for magic."
"But how did he know how to use your spell?"
"He's probably been watching us and saw me teaching you how to use it." I yipped in conformation happily wagging my tail.
"But how? He can't be an adult. He's not even close to full size even for a normal fox. Or are Fox spirits just smaller than normal?"
The man shrugged "It's possible but normally spirits are bigger than their animal counterparts. More likely he's just smart for his age, most nature spirits understand more than mortals do anyway."
'Finally someone gets it.' I thought as I practically danced back and forth. Sure they couldn't understand me but at least they were treating me like some dumb animal.
"Well if he's just a baby where is his mother?" I froze realizing for the first time how long I had been gone and looked back at the forest which now seemed much less friendly.
"Ah your mom doesn't know you're out and about does she?" The man laughed making me feel even more guilty. If mother found out I went so far from camp without telling anyone I was going to be in serious trouble. The man seemed to notice my dilemma and waved me along "You better hurry and get home before she notices. Don't worry I won't tell a soul." he said winking.
I looked back at the forest which looked even more sinister and whimpered. "Is he scared of the forest?" the girl asked.
"Well he is a child." The man said rising from his spot "I'll help him get back home and then head off myself."
"What! You're leaving! But you've only been here for a few hours." The girl whined.
"I know and I wish I could stay longer but ancient laws are not something to be ignored." The girl deflated but did not protest. I felt bad for ruining their family time yet I couldn't bring myself to head into the forest alone.
After they said their goodbyes the man came over scooped me up into his arms. "Alright buddy let's get going." he said before setting out. I didn't know how he knew which way to go but before long the forest began to look familiar and shortly after that I caught my mother's scent.
"Looks like we're close." The man said noticing my reaction. I yipped in affirmation and started to wiggle free. "At least wait for me to set you down" he laughed crouching low to the forest floor and setting me down gently.
I started to run towards home when I realized I hadn't thanked the man. I looked back to see he was still standing where I left him. "Thank you!" I called jumping slightly. I don't think he understood me but he smiled and waved nonetheless.
Artemis POV
"Selvar!" I called when I didn't see my son immediately upon reaching the forest edge. A moment passed and when Selvar neither appeared nor replied I began to worry. Normally he didn't stray too far from camp but occasionally he went a bit further.
"Selvar!" I called again panic rising with each moment of silence.
I was just about to call my wolves and hunters to search for him when I saw a small red blur weaving between the trees "Mom!" Selvar tipped running over to me.
"What were you doing so deep in the forest?" I asked torn between my instincts telling me to scold him and my own curiosity.
"I was trying to catch one of the squirrels but I couldn't do it. I got close but another fox caught it before me." He pouted.
"Don't worry" I said giving him a pat on the head "you're young and inexperienced, you still have plenty of time to grow and before you know it you'll be catching them with ease. Besides I'm sure your father or Lupa would be willing to take you hunting for rabbits when they get back."
"Really?!" Selvar asked excitedly, his former glum attitude now gone. I nodded deciding then there was no reason to punish him but I may have to keep a better eye on him from now on.
"Is everything alright lady Artemis?" a hunter asked jogging over. "I could hear you yelling from the other side of camp."
"I'm fine Atlanta." I assured her "I was just trying to locate Selvar." I gestured to my son who was now staring intently at my hunter. Following his gaze I noticed a cut on her leg several inches long.
"Atlanta what happened?" I asked gesturing at the wound.
"One of my knives fell off my table while I was preparing to sharpen and repair my arrows and other tools. Thankfully the knife was among the things I needed to sharpen so the wound isn't very deep, it just looks bad. I'm putting off simply using a spell because they usually exhaust me no matter how basic they are."
Without warning Selvar walked over to Atlanta and lifted up his fore paws so the sat on her leg just above the cut. I was about to scold him when his paws lit up with the familiar glow of healing magic. In seconds the cut on Atlanta's leg was gone and Selvar was looking at me with a justifiably pleased look on his face.
