Four
"It's good to see you again, Officer Hopps."
"You as well, Commander."
The snow leopard gestured to the wingback chair in front of her desk. "Have a seat then."
Judy hopped up onto the plush cushion, sitting on her paws so she wouldn't be tempted to start fiddling them. Though she greatly admired the leader of Tundratown's police department, being pinned with the predator's full attention was enough to make even the most innocent mammal want to squirm.
The snow leopard leaned back in her chair and considered her. It was a slow, blunt appraisal that gave nothing away and made Judy second guess every decision she had made that morning, from her outfit to the time of her arrival.
To distract herself, Judy looked around the office, noting all the ways in which it varied from Chief Bogo's. Really, it would have been more challenging to spot the similarities. The water buffalo's office was a cramped space filled with dented and scratched filing cabinets, a scuffed laminated floor, and an old desk covered in coffee stains and warped by the unrelenting weight of heavy files and Chief Bogo's massive elbows.
Commander Stelmaria's office, on the other hand, was just as magnificent and intimidating as its owner. Built-in wood shelves lined the walls, filled with books on every legal topic imaginable. Her desk was immaculately organized, the wood polished to a glossy shine. Behind it, a floor to ceiling window looked out over the snow-covered grounds where a bright afternoon sun reflected off the ice, turning it glowing and casting a luminous silhouette on the snow leopard's fur. It made her appear otherworldly. A feline come to smite all the unworthy.
"I was surprised to hear about your sudden transfer," said the commander. "I was even more surprised to learn that you requested to be transferred to this district. Not many officers do."
"The transfer wasn't by choice, as I'm sure you're aware," said Judy, and Stelmaria tipped her head in acknowledgment. "But since I had to go, I thought the least I could do was come to Tundratown."
"And why did you think that?"
Judy shifted on her paws. "This precinct has done so much for me. Your team helped save my partner's life, and the life of mammals I'm now proud to call friends. If working for you could pay back even a fraction of that debt, then I am happy to do so."
Beside Judy, a fireplace that was larger than her childhood bedroom crackled and spat sparks as a log snapped. It should have lended the room a sense of coziness, but one glance at the snow leopard's sharp gaze was enough to banish any feelings of sleepiness one might be tempted to indulge in.
"What a saccharine bunch of nonsense," said the cat.
"I-I'm sorry?"
"We are both pragmatic creatures, officer Hopps," said Commander Stelmaria. "And as such, I am not about to turn away the chance at gaining an upright, competent employee such as yourself just because your reasons for coming here aren't as pure as the new fallen snow. So cut the bull crap and tell me why you really chose this district, and I'll see what I can do to accommodate you."
Embarrassment swept Judy, and for that moment she was glad Nick wasn't there to witness her getting caught out so quickly in a lie. Still, the snow leopard's practicality also came as a relief, and Judy knew better than to waste time twice. "I'm looking for a missing mammal. A friend. It's nothing official, but she vanished several weeks ago and I'm worried. I was hoping I would have more luck finding a lead here in her home district."
Stelmaria gave Judy another one of those long, silent assessments. This time, Judy held her gaze, letting the feline see her sincerity and desperation.
Finally, the commander nodded. "All right."
"Really?"
"Mm. You have my permission to stay here and investigate your friend's case. But only after you've finished with your official workload for the day. Tundratown's citizens must come before any personal issues you have. If I find you are neglecting your duties, I will see to it that you are transferred to the deepest swamps of the Rainforest District for the rest of your career. Are these conditions acceptable to you?"
"They sound more than fair," said Judy. "Thank you for your understanding."
The snow leopard flowed to her feet. "That's settled then. Now, shall I reintroduce you to your team?"
Judy hopped down from her chair. "Please."
As they traveled down the chilly corridors of the precinct, the snow leopard went over the standard practices and regulations of being an officer of Tundratown. Some of them Judy was used to, like staying in contact with the precinct and never going out on patrol alone. But some were special to Tundratown, like always dressing appropriately. "And I'm not talking about keeping your uniform tidy," said Stelmaria, "though I will dock your pay if I find you strolling around here unkempt. I'm talking about coats, gloves, protective weather gear. You especially. Your species isn't made for the elements here. Get with the snowshoe hares for some pointers. And always have the radio in your vehicle tuned to the ZPD's official weather channel for Tundratown. Bad weather in Savannah Central means mammals get some sand blown into their eyes. But a sudden storm in Tundratown can kill you if you aren't prepared for it."
"I remember," said Judy. She had almost lost Nick to a blizzard here not a year past.
"I suppose you do," said Stelmaria. She took in Judy's thermal coat and gloves. "At least you came dressed adequately this time."
She then proceeded to give Judy a rundown of exactly how long it took for a mammal to succumb to hypothermia depending on their size, weight, outfit, and outside temperature. Judy did her best to commit it all to memory as they stepped into a large open room with several bay doors, currently closed. Dozens of snow vehicles of various types filled the space, arranged in neat, precise rows. Frost dusted the walls here and there like spiderwebs. Judy's breath escaped her in a plume of white.
"Our precinct's garage," said Stelmaria. "Each door is reinforced and there's 24 hour monitored security. This isn't your ZPD's standard parking lot. Because of the extreme climate and terrain our vehicles require a lot of upkeep in order to keep them in peak running condition. It's important that everyone knows how to do basic repairs in case anything ever breaks down while out in the field. No exceptions. Your team was scheduled for maintenance duty today so they should be around here somewhere."
From off to the right came an echoing clatter of metal striking metal, followed by an irritated yip. Stelmaria and Judy followed the sound down several rows until they found the team hunkered around a gas-powered ski vehicle similar to the one Judy had ridden the last time she had visited.
Officers Fang and Clawe spotted her first. The young wolf officers bounded up to her, nearly bowling her over in their excitement to greet her.
"Hopps is back!"
"Is it true you were transferred here?"
"Are you really joining our team?"
"Officer Mink is going to be sooo jealous when she hears."
"Settle, you mutts!" barked Stelmaria, and the pair fell back a step, jostling each other in the process, which turned into elbowing and then shoving and growling. Stelmaria hissed at them. It was a quiet hiss, but they immediately fell still.
A female polar bear who had been lounging near a heated floor vent rose and nodded to the snow leopard. "Commander."
"Officer Eisbaer. Where is officer Dill?"
"Working on Snowflake. Said her console needed a system update."
"You name your vehicles?" said Judy. How unexpectedly whimsical.
"Only our favorite ones," said officer Fang with a wink. "Snowflake is the Commander's pride and joy. I'm living just for the day when I'll finally get to drive it."
"You're life expectancy isn't long enough, wolf," said the cat. Officer Clawe snickered. Fang elbowed him in the stomach.
"So which one is it?" asked Judy. She looked over at the rows of snow bikes, ski vehicles, and modified vans. "One of these?"
Both of the wolves erupted into guffaws. Even officer Eisbaer made a coughing noise Judy suspected was a quickly smothered laugh.
"Hardly," said commander Stelmaria. She turned and shouted into the distance, "officer Dill! Report!"
A door on a second floor balcony flew open, and a familiar horned head poked out. "Yes, Commander?"
"Get down here and greet your new teammate."
"Yes, commander!"
He sprang out, ignoring the built-in rungs in favor of picking his own way down, nimble as only a mountain goat could be and clearly experienced with the climb, and that's when Judy realized what she had thought was a frost-covered wall was actually another vehicle. No, not just another vehicle. This was a tank. An actual tank that was painted snowy white and nearly 20 feet in height, with tracks so massive Judy could have hidden in-between the tread. The barrel stretched out over the other snow mobiles and ATV's like a finger pointing towards doom.
"That's Snowflake?" squeaked Judy.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" said Stelmaria, her eyes soft with fondness, as if she were showing off a new baby and not a high-powered military machine.
Judy nodded dumbly.
Officer Dill came over and shook Judy's paw. "It's a pleasure meeting you again, officer Hopps. We're all very excited to have you join our team."
"Thank you for having me," said Judy, tearing her eyes away from the terrifying vehicle to focus on the mountain goat. He looked the same as the first time she had met him. A little disheveled, but still neater than either of the wolves. He had the distracted look of someone who was always half-thinking about something else even while he was talking to you. But his words rang sincere, and his smile was warm. "I see you came wearing gloves this time."
"I learn my lessons well," said Judy.
"Then there's hope yet that you will survive here," said Stelmaria. She held out her paw. "To new beginnings. May the ending you find not be in vain."
It was pretty heavy, as far as greetings went. Judy took the proffered paw and shook, adding, "Or found too soon."
"Hear-hear!" said officer Fang, which was immediately echoed by officer Clawe.
"One can always hope," said Stelmaria.
Nick wasn't sure what kind of crowds to expect, so to avoid possibly getting stuck in traffic he decided to take public transit and then travel the rest of the way on foot.
The date and location of the rhino's exile was public record for anyone who cared to look for it, but the ZPD had made it a point to not give out the information at any of the press conferences. It had been so long since anything like this had been done that there was no way to guess at the size or mood of the crowd. The last thing officials wanted was a riot on their paws.
He made his way up the steps of the subway and out onto the sidewalk, slipping into a stream of traffic that was slow but steady. He found himself following a pair of echidnas who were discussing the rhino's exile as casually as one might talk about a long-awaited movie, including theorizing about possible twist endings.
"I think the judge will let him off at the last minute. No way they're going to go through with this."
"I think he's going to break down. Maybe give some kind of dramatic confession."
"He hasn't spoken since they took him in, you know. Not once. That has to mean something, right?"
Nick kept his distance as they headed towards the border. At one point, one of the echidnas looked back and spotted him. They dropped their voices a bit after that, but didn't seem bothered to have an officer following behind them. Nick took that as a good sign of the crowd's temperament.
The walk was long and hot. Whoever had been in charge of picking the location for the rhino's exile had purposely chosen the most inhospitable stretch of borderland they could find. Nick didn't know if that was to deter potential gawkers or more to make a statement: Break the law and this could happen to you, too.
It was certainly going to make for a dramatic photo op.
A crowd had already begun to gather behind the wooden barriers the ZPD had set up. It seemed to be divided into two main sections with general onlookers like the echidnas filling in the gaps. Both sections carried signs. The signs on the right said things like Mercy Over Murder; Keep Zootopia Civilized; and X-Exiling. The signs on the left boasted slogans such as, Monsters Must Go; No Rest for the Rabid; and Kill the Beast!
Reporters were there too. They had taken up positions by the barriers closest to where the rhino stood, looking for the best angle from which to capture the drama. They called out questions to him, their camera flashes mere flickers in the bright morning sunlight. But the rhino remained as unresponsive as ever. Officer Francine and Officer McHorn stood on either side of him, looking as stoic as their charge.
Nick ducked under the barrier and made his way over to them.
"Did you lose the chief somewhere?" asked officer Francine.
"We came separately."
"How come?"
At that moment the crowd parted and Chief Bogo appeared, breathing in labored snorts. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead between his horns. "Traffic's terrible on Huntington Street. I had to leave Hipperta with the cruiser and hoof it so I wouldn't be late." He glowered at Nick, as if he blamed him for his exhaustion.
"You two fighting or something?" asked McHorn.
"Yes," answered Nick at the same Chief Bogo snapped, "No." They glared at each other.
"Really, you two are more immature than the politicians," said Francine.
"They came here?" said Nick.
"Of course they did. Did you really think they'd let a chance to give the public their opinions pass them by?" She waved her trunk towards a group of reporters Nick had overlooked before. They were clumped around several familiar faces. Mayor Lionheart was the easy standout, but the other constituents were there too. Nick could just see the top of Cottontail's ears.
"They've been arguing over whether or not exiling should be banned," said Francine.
"Have they come to a consensus?"
She snorted through her trunk. "Of course not. Cottontail wants to ban it. So does Mr. Horton, the elephant. Ms. Nanuk the polar bear thinks it's no more than bad animals deserve. And mayor Lionheart is very carefully not giving an opinion while still managing to talk over everyone."
"What about Swift?"
"The sloth? They haven't given him time to finish a sentence, bless him. Only the Great Turtle knows what he thinks."
Nick looked at the rhino standing silent between the two officers. "And this one here? He do any talking yet?"
McHorn shook his head. "Quiet as a field mouse."
Good.
It took another half hour for the judge to arrive. "Apparently, he hadn't felt the need to get out of his vehicle and run just to be on time, unlike some mammals," Nick loudly pointed out, to his boss's ire.
The judge was an older elk dressed in his official robes. Nick had seen him in court a few times. He looked just as forbidding standing in the middle of a barren field as he did seated behind a stand.
Chief Bogo and Mayor Lionheart made their way over to greet him. Everyone else of unofficial import lingered a respectful distance behind, though Nick could tell that the constituents were itching to join them.
I'm going to keep this short," the judge told them by way of greeting. "No need to drag out this unpleasant business any longer than we have to."
"A wise decision," agreed the mayor. "We want to make an example of him, not give him any more fame than he already has."
"The doctor is ready when you are," Chief Bogo told the judge.
"Let's wrap this up then."
A squat podium not unlike the one used for the political campaign rallies had been erected near the border, facing towards the crowd. The judge stepped up to it and the rhino was brought over to stand next to him. Behind them a bleak landscape of half dead grass and scrub brush stretched towards a horizon that shimmered like water under the rising sun.
The crowd fell hushed, even those wielding signs. The reporters pressed closer. The only sounds were those of the wind and the click of cameras.
The judge cleared his throat. "Today we stand witness to the first exile this city has seen in over three decades. I want everyone to know that it gives me no pleasure to be the bearer of this decision, which was not made lightly or in haste. Nor was it made out of anger for the atrocities this animal has committed. It was made, as ever, for the safety and happiness of the citizens of this great city, Zootopia."
He looked over at the rhino, who did not acknowledge him with so much as a glance. "It is a privilege to live within the protection and care formed by others, whether it's a predator with their pack, prey with their herd, or a citizen of a city. I'm sorry to say that today you have lost that privilege. I hereby declare you exiled from Zootopia. From this day forward, you must rely entirely on your own wits for survival. I hope your instincts guide you towards a more honorable life. May the Great Turtle show you mercy."
He gestured for the physician to come forward, a solemn kangaroo in a doctor's coat and scrubs. The crowd stirred and started to whisper as the rhino's ear was cleaned and tagged. Those with signs took that as their cue to start shouting out their demands for mercy or for blood. The rhino responded neither to the pain of the piercing nor the onlookers cries.
"Do you have any last words you'd like to say before we send you off?" the judge asked once the kangaroo had finished and stepped away.
The rhino turned his head, and the world seemed to slow for Nick as they made eye contact for the first time since the rhino had been taken into custody.
It had been months since Tibor's betrayal and death. Months of Nick blaming himself and others for what had happened. Months of wondering if there had ever been a moment or a way he might have changed things. And while the anger and pain still hadn't gone away, it had at least become manageable, like some kind of chronic illness.
But finding himself staring into that dead-eyed gaze, still devoid of remorse or shame, caused all that banked rage to flare back to life. Nick could feel the burn of it in his throat. Hear the roar of it in his ears. How dare this rhino meet his eyes so boldly, after everything he had done? In that moment, all of Nick's long thought-out plans for justice didn't seem anywhere near as satisfying as running forward and shredding that blank face until it finally succumbed to a single emotion: regret. If only the rhino would attempt to charge him, give Nick any excuse—
But the rhino made no move to attack. Instead he held Nick's gaze, and in a voice gravely from disuse, he said, "Long live the Natural Order."
Whispers broke out. Cameras flashed. In the distant city traffic someone honked their horn. But a minute passed, and then two, and it become evident that he would say no more.
With effort, Nick leashed his fury, so that he was able to watch with something resembling calm as Chief Bogo stepped forward and unlocked the rhino's cuffs. All the other officers tensed, prepared to respond to any last-ditch attempts at an attack. But the rhino turned away without a fuss. He stepped over the broken bit of fence that delineated Zootopia from the Wildlands as casually as one might step over an overlarge crack in the sidewalk. Cameras started snapping like crazy as everyone fought to get a good picture. Reporters shouted questions at his retreating back.
"How does it feel to be in the Wildlands?"
"What did you mean by your last words?"
"Do you have a plan for how you'll survive?"
"Are you leaving anyone dear to you behind?"
But there was no response and he didn't look back. He walked into that shimmering horizon as if it were a natural direction to go. And all the while, the fox watched.