Sue's Rest was well needed, her new body finally being released of all the tension that was being held in it resulting in the best sleep she could remember in... well, ever really, the slow awakening that followed it having her begin to stir lightly on the soft bed, getting comfier still- at least, until one of the other occupants of the room noticed.
And once they did, there was no coming back.
Sue felt her ears, or the spikes where her ears used to be, twitch a bit at the sound of soft thudding against the wooden floor, followed by some chipper woofing, followed by more woofing, the sound deeper and more distant this time, followed by somewhat alerted sounding squeaks as the girl in question began trying to pry her eyes at all the commotion, one hand reaching over to rub the sand out of her eyes-
But before she could reach, Ember's- no, Spark's tongue already began licking affectionately all over her face, Sue's features scrunching up as she was woken up the rest of the way in mere moments, though with how cute it was, her only reaction to it was bafflement turning into laughter as she opened her eyes, hand changing direction to instead begin petting the little fox, the little one looking satisfied at fulfilling their mission of getting their friend up and awake.
And considering the disappointed sounding woofs that soon followed, much to someone's dissatisfaction.
As Spark turned around on the spot to bark back at the source of the sounds, Sue had an opportunity to finally sit up, stretching as much of her body as she could before taking a look around the cabin, letting her see who it was that seemed to be so disappointed with the little fox's affection- and somewhat expectedly, it turned out to be their parent. They- well, she, Sundance if Sue still remembered the name right from her dream, were just as fluffy as she could recall back on the clearing. That said, she was much less imposing this time, partly because of lack of waving a burning stick around, partly because of her sitting calmly on the floor, with Doc- no, right, Willow- sitting beside her.
They were both smiling up at her so that was a good sign-
"Good afternoon, Sue."
While the sudden presence of an understandable voice was less shocking here than when Solstice spoke to her inside her dream, it was more confusing in other ways- she could swear that the tall, bipedal fox spoke up at her in its expected woofing, but now, for some reason, she could understand it as if it was plain English, spoken by a middle aged lady no less, the mismatch between what her ears heard and what her mind comprehended making for a weird sensation.
"Good a-afternoon... M-Mrs. Shundance?"
To her relief, the overly ear-hairy fox simply chuckled at her confusion, lightly shaking her head afterwards.
"No need for any titles Sue, don't you worry. How are you feeling?"
Considering everything, Sue felt... good. Even beyond the immeasurable relief of not getting burned at the stake, the well needed nap did wonders for her, even though her crutch arm was still a bit sore afterwards. Spark immediately scrambling onto her lap and getting to nuzzling her stomach made concentrating on bodily aches rather difficult though, little fox getting some well earned pets for her efforts.
"I-I'm d-dhoing well, t-thank you. Jhust... t-thaking it all in."
Sundance nodded lightly, woofing out once more- though this time, Sue didn't perceive anything more than the expected canine noises, little fox on her lap responding to her mom in kind shortly afterwards as she picked herself up, though with clear reluctance.
"We're in no rush. Though, we left a seat free for you if you want to join us, let me know if you need any help with moving yourself over."
And again, woofs became understandable, as if a light switch was flicked back on. Considering that Solstice mentioned that Sundance would help her get caught up on the whole 'psychic' deal, it would be a good idea to ask her about this particular source of confusion... after she got to move her rear and get over there to join them, instead of sitting high and mighty above them like this.
"Y-yeah, I'll phobably n-need a hand with sitthing down..."
With a couple very light shoves, she managed to convey the point to Spark before her mom had a chance to speak up, pulling the covers aside as she slid over to the edge of the bed, about to grab the crutch before she heard Sundance speak up again-
"Hmm... it might be easier if I just moved you over myself... alright, try to relax and let me..."
As Sue waited for further instructions, she saw her body become enveloped in the same kind of shimmering aura as with Solstice earlier today, lightly orange instead of blue, though this time it seemed to have much more of a physical presence, feeling downright warm to the touch. Despite her knowing what was going on and having a rough idea of what Sundance was about to do, the whole experience was no less intriguing than the last time, the air once more feeling like it was carefully moving her around, gripping her as firmly as could be, and yet gently enough to not cause any discomfort.
Sundance's eyes became filled with that same orange shimmer, holding Sue's attention fast as she was carefully moved through the air, legs becoming oriented into a something resembling a lotus position before being slowly lowered down, the grip steadily waning as she neared the pillow that served as her seat, allowing her to get more comfortable before that last bit of psychic touch let go of her. The sudden disappearance of the orange shimmer and the warmth that accompanied it made Sue shiver just a bit afterwards, though not if Spark had anything to say about it, nestling herself once more on her savior's lap.
"That will do it."
The fiery colored psychic speaking up again made Sue look back up at her as her hand autopiloted to petting her daughter, the tiniest seed of worry at whether that was even appropriate anymore considering their parent was right there sprouting in her mind before one look at Sundance's expression dispelled it all, the fox mother looking down at them both with a contented smile.
Right, got to thank her for that-
"Th-thank you-"
"No, Sue. Thank *you*. If not for you, my little Spark might not have been with us anymore. My debt to you cannot be overstated."
Sue shakily nodded her head at that, definitely not used to receiving praise like that, leaving her initially unsure how to respond, before swerving towards trying to minimize it-
"I-it'sh j-jhust w-what anyone w-would've d-d-dhone-"
"May be. But it was you who did it, at your weakest no less, so to you my gratitude goes."
Well, that swerve didn't work.
Guess she'd have to just accept it.
"Y-you're w-whelcome."
Sundance's deep nod, so deep Sue wasn't sure if it hadn't crossed the line into bowing, only served to fluster the girl further, some of the sensation thankfully helped with by her little lap warmer happily nuzzling her stomach- and deciding to take the initiative afterwards, voicing her enjoyment of her constant supply of pets before woofing over at their parent a couple more times, apparently making them realize something they forgot about judging by their expression.
The small but noticeable jolt in Sue's brain that followed caught her off guard, her petting briefly pausing as she tried to figure out what it was before arriving at a mental equivalent of a shrug, hand reaching over to Spark's head to resume her affection before she heard the little fox speak up once more- and this time, she could understand her too.
"Did you already do it mom?"
"Yes, yes I have sweetie-"
"YAY!"
The latter exclamation, perceived simultaneously as a squeaky, high pitched howl and as an excited approval voiced by a girl that wasn't even in her tweens yet caught Sue off guard, as utterly adorable as it was surprising, though what followed helped firmly cement the former angle to it all. Without wasting another moment, Spark looked straight up at her from her lap, scrambling most of herself onto Sue's thigh before standing up on her hindlegs, forelegs doing their best in wrapping around as much of Sue's torso as they could.
"Thank you S-S-Sue..."
Contrary to the sheer excitement expressed immediately beforehand, their voice this time was much more hushed even as it struggled with her name somewhat, emotional outlook changing from hype at being able to finally thank her saviour to the emotionality that accompanied that apology, little fox feeling almost tearful afterwards.
She still might have had no idea how to deal with praise, but what she knew just a bit better was how to handle a child on the verge of tears- and even though the tears seemed to be very much positive in this case, gently picking the child in question up and giving them a hug worked just as well.
"Y-y-you're whelcome S-Spahk."
Fortunately, the little foxie didn't immediately start sobbing in her arms afterwards, but was very affectionate regardless, leaning forward to lick as much of her cheek as she could reach, making the once student break into giggles both at the sensation and at the cuteness of it all, her free hand stroking Spark's fur in return.
The giggling coming from her side made Sue look up from the unusually shaped child in her arms and up at the medic that sat to the side of her and Sundance, Doc- Warren- no, Willow- fuck- getting their laughter under control shortly after as they softly smiled at her and Spark smuggling, their squeaked out utterances turning out to also be coherent-
"Awwwh, that's just adorable."
Their voice gave Sue a pause, managing to combine being very distinctively elderly in that slightly creaky way, while also being soft enough to remain perfectly androgynous, not helping one bit as far as deciding on appropriate pronouns went- though she didn't particularly care that much in the present moment, just giggling along, especially as Spark began to groan quietly at being called adorable.
"N-nuuuhh..."
The denial of her own adorableness was mumbled into Sue's shoulder, followed soon after with a wide open yawn- the associated flashing of a mawful of very feral looking teeth elicited some mixed feelings in Sue, but thankfully that image was pushed off of her mind right away as Sundance spoke up again-
"Someone tired herself out in all the excitement, hasn't she?"
Spark once more tried to oppose the accusations coming at her, shaking her head in Sue's arms, the newly turned Forest Guardian smiling down at her as she was carefully laid down on her lap once more, trying to shake herself more awake, unsuccessfully.
Sue reaching in to very slowly stroke her tummy definitely did not help despite the little fox squirming some more in response.
In not too long, the lil' kit was solidly out, managing to curl herself up close to her saviour's tummy before dozing off, tired after all the worrying and waiting, and so, so happy at finally being able to thank that weird, quite scared, but ultimately very nice stranger for saving her life. And until everyone else was certain she was out, nobody said a peep, partly to let Spark finally rest content after these few exciting days, and partly to make sure she wouldn't listen in on the more... darker subjects ahead. Or at the very least, ones less appropriate for the already worried kits.
"So- how are you feeling Sue?"
Willow spoke rather quietly, not sounding particularly concerned, Sue internally thanking Solstice for soothing the medic's worries, especially after having had to deal with what could only be overall described as her nonsense over the past few days.
"I-I'm... good, rheally ghood now I think nhow. I-I chan't thank you enough f-for your help..."
Sue paused for a moment, inwardly chuckling as she decided to call it for what it was.
"...a-and for p-putthing up w-with my nonshense."
She was getting better with pronunciation with this new mouth, thankfully, especially now that she finally had an opportunity to actually practice using it. Though, wonder if that'll make getting used to her old body harder once... she gets there, hopefully.
"Hah, it's more than fine Sue, I'm just glad you're alright inside your skull after all. Besides, I'll gladly take someone being confusing over belligerent any day of the Moon. I've already taken a look at your leg once you were done with Solstice, and at its current rate it'll probably be good enough to walk on again within a few days. With all that, I only have one more question really..."
Sue nodded along, the good news about her recovery bringing a smile to her face- as much as she eventually got used to the crutch, her arm had enough workout as a result to last her a lifetime. The awareness that if she hadn't put it through way more abuse than it was ready for a couple days back when she had first woken up here it might have had almost completely recovered by now did loom over her, but it was in the past now, all the worrying was behind her, the former student discarding that thought as she listened in for the question that was to follow-
"So, where do you come from *really*?"
...fuck.
Sue's eyes went wide as she stared at the previously timid medic, the fear from earlier in the day dripping back into her mind just a bit. A glance at Sundance revealed her to be just as surprised as she herself was, which was a bit reassuring, in as much as she wasn't alone in being taken completely off guard.
"What do you mean Willow? Solstice went through-"
"-a cover up. My fur may be graying, but I've been watching over Sue for a few days now, and everything I've seen only tells me that she seems to have spent her entire life under a particularly large boulder, one with just enough space underneath to let her figure out how to use a crutch despite her looking and sounding like she had evolved into her current shape not even half a dozen seasons ago."
Neither Sue nor Sundance knew what to say in response- the latter very much did want to say something, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to gather just the right words, while the former primarily wanted to collapse underground at being seen through so easily like that, despite the Mayor's efforts.
"Now now, that's not to say I'm insinuating anything about Sue as a person- I was there when she was being hurried back to the village, excess venom still dripping from her wound, her character is undeniably righteous. That doesn't make what Solstice said add up in the slightest though, even putting aside the absurdity of a Forest Guardian village having either waited until her adulthood and only then kicking her out, or a little hatchling without any psychic gifts any of us could see surviving over fifty seasons out in the wilderness."
Willow paused for a moment, their expression thoughtful before they simply chuckled to themselves.
"The worst part is that I have no idea just what exactly *are* you three hiding! Hundred and fifty seasons on this world, and nothing I've seen or even heard of comes even close to making sense of all this, you've really stumped me!"
Despite their accusations, Willow's tone remained upbeat, downright jovial through it all, leaving Sue dumbfounded as Sundance sighed in defeat.
"The truth here really is weirder than any fables I've heard myself."
The fox's admission made Sue snap her attention back at her, feeling just a bit betrayed at an emotional level at Sundance just admitting the whole deceit.
"Oh don't worry Sue- I might have no idea who or what you *really* are, but whatever the truth is, Solstice trusts you, and of course so does lil' Spark, and I've no reason to doubt either of their judgements. I sure can't deny being morbidly curious after tending to you though."
Sue shakily nodded at their words, a glance downwards making her realize she'd stopped petting Spark in the meantime, immediately making up for that mistake, the lil fox's soft, warm fur proving itself to be a very good stress reliever.
The newcomer sat in expectant silence for a while, calming herself down, gaze shifting between the two interlocutors, not sure what to say in the heat of the moment, Willow taking it upon themselves to try to break the impasse-
"Well I gotta say, if that's how spooked you got by just silly old me asking you that, I can only imagine just how terrified Solstice made you, honestly helps put, your, well, 'nonsense', your words not mine, in context. I am sorry for that though- I didn't intend to bring you this much anxiety over these matters."
Willow being, and going off her sixth sense, actually feeling sorry for her, even if the latter was still mixed with a whole ton of lighthearted curiosity, helped further soothe Sue's worries, the girl even managing to force out a weak chuckle of her own over the situation she'd found herself in.
"If you want me to Sue, I can attempt to explain based on what Solstice told me... though admittedly, I'm unclear on quite a few of the details myself."
Guess it did ultimately fall to her, and Willow wouldn't be the only one getting some much deserved clarity... here goes nothing.
"A-alrhight. G-Guesh I'll a-anshwer the bighest point firsht- y-you'rhe right, Sholstice m-made her shtory up. I-In truth... I-I-I'm f-from a-another w-whorld, I-I think."
Sundance was following so far, that much Solstice's explanation made clear- Willow though, immediately had questions of their own.
"Another world you say! Sundance hails from so far, but I think that's my first meeting with someone from another continent entirely-"
"Bigger than that, Willow."
The medic turned their gaze over at the fiery psychic, lifting their eyebrows as they tried to figure out what she meant.
"Bigger than a continent, or..."
"From what Solstice tried to explain to me, Sue appears to be from another universe entirely."
Hearing it stated so plainly made the truth of the matter hit Sue harder than she'd expected- though thankfully, the resulting feeling of emptiness only lasted a moment, Willow's curiosity loudly inserting itself back into the discussion shortly after.
"Golly. You are a bit peculiar Sue, but I can't say I would've expected that... or someone from another realm altogether to behave in such a familiar way, all things considered."
Sundance 'mhm'd in response, putting the shared attention back on the interdimensional traveler, especially as she didn't understand how Sue could be just like them either. Though, it's not like the martian in question had any idea how that worked either, and could only further cement the similarities with her testimony- and that's what she decided to do.
"Yeah, it ish weird. Thish world ish so similar to my old one, i-idhentical in sho many ways- bashically all exchept the creathures i-in t-them."
"All you say? So if not for the looks of us three, this very cabin- and village its in, woods surrounding it, rivers cutting through them, the dirt below and the skies above, all *that*- would've been indistinguishable from those from your world?"
Sue had to give it a moment's thought, but... yeah, that checked out. She answered with a firm nod, Willow's expression turning pensive as they chewed through that unexpected response, commenting on it eventually-
"Well, my mother used to tell me that the other worlds glow bright, and that's what stars are... I sure wouldn't have expected worlds to have siblings like that, hah!"
Putting it like that got some lighter hearted chuckles out of both Sue and Sundance, the latter picking up where Willow left off, herself curious about the different creatures in question.
"Even though you made sure to point out the difference in creatures, Solstice did mention that your... natural form happens to be quite similar to your current one in shape- except for not being psychic if I remember right?"
"Right. There a-arhen't any 'p-pshychic' c-crheatures t-to b-begin w-with wherhe I-I'm fhrom."
Judging by the stunned expression on their faces, not even Willow expected that one.
"None whatsoever you say?"
Sue nodded at the medic's question, wondering whether to mention them sort of 'existing' in fiction, ultimately deciding against it- no matter what her world's fiction was, it couldn't compare to this world's reality.
"Well, if nothing else that explains why you haven't shown any of your psychics so far. Is it just a matter of not knowing how to, uh, tap into them?"
"Seems so from what Solstice told me."
"Huh. Would've thought it would be fully subconscious at least at some level.
"Not without developing it first. Speaking of-"
Sundance shifted herself to face Sue head on, her expression focusing but not without maintaining its prior warmth.
"I take Solstice mentioned me guiding you through developing your gifts?"
"Y-yeah. I-I'm s-shtill q-quite h-honored at that offer-"
"No Sue, it's my honor to be able to begin repaying my debt to you in such an important way."
Sue was once more taken aback, unsure how she should react to that before lighlty bowing towards what would be her mentor in not too long, hands continuing in their task of providing affection to the little sleeping one all the while.
"T-thankh you."
It was Sundance's turn to keep herself from reflecting the praise back onto her almost student, acknowledging Sue's thanks with a light nod before speaking up-
"Now, before we begin, do you have any more questions on your mind you'd want answered first?"
The full extent of the answer to that question would most likely involve several days' worth of talking just to let her air out every single brick contributing to the fort of confusion in her mind, but few of them came anywhere close as far as size and importance went to the question she did ultimately ask-
"That... shrine with the feathersh in front of it, ish it for a dheity or s-shomething elshe?"
"Hah, mother would've scolded the fins out of you if she heard you referring to the Pale Lady as just 'a deity'."
Willow's comment was somewhat disconcerting, though if anything it also let her know that the medic wasn't particularly extreme on the matters of religion themselves.
"Now that I think about it I doubt 'Pale Lady' is ringing any bells either considering how impossibly far you hail from, hah."
"Indeed. Pale Lady, Night Mother, Moon's Grace, or just the Moon- she's the main deity worshiped in these parts for her protection from what lurks in the night."
Sundance's clarification simultaneously helped establish a more concrete link between the deity and the astral body- and give her several names to use instead of Duck- but its matter of fact nature raised the once student's eyebrow- that definitely didn't sound like how someone devoted would refer to their deity.
"Doesh 'theshe partsh' not include you? Jusht, ashking with how you shaid it..."
"It does not. Where I hail from, the Sun is the deity everyone typically worships, and I'm keeping that tradition. Though I can't deny that spending a hundred moons wandering the land and meeting all sorts of peoples changed my perspective on it all a great deal- with how many varied deities folk from all over pray to, the only conclusion I could arrive at is that deities don't particularly care about what mortals do one way or another- though don't let Solstice hear that, hah."
Willow chuckled at Sundance's final remark, seeming to be unbothered all in all despite the seriousness of the topic.
"Can't say I've ever been as laid back on that topic as you have Sundance, though you're at least mostly right- it certainly wouldn't be like the Pale Lady to take offense to other deities being worshiped either way- outsideofNightFatheratleast- so any attempts to convince those who disagree would only result in more strife."
Sue wasn't sure which to ask about first- the fact that the mayor of this place, as well as the first person she'd spoken to in a solid week and someone she felt like could trust rather deeply was apparently some sort of religious zealot, or Willow's brief mention of something called 'Night Father', recollection of Sue's dreams providing one good candidate for who could that possibly be.
Let's go with the first one first.
"Um, why sh-should Sholstice n-nhot hear t-that?"
Sundance caught to the unease that underlied that question, her smile softening as she shook her head.
"Oh I said that mostly in jest, we two just disagree on that point- she believes rather strongly that the Pale Lady personally intervenes to aid the ones under her protection, and has apparently communed with her in the past. Considering she's still best friends with probably the biggest heretic of this village though, I doubt she cares *that* much- especially with Pale Lady symbolizing protection and healing to begin with."
The fiery colored psychic fox did chuckle herself though, adding to her words afterwards-
"Though I have to say, the mental image of someone getting violent over others not worshiping a guardian deity is rather darkly amusing."
Sue couldn't really disagree, chuckling herself as she tried to visualize that- though substituting Solstice specifically in place of the person getting offended did send a cold shiver down her spine, largely from having no idea how far the extent of her abilities went, and how intense her getting violent would even look like.
"I-I shee. W-Whillow m-menthioned a 'N-night Father', w-who'sh that?"
She could palpably feel the air in the room get ever so slightly colder at that, Willow themselves looking a bit uneasy at having brought that up to begin with, even if offhandedly.
"Another deity worshiped in this wider area, though his worship is shunned in the village. He's the dimmest dark on the night of a new moon, protecting those of night- and in some interpretations, actively in conflict with the Pale Lady, being the thing she protects mortals from."
Guess 'sky dimmer satan' wasn't *that* far off the course after all.
"T-thoshe of night?"
If the previous subject was already a bit uneasy, this one felt almost like a taboo she had inadvertently stumbled upon, a cold chill running down her spine making her gulp quietly before Sundance continued, her voice muted somewhat.
"You... won't find them in the village. At least according to the myths, they pledged themselves to the Night Father, who granted them protection from moonlight revealing them- and from any of our psychic senses being able to affect them, or even spot them."
The intimidating nature of the description conflicted immediately with the one creature she knew of that fit the second criteria- the small disguise-happy grey fox she ran into together with Spark all the way back on her first day here. While them stealing peaches from her did provide a good argument towards them being some sort of devil spawn, the rational part of Sue couldn't help but think that there was something more to it all that Sundance wasn't mentioning, especially with her absolutely having seen the grey fox in the village- just disguised to avoid being spotted.
"Um... w-why won't I fhind them in the vil-"
"OH GOODNESS it's getting quite late. I should probably make my rounds around the village and grab us all a snack before today's feast- take care you all, I'll be back soon."
The uncharacteristically abrupt interruption, followed by Willow almost running out of the hut at the mention of the subject cemented the idea that there was something more to it all in Sue's mind- though even with that, Sundance soon made it clear that she wouldn't be humoring that particular question either.
"It's... a heavy subject, and I'd rather Spark not overhead it, even if on accident. I hope that's alright with you Sue."
On one hand, her stumbling upon something so grim the previously upbeat medic chose to just run away instead of possibly having to talk about it wasn't particularly encouraging, but on the other, Sundance's request only made sense- she would definitely have to ask this one at a more private moment later.
"Y-yeah. S-shorry for b-bringhing it up-"
"Don't be. You're definitely not the one guilty here."
The vulpine psychic caught onto Sue's unease only growing afterwards, swiftly steering the subject back towards where it was supposed to go all along-
"You shouldn't be worrying yourself with any of that Sue. Now- have you been able to figure out any of your psychics thus far?"
Sundance's question was moderately successful in making Sue focus on the point of their discussion, but the darkness and unease that soaked the topic she'd accidentally dug up wouldn't let it be wholly discarded so easily, the issue shifting to the back of her mind.
"I d-don't think sho. I tried to make m-my crutch mhove like Bo- Comet did, b-bhut nothing happened. U-unlesh thish... bheing able to shenshe e-emotionsh chounts."
"Hmm... from what I know that ability is innate in your k- current form. Have you been able to do anything with it, or just passively sensing those around?"
"J-just shenshing."
Sue's mentor nodded slowly, gathering her thoughts to figure out how to teach the neophyte in front of her starting from basically nothing, not managing to arrive at anything beyond the most obvious answer.
One thing at a time.
"Let's start from the very beginning then. So you said you tried to do this-"
Sundance's eyes became shrouded with orange light as Sue's crutch floated over, resting in mid air in between her and Sue.
"What did you attempt?"
"Jusht... tried thinking i-it up, or ordering it to move, s-shtuff like that."
Sue's sixth sense thankfully made it easier to track the changes in Sundance's mood even as her expression was dominated by the increasingly less intimidating glowing eyes, letting the girl figure out just how internally dumbfounded her mentor was at that answer despite that not really showing on her features.
"I... see. Well, the actual way you do it is thankfully simpler than that."
That was far from what Sue expected to hear, her inability to figure any of it out leading her to think of her supposed new abilities as something at best contrived and borderline incomprehensible, and at worst, as a thing her human, non-Forest Guardian mind was just fundamentally incapable of grasping.
"Oh. W-what dho I do then?"
"You just have to reach and grasp~"
For a couple moments, Sue was utterly dumbfounded at Sundance's explanation, the words coming off almost like a mean spirited joke considering how little of it all she obviously understood-
And then, she felt it.
The sensation that followed was nothing like anything Sue had ever experienced, her confused brain interpreting it as something grasping her arm- an intangible arm that has been sitting folded up in the back of her head for Duck knows how long, now finally stirring from its numb stasis.
"W-wow..."
The imaginary arm was pulled out of her head bit by bit, Sundance continuing to guide it all the while, any sort of internal mental image of it breaking down at it seeming to be well over half a dozen feet long by now, feeling more like a tentacle- or at least what Sue thought a tentacle would feel like- than anything even remotely approaching the set of human body parts she was used to.
"W-what ish t-thish..."
"An extension of your mind, your mental reach. I can imagine how weird it must feel right now, but using it will become a second nature, sooner or later."
Sundance let go of Sue's mental tendril, leaving it kinda awkwardly hovering in mid air- and if it was visible, or even perceptible for non-psychics, it would probably be one hell of a sight to just be floating there.
"Now, try moving it yourself. Experiment, get a feel for how it weaves and shifts."
The student nodded shakily as she concentrated on this new set of sensations, instinctively closing her eyes as she tried wriggling her neurons around where she felt the sensations of this phantom limb originate from, eventually figuring out how to make it move- slowly and clumsily, but still, it was progress.
Reach...
Slowly, she began to move this extension of self towards the crutch that had been laid on the floor in the meantime, her reach subconsciously wrapping itself around it once it got close enough, though not feeling like it was holding it yet.
And grasp...
Being unsure how to think the invisible tendril into actually grabbing the piece of wood, Sue was left trying to prod other parts of her brain, eventually trying to mirror using her actual hand to grasping- and much to her surprise, it felt like it worked.
She opened her eyes to take a look at what had happened, her left hand gripping nothing as a small patch of white aura now surrounded the part of the crutch her mind held onto, a disembodied sensation of feeling the wooden surface of the crutch tripping her brain up as it desperately tried to connect it to everything else that was going on.
"There you go, keep at it- try lifting it up."
Even in her concentration, it was hard for Sue not to notice Sundance's emotional outlook taking an almost complete one eighty from the earlier gloominess, her mentor feeling downright excited as her student was in the process of attempting to crawl up to a level of a toddler in terms of magic aptitude.
Attempts at moving the crutch were only partially successful, the piece of wood ending up weakly shuffling around on the floor, refusing to budge upwards at all, making Sue want to retry the whole maneuver in case she'd grabbed it wrong or something before overhearing Sundance whisper-
"^Put more force in, focus harder on your grasp.^"
The fox mystic having spoken the words without needing to open her mouth was overlooked as Sue tried following her advice, increased focus on her mental grasp resulting in the glow expanding to cover more of the tool, the upward motion that followed actually managing to lift it off the ground-
At least for a few moments, the uneven hold resulting the crutch tilting over before it slipped out of her invisible hold, Sue's aura fizzling out as her eyes shot open- just to see Sundance's orange glow grab the entirety of the cool before it could bang against the floor, slowly setting it down afterwards.
"Definitely not bad for your first attempt. How are you feeling Sue?"
It was a tricky question to answer on the spot in a comprehensive way, triumph of getting at least the minimum of progress with her psychic magic mixing with disbelief at how unreal it all felt, with some anxiety about her learning not being enough to ever hope to actually catch up to the level of skill she would naturally be at and unease at the topic from earlier mixed in.
"I'm... I'm ghood I-I think, glad I didn't thurn out to be bhroken or anything."
"Indeed, you're all good Sue. It may take a tremendous lot of practice, but I have no doubt that one day you'll get to where you ought to be- and once we get past the basics, it'll be much easier for you to explore your mental reach further on your own."
Sue weakly nodded in acknowledgement, the idea of self directed learning like that sounding impossibly distant in the moment, but Sundance's confidence was reassuring if nothing else.
"O-okay, t-thank you."
"It's my pleasure Sue. Now, are you ready to tackle the next subject or do you need a bit more time?"
"Nexht shubject? B-but I chould only bharely do thish one."
"That's not untrue, but with fundamental basics like these are, I think it's best for you to introduce you to both these skillsets before going further in depth on them- and besides, I've little doubt you'll find what's coming up even more useful than telekinesis."
Sue certainly had nowhere near the amount of expertise needed to argue with that assessment, leaving her to just ask-
"W-what'sh t-the other s-shubject then?"
"^Telepathy.^"
While she might have missed the previous instance of Sundance speaking without using her mouth, this time Sue most definitely caught onto it, the lack of vulpine woofs her mind ended up eventually filtering out actually noticeable this time.
Well, Sue was most definitely not opposed to figuring out how to communicate with other beings here.
"Oh! H-how do I d-do it?"
It was her turn to reveal some of her own excitement on the subject as her hand reached back down to resume petting, fingertip brushing past something warm and wet where she expected to only see fur, making her look back down onto her lap- just in time to see Spark's impressive array of teeth, the kit getting caught mid-yawn.
And immediately getting to nuzzle her tummy once she'd finished yawning.
The high pitched woofs that followed were as incomprehensible as they were yesterday, confusing Sue somewhat- she could understand Spark before she took a nap, so why not now- and wait a minute how could she understand any of them to begin with-
"That would be my doing, hah."
Sundance's part in Sue suddenly being able to understand everyone was relatively obvious, at least in hindsight, but it didn't help make the 'how' of it all any less mysterious. This confusion did not go unnoticed by the mentor, however-
"I suppose this subject does warrant some explanation beforehand. So~,"
The sensation that followed caught Sue off guard, feeling as if someone had plucked on an invisible string connecting her and Sundance's heads, its abruptness making the once and future student jump a bit, only serving to make Spark even more affectionate towards and worried about her, a quick application of pets thankfully helping quickly undo the latter.
"What you just felt was me drawing attention to the mental link between us. They are what telepathy is performed through."
While Sue didn't imagine that a mental connection like that could feel so... tangible, she mostly followed so far.
"We can take glimpses at each other's thoughts through them, and more importantly, ^communicate with just thoughts.^"
The mid-sentence switch away from spoken word was a helpful demonstration in its own right, but it raised further questions.
"Ish me undershtandhing what you're... whell, woofing alsho telepathy?"
Sue gulped lightly at Sundance appearing to have gotten momentarily stunned by that sentence, worried about the possibility she had offended her somehow- only for the firefox mother to chuckle it off.
"It is, though a different form of it. Instead of directly passing you my thoughts, I take the meaning of my spoken words and get your mind to translate them to your language, which you then perceive as hearing it. In a one on one conversation between psychics there's little practical difference between these two approaches, but~"
A moment passed before little Spark seemed to notice something, turning to look back at her mom and asking-
"Oh oh did you do it mom?"
"Yes sweetie-"
"Yay! How are you feeling Sue? Are you better now?"
The excited tail wagging that accompanied Spark's questioning made Sue's heart melt more than the little fox's warmth could ever manage, the newcomer reaching down to scritch the little one behind her overly large ears.
"^We can use this techniques to translate others' words and act as bridges between those who couldn't otherwise communicate with each other. And turn 'woofs' into words~^"
The latter addition, sounding- feeling? like light ribbing, was not undeserved, though it did help reassure Sue that everything was indeed alright, the rest of Sundance's statement taking another brick from her internal fort of confusion, the overall change in trajectory today feeling most welcome.
And now to answer the little one.
"I'm feelhing quite ghood shweetie. Your mom ish teaching me how to, uh, dho all the pshychic... thingsh."
"Oh?"
The high pitched 'awoo' sound that accompanied Spark's expression of confusion really strained Sue's willpower in order to not coo immediately in response.
"You don't know how to do them? But Mrs. Solstice is also a Forest Guardian and she knows..."
Guess this was where Solstice's cover up would come in- unfortunately for Sue though, she didn't remember the entire story off the top of her head, and from what she did remember, it probably wasn't too appropriate for the little kit, making the once human look nervously up at Sundance for help, with an out being graciously provided shortly afterwards-
"She hadn't had the time to really learn it all sweetie, and the bite from that nasty creature didn't help either. But don't worry, Sue will do her best to catch up- and once you evolve, you two will be able to practice together."
"Oooooh- oh oh yay! Did you hear Sue, we'll get to practice together!"
Sue was not opposed to the prospect of that in the slightest, smiling even wider down at the little fox, though the odd choice of words deposited a brand new brick of confusion onto her mental fort, "does 'evolution' refer to something specific here" stamped proudly on its front.
"Y-yeah! I-I'd l-lhove to."
"For the time being sweetie, would you mind giving Sue some space to study? It's important she learns the basics without distractions."
"I won't distract her I promise!"
The look Sundance gave to her daughter was rather obviously unconvinced, lifting eyebrows prompting the kit to begin preemptively pleading-
"Moooom, pleeeeeease!"
The mystic could only close her eyes and sigh with a light giggle, looking over at her pupil afterwards.
"If you promise not to go around distracting her and Sue agrees, I suppose you can stay with us beside her."
"YAYAYAYAY! Please Sue, pleeeeasee-"
How could she ever hope to refuse a request delivered so adorably, Spark standing up on her hind legs and looking up at her with the cutest eyes she'd ever seen any animal ever have, tail wagging at a blinding speed all the while.
"Teehee, shure shweetie."
Sue needed no translation for the high pitched squeak of pure joy that followed, the fiery colored fox quickly finding herself a comfortable spot right next to her, trying to keep her nuzzling to a minimum as her mom continued her teachings.
"So- that was that about the basic types of telepathy, now let's move to practice. Establishing mental links with other beings is probably the most important ability for any psychic to have, and serves as a foundation of much more than just telepathy. You'll get to practice it plenty in your stay here, but it's good to get a good foundation beforehand."
Sundance drew attention to Sue's mental reach once more, the girl shuddering at the still extremely strange sensation, especially with it now feeling like that psychic tendril she clumsily maneuvered earlier was but one of many.
"Forming links is not too dissimilar from telekinesis- just that instead of a physical object, you have to focus on a sentient mind, and try to reach into it."
This description of what she had to do would've been little more than word salad for Sue a mere week ago, which made the fact that she could understand it decently well in the current moment somewhat disconcerting.
"Now, I'm gonna sever our link and let you attempt forming one yourself. We won't be able to talk until then, so if you need me to instruct you on something just wave at me."
Before Sue could even finish nodding, she felt what had to have been their link break, the sensation so faint that if she wasn't expecting something she would've shrugged it off as just her hair feeling weird or something.
Showtime.
With a deep breath, Sue attempted to concentrate on the part of her mind where all her mental reach felt like it was originating from, exploratory wriggling eventually letting her focus on one thread in particular, her brain seeming to have given out on any attempts to interpret them as actual body parts- though that only made the sensations coming from them even weirder.
Now, towards Sundance.
The invisible extension of Sue's mind took its time approaching her mentor- partly from her just trying to be cautious, partly because she had no idea how to make it go any faster. Trying to control the brain tentacle like she would an arm was somewhat effective, though not without the side effects of her physical arm lightly twitching as she controlled her imaginary one, and being stuck moving it only about as fast as she would move her arm.
Something told her that was far, far from the fastest this mental thread of hers could go.
Still, it might have taken her a non negligible amount of time, but she did eventually get there, her reach hovering in the air right in front of Sundance's face, making Sue very glad nobody else could perceive it before she attempted to dive further into the fox's mind-
And only succeeding at sliding it into her physical head, Sundance's resulting wince thankfully not seen by her student as she tried to figure out what she did wrong- that was was her mentor meant, right? She reached her brain, and yet didn't feel anything like what she expected to feel, missing any sort of sensation of things clicking into place.
Alright, where did she go wrong this time.
She tried thinking back to Sundance's instructions, replaying them word by word to herself, the source of confusion refusing to present itself-
Unless...
Sue thought that Sundance was using 'a sentient mind' to refer to a brain, but what if not that's what she meant? It was the most probable point of error with everything else being obvious enough... or at least feeling obvious enough now that she got to flex her mind like this, literally.
Now, what else could it be?
The handful of ideas she eventually came up with turned out to be duds, resulting only in her mental thread continuing to idly move around in the space currently occupied by Sundance's head, the fiery psychic keeping quiet about the slight discomfort for the sake of learning.
Though, there seemed to be an issue of some sort.
Eventually, Sue had to admit defeat, sighing quietly and giving Sundance a weak wave, a crystal clear voice soon following-
"You almost got there Sue. Is something wrong?"
"I- uh, I guesh I mishundershtood what yhou meant by 'reaching into a shentient mind'."
The admission was a bit disappointing considering how well she thought she was getting it so far, but it was hard for Sue to feel down about it- especially not with one lap warmer turned thigh warmer taking a moment to nuzzle her to get her to feel better.
How could a creature with this much excess ear hair be so cute?
"Hah, I see. Well, I can't say I don't understand your interpretation, even though it was rather... overly literal."
Both Sundance and Sue chuckled at that, the latter with slight embarrassment, though it was swept aside right away as her mentor continued-
"But no, that's not it. You'll need to focus on this sense of yours, this being able to feel others' emotions- and go beyond just them. Forest Guardian ability to sense emotions is just a facet of a sense letting all psychics feel other minds around us- a naturally very well developed facet of course, but only that. They'll feel much fainter than the emotions they radiate, but you'll have to learn to focus on them."
Sue felt like she just barely grasped it all, nodding weakly, though to avoid another wasted opportunity like last time, she was gonna be proactive with questions this time-
"S-sho, concentrate o-on that shense and try focushing on jusht... mindsh, yeah?"
"Mhm. It may take a while to even be able to make them out especially if you haven't been experimenting too much with this sense yet, but I've no doubt you'll get there."
It sure was hard to get disheartened like this, heh.
The Forest Guardian nodded firmly before she began to concentrate, her body relaxing as she withdrew from the physical senses, diving as deep into the mental sense as she could, with the emotions of the two foxes near her shining so bright they dimmed all the more distant ones by their mere presence. Intense as they might have been, she couldn't deny that adoration and a mix of patience and pride respectively eclipsing everything else felt very, very nice.
Looking past all this was gonna be tricky-
Before she could even attempt doing that though, she sensed a couple similarly bright blips of emotions making their way over closer, though as opposed to anything warm, they were a lot of anxiety and sadness mixed with the desire to comfort respectively- and from her exposure to them, she could narrow the latter to Willow pretty confidently.
Wait a min-
*creak!*
The door opening open snapped Sue out of her little trance, eyes needing a moment to adjust to daylight as Willow, accompanied by someone else, passed by in front of her, their squeaks remaining incomprehensible without Sundance's active assistance, the sight of the shorter creature whose hand was currently being held by the medic startling Sue at a first glance.
It- they seemed to be half small, mostly yellow humanoid, only about tall enough to reach to her knee, and half a massive black maw lined with almost metallic looking teeth sticking out of the back of humanoid's head, somewhat reminding her of a venus flytrap- but big enough to catch whole body parts and not just bugs, and otherwise generally nightmarish.
The sight of blood didn't help either.
Much to Sue's sanity though, it seemed like it was the wounded maw itself that caused the bleeding rather than that being a result of it having a bloody snack, especially if Willow wrapping bandages around the entire thing was anything to go by, doubling as an admittedly flimsy looking way of keeping the scary body part closed.
"-gonna try to heal it some more, it won't hurt. Is that okay?"
While the process of animalistic noises abruptly turning into actual speech as Sundance did her magic in linking everyone together was much more understandable this time, that didn't make it any less surprising to experience, Sue needing a moment to shake off the confusion as Willow awaited a response from the small creature- a response that didn't seem to be coming.
As much as her initial impression of the toothy villager was dominated by the maw hot glued onto the back of their head, taking a better look at their front half and actually hearing what her sixth sense had to say revealed quite a few things as well- namely, how utterly afraid they were, tiny body shaking as they looked up between all the adults in the room, backing up from Sundance slightly.
Not what she expected given their other half, that's for sure.
"Joy, everything is alright, I promise. Nobody is mad at you."
Willow slowly knelt beside the now named little one, not pulling them in a hug immediately, but wordlessly offering it instead, the chompy one eventually leaning in, letting the medic simultaneously hold them and do their healing magic, one paw aglow as it carefully stroked the freshly bandaged part of the maw.
"What happened Joy?"
It was Spark's turn to chime in, the little fox breaking her affection towards Sue only to redirect it towards Joy, slowly talking up to them and nuzzling their side, the little one seemingly rather receptive to it all, anxiety gradually dulling into mere unease.
"Oh, it seems someone has been rather mean to her and it went way, way too far. Hopefully Cirrus gives whoever did it a good scolding."
Joy shuffled in place as she was discussed, twiddling with her hands before moving one to rest on Spark's head- which also seemed to be the moment at which she had finally noticed Sue, the sight startling her for a moment before she took a closer look, quickly relaxing afterwards.
And then pointing at the recently transformed Forest Guardian, the recipient left sitting there confused as the little maw tried to say something, evidently struggling intensely with speaking in general-
"Wh-wh-w-w-who?"
"Sue! I told you about her back at the playground, she's the one that rescued me!"
Fortunately, Sue was too preoccupied by looking curiously down at Joy to get *too* flustered at the praise, the tiny one only seeming to be more encouraged by Spark's description, slowly walking over to Sue's side and giving speaking another shot-
"H-h-h-hi..."
How could something with a body part this scary looking simultaneously be this cute.
"H-h-hello Jhoy."
As simple as the greeting was, it emboldened Joy enough for her to just sit herself down beside Sue, shifting over afterwards to try to hide as much of herself from Sundance as possible, and lightly holding onto a hand that happened to be laying nearby, leaving the Forest Guardian in a bit of an awkward situation.
Not that she minded *that* much, especially with the unfun looking bits being currently tied up with bandages and the rest of the little one being admittedly quite cute, but the abrupt change in her behavior left Sue dumbfounded, giving Sundance a confused look in hope of some explanation for all this.
"Joy's is a sad situation. She can't understand us anymore, best she's left out of a potentially unpleasant situation like this."
"Can't she undershand you normally?"
"For the most part no. She hasn't been here for too long and is still only learning our language, and the progress is rather slow."
Guess somehow they had something in common, hah.
"And the other kids don't seem to be helping, sigh..."
Willow's interjection only made Sue feel even worse for the little one, her free hand reaching to try lightly petting Joy's not intimidating looking half, the gesture thankfully received very positively.
"Are they bhulling her?"
Joy might have looked... unusual, yes, but from what she'd seen so far she was confident the little two mouthed girl was far, far from the weirdest sight this world had to offer, or the most intimidating.
"At least some of them are, yeah. Though it's as much of a fault of adults here, we sowed this and are now reaping the results."
Sue was following this even less now.
"How?"
"Her kin is... not particularly well seen."
"And that's putting it lightly. I've heard several people call them 'limb eaters', and while there was little point in trying to dissuade epithets like that when nobody thought any of her kin would ever end up joining our village, eventually Joy happened, and now we have to work on weeding terms and attitudes like that."
The term 'limb eater' in conjunction with the already intimidating maw made Sue gulp quietly as Sundance went on, the student having to try her hardest to keep her imagination from becoming particularly lively, forcibly trying to instead focus her attention on the fact of village having thought that one of Joy's kin would never end up joining them, the idea making little sense to her. After all, there already were some even weirder looking creatures in here- hell Sue could've sworn she even saw a couple of snakes here and there.
"W-why whould they nhot jhoin?"
Willow blinked blankly at her, chuckling to themselves before speaking up-
"I almost forgot you're not from here, heh. Well, eh... from what I remember hearing, they mostly live in caves and... prey on other creatures that happen to wander in. Not particularly friendly or open to chit chatting."
Nope, nope, nope, don't want to imagine that.
"Then how dhid Jhoy ghet here?"
"Astra brought her here, right?"
"Indeed."
It didn't take Sundance more than a couple moments to realize she would have to give a more thorough explanation than that, the vulpine mystic continuing before Sue could even think of speaking up-
"Astra's one of our scouts, on the lookout for locations we could set up farms in, and for other settlements so we can reach out to them. She found a cave to spend the night in, and Joy was there- too terrified to even think about being aggressive. With how little she is, we think that something might have happened to the rest of her brood and she got left behind, and after some coaxing, Astra got her to open up enough to take her in and fly her here."
Poor little lim- creature.
"She did the right thing, though she couldn't really just pause her scouting duties afterwards, and the lack of someone to watch over her day in and out is hitting Joy hard- Cirrus can only do so much to reign in over a dozen little ones. And suffice to say nobody else in the village with sufficient free time is exactly racing to take care of her, sigh..."
Heh, it's not like she didn't have all the free time in the world now...
Something about the prospect of taking a little one under her wing like that made her feel much warmer about the topic than she expected, leading Sue to shake the whole train of thought off prematurely in response, lest she'd hype herself up for something that wasn't gonna happen.
"I think she's out on a scouting job today anyway, won't be back until late. Speaking of, what time is it-"
The medic picked themselves up off the floor and walked up to the window, the sight of quite a few village folk making their way towards the plaza making the time of day crystal clear-
"Seems the feast is about to kick off. Best get going ourselves, eh?"
Sue's stomach wasn't about to argue with that idea, that's for sure.