Author's note:

Merry Christmas 2020 to everyone.

Chapter 12: Mind of the Hunter

Cerinia's dust layer must be thinner above the City of Kezamat today. That supposition derived from the sun shining more clearly than usual. Combined with the absence of rainclouds, it made for a bright day in early autumn. A rare occurrence for the natives. Perfect for hunting.

Fox followed Krystal through the forest once again. They both held slender bows in hand. Krystal's staff hung alongside the leather quiver on her back. Similarly, Fox carried a humble spear on his; a gift from Thalse to defend himself with. Krystal and her father had each spent as much of the last month as they could to train Fox with both weapons.

The spear was simple to learn, though sparring with the Cerinians left Fox's body almost as battered as his ego. Often, a flick of her wrist was all it would take for Krystal's blunted weapon to kiss his throat. Fox knew with dreadful certainty that she never read his thoughts when they fought. Even with that handicap, she could have killed him a hundred times already if she wanted to. Thalse didn't go nearly as easily on Fox though. Nomar scolded her husband every night for each new set of bruises she found on Fox's chest. Being the Hero of the Lylat Wars didn't feel so impressive anymore.

Fortunately, Fox didn't need to get his ass kicked while practicing with the bow. It still took him longer than he expected. Unlike a blaster, the bow required the combined use of his arms, shoulders, and back muscles to shoot. Learning to gauge the wind and how far his arrow would drop in flight proved an additional challenge. After two weeks, Fox could finally hit his target consistently, but he was far from mastering the weapon just yet.

Thus, Krystal proposed that they go hunting together. Winter was approaching, and the city needed lots of meat to prepare for the long season. It presented the perfect opportunity for Fox to practice on a moving target.

They wandered through the wilderness for half an hour. Krystal eventually brought Fox to a halt. She knelt and showed him the set of tracks imprinted into the soft earth. They were shaped by something with four clawed toes. A menk, Krystal called the maker. She shared with Fox a vision of a capybara-like beast with a long, thick tail.

"Can you find it with your telepathy?" Fox asked.

"I can but I won't," Krystal stood. "The menk will flee if it senses me. Wild animals are cautious when other beings use telepathy to find them. Because of that, most predators don't use their ability to hunt."

"So, how do we find it? Do we just follow the tracks?"

She smirked at him. "That's correct."

"How do you hunt something that has telepathic powers, though? Won't this menk-thing still sense us from a mile away?"

"It will," Krystal answered. "Though the trick is to not let it realise you are a threat. You must remain calm while you track the animal and avoid thinking about what you are doing or why."

"How do I do that?" Not thinking about the hunt felt like it defeated the purpose.

"Just clear your mind and follow the tracks as though you're only curious about where they lead."

"And what about when we find it? I'm going to assume that the menk will run the second we think about shooting it."

"It's a little more challenging, but you still imagine that you're doing anything except hunting. Try focusing on a nearby tree that you want to shoot an arrow into, then quickly change your target and act before the menk catches on."

Fox groaned quietly. "I'm pretty sure that hunting where I'm from is a lot simpler than this." Krystal giggled. "At least I don't need to be psychic to find my dinner out here."

"No, indeed. I suppose that's a blessing to you," she smiled in reply.

It was hard for Fox to actively push away the thoughts of tracking and killing a wild animal. Even when he followed Krystal's guidance, his mind kept turning back to the end result that he hoped for. He didn't want to spoil their chance at success. So, Fox decided to try focusing on something else instead. He stared at Krystal's back, letting his mind settle on following her.

She dressed more modestly in the cooling weather. A white cotton shirt covered all that a bra once left exposed. Her legs were clad in long slacks dyed a deep purple. Sandals still protected the soles of her feet for the time being. Fox, himself, was glad to be wearing trousers and boots again. The summer season was too humid to wear so much over fur.

In Fox's deepening distraction, he failed to notice which direction they had gone or how much time had passed. Krystal signalled for him to stop. He followed her to crouch behind a berry bush. She pinched her nose and chin between her fingers; the Cerinian sign to be silent.

"Remember; calm thoughts only."

Fox nodded. He curbed his excitement by gazing into Krystal's bright eyes. Peace filled his soul. They peeked over the bushes and saw a group of three menks chomping away at the berries growing on the other side of a small pond. Two were green in colour with the third boasting spots of brown in its fur. Since they were all as big as pigs, it must pay to be able to blend in with the surrounding foliage.

Krystal beckoned for Fox to try his hand. Remembering her earlier advice, he centred his thoughts on the bush near where the menks were eating. 'Can I shake its leaves with an arrow from where I am?' Fox held on to that question as his hand reached over his quiver. 'Won't need to worry about the wind with all these trees around here.' His fingers fumbled to fit the arrow onto the bowstring. 'How high should I adjust my aim?' Fox pulled the string back. His shoulder blades squeezed towards each other.

On a dime, Fox turned the bow from the bush to one of the beasts. He let the arrow fly, but it sailed into the trees wildly. The menks jolted at the sudden noise. They scampered into the undergrowth as Fox stood up and swore.

"You did well for your first try," Krystal consoled him. "The menks didn't suspect you."

Fox unleashed an aggravated sigh. "It was still a lousy shot."

"The only problem was that you tensed at the last moment." She moved to stand beside him. "Draw another arrow for me and hold it towards the bush you aimed for."

He did as she instructed. Fox almost let the arrow go out of surprise when Krystal suddenly shifted much closer. Her chest pressed against his back as her hands came to touch his arms. He could feel her breath brush his cheek.

"You just need to stay relaxed as you change from one target to the next," Krystal said, turning Fox from his initial direction to where the animals had been. She then shifted him back. They repeated the action all over again. "That's right. Turn with your hips. Just like that. Nice and easy. Take all the time that you need to. Just remember to relax."

It became quite hard to relax with her practically holding him from behind. Fox's heart hammered inside his head. He prayed that Krystal didn't decide at that moment to read his thoughts to add to her point. This felt far more intimate than any other time they touched. Mercifully, Krystal released him. She prompted Fox to take the shot on his own. He took a deep breath, pulled the bowstring back, and swivelled his hips. The arrow flew straight into where he imagined his prey to be.

"That was much better," Krystal praised.

Fox's tail swished unbidden. His ears began to feel hot. "Thanks," he smiled bashfully. "Should we go after those menks again?"

"No," she said with a sad frown. "They'll be watching out for us for the next few hours. It will be easier to hunt something else instead."

Fox's heart sank. "Sorry for messing up."

"You do not need to apologise." Krystal placed her hand on his shoulder. "I failed many times before I killed my first prey. Most people do when they're learning to hunt. What matters is that you keep trying. That's how we improve."

Once Fox stopped beating himself up, Krystal walked over to the pond. "Look! There are more tracks over here."

"More menks?"

"I don't think so. I think these are tracks from… A mervet; an eba; and…" Krystal hummed cautiously. "And an ordus."

"An ordus?!" Suddenly, Fox's fur stood on end. His heart rammed against his ribs like a jackhammer. A giant mass of blue rage loomed over him, blocking out the sky. It slashed at his chest, tore at his arm, and split his head into a thousand pieces while Fox's strength fled him all at once.

"The ordus print looks to be the oldest. We might be in its territory, but I don't think it comes here often." Krystal then looked to Fox and worry overtook her features. "Fox?! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," he pushed himself to say. With her eyes on him, Fox forced the tremors he felt deep into his core, as far away from his visible self as possible. They compressed like thick springs. It became physically painful to hold the tension in. His skin became cold all over.

"I'm just fine," Fox repeated. He could hear the strain cracking his voice and knew that even he couldn't believe it. Krystal hurried to his side. She took his hands into hers.

"Fox, I can feel that something is hurting you," she said gently. When Fox averted his gaze, Krystal lifted one hand to guide it back to hers. "Please don't hide this from me. Tell me what's wrong."

Damn it! He might as well be wearing a mask made of glass. Fox didn't want to say anything. Yet at the same time, he felt that he really needed to but couldn't. Krystal waited patiently, brushing the back of his hands with soft strokes. The walls began to crack.

"Just…" he choked. "Just thinking about that… that ordus… that attacked me…"

Krystal's ears fell as Fox trembled in her grasp. "Oh, Fox…"

"It all happened so quickly… I tried fighting back…" His voice shook in his throat. "But I dropped my blaster… Nothing I could do worked… If you hadn't…" Fox's muzzle clamped shut. He couldn't get another word out.

Fox felt Krystal's arms grip around him. She nuzzled his cheek. "I'm so sorry, Fox. If I had only gotten there sooner, none of that would have happened to you."

"I'm just glad that you showed up at all." Fox's arms found their way around Krystal. He held her for dear life. "Fuck! I can't believe this! Look at me! I fought off dozens of Andross's monsters with no problem. Why the fuck am I so freaked out by a stupid bear?!"

"It's okay, Fox." Krystal stroked his back. "That ordus rendered you helpless and hurt you terribly. I don't fault you for feeling afraid now. It's a natural response to suffering that kind of ordeal."

"If I had just held onto my fucking gun…!" Fox hissed. "None of that would have happened."

Krystal pulled away. "Fox, look at me." He did so. "What happened that day is all in the past. It's over now, and we cannot change it. But you're still here with me. You're okay now. You're safe." Swallowing the pain, Fox nodded silently. "I won't let anything hurt you ever again. Especially not another ordus."

It took a minute, but the thunderstorm inside Fox began to pass. "Thanks, Krystal," he mumbled. "Sorry for freaking out, there."

"No need to apologise." She hugged him again. This time the embrace was tender. "Would you like to keep hunting? Or would you rather we go home?"

Fox let out a tense breath. "We really should bring something back with us. Let's keep looking." He looked anxiously towards where Krystal found the tracks. "Just… not the ordus right now. Okay?"

"The mervet's tracks are fresher," Krystal smiled. "They don't have telepathic senses, so we might be able to catch a few of them before the sun goes down."

Since there wasn't a risk that he'd tip their prey off with a stray thought, Krystal gave Fox the task of following the trail. It helped take his mind off the embarrassment from his panic attack, as well as what had triggered it in the first place. The footprints alone weren't enough to rely on. Fox also had to look for other signs of an animal passing: broken twigs; disturbed foliage; scratches on trees laced with warm scents; and others that Krystal pointed out to him. Meanwhile, she kept vigilant for any beasts that they weren't searching for. Fox felt a lot more at ease with her watching his back.

The tracks led them towards a stream. Before Fox could approach the riverbank, Krystal caught his shoulder. He stopped. Her worried stare pointed towards the water, though Fox could not see what was amiss. "What's the matter?"

Krystal held his other shoulder and guided Fox four paces to his right. She gestured to the stream. "Shoot an arrow straight ahead. About one pace from the bank."

Fox had no idea what was going on, but he trusted that Krystal knew what she was talking about. He loaded another arrow onto his bow. He aimed just past where the water touched the land and fired. The arrow barely made a splash as it pierced the surface. Suddenly, the water turned red.

Krystal approached the stream slowly with a knife drawn. She directed Fox to copy her and stay vigilant. When she arrived at the water, Krystal reached into it with her hand. She pulled out a hideous creature with four long, pink tentacles. Fox's arrow protruded from its brain-shaped head. He nearly retched at the sight of it. "What the hell is that?"

"An egrint," Krystal frowned. "They lurk in wet places like this and sleep to hide their minds. When their prey uses telepathy to scan the area before drinking, the egrint wakes up, jumps out, and strangles them. They'll then use their beak to crack open the prey's skull and eat the brain."

Great! A new nightmare to add to the collection. "I hate it already," Fox grumbled.

"Their tentacles are delicious though," Krystal smiled. "You should be proud. There aren't many hunters who can boast an egrint as their first kill. Most people try to avoid being killed by one instead. The Wild Alpha would smile upon you."

"I think it's going to take a while for the pride to sink in." Fox decided that he wasn't quite in the mood for calamari tonight. "If that thing is able to hide its thoughts, how did you know it was there?"

"There was a school of fish swimming upstream. I read their minds and saw the egrint through their eyes. It's the only way to be certain if one is hiding in the water or not."

"Sounds stressful every time you want to have a drink."

"Fortunately, egrints aren't common. But they are extremely dangerous, so you should always keep a blade handy when you're this far from the city." Krystal's frown returned deeper than before. "I'm going to have to tell Papa about this. He'll want to warn the hunters that there could be more egrints around here."

"Should we head back then?"

"Not yet. Since there are fish in the river, we might as well catch a few. They'll go well fried with the egrint meat."

"The fish aren't going to try eating our brains, too, will they?" Fox asked drily.

Krystal giggled. "No. But they might nibble on your tail if you're not careful." Without warning, she removed her pants, giving Fox an unobstructed view of the cloth wrapped over her tail region. She waded out with her staff in hand until the water reached past her knees. "Have you ever caught fish with a spear before?"

"Definitely not," Fox replied, surprised by how little Krystal's undressing fazed him. He supposed it helped that he'd seen her wearing even less all summer. Still, he wasn't comfortable about stripping down to his underwear in front of Krystal. Not in this kind of setting. Instead, Fox rolled up his trousers as high as he could and kicked his boots off. He then went to join Krystal with his spear.

It took Fox a few tries to get his timing right. He thrust his spear where a fish swam towards his legs, skewering its fragile body. Although she taught him the technique he used, Fox watched jealously as Krystal froze her fish with magic for easy pickings. Together, they managed to nab a round dozen. Krystal threw the fish all into a sack along with the egrint.

"If I may confess something," she said as she handled the octopus. "I used to be terrified of these things. Papa once brought me out on one of his hunting trips when I was little, and an egrint grabbed me when we were filling our waterskins. I was so frightened by it, I refused to go anywhere near water after we returned home."

"You could have fooled me," Fox replied. It alarmed him to imagine one of those brain squids latching onto Krystal's throat as a child. "You went out and caught those fish like you were born to it." He bit his cheek as he thought on whether he should ask the next question on his lips. "How did you get over the fear?"

Krystal pulled the string that closed the sack and smiled. "When I started my training as a lythan, I learned how to gather my courage and hold onto it. I found a reason to stay strong enough to face my fears; not just for someone else, but for myself as well. Eventually, I caught my first egrint all by myself. I stopped being afraid of them after that."

Feeling a new sense of admiration for her, Fox chewed on Krystal's words. "Do you think if I can hunt down an ordus, I'll stop being afraid of them?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. Even experienced hunters avoid ordi where they can. I was only able to drive off the one that you ran into because of my training. A lot of people in Kezamat don't study magic like lythans do. Our psychic abilities are also stronger than most."

That disappointed Fox and frustrated him to no end. He never again wanted to feel those cold, uncontrollable shakes that overtook him at the mere hint that an ordus was nearby. He hated the persisting itch to always glance over his shoulder. He hated the nightmares that plagued his thoughts. Krystal touched his shoulder, bringing Fox back to the world, gazing into her eyes.

"Fox… There's no shame in feeling fear. Everyone is afraid of one thing or another. I've learned that what really matters is how you manage your fear. You don't have to overcome it straight away, but if you work at it bit by bit, you will be able to face it in the end."

There he felt it again; that calming effect that Krystal had on him. Fox managed to smile. "You know, you're a lot stronger and wiser than I am, Krystal. I reckon that if you had been on my team during the war, Andross and his army never would have stood a chance against us."

Krystal's ears perked as she grinned. "Ever since I saw your Arwing up close, I've wondered what it would be like to fly in one. Maybe when we go to your Lylat System, I could join your team and find out."

Fox chuckled. "If you learned to fly one, I'd feel sorry for the outlaws and pirates we'd be paid to chase. A Star Fox pilot who can read their minds would scare the life out of them."

They became aware that the sun would soon set. With their haul slung over Krystal's shoulder, they made their way home. Krystal had given Fox a lot to think about. He didn't want to carry this fear with him for the rest of his life, but he wasn't sure how he should deal with it. The best he could do right now was give himself time. Maybe when he became a better hunter, Fox could walk these woods alone without a worry in the world. For now, though, he greatly appreciated having Krystal there, guarding his left side.

He felt like crap having shown himself so vulnerable to her. As a soldier, even a contracted one, Fox was expected to stand strong no matter what adversity he faced. Emotions like fear were to be sealed away to be dealt with privately, away from the eyes of others. Yet, Krystal's powers saw through his façade. She immediately dropped everything to comfort him. She didn't judge, ridicule, or dismiss what he was feeling as Fox did himself. She wanted to help him; to validate and soothe the blind fear that was breaking Fox apart. And thanks to Krystal, Fox managed to pull through to the other side.

Fox stared at Krystal's back as he followed her. True to her promise, he felt safer around her, and calmer as a result. She'd seen him at his lowest point, held Fox, and lifted him up again. It had been a long time since anyone had seen past the guise that Fox wore for others' sakes. His soul felt naked. Exposed. However, Fox didn't feel shamed that Krystal had seen that part of him anymore. She accepted it. She accepted him and how he really felt.

She really was something special.

End note:

Special thanks to USEChairman for helping me with Fox's breakdown in this chapter.