Having pups is my greatest achievement. It was my saviour. It switched my focus from the outside to the inside. My pups are gifts, they remind me of what's important.

Elle Packpherson.

Sophie had stayed home during most of the day. She didn't went out much these days.

She was supposed to go out that morning for her work; however, it seemed that there was no need. She received a call from her work saying that they would give her a day off to recover from her ordeal at the mall, once it seemed that she had gone through a lot of stress in there.

Now, Sophie was not a young vixen anymore, she had long learned how to see through others, even only through conversation. She was not sure what kind of information they had gotten about her, but she was pretty sure that they had read the morning papers, and that they already knew that she was an ex-mage.

She couldn't help but notice the way that they told her that she had a day off on the phone. Now, she could not say if it was contempt or mere fear, but she had the feeling that they would be giving her more days off in the following days, and she was wondering if she should be worried about losing her job.

Still, she would not complain about having a day for herself once in a while.

She mostly stayed in her living room, drinking some tea that she had prepared for herself. This one was Ceylon ginger, honey and mint leaves tea. Sweet and quite refreshing. Good thing for the early afternoon. It helped relax and ease the mind, it was something that she quite needed right now.

As she sipped on her tea, she could not help but wonder on how things had changed so radically. First in the span of a few months. Now, in the span of only twenty-four hours.

In the former, there was the event that was now know as The Darkest Hour. Then there was the revealing of magecraft to the world, followed by weeks of growing fear and hostility, which were brought to an end by the interview given by Zillah Ferron, proceeding to more months of political and social changes as the population adapted to the knowledge that there were mages out there. In the later, there was a huge event in which Sophie was forced to take on herself to bring back her old skills in magecraft so she could break into the mall and save her son from danger, and in the process, she ended up exposing herself as a former mage.

The fact that the teenagers posted a video with herself using her magecraft online did not helped at all. She was now starting to regret that agreement, and thinking that she should have asked them to, at the very least, blur her face so she would not be recognized.

Of course, there was the fact that there was also the testimony of many of the mammals on the mall, and the fact that they had photos of her. But the video of the teenagers was surely the thing that tipped her off, for it offered absolute evidence that Sophie Wilde was capable of doing magecraft.

And that she could still kick butt.

Sighing, Sophie got up from her chair and walked to the door, opening it and walking in the front.

She still lived in the same building where she raised her son, and she did not intend to move out. This house was dear to her, and it had many memories on itself, not all of them happy, but all of them fond to her in one way or another. Especially those of her own son.

It was not on the early afternoon, and some light entered through the windows of the end of the hallway. Sophie walked to one of the windows and she leaned over it, looking at the outside, at the street just out of the buildings, at the other buildings around, and at the street below, where mammals walked and cars passed by.

She had been in Zootopia at her entire life. She was born in that city, and she had lived in it during all of her life. Even after she cut ties with the moonlit world, she continued to live in Zootopia. This city was her home. It was all she ever knew. It was a place where she truly felt she belonged, even thought she was not a mage anymore.

The city had grown and changed with the years, but in its essence, somehow it remained the same. Sophie was fully aware of it, and that was something that she would never get tired of. You could see a little of everything if you looked at the right direction on the right moment.

"Looking at the streets again?" A voice came behind herself, and the vixen turned her head to look over her shoulder. It was a female Labrador, around the same age as Sophie. She was dressing a simple carmine dress. The fur of her body was of a pale-blonde, which was somewhat faded due to her age. Her face had signs of age, with wrinkles forming around her blue eyes, which were now focusing on the red fox. They smiled at each other, as the Labrador, which stood barely an inch taller than Sophie, as the canine walked to the window and was now looking outside just like Sophie was.

For some minutes, they just stood in there, looking outside of the window, as they both took sips of the cups that they had. Sophie took a sip of her sweet tea, while the Labrador by her side took sips of her latte. Eventually, the Labrador was the first one to speak:

"I never understood why you would just stand in a window and watch the city from there." She spoke, her voice calm and very friendly. "I mean, there are a lot of more interesting things passing in television."

"The city is interesting." Was Sophie's answer. "Seeing how it moves and grows, seeing how it is alive and bursting with activity, I really like it."

"I'd still watch Baking with Betty." The Labrador said, as they both continued to look outside and to sip from their cups. After one more minute of silence, it was Sophie who spoke next.

"Thank you." The vixen said, causing the female Labrador to look at her.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for not being afraid of me." Sophie said, and she looked at the female. "Seriously, Anne, thank you."

"Why would I be afraid of you?" The Labrador asked, and Sophie shrugged.

"Well, it seems that some of the mammals of the building are now." She said, "Ever since they found out that I am an ex-mage."

"Oh, yeah." Anne, the Labrador, said, "That..."

"Yeah... 'that'." Sophie said, they both continued in there, and now it was Anne who was talking:

"Well, I don't really mind this kind of thing. I mean, so you have those circuits and can do these things, huh? Big deal." The canine said, looking at the vixen, "You are still the same Sophie that has lived in here for over thirty years."

Sophie nodded, and she could only think that it would be nice if more of the mammals of the building thought the same.

She noticed the change in the behavior of the other mammals right in the morning, when she came to pick up her morning newspaper. She complimented Gary Pawthump, who had been her next doors neighbor for over twenty years, and instead of answering to her with a smile and greeting he turned back around and slammed the door. That continued when she went downstairs to pick up some mail, and she saw that some of the other neighbors, with whom she talked with nearly every day, were now walking away as she came near. There was also the teenage badger who lived two floors of stairs beneath her, and would always come to talk with her, and that today hasn't appeared, and Sophie had even gone to look for him at his home, only for his mother to slam the door at her face.

She had knew most of the mammals in that building for years now, some of them during their entire lives, and now it seemed that all of them were looking at her as if she was a stranger.

Well, all save for Anne, who had been her neighbor ever since she moved in there with her newborn son, and who had been her friend ever since the first day. They used to say that domestic dogs were among the most sociable kinds of mammals, once they had evolved from old settlements of wolves to live in close relationships with their peers.

Sophie wasn't so sure about that, but she was sure that the Labrador had always been her friend, and always willing to give her a trust that most other mammals would not be willing to give foxes like herself.

Sophie had always been thankful at her for that.

Soon the two were talking, and they were soon talking, as they usually did every time that they had a chance to be like that. Of course, these talks usually happened when they were at each other's houses, but they really didn't minded to talk in the hallway of their building. It was not as if the place was dangerous, anyway.

"And even if it was." Anne would say to her vixen friend, "I'm pretty sure that you could scare off anyone who tried to mess with us. I mean, considering what you did on the mall yesterday."

Sophie looked at her, a bit surprised.

"Oh... So, you've seen the video?"

"Sure have." The Labrador said to her, "I saw it yesterday when one of my pups sent it to me through message. It had a message that said 'ain't that the vixen who lives next doors to you?'. I must confess, I didn't thought it was you but, hey! Just look if it is not Sophie herself! Gotta say, I've lived next to you for thirty four years and I never knew that you did wrestling."

"It was... a really long time ago." Sophie said, and she looked at her canine friend.

"So, you've seen the video, and you are not afraid of me?" The vixen asked her, "Really?"

"Of course not!" Anne said to her, "In all this time we lived next doors you have never given me a single reason to be afraid of you! Quite the opposite, you only gave me more and more reasons to respect you. I mean, raising your son all alone like you did, and keeping up with all of that crap about foxes being untrustworthy and never talking back to anyone with all of the things that they said and did? Woman, you had my full and complete respect on your first week in here."

Sophie looked at her face, and saw how she was smiling.

There was not a single shadow on that smile. Not pity, nor anger, nor some hidden intention. There never was. All that she ever saw in there was genuine respect and camaraderie. This was something that Sophie had always valued, and that she was happy for having found on someone.

"Thank you, Anne." She said, "This really means a lot to me."

"Oh, don't mention it, girl." The female Labrador said to her, "You know, I admire you because you stand up to the right things. You don't raise your voice when some jerk tries to provoke you, but you always become very defensive when it comes to Nicky. I mean, it was the reason why you went on the mall on the first place, right? Well, of course you were going to go in there. I still remember all of the times that you stand up to defending him against these kids of the end of the street who messed with him. I also remember how you were ready to march to the Ranger Scouts once you heard what these brats did to him."

Yeah, Sophie remembered that. She remembered when she came back home and found Nick in there, and Anne was in there, comforting the poor kit. Seeing him in such a state, crying like that, was something that made Sophie truly worried back then.

It took a few hours before he finally calmed down enough to tell her what had happened. What the boys at the Ranger Scouts did to him.

Saying that Sophie felt outraged would have been an understatement. Anne had to calm her down to keep her from going there and giving a lesson to these brats. She convinced her by saying that at the moment Nick was more worth of her attention than these kids.

She spent that night comforting Nick and, in the following morning, before she went to work, she passed at the place, to tell someone about what these brats did to her son. Still, it was little use, for no attitude was take to punish the boys, and Sophie even had the impression that one of the supervisors actually seemed to approve what these brats did to Nick.

That was when she decided that it would be better if Nick did not joined the Ranger Scouts. The kit himself no longer liked them, anyway.

Of course, after that, things just went downhill.

She still remembered that Nick would wake up from having nightmares for weeks after that, and that he was never that same smiling and bright kit that he used to be before that night. These boys had made more than just putting a muzzle on Nick, they seemed to have completely destroyed his faith in the world.

That was, until a certain bunny came along and helped him recover it.

Sophie shook her head, as if she wanted to shake away these thoughts from her mind and focus on something else. Luckily, Anne was in there to make conversation with her and help her forget these bad memories.

After a while of conversation, the Labrador looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly time for her favorite series.

"Today is a special episode." She said to Sophie, "Today he will finally ask her to marry him. At least that was what they said at the commercials. If it ends up not happening, I swear I'll stop watching that soap opera."

Sophie chuckled, and soon the Labrador was walking back at her apartment, leaving Sophie once more alone to look at the street.

Sophie remained in there for a few more minutes, looking at the street down there, and she could see some more mammals and cars going around in the street and on the sidewalk.

As she looked at them, she tried to imagine what their story was, and what they could be doing at the street. Maybe they were a mother going to pick up their children out there? Maybe they were a son or daughter returning home? Maybe they were going on a date?

Sophie asked herself these questions as she looked at the mammals that were down there. At the bison carrying a lot of grocery bags on his arms. At the pregnant tigress, walking arm in arm with a male tiger that some could suppose was the father. At the Doberman father walking with many young puppies wearing harnesses connected to leashes that he was holding on his paws. At the... police cruiser parked by the sidewalk?

"Do it quick!" Someone said, "While she is away!"

Sophie turned her head at the sounds picked up by her ears, the sights of the street forgotten for a moment as she looked back, and she could see something happening at the other side of the hallway.

It was near her own door, and there were some young mammals in there. A donkey, an alpaca and a capybara. None of them looked any older than eight.

Sophie had a raised eyebrow, and she soon was walking in their direction, wondering just what they were doing at her door.

As she came closer, she could see that one of them had a pencil on his hoof, and that he was writing something in her wall, with big letters.

"Will you do it quickly?" The capybara said to him, "If she comes back and catches us doing this she might turn us into worms!"

"That would be radical, don't you think?" Sophie said, once she was close enough. This startled the three and caused them to turn to look at her. The alpaca dropped the pencil as he, along with the other two, looked at her with an expression of horror.

"Besides, doing such a thing would be too hard for anyone to make." She said patiently, and the three continued to look back at her with fear. Sophie ventured to look at what the impala had been doing, and she could read the words that he had written.

DANGER

BEWARE

FOX WHITCH

And beneath it, there was a few drawings of cartoonish mammal skulls and of some crawling critters, like geckos and frogs.

Sophie looked at it, and back at the children, who looked ready to run.

"You spelled 'witch' wrong." She said to them, they now had their ears down and were looking at her as if she could cast a curse on them at any moment.

"Say, what have we here?" Another voice said, and the eyes turned to the stairs, where some mammals who just climbed them were now looking at them.

Sophie recognized all of the instantly, as they were the enforcers, Judy Hopps, and her son.

The one who talked was Emilia, and they looked at the scene before them. Nick, in particular, looked at his mother, at the young ones, at the writing in the door and at the pencil that was on the ground.

He maintained a neutral expression as he looked at them, but Sophie could very well see a hint of anger on his eyes.

IN a few minutes, the young ones were looking down and apologizing for doing that.

"It was a dare." One of them said, "My older brother challenge us to come her and write these things on Mrs. Wilde's door."

"And you did it only because of a dare?" Nick said with crossed arms, as he looked at the three little mammals. "Did you kids know that writing and drawing things in someone's door without their permission is not nice?"

They all looked down, and they looked genuinely sorry. Nick had to admit that, so he was able to relax a little with the kids.

"Fine, I guess we can let it slip." The tod said, "If you three clean up what you just did in her door."

"But it was only Sam who did it." One of them said, and Nick looked at the others.

"Yeah, but you two were the ones encouraging him to do it, so this makes you all responsible. Now go grab some water and soap and some sponges, you are cleaning this. Chop-chop." Nick said to them, soon, the three were going on to do what the fox had asked them to do, and in no time, the three had gone down the stairs.

"Way to go, Slick." Judy said to him, "Firm, but just on the right amount."

"Yeah, in the end they are just children." Nick said to her, "It is not like threatening to arrest them would do any good other than making them really scared. Besides, they really look like they are sorry."

"You would make a good father." Judy said to him, "At the very least you are good in dealing with children."

"Well, I did had a good teacher at that." Nick said, and he looked at his mother, who had been seeing it all. For a moment, they eyes met, and there was silence as they looked at each other.

"Hi, Nick." Sophie said finally, and Nick looked at her for a moment, before he gave a single nod.

It was still a bit awkward between the two.

Luckily, there was someone around to break the awkwardness.

"Mrs. Wilde." Marceli said, "We need to speak with you. Could we go into your house?"

Sophie looked at him, and she nodded.

"Sure. Please, come in."

Soon she was leading them inside of her house, and they passed by the front door and walked inside of the place.

The inside of the house was really nice. It had a very common decoration, and the place itself was spacious. The furniture and the look of the place almost made it look like it was one of these old houses that you saw in the old tv series. It was a nice apartment, and quite big for a place so humble.

Judy caught herself wondering how she didn't heard of a place like that when she first planned to move to Zootopia. The price must have been different from the one that she found at Grand Pangolin Arms.

She guided them all to the living room and had them sit on the table. She soon was offering them something to drink and eat, as she offered them some of the tea that she was having, as well as a piece of blueberry pie. The enforcers refused the pie, but accepted the tea. Judy was going to refuse both, but Nick nudged her and encouraged her to have the pie, which she ended up accepting.

She served them tea, and soon she was going to the kitchen and coming back a few minutes later with two slices of pie in small plates.

The pie was served to both Nick and Judy. The fox cop looked at his partner expectantly, and Judy soon was picking a forkful of the pie and placing it in her mouth, chewing gently.

Her eyes widened as the flavor exploded in her mouth.

"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy said, but she immediately covered her mouth, realizing that she had been rather loud all of sudden, and this granted the others to look at her. She then spoke again, this time in a more controlled fashion:

"This is the best blueberry pie I've ever eaten. Even better than the ones Gideon makes!"

Nick looked at her, and he smiled.

"Told yah." He said, as his mother looked at the interaction between the two, and she could not help but have a smile on her face as she looked at it.

"Mrs. Wilde." Marceli said; looking at her as his niece drank the tea. "We are here because we have received instructions from the Mage's Association to question the mages and ex-mages present on the mall during yesterday's events."

Sophie looked at him, and soon Emilia, who already finished her tea, was looking at them and speaking.

"Yeah, the clans put us to it. They want to know if the ones in there had anything to do with it."

She was far too blunt, and everyone in the room noticed it. Nick even gave her an annoyed look that was almost a glare, but the vixen failed to notice. Sophie, on her end, looked calmly at Emilia, before her gaze shifted to the other mammals on the table. None of their looks seemed hostile. Nick's gaze actually made it look like he felt bad for being in there for such a reason.

"So, would you mind if we ask you a few questions?" Marceli asked, and Sophie looked at him, before she nodded.

"Yes, of course." She said, and she didn't seemed to mind at all being asked questions.

The questions started with what she was doing on that morning. The morning when they seized the mall.

Sophie soon was explaining that in that morning she was watching television, as she was following the events that she knew would have to do with the transference of Dawn Bellwether to their jurisdiction, and that she wanted to follow this, once it was something that her son would have been directly involved into.

Marceli was silent as he heard her.

"That was all?" He asked her, "You only heard about this through television?"

She looked back at him, for a few moments, and she sighed.

She then revealed that, on that morning, she had used magecraft, as she had created a butterfly familiar and sent it to follow Nick.

The fox cop tensed a bit as he heard that, but the enforcers only continued to pay attention at her, as she explained that she did that because she wanted to be sure that Nick would be safe.

She explained that she created her butterfly and put it to follow Nick as he was inside of the car that was taking Dawn Bellwether. She said that she was able to see through it, and that she noticed when the car Nick was had been attacked.

She would have done something about that through the butterfly, but right at that moment, some outside force had destroyed it. As a result, Sophie ended up losing contact and not being able to know what happened, but not before she saw the car being flipped and attacked by the mammals in there.

That was all it took for panic to overcome her. She soon was turning on the television, and using every method that was at her disposal to obtain more information on what had happened at that place, and she as desperate to know if Nick was alright.

It took her a while, but she was finally able to understand that Nick was okay. She felt relieved for this, however, this relief only lasted for a moment, until she saw a live reportage on what was happening on the mall, and she saw that golem.

"I recognized the design as soon as I saw it." Sophie said, "I knew that it was trouble. I knew it was one of his golems, and I knew that Nick was in danger."

"Wait." Judy said, looking at her, "Are you saying you know who manufactured these?"

"Yes." Sophie said, "I know very well who did those, and I knew that he was doing this for some good reason."

"What, you mean, that panther?" Nick asked her, and Sophie looked at him, before sighing.

"Panther, huh?" She said, seemingly more to herself, "Makes sense, he was unsatisfied with being small, and he likes big felines. They look majestic and have better natural weapons..."

Nick and Judy looked at her with raised eyebrows, and the enforcers looked back at her.

"Yeah, the guy really uses a lot of faces to go around." Emilia said to her, "I once heard that he was going around as a buffalo."

The two cops now looked at her, and they looked back at Sophie.

"Yeah, he has a lot of these." Sophie said, confirming the words of the vixen, "He does prefer the big mammals because they have more muscle. But he uses small ones too, because they can access places that the big ones can't really go because of the size difference."

Judy and Nick shared a look, and soon Nick was asking:

"I'm sorry. Are we missing something in here?"

The others looked at him, and soon, Marceli was clearing his throat and asking Sophie to continue.

Sophie said that, as soon as she had seen the golem on the television, she immediately was rushing out; taking some shorthands with herself, for she knew that she would most likely need them.

"Especially if these golems saw me." She said, "They would be attacking me as soon as they saw me."

"Yeah, they sure would." Emilia said to her, "The guy truly hates you, doesn't he?"

Sophie looked down, and it was obvious that this subject was one that was rather sensitive to her. Nick and Judy were both noticing it, although they had no real idea of what they were talking about...

"We are divagating." Marceli said, looking at Sophie. "Please, continue."

And Sophie did as requested, as she continued to tell on how she went to the mall in a rush. She stopped the first cab that she could find, and she was soon telling him to drive her in direction to the mall. The driver had been hesitant to take her to that place, but she was able to persuade him.

They drove to the place, and on the way, Sophie was checking on her shorthands, and mentally preparing herself in case there was the need to fight.

They got stuck into a traffic jam, caused by the blocks put in place and by the great deal of movement being caused by the crowd that was gathering around the mall.

They were in there for hours, before Sophie finally got fed up with it, jumped out of the cab and rushed to the mall on foot.

Upon arriving, she saw the place surrounded by cops and by a crowd, and she was soon trying to find Nick among the place. It took a few minutes before she realized, with horror, that Nick had gone into the mall, along with the other cops, in order to rescue the ones stuck into the mall as hostages.

She soon was trying to get inside as well, but the cops around the place blocked her entrance, as they could not let anyone who was not a cop or from a special team come inside. In her attempts to go in, she met with two other mammals, Tyrone and Tyler Tigereye, who were also still trying to go inside the mall, for they wanted to save their brothers and Gazelle, but they were stopped by the cops around the place as well.

Seeing their attempts of getting inside frustrated, the three mammals, who knew each other to be mages, gathered and started to discuss how they would go inside to save their loved ones. That was when the Mage Chasers came, offering a way to go inside if they would protect them while in there and also allow them to record what they did.

"And you just went with it?" Emilia asked, and Sophie shrugged.

"I didn't had time to think or to negotiate. I knew that Nick could be in danger, and all I thought about was getting to him in time." The older vixen said, "I was lucky that I found him right on time."

The enforcers both nodded at this, and Nick had to admit, his mother and the two tigers both appeared right on time to save his tail. As well as Judy's.

So, she continued to explain to the mammals how was her travel inside of the mall, and how she and the two Tigereye brothers were able to pass by the golems on the way as they looked for the ones inside. Always with the Mage Chasers right on their tails with their camera.

Eventually, they found Nick and Judy, and Sophie stuck with them while the other two went back to the room where their friends were. The rest, the enforcers pretty much knew.

"So, you had no idea that the mall was going to be taken?" Marceli asked, and Sophie looked at him with a cold glare as she answered:

"No. I didn't." Sophie was very direct with the answer, "If I knew something like that would happen, I would have told Nick, and warned him to take precautions on this, even because he would otherwise be in danger."

They nodded at this, and Marceli asked another question.

"The mages that were responsible for that." He asked, "Did any of them tried to make any contact with you on the previous days, to give some short of warning?"

Sophie locked eyes with him.

"Are you asking if he called me?" She asked, looking at the black tod, who looked back at her in silence.

"Are you honestly asking me if he called me to tell me that he had such an insane and absurd plan, and to ask my help with it?" She asked, looking at him dead in the eye, "Are you asking if he asked me to give him my help after all that happened, and after what he has tried to do? Are you asking me if he came to talk to me and give me a fair warning after all of the threats that he made against me?"

Sophie continued to look in the eyes of the tod.

"Is that what you are asking?"

Silence followed these words, and the two foxes continued to stare at each other. Emilia looked in an unusual silence, as she fully realized how tense the situation was at that moment, and she knew that it was better to be quiet.

Meanwhile, the two cops had been listening to this, and they knew how serious it was, even though they were not sure of what it meant. However, they got the gist of it, as it seemed that his mother truly knew one of the involved ones, and she and the mammal in question didn't exactly had a good past together.

Nick, in particular, was processing what he just heard.

So that panther guy has threatened my mother!? Nick thought, trying to remain impassive as he thought of that. That bastard!

After a little while more of talk, Marceli eventually got satisfied with all of the answers that Sophie had given, and he was ready to leave.

He and Emilia both got up, and they thanked her for her time and for the tea, and Judy thanked her for the pie (which she ate all), and soon, the group was leaving as they moved to the door.

Well, most of the group.

Nick was still sitting on the table, and so was his mother. The two looked at each other, as if they were silently asking the same question to each other:

Are we going to talk this out now?

"Nick." Judy said, as she and the others walked to the door. "Aren't you coming?"

Nick looked back at her, and then back at his mother.

"...I'll be going soon, you guys go ahead." He said, and Judy looked at him, "I need to talk with my mother."

Judy looked like she wanted to tell him to come, but she understood that they needed to talk. Therefore, she was following the enforcers out the door. They exited right on time to see the children had come back with a bucked and a sponge with soap.

The children were surprised, as it looked like they were just about to leave, and the door was still with the writing and drawings in it. They probably arrived and saw no one, and thought that they could leave without problem. However, they changed their minds as soon as the adult mammals walked out the door.

Soon the three were going downstairs, leaving the three children to clean up what they did, and leaving mother and son up there to have the much-needed talk.

The silence in the living room was profound, and the two mammals seemed to be talking more with their eyes and actions at this point, as they looked at each other. Both were good in reading other mammals and both were making use of that to try to understand the other better.

Of course, after that fateful night with the Ranger Scouts, Sophie had found out that her son, who used to be an open book until that moment, had suddenly became a lot harder to read. Still, Sophie did her best to try to see if she could understand her son now, and she would have the occasional success.

"So... I guess there are a lot of things that we never really talked about." Nick said, finally breaking the silence that had built in there.

Sophie sighed.

"Yes." She said, looking down, before she rose her gaze to look at her son, "It was long ago, and it was never something that truly mattered a lot, until... very recent events."

Nick heard it, and he nodded.

"Yeah, it seems that all of us are living in some fantasy series." The tod said, as he took a last sip of his cup, ending the sweet and minty mixture of tea. Nick didn't really liked minty things, they always kind of tasted like toothpaste.

"Or at least in some poorly written piece of fan-fiction." He concluded, placing down the empty cup.

"All of this made me really worried about you." Sophie said to her son, "I've always worried about you, and after what happened, I have worried even more." She said to him, "I could not stop thinking on what would happen if my past caught up with you."

Nick looked at her.

"When you say 'your past', you mean..."

"I mean the life that I left behind when you came along." She said to him, "I mean the world that I tried to leave behind so both of us could live a peaceful life."

She looked deep in her son's eyes, and Nick was able to see all of the worry that a mammal could have for someone that they truly loved. All the worry that a mother could have for their kit.

"I've always worried about you stumbling on this world." She said to him, "Or about someone of this world coming for you. Of course, I found comfort on the idea that you would never truly have reasons to go after a world that you didn't knew existed, and that the ones from this world would not come for you as long as you didn't knew about them."

Sophie sighed.

"Of course, this was before the world of magecraft was exposed for everyone to see it." She continued, "Now it seems that everywhere you turn you might end up stumbling on that world by accident, and the ones in this world are slowly realizing that they don't have to worry anymore about keeping hidden."

Nick looked at her.

"So, this is why you put your magic butterflies to watch over me?" He asked her, and she looked back at him.

Nick was not mad at his mother. He was surprised when he first learned about that. But of course that there was no anger against his mother. Nick only wanted to understand better everything. All he wanted were answers.

"Yes." Sophie said, looking at her son.

"Soon after the events of Fangtropolis, I knew that something terrible could happen to you even though you knew nothing about the moonlit world." She said to him, "Just like it happened to that entire city. So, on that same week I rescued my old magecraft, and I started using the spiritual butterflies to keep watch over you, to make sure that you were not in danger... and, in last case, protect you if you actually were."

Nick nodded, as he took in all that his mother was telling him.

"Well... you did used them to save me in two or three occasions in which I was in a pinch, so I guess you did a good job." Nick said, and this caused his mother to look at him.

"I mean, that bear from the busting really looked like he wanted to skin me, and the tiger could have killed me." He said to her, "Not to mention the creepy guys with their ritual back in the storehouse. Your butterflies are really good at this."

"Yes..." She said, "But they couldn't protect you from the attack of yesterday... Not from his golems..."

Nick looked down, but looked back at her.

"His golems..." He repeated, and looked at his mother, "That panther... he is one of the guys of the moonlit world you were afraid that could come for me?"

Sophie looked at her son, and they both looked at each other for a long moment, before she sighed.

"The moonlit world is full of intrigues, of violence and moral ambiguity." Sophie explained to him, "It has everything from dangerous agreements between dangerous mammals, to dubious experiments that many other mages would look down into if they knew details of it."

Nick looked at her, and she looked back at him.

"I have got involved in such things." She said to him, "Of course, I never did anything illegal, but I did many things that would be expected of a mage, especially one from a family like the Wilde clan."

"In this, it is unavoidable that you end up doing things that end up hurting others, even if unintentionally." She continued to explain, "I did these kinds of things, and I regret many of them. Of course, only because I regret it, doesn't mean that the ones who got hurt by my decisions would forgive me."

"You mean, like the panther guy?" Nick asked her, and she looked back at him, before sighing.

"He and I have... a past. We used to be very close in the past, but things happened. Both of us made bad decisions. And..." She stopped for a moment, and Nick looked back at her, as she seemed to be deciding what to say now.

"He did something... something that I can never forgive." Sophie looked back at Nick, "I was furious, and I did something that I would regret later. It ruined everything for him, and he never forgave me for it. Now he hates me, as well as everyone who is close to me."

"Including me." Nick said, and Sophie sighed, and looked away. It was obvious that the subject was one that made her uncomfortable.

"So, the panther guy..." Nick said, looking at his mother, "Was he the reason why gave up being a mage? So you would not have to cross paths with him again?"

Sophie looked back at her son.

"I gave up being a mage for many reasons." Sophie said to him. "One of them was because I fell in love. And from this love, I had a kit of my own."

Nick blinked, as he looked back at his mother.

"When I realized I was pregnant, I knew that I didn't wanted my kit to live through the same things that I did." She said, looking at him, "I didn't wanted him to grow up in such a dangerous and ugly world like that in which the mages lived. I wanted you to have a good life. I wanted you to be safe from all of this danger and away from all of the intrigues. So I renounced magecraft and abandoned the world of magecraft. I hoped that it had been forever..."

Nick looked at his mother, and she was silent, as she allowed her son to process all that she had just said, and after a while, Nick asked a question:

"My dad..." The tod said, "Was he a mage too?"

It was rare for Nick to ask questions about his father. He never had one on his life, and he knew that it was not as unusual. He grew up used to be only himself and his mother, and he never truly thought of questioning his mother about him, except in the occasions when growing up he was really curious about him.

Now, he was asking her a direct question, to which there could only be a direct answer.

Sophie knew that, and she looked at her son. Nick could see a spark of sadness in her eyes, and he was able to notice that one of her paws was now clutching the side of her body.

"Yes." She said to him, "Your father was one of the best mages that I've ever met, and he was an amazing man."

Nick looked at her, and Nick looked back at her.

"He truly cared about me, and I cared about him as well." She continued, "He died before either of us realized that I had gotten pregnant with his child, and..." She stopped, and Nick had the impression that he could see moisture forming on her eyes, and that she was fighting back the urge to sniff.

"I didn't wanted you to end like him." She said to her son, "I wanted you to be as far from all of that as possible. All that hurt. All that intrigue. All the lies and plots. All the conflicts and wars. I wanted you to have a peaceful life. Like your father was unable to have."

She looked back at her son, and Nick looked back at his mother, his gaze soft as they looked at each other for several minutes.

"Nick... I wish I could tell you everything." She said to him, "Every single detail of what happened to your father, to me, and to everyone else. I wish that I could explain to you all that has happened, and all of the reasons why I worry so much... but I can't. At least not yet."

She looked at him, and she moved her paw forward, landing it in Nick's own paw. "But, I can tell you this." She said, looking in his eyes. "I'll always do whatever it takes to make sure that you are safe."

She was sincere as she spoke that, and that much Nick knew.

There was some more silence, before Nick got up moving his paw away from his mother's.

Sophie looked at her son, for some reason expecting him to leave without saying a single more word. However, instead Nick walked around the table, and pulled his mother into a hug.

Sophie was surprised, and she was without reaction for a few instants, but she eventually hugged him back.

The embrace lasted for nearly a minute, before Nick broke the hug and looked at his mother with a smile.

"I'll try to stay safe. I promise." He said to her, and she looked at him, "So, you try not to worry too much, okay?"

Sophie looked back at her son, at that confident smile that was somewhat familiar to her. She did let out a sniff this time, as if she was trying to keep the tears from coming out and she nodded.

With this, Nick was leaving, promising to come to visit when he got a chance.

The tod walked to the door and opened it, and he saw the three young mammals in there.

They were a bit surprised for seeing him, but Nick only looked back at them, and looked at the door. It was still wet and a bit soapy, but the words and drawings that they had made now had been erase.

Nick looked back at the kids with a friendly smile.

"Good work, kids." He said, looking at them. "Now, remember, you have promised not to do this again. Now go back home, don't want your parents to be worried."

The kids nodded, and soon they were leaving, one of them looked to be quite in a hurry.

Nick chuckled as he looked at them.

Kits...

Nick soon was going to the stairs, and going down on them, floor after floor.

Soon, he was arriving at the first floor, and going out of the doors. His partner and the two enforcers were in there, and they looked like they had been waiting for him.

They looked at the approaching fox, and they saw that he was smiling. Seemed like a good sign.

"So, how was it?" Emilia asked him, and Nick looked at her.

"Well, we had a sincere talk, and we came to an understanding." Nick said, and now Judy looked at him, before she asked:

"So, are you two good?"

Nick looked back at his bunny partner.

"If we still care deeply for each other, and I'll still be coming to spend Thanksgiving with her?" He asked, "You can bet your fluffy tail on that, Carrots. Especially on how much I love her blueberry pie."

Judy looked at her partner, and she couldn't help but smile as well. Nick looked back at the enforcers.

"So, I assume that you guys were fully aware that my mother used to be a mage, right?"

The two other foxes looked at him, before sharing a look among themselves.

"Yes." Was Marceli's answer, and Nick and Judy looked at them.

"So, I assume that the big guys told you not to babble about it, right?" Nick asked, and he looked at the other tod, although not with hostility of any kind.

"It was not directly relevant for the mission we had originally." Marceli said to him, "Besides, there are some politics in regarding ex-mages. They have the right to have their privacy, so they can live their lives in peace."

"Kind of like witness protection?" Nick asked, and the black tod shrugged.

"You can consider it like that if you want." He said, "Still, some consider that it can be hard to promising mages to abandon the moonlit world, as it was the case of your mother."

"What, my mom was famous or something?" Nick asked, and it was Emilia who answered that:

"She sure was." The vixen said, causing the eyes to turn to him. "Not only she was from one of the oldest and most powerful clans of the Association, but she was also a mage of great talent. She was a master of her craft and she had very powerful circuits. They were sure that she would've become an Archmage, and some even say that she could have become a member of the Council."

"Seriously?" Nick asked, now being surprised, and the enforcers looked back at him.

"Indeed." Marceli admitted, "Your mother was quite famous, both for her family and for the amazing talent that she showed as a mage." He explained to the other fox, "There are some rumors that she was aiming to become one of the members of the Council. However, it seems that her plan ended after she went to study for a while with the instructors of the Association."

"Oh..." Nick said, and he took in what they were saying... wait, wasn't the Association somewhere in England?

Oh, that is from my younger years. From a time when I lived in Liondon.

Liondon...

A suspicious had formed in Nick's head as he heard what the enforcer told him and remembered what his mother told him a time ago. However, he didn't let it show, and instead, continued to look at the two enforcers.

"Yeah, she changed her mind after a while in there." Emilia said, "I don't know much details in there, but it seems that it all started because she made friends with some mage from another family, a guy that changed her views on her goals and made her rethink her entire life... her clan really disliked the guy."

"Oh..." Judy said, "Did this mage... he coax her into renouncing magecraft?"

No, she did that because of me. Nick thought, Because she knew that this world was too ugly for me to be part of it.

"Perhaps." Marceli said, "The details are quite vague on it, once it seems that the Wilde clan actively tries to suppress information about Sophie Wilde and about why she renounced."

"Yeah, they didn't really appreciated that." Emilia said, "I mean, the gal was a powerful mage who could have become a member of the council and brought a lot of glory to the family, and instead she decides to throw it all away? A traditional mage family like the Wilde clan don't take this lightly."

"There is a lot of opinions and rumors about the precise conditions of why and how she became an ex-mage." Marceli said, looking at the two cops. "Some say that she did it because she was sick of her family, or because she realized that the moonlit world was not enough for her. Some also say that she had disgraced her family with her actions, and then gave up being a mage so she could safeguard their honor."

"That, of course, depends on who you ask." Emilia said, "But it seems that a lot of them seen to think that she is a failure."

Nick tensed as he heard that, but didn't quite let anger that spiked when he heard that show too much.

"Really?" He asked, looking at her, "So, someone who decides to give up being a mage is a failure?"

"To some hardcore, unrepentant old-fashioned mages? Yes." Emilia said, "But, it is more because she didn't tried to continue her legacy through her descendants."

Nick blinked, looked at her.

"Wait, are you talking about me?" Nick asked, looking at her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much." She said, and Marceli said:

"One of the most crucial aspects of being a mage is to continue the traditions and legacy of your lineage through your descendants." The black tod explained to the fox cop. "Even ex-mages, although renouncing magecraft themselves, still try to pass the knowledge to their descendants, at least letting them know enough so they won't be completely ignorant to the world that is... I mean, that was hidden from everyone else."

Judy and Nick looked at him, and soon, Emilia was continuing:

"But Sophie, according to rumors, was not doing any of that." The vixen said, "She was one of the ones that truly abandoned the moonlit world, going as far as to pretend that it didn't existed, and not letting any of her descendants to know that it did. She didn't told her child about it, never tried to teach him any of the basics, and some say that she never even tried to check if he was born with magic circuits or not."

She looked at Nick as she said that.

"Well, I guess we can confirm that all of that is correct, right?"

Nick looked at her, and he actually nodded a bit.

All because she wanted to keep me safe. Nick thought, and soon, Judy was the one who was doing the talking:

"And she is a failure only for that?" Judy said, "My mother did the same thing, is she a failure as well?"

The tune that Judy used was almost one of accusation, as if she was daring them to try to say anything. The vixen looked to be actually quite intimidate by the bunny, but Marceli was the one to speak.

"Some families consider it crucial to think of the continuation of the traditions." Marceli said to her, "Even if you are never going to follow the traditions yourself, you are still at least expected to keep them alive by teaching your descendants that. This is how most mages are expected to act."

"And tradition is more important than family?" Judy asked, looking at the fox, "What if the kits decide that they don't want to follow the tradition? What if they don't want to become mages? What if they have their own dreams and goals, different from the ones that their mage parents have? They just stop caring about their kits?"

"Yeah, that's usually what happens." Emilia said, causing the others to look at her. "At least in the more traditional families. The parents deem their kits as failures and move on."

"What kind of parenting is that?" Nick asked, and Judy agreed with him.

"You cannot just abandon your child only because they don't turn the way you expected or hoped!" She said, sounding truly outraged, "This is wrong! Traditional families actually do that? Being a mage means to be made to choose between acting as mage and acting as a parent?"

"No, of course not." Emilia said, "You are free to act as a parent at any time. As long as you still act like a mage, and that means working for the growth and continuation of your clan."

"That was how it was done in the old times. A custom that has not changed to the more traditional ones." Marceli said, "Most of the new clans think of the happiness of their children and about their own dreams, but many of the more traditional clans still think that such things are secondary, as the future of the clan and lineage as a whole should always come first. This is something that Sophie Wilde and Bonnie Hopps had not done, as they chose to forsake magecraft completely, and abandon even the possibility that their children could pursue it in their place."

"So, basically they cared about us too much?" Nick asked, "That is it?"

"They chose your happiness over the continuation of the lineage and tradition." Marceli said, "Nothing wrong with this, but in doing so, they broke one of the most well founded notions of what it means to be a proper mage."

"That is why some more traditional mage families consider both of them as failures." Emilia concluded, "Because they chose to act as mothers before acting as mages."

A silence followed these words. Nick and Judy both looked at the ground as they took in the information that the mages just gave them.

It was Nick who broke the silence this time.

"Well, if bad mages are like that, then we'll take two." He said, looking at his partner. "Right, Carrots?"

Judy looked at her partner, and she smiled.

"Sure thing, Slick."

The enforcers looked at the two cops, and they shared a look, before Marceli cleared his throat and said:

"Well, I think we should be going now, right? After all, we still have other mammals to question today."

With this, the four of them were once more entering the cruiser.