Chapter 15

From the next day on, Kyven entered into a torturous routine.

He would wake up, eat whatever Firetail put in front of him, accept her magical blessing that would allow him to recover faster than normal much as Stalker had done for him, then go out. Outside, he would train. His training was the same as it had been before, but at least now he had a bed and friends to which to come back at night. Firetail wouldn't let him move to another house, and after the first week, he was glad of her position. He was too tired to do much of anything but sleep when he came home. He would build up his endurance by running most of the day, carrying more and more weight with him to force himself to work harder and harder in the limited amount of time he had in the day to get the most out of each training session. He did train his strength, but the fox wanted him to increase his endurance, so that was the main thing he needed to work. That was worked by running longer and longer, from sunrise to sunset, and then weighing himself down with more and more weight while running to increase both his strength and endurance at the same time.

Each day was the same. He would wake up and eat whatever Firetail put in front of him, sometimes with company, sometimes not. Then he would leave the city and run in ever-widening circles as his endurance increased, then, as summer wound into fall, with progressively more and more weight to make the most use of his time. He came to be intimately familiar with all the local geography around the city, the many tiny hamlets that surrounded the main city where farmers lived, preferring the small village society to the society in the city, which was much, much different. They would sometimes call him to stop to talk to him, which he tried to do. He was Shaman, and the needs of the people were his primary care. If an Arcan wanted to talk to him, he made time to stop and listen.

And everyone knew he was a Shaman, and everyone knew that he was human, just in Arcan form by means of the spirits. That made quite a few of them very curious about him, and many Arcans stopped him just to talk to him about what it was like being human, and what he thought about being an Arcan. He didn't mind answering the same questions over and over, because, he realized, this was one of the reasons why the fox had changed him. Had he showed up human, they wouldn't be even fractionally inclined to speak to him. Their fear of humans would have poisoned them to him, and made it impossible for them to accept him for who he was.

He would run, literally, until he collapsed. Then, after recovering enough to be able to move, he would drag himself back to Firetail's house and practice magic out in the yard, near the garden. He would maintain spells until he was gasping for breath and near the point of collapse, wearing his body down to the breaking point, almost to the point of doing himself physical harm, and only then would he stop. Firetail would literally have to carry him up to bed, because he lacked the strength to walk up the stairs to reach his bedroom.

Then, the next morning, he did it again.

Over and over, day after day, that was his routine. He worked hard, for now he knew the stakes, he knew for what the fox was preparing him, and he knew he had to be ready. She was training him for war. It wouldn't be war in the traditional sense, it would be a different kind of war, but war nonetheless. Given who he was and his totem, he would best serve in this war by invading the enemy and using his magic and abilities to gather information, cause confusion and misdirection, and other underhanded things. Kyven's magic and his powers made him the perfect spy, using the illusion that the fox said she would teach him to trick his enemies, using guile and deceit to worm his way into enemy operations, learn what he needed to know, and pass that on to the Arcans. Though the fox hadn't told him exactly what he'd be doing yet, that was what he could see would be the best way he could contribute, so that was what he was expecting. But no matter what, he'd be ready.

It didn't really bother him, he realized. He was human, and he was about to go against his own people, he was about to betray his own race by siding against them… but he didn't care. Kyven wasn't loyal to humanity as much as he was loyal to the sensible way he was raised by Holm. Though Holm didn't like Arcans, he nevertheless taught his apprentices to be honest, trustworthy, decent, and honorable men. Those traits, some of which admittedly conflicted with the teachings of the fox, saw the brutal treatment of the Arcans as wrong, and since it were wrong, it had to be opposed. Holm wouldn't have taken Kyven's view because of his bias against Arcans, but because Kyven had experienced it first hand, Kyven had a different outlook. The cruelty towards the Arcans had to be stopped, and in what was coming, in what he could see coming, the only way to accomplish that was to separate the two races. That was what the Arcans wanted, that was the only way the Arcans could see themselves ever being free of human prejudice, and Kyven agreed. Humans saw Arcans as animals, as livestock, just smart livestock… and just as expendable. They would never respect the Arcans or treat them with any decency, not so long as women of means walked down the streets wearing coats made from the fur of dead Arcans.

That far north, winter came early, and came fast. In September, when the leaves were just beginning to turn back home, the leaves on the trees here were already past their fiery peak and beginning to fall, and some mornings were cold enough to make one's breath visible in the nippy air. But the cold didn't bother Kyven that much. His fur was extremely thick, so effective that Kyven remained comfortable in either the cold or the heat, for the fur insulated against both the summer's heat and the winter's chill. His skin under all that fur was kept at a very comfortable temperature. And while it got colder, the days got shorter, almost noticeably so. Every day had a couple of minutes' less daylight than the day before, and the sun moved further and further to the south in the sky. The Arcans of Haven were preparing for the coming winter as well, stocking up on firewood cut from a forest to the east, and also bringing in coal mined from mountains to the southwest, and there was plenty of both. The coal wasn't easy for them to get, as they had to go nearly five hundred minars to reach the mines, and they shipped it back in large caravans of heavily laden wagons all during the summer to stockpile it, leaving it laying out exposed to the elements in huge piles of black rock to the southwest of the city, but it was worth getting. It prevented the Arcans from denuding the forest to keep warm in the winter, and the forges where they made their metal goods needed coal to be more efficient.

But not all Arcans used mundane means. Alchemy was quite present in Haven, since Shaman could make crystals. Arcans like Old Gray back in Atan learned the art of alchemy from their masters and then escaped, and now they were masters of their own alchemy shops, continuing the craft. Many Arcans had alchemical lights in their houses, and many used alchemical heaters to keep their homes warm in the winter. Buying alchemical devices was one of the reasons why many Arcans worked to earn money, and alchemical devices were the main export out to the villages, given in return for the food they raised in the barter system used outside of the city. Arcans worked to earn the money or goods to buy or barter for alchemical devices, but they never had to buy crystals. Shaman made crystals for anyone who asked, at least those Shaman who could, it was one of their duties to their people. It showed Kyven that at least in a few ways, humans and Arcans were the same. Both used alchemy, and highly valued it as a powerful tool.

That similarity was the root of the coming war. As the crystals waned, as the humans used up the finite number of crystals, their need to fuel their crystal-based society would cause them to turn on their former slaves, for each and every Arcan in a collar needed a crystal in it to keep the Arcan controlled.

That was the realm of other people. The fox was right in that Toby and Danna had come to truly feel like guests in Arcan, honored guests, as they spent much of their time with the council trying to come up with some way to save the Arcans without causing a war. In the rare times Kyven had a chance to talk to them, he found that they were both very impressed with the sincerity of the Arcans in that regard, their need to save their people while causing a minimum of damage to human society. Danna saw their idealism as misplaced and misguided, but she could admire the council for their honest desire to be good to people who had been so cruel to their own people. The council was only trying to do the bidding of the spirits, who didn't want war between the two races, and that was another thing Danna and Toby had come to understand. Though Danna still wasn't convinced that the spirits weren't evil, she had finally grudgingly admitted that some spirits were trying to avoid a war.

That was another part of his life that shifted with the marching of the days. Firetail had taken Patches and Teacup under her wing, and started teaching them how to live in Haven. Patches was still too timid and dependent to be let out on her own, but Teacup was more than ready to strike out on her own after just a few weeks. Teacup moved into her very own home about a mile from Firetail's house, on the south side of town, leaving only Kyven and Patches in Firetail's house. In the small guest house, things also changed. Toby, who had acclimated quickly to Haven, also moved out, moved into a small house just down the street from Firetail's house, staying within the heart of the city where most of the council lived. In fact, Toby lived in a small house between two council members, often held in reserve for Shaman who came to talk to the council and needed a place to stay for a few days. The split of Danna and Toby was nothing but amicable, as both of them explained, rather patiently, to the council that human males and females didn't feel comfortable living in the same house that weren't related or married. So, to accommodate their desire for personal space, the council moved Toby to his own house and left Danna with Firetail. But, by Firetail's request, Toby still walked over to her house to eat dinner with her; Firetail seemed to like Toby quite a bit, and enjoyed talking with him. Patches remained, and though she was still a little afraid of the humans, she was quite attached to Firetail, seeing the matronly, wise old Shaman as the mother her own mother never was.

Kyven did find at least a little time for distractions and such, though. He honored his totem's commands by keeping in touch with Toby and Danna, speaking to them every few days, which allowed him to more solidly secure a friendship with the enigmatic hunter and enter a somewhat tense, wary, and cautious friendship with Danna. Danna still had some issues with him being a Shaman and killing her men, but her time with Firetail seemed to have softened her outlook somewhat. Danna's hatred of Shaman was quietly challenged by the matronly Shaman and her soft voice and her calm, gentle ways, forcing Danna to see the personality behind the title of Shaman. Firetail was kind, gentle, warm, compassionate, and caring, and it was hard to see someone like that as evil, no matter how hard one tried. Firetail, Kyven saw, was much like Clover, and it was clear quickly why Firetail and Clover got along so well. Clover too stopped by to see him quite a bit, every couple of days, usually eating breakfast with him as Firetail fed him massive amounts of food he needed to recover from his expenditures the day before.

And there were other distractions. Kyven's unique coloration made some of the vixens… curious about him. In a city where there were nothing but Arcans, males and females never had to look far to find a sexual partner. These Arcans had the same giving mentality as captive Arcans when it came to sex, and Kyven found that Silver's attitude towards him was not unique. Quite a few fox vixens of all four breeds, red, gray, arctic, and silver, saw him as both a Shaman and a potential breeding partner. They loved the way he looked, and Kyven found his training interrupted by quite a few offers of doing a different kind of exercise. And that was an invitation he couldn't deny, both because of the fox and because of himself. The first time he was boldly propositioned by a red fox, in much the same way as Silver had done, the fox had appeared to him and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would. Just as in the whorehouse back in Avannar, the fox pushed him on a female, and he realized that the fox fully intended to breed him. He was the only one of his kind, the only shadow fox Arcan, and the fox wanted more. He was her creation, her very own special Arcan, and she wanted her creation to continue beyond just him. So, every few days, Kyven's training was interrupted by a female with breeding on her mind.

But, over the weeks, and then months, it became clear that Kyven was either sterile, or he was not compatible enough to mate to other breeds of fox. He was compatible enough to trigger ovulation in females, but it wasn't enough. Kyven wasn't capable of impregnating females.

Firetail examined him after that came to light, when females he'd mated for more than long enough to make pregnant weren't, she proclaimed that he was fully healthy, so it wasn't him. It had to do with his unique nature, she surmised, that he was a created Arcan of a brand new breed. He was a fox, enough of a fox to trigger ovulation in females, but he was still too different to allow breeding.

That told him that not even the fox was as infallible as she seemed, and to her credit, she was big enough to admit it herself. She came to him in the morning just as he woke, the day after Firetail examined him, looking quite perplexed. She touched his hand with her front leg. I seem to have erred, she told him, quite simply. I thought you were capable of breeding within the main species, but it seems that you are not. Perhaps your being Arcan of a monster limits your breeding capability, rather than being an Arcan of a common animal.

"It's nothing to apologize over. It's not like I didn't enjoy trying," he told her, which made her give him a somewhat toothy grin in reply.

I must find another way, she noted to herself, but he heard her. I want your line continued before you return to humanity. I expended too much effort changing you to lose all that work when you change back. She looked at him. Return to your training. I will attend to this matter.

Kyven thought little about it, returning to his routine. The snow kept piling up over the winter, getting higher and higher, forcing the Arcans to haul it out of the city in wagons to keep the streets somewhat clear and prevent houses from getting buried. Kyven continued to run, continued to build up his endurance, working himself half to death every day and dragging himself back to Firetail's every night, barely able to walk. But the months had done much, since he could channel a spell and maintain it for over an hour by midwinter day, which was one of the checkpoints that the fox had demanded of him.

Midwinter day was also rather momentous for another reason, which Kyven didn't hear about until the next morning. When he woke up to the huge breakfast that Firetail had laid out for him, Toby and Danna were already there, looking a touch smug. Firetail herself was quite happy over something, which provoked Kyven to ask what was going on.

"Ah think we found a solution to the problem," Toby answered. "At least a temporary one."

"Yes, it's quite clever," Firetail agreed with a nod.

"Well, what did you come up with?"

"Let us say we're very glad that Toby came with you," Firetail smiled at him.

"We're going to buy the Arcans," Danna told him.

"Buy? Buy how?"

"The usual way," she said with a smug smile.

"It's quite simple, but also quite ingenious," Firetail said. "Already, every Shaman capable of it is making crystals, a mixture of the best and most valuable ones we can as well as many small industrial ones we can produce. In the spring, Toby will go to Alamar and buy every Arcan he can get his hands on using those crystals, then we will arrange to have the Masked pick them up and escort them out to where our guides can bring them home. We will do what we can to house them, but we will find a way."

"It's a double move," Danna told him. "At the same time, we remove Arcans that take crystals, but also bring crystals to at least stem the short-term shortage."

"But we cannot do this many times or the humans will become suspicious," Firetail told Kyven. "This is a one year action, with the objective to slow down what is coming long enough for us to think of something better. But with luck, we can buy ourselves two or three more years before we face a crisis."

"How are you going to explain what you're going to do with so many Arcans?" Kyven asked Toby.

"That ain't none o' their business," Toby told him. "They won't much care, neither. All they'll care about is that Ah paid good money fo' them. What Ah do with 'em an' how Ah handle 'em is mah problem, as far as they're concerned."

"Alamar's on the coast. How are you going to get them all the way up here?"

"They's not much population tah the northwest o' Alamar," Toby told him. "We can take 'em that way without arousin' much notice. It'll work best if Ah buy 'em in groups an' send them on, not all at once. What Ah hope tah do is reach Alamar in early spring, an' leave in the fall with not a single Arcan left anywhere in the city."

"Toby has explained that Alamar has the largest concentration of slave Arcans in Noraam, and that is the best place to do this."

"It won't be the only place," Danna said. "Masked agents will buy up every Arcan in the border villages abutting the frontier from Philia to Tret and bring them in. As kennelmasters run out of slaves, they'll buy more from the cities where the agents aren't working, and then we buy them. That lets the slavery system do our work for us. They'll bring the Arcans to our agents, and our agents will take them and ship them back here. The idea is to take at least one quarter of the total Arcan population this summer, which, like Miss Firetail said, should buy Haven a good two or three years."

"It's going to alert the Loremasters if that many Arcans disappear."

"Will it? They'll be bought, Kyven," she said with a smile. "Yes, people will notice there aren't as many Arcans for sale, but after the Arcans are bought and marched out of the villages and towns, what can they say? It's legal to buy Arcans. What those people do with the Arcans isn't anyone's business, because it's legal. We'll use humanity's own law against them, Kyv. They can't tell humans they can't buy Arcans when they have the money to do it."

Kyven leaned back, scratching his muzzle in thought. It was deceptively simple. If they simply bought the Arcans, and could get them out of human territory, what could humans really do? They would be bought legally, not stolen. The kennelmasters wouldn't care as long as they were paid, and the Loremasters might not see what was going on until after it was over. And when it was, there would be much fewer Arcan collars to power and a sudden influx of crystals. Yes, the Loremasters might piece together that something had happened, but without understanding Haven or just how extensive the Arcan system was, they'd lack crucial information to piece everything together. But… would they see it as a bad thing? There would be more crystals and fewer Arcan collars to power. Yes. They would see it as a bad thing. They would ignore the benefit and focus only on the mystery, and that was the sudden disappearance of one quarter of the Arcan slave population.

It would cause two problems that he could see. One, it would drive up the price of Arcans, as the supply would dry up. Two, it would alert the Loremasters that something strange was going on, and that, coupled with their other problem, would make them wary and harder to circumvent when it came time to get the rest of the Arcans from captivity. He communicated as much to them, and Firetail nodded. "The council thought much the same, and I agree, but we see a net gain. If it makes them more cautious, they still may not fully appreciate things, and they may also relax a little and delay any kind of drastic action. We feel it's a worthwhile risk to prevent a Loremaster policy of thinning the Arcan population."

"Ayah," Toby sounded.

"It's a practical approach," Danna added. "It doesn't solve the problem, but it does defuse the immediate threat. Yes, it's going to alert the Loremasters that something's going on, but they won't know what, they won't know why, and they won't know how. They'll only know that for some reason, a whole lot of Arcans were bought. They'll do a count and find out there are a lot fewer Arcans available in the kennels, but they won't piece things together until they get the reports from the crystalcutter and alchemist guilds and see that the orders for collars and crystals didn't go up, and they see that their inventories of available crystals are actually up. How they react to that information will flavor how the Arcans make their next move. If they realize that the Arcans weren't collared and seem to be nowhere to be found, they might raise an alert. But, there's no guarantee that they'll reach that conclusion. The Loremasters don't do a headcount of collared Arcans, only Arcans in kennels and collars made. They may never put it together, and that only helps our side."

"Our side?" Kyven asked with a smile.

She laughed. "I'm stuck here, Kyven. I'm not stupid enough to think anything different. They'll never let me leave here, not with all I know. But, I'll admit, at least the council treats me fairly."

"I've told you that many times, child, you are our guest, and we both value your wisdom and need your guidance," Firetail smiled at her. "We are trying to avert a war."

"And that's the only reason I'm cooperating with you, Firetail," Danna told her simply. "Because I believe you when you say that. I'm still angry over the loss of my men, but in a small way, I can understand the desperation that caused you to go so far to bring me here."

"What about you, Toby?" Kyven asked, looking at him. "Where do you fit in with this?"

"Ah'm bein' hired tah do the work, Kyven," Toby said. "The council's already agreed tah pay yo' fair price in the blue ring so Ah can take it tah Misses Ledwell an' honor mah agreement with her. They also hired me tah carry through the plan, and Ah'm a loyal man, Kyv. If yo' hire me, Ah do mah job, and Ah do it tah the best o' mah ability."

"Master Fisher's services are already retained," Firetail smiled. "And quite sharply did he bargain payment for his services."

"Ah may like y'all, Miss Firetail, but business is business," he said simply. "Ah'm no patriot o' zealot o' no Masked. Ah'll work fo' y'all because yo' payin' mah price. But fo' that price, y'all do get mah loyalty. Ah always keep mah word, an' Ah nevah back out o' a deal."

"I'll vouch for him on that," Kyven said simply as he attacked breakfast. "Toby is a man of his word."

Kyven pondered their rather unique temporary stopgap measure as he trained that day, and decided that it did seem to have merit. If the Loremasters didn't make that connection and realize someone bought all those Arcans and then vanished with them, they very well may never know what happened. And it would buy them time. With more crystals in circulation and fewer Arcans pressing demands for collars, it would buy the Arcans a year, maybe two, to try to come up with a permanent solution. This action was a stalling tactic, nothing more.

But for what it was intended to do, it would be effective, he surmised.

It would fall on the Shaman. They'd have to make a staggering number of crystals over the winter to raise the kind of money it would take to buy out the slave pens of Alamar and the kennels of the border towns, like Atan. It would be a king's ransom, but the advantage was that the humans took for money something the Arcans could manufacture in theoretically limitless quantity.

But that was a secret that the humans could never learn. If they found out that Shaman could make crystals, they'd come after the Arcans like never before, trying to capture Shaman and put them in the most pronounced kind of slavery, one from which they would never escape.

As the weeks rolled on, Kyven saw that the Shaman were preparing. Firetail had set a quota of every Shaman capable of creating crystals, for not all could. Kyven himself could not create crystals, because it was an advanced use of Shaman magic and far beyond his training. When he brought up the matter with the fox, she simply shrugged and told him it is not important, and thus it is not something I will teach you at this time. That left Kyven free to prepare as his totem demanded, while the other Shaman created both crystals of high quality to sell for large amounts of money, and also more commonplace crystals to try to help build up the dwindling supplies, to dissuade the Loremasters from making any rash moves. Though he couldn't see it, he was sure that the rest of the city and the Masked were also preparing, for what they were planning was going to take a lot of coordination and some work. The Masked would have to bring the Arcans into the wilderness, and guides from Haven would have to be there to bring them the rest of the way. Those Arcans would need food on their journey, and that many Arcans moving through the same territory in a constant stream would stress the supply of game to support them. They'd need food stocked in supply posts in place and ready for them to feed them on their journey here. And when they got here, all those Arcans would need to be housed and fed, which would press the area in new ways. But they had to find a way, necessity demanded it. And since there was no other way, they'd make due as best they could.

Deep in winter, early one bitterly cold morning that made the pads on Kyven's feet ache, the fox appeared to him as he reached the edge of the city to begin his daily training. She said nothing, only sat there with her tail wrapped around her legs, quite sedately, her eyes demanding and expectant. He knelt in the snow in front of her to bring his eyes to her level, then she reared up and put her paws on his shoulders, looking down at him. In that touch there was communication, and in that communication there was instruction.

She finally taught him a new spell.

It was the spell she wanted him most to learn, he realized. It wasn't so much a spell as it was an idea, a concept, a method, and that method was the system of creating illusion.

It was the core of what she wished to teach.

This is one of only three spells you will ever need learn, she told him after she imparted to him the idea behind it. Illusion is the most powerful force in the world, my Shaman, because it is limitless. It is not hindered by your lack of power, it is hindered only by your imagination.

"If that's so, why will I have more ability in illusion than other Shaman?"

Two reasons. First, because this spell is very demanding to use if you are not, by nature, a creature whose nature is compatible with illusion, she answered. The other side of it is that other Shaman are limited by what kinds of illusions they can create, where you will have no restrictions. Other Shaman can only create standardized spells of illusions, where you have much more free reign. For them, illusions are spells. For you, they are a technique. You do not suffer the same restrictions they do. This is where you differ from them. This is the advantage you gain by being a totem Shaman. My affinity for illusion will make this spell much less taxing for you to cast than other Shaman, and you can do much, much more with them.

"I understand. How does this spell work?"

The way it works is simple, my Shaman. The larger the illusion, the more power it takes to create and maintain. You have reached a point where I now expect you to train both your body and your magic at the same time. From this point on, you will do your training while holding an illusion. Begin simply. Create a very small illusion and hold it, you will find that you will not have to search for ways to make your training more rigorous, she said with amused eyes. I'm rather disappointed that you did not think to do this, she sniffed. You separated training the body from the magic in your mind, and they are essentially the same thing. You should have used magic while exercising.

She was right; that idea had never occurred to him. That wasn't how Stalker had taught him, and he was just following the same routine Stalker created.

Illusion, my Shaman, is making others believe in the unbelievable. That requires that you do not think the same way others think. For you to be convincing, you must sell the illusion to those who will not believe it. That requires you to believe in what is not there yourself, and that belief is what gives the illusion its power.

"That doesn't make any sense. I know it's just an illusion. It's not real."

But they do not know that, she told him. That is the secret of illusion, my Shaman. For them to believe, you must believe. If you can weave that belief into your spell, then you will create something that is real.

"That's impossible!"

Is it? What is impossible, Shaman? she asked with a toothy smile. What is truly impossible? The world is naught but what you perceive. Attend. She looked to her left, and Kyven looked with her. Standing there was Danna, naked as the day she was born, giving him a lurid smile. The sight of her made him attentive in ways not entirely proper when in the presence of his totem. Then, to his surprise, she vanished.

It was an illusion!

What did you feel when you saw her? she asked.

"Lust," he answered honestly. Lying to her was pointless, as she seemed to know what he was thinking.

And yet it was not real, she pointed out. That is the power of illusion, Shaman. You saw what was not there and accepted it as real before you even considered the plausibility of it. Your mind reacted to the illusion before your reason started wondering why Danna would be standing out in the winter naked, and why there were no footprints in the snow showing her arrival.

Kyven blinked.

Humans and Arcans are beings entirely grounded in their senses, Shaman. Fool those senses, and you substitute their reality with one of your own choosing, and that reality can impact them in very real ways, such as the sight of Danna inciting your mating instincts. But for that attempt to be convincing, you have to be ready to believe in your own creation yourself. That is the art of illusion, Shaman. It is not so much spellcasting as it is painting in smells, or playing music seen with the eyes rather than heard with the ears. When you can so fully and completely imagine that which is not there and build it into reality with your magic, you will create illusions so convincing that they actually take on properties of reality. Believe so utterly in an illusion of a wall, and you will be unable to pass through it.

In a twisted kind of way, that made a kind of sense. "So, if I can make an illusion so convincing that it even fools me, then it will fool everyone else?"

Correct enough to answer your question, she told him. The key to it all, Shaman, is your imagination. If you cannot imagine it and make it believable, then it will not work.

"I'm not much of an artist."

It has little to do with art, it has to do with memory and imagination, she told him. And those are qualities you already possess to my satisfaction, or I would never have taken you for my own. How this spell works is thusly, Shaman. First, imagine what it is you want to create with illusion. It must be detailed, as detailed as possible. The more detail is has, the more believable it will be, and thus more effective. Let's start small. Imagine a crystal, much like the ones you used to cut. Build it in your mind. Imagine every detail of it, how it looks, how it sparkles in the light, how it feels in your hand, the texture of its surface, even how it smells. Give it as much detail as possible.

He did so, and this was an area where he had a lot of experience. He imagined a spiral cut green crystal, ten points in weight, that was without flaws. He imagined its planes and lines, he saw in his mind's eye how it caught the light in emerald flashes as it was moved, he knew almost exactly how much it weighed, and knew how it felt in his hand, how it tingled, every minute detail.

Very good. Now build the spell. Take what is in your mind and push it out into the real world, into your own hand.

He did so. He took that image and swept it up into the spell, then besought the fox for the power to cast it. She was literally right there in contact with him, so the spell's power came through her, literally through his own shoulders, and it focused into his open hand. A glittering spiral cut green crystal appeared in his hands, and to his surprise, it had weight.

It has weight because you imagined it to have weight, she informed him with a toothy smile. Your belief gives the illusion a sense of weight, where there actually is no weight. Now do you begin to understand the power of illusion?

He did. By giving it weight, and making it so realistic, if he threw it at someone, they would flinch. They might even believe that it hit them.

Precisely. The mind is a powerful thing, Shaman. It can, in some ways, influence true reality by shading it with its own impression. A man struck by an illusory hammer, who believes that it is real, will suffer a real injury, at least in his own mind. His mind will be so convinced that it will create pain where none exists, but as there was no real harm done, the pain will vanish when he realizes it. But there is a threshold, Shaman, a level of belief that will cause that man to suffer a real wound from an illusory weapon. It is at that point where the conscious mind so shapes its perceived reality that it overlaps into truth. That is the pinnacle of illusion, Shaman. That is the goal for which you strive. The day an illusory knife cuts, then you have mastered what I wish to teach, and you will understand the true power of illusion.

"That sounds… impossible."

It is not something you will achieve tomorrow, she smiled. That is where your belief begins. When your mind and your victim's mind are both working in unison on a common belief, then that belief will cross into truth, and it will become real. It is the ultimate expression of illusion, the power to alter reality.

He nodded.

Release the illusion. Build another, something simple, and maintain it as you run. I believe you'll find you can't run nearly as far as usual when you do, she said with a toothy grin, then she pulled away and put her feet back on the snow.

"What are the other two spells you want to teach?" he asked impulsively.

She shook her head, then got up, turned, and walked away. Despite it being sunny and snow-covered, almost glaringly bright, shadows seemed to converge around the fox, and they swallowed her up, leaving him alone.

Something simple. Kyven decided it had to be something that didn't involve him holding it, so he built an image of a simple little leather bracer in his mind, something around his wrist. He imagined its color, its texture, the way it would feel around his fur, how it would feel moving up and down on his wrist as he ran, even its smell. Once he had a complete image in his mind, he pushed that image into the spell, then reached out to the fox to have her grant him the power to cast it. She naturally responded, and the black leather bracer, new and impressive, shimmered into view around his right wrist.

At first, it wasn't hard at all. He ran on as he usually did. But after about twenty minutes, when he'd usually be still running at full speed and quite strongly, he was already getting a little tired, and he found it hard to focus… for more than one reason. Not only was it draining on him to maintain the spell, he found that he had to concentrate on it even as he did other things, and that splitting of his attention was something that was surprisingly difficult. If he paid too much attention to the bracer, he lost track of what he was doing. If he paid too much attention to running, the illusion around his wrist began to break down, lose its clarity and focus, and he had to work fast and hard to maintain the illusion or it would tear, and that tearing of the magic creating it would cause it to fade.

So, this was about more than just building his endurance, he reasoned. By teaching him the illusion and telling him to use it while running, he saw her other intent, and that was to train him to be able to keep his attention on more than one thing at a time.


The new training regimen didn't take up nearly as much of his time, but it left him just as exhausted.

Instead of staying out until well after sunset, now he was dragging himself back to Firetail's house not long after noon, trembling with exhaustion, barely able to hold himself up. The combination of physical and magical exertion sucked all the energy right out of him, and left him all but incapacitated when he could go no further.

But it was working, in more ways than one. Thanks to Firetail's blessing, Kyven's endurance continued to build, and he could run a little further each day, maintain his illusion longer each day without being incapacitated while his body recovered. But on the other front, he was learning how to divide his attention, to maintain his illusion even as he engaged his mind on other matters, almost compartmentalizing it so one part of his mind could focus on the magic while the other part dealt with everything else. As the days passed, Kyven could run further, hold his illusion longer, keep his concentration on it to maintain it more clearly, and also sharpened his imagination by practicing building illusions of various kinds.

That was a trial and error process. He found that he had to practice the images that he used with the illusions. His first attempts were usually not very good, and the little flaws he noticed were things he corrected in future attempts, practicing the image over and over until he got it right. He also found that larger illusions were harder because there was more detail involved in them. An illusion of a Wolveran was harder than an illusion of a rabbit both because it was larger and required more magic, but also because the larger illusion had more area for detail, and he had to fill in those details… it was more to keep track of when he conjured up the image to use for the illusion.

He started with very small illusions, but as time went by, he expanded on that. The little bracer became a necklace that bobbed and jerked as he ran, then became a pair of pants that ended at his knees, then became a long-sleeved tunic, then he ran out not as a shadow fox, but appearing to be a male coyote with the same markings and coloration as Clover. That was when it started getting really hard. He had to hold the image in all three dimensions and keep it visible in all directions, and attach the illusions to his body so the illusion's ears moved when his did, and the tail moved as his did, and so on. The other things were only really seen from one direction, and so he didn't have to include a back to them. The first attempts he made at wearing an illusion like a costume were almost comical, and it took him nearly a month to get the hang of it to the point where wearing the illusion of a coyote didn't make other Arcans give him funny looks.

Of course, it was fun, and satisfied his sense of ego, to have his coyote illusion sport a much larger penis than his own; not that he wasn't at least gracefully endowed in that area, but it made him laugh to watch the females' eyes gawk as he went by.

The evil of the fox was wearing off on him.

Clover wasn't his only model for learning illusions to hide his true appearance. With Firetail's help and a lot of observation, he built detailed images of cougars, skunks, wolves, bears, mice, cats, and badgers, and practiced them all. He had an idea of what the fox wanted him to do, so he was preparing by getting his disguises lined up. He wanted to be able to appear to be several different kinds of Arcan.

And also human.

It was almost painful to do that. He remembered what he looked like, so he used that to build an illusion of himself as a human, with the green eyes and black hair, sleek, muscular form, every detail he cared to build while smoothing over some of his features of which he wasn't very proud, like the scar on his shoulder, to create a stylized version of himself that looked like him, but looked as he imagined himself to look, which was probably better than how he really did look.

About everyone has an ego-influenced image of themselves.

It took him a few days to get it right. He spent much of that time before exercising looking in the full-length mirror Firetail had gotten for him, working out the mars that made it unbelievable, and practicing moving in a way that didn't look too strange given he had much different legs in reality, and he had a tail that the illusion concealed. It was the first illusion covering himself that moved in a completely different way that he did, mainly in his legs, and it took him a while to learn how to merge the reality with the illusion to make his movements look natural.

This was the imagination that the fox said. He had to imagine how he would look walking as a human, since he didn't have much memory of it… after all, he'd never sat around and watched people walk before. Toby was a great help as he perfected his human illusion, being his model in a way as he worked out exactly how his illusion would look when it moved. Toby was a pretty good sport about it, and the work with him actually caused them to become closer, reaching into the realm of good friends.

Danna's reaction the first time she saw him in his human illusion was startling. It was during one of his and Toby's modeling sessions, and both of them were undressed so Kyven could see the movement under the clothes, which would allow the clothed illusion to move properly. When Danna barged into his room without knocking, Toby was wearing a blanket around himself to stave off the chill as Kyven walked back and forth in front of him, testing out how believable he looked to someone that was looking for flaws.

That was also the belief that the fox had told him about. Half of the success of hiding under an illusion was the attitude he projected. He had to believe he was what he appeared to be, and that took quite a bit of acting. If he looked timid and tentative and nervous, people would pick up on that, and it would make them scrutinize him. But if he acted human, then it just reinforced what they were seeing, and made them much less apt to penetrate his illusion and see the reality underneath. He was human, though, so wearing a human illusion wasn't hard at all, where it would be extremely difficult for another Shaman, like Clover, to attempt. They may understand human nature, but they were not human, and that would make it very hard for them to hide under a human illusion and interact with other humans. They couldn't project the aire of believability required to pull it off.

"By the Trinity, she changed you back!" Danna gasped, looking at Kyven in amazement. Toby laughed, and Kyven gave Danna a rather sheepish look. Before he could object, she rushed over and hugged him, hugged him while he was naked, and he froze in the middle of the act. He felt her touch his back with her bare hands, then sink her fingers into his fur, then pull on it almost painfully. "What the fuck?" she asked in surprise.

"Ow! Danna!" Kyven objected, pushing her away. "This is just an illusion," he told her, looking her in the eye. "I've mastered other Arcan illusions, I'm trying to master human illusions. I guess I did a good job," he said as he smiled at her.

"That's definitely convincing," she agreed, looking him up and down clinically, then her eyes focused on his crotch. "Though I think you're overdoing it a bit there. You already have enough down there, Kyv, no need to look like you have a third leg."

Toby exploded into laughter, and Kyven's illusion actually blushed. "It's a sort of joke," he told her in a weak voice. "I've been teasing some of the females around the house."

"Well, it just won't do," she told him bluntly. "Fix it." As Toby kept laughing, Kyven dutifully corrected the illusion to match his actual proportions, to which Danna simply nodded in approval. "Much better. It looks just like the face and body I remember," she told him. "You did a good job."

"Uh, thanks," he said uncertainly, releasing the illusion and causing his Arcan form to reappear. For some reason, he… wanted that fur around him right now, because he felt quite naked and exposed under Danna's penetrating eye. Toby just kept on laughing, so Kyven imagined a large bucket of icy cold water hanging over his head, and built that image into an illusion. The bucket appeared over his head, and with a snap of his fingers, he caused it to overturn, pouring its ice-chunked contents down over the laughing man. Toby's laughs turned to a hissing inhale of breath, then a quite satisfying scream of shock when the illusory water's chilling bite sank its icy fangs into Toby's skin. Toby had accepted the perception that it was real water and ice cold, and his body reacted to the impression of his mind, just as the fox said he would if Kyven made the illusion believable enough.

"That's cheatin'!" Toby spluttered, coming up appearing to look dripping wet and shivering. But Kyven just gave him a slight head-tilted look, then dismissed the illusion, leaving him dry, but still standing there hugging himself with his teeth chattering. That made Danna explode into laughter.

"Ah'm stahtin' tah hate you, Kyv," Toby challenged, but he was grinning.

"That was punishment. Someday I'll show you reward," Kyven winked.

"Seriously, though, it's getting' tah where Ah never know if what yo' doin' is real or just an illusion," Toby told him.

"I think that's the idea," Danna said professionally. "That's the objective of any illusionist, isn't it? To get to where people can't tell the difference?"

Kyven nodded, smiling a toothy smile. "Thanks for the compliment, Toby. I guess I am getting better at this."

"Don't get a big head, though," Danna told him. "Or two of them."

Toby exploded into a fresh round of laughter.

The complement did reflect reality, though. Kyven's constant use of illusion had sharpened his mind and his imagination, and that sharpened imagination, in turn, allowed him to produce more and more detail in his illusions. It was a self-reinforcing circle of training and result. Kyven felt he was moving right along with that, though he still dragged home every day so tired he could barely move as he maintained larger and larger illusions while running, trying to push himself beyond the limit, but thanks to Firetail's blessing, he rebounded every morning feeling fresh and new. Every day, as the snow piled deeper and deeper, Kyven could run further and further holding his illusions longer and longer. Kyven's endurance seemed to increase exponentially over the bitterly cold days, days so cold that he had to take steps to protect his exposed genitals, which had no fur to protect them, else suffer a particularly humiliating and painful form of frostbite. By February, when there was at least three paces of snow on the ground in a winter that many in Haven said was one of the snowiest winters they could remember, Kyven had achieved the fox's empirical demand that he be able to hold an illusion all day. The first time he managed it, he dragged back to Firetail's house staggering so badly he could barely stand, let alone walk, but he was still cloaked in an illusion of a skunk Arcan. He managed to take about two steps into her compound, then he collapsed into the snow, panting heavily. Firetail always seemed to know when he was back, so she came out and collected him, carried him into the house, and tucked him into bed so he could rest and take a short nap before dinner.

That first victory wasn't the last, but it wasn't repeated for four more days, as Kyven decided that if he could manage it wearing an Arcan illusion, he had to use a bigger one, something that was even more demanding. His illusions became larger, even more detailed, and then became multiple illusions as he did everything he could to make it as hard as possible, knowing that his very life would depend on how long he could hold an illusion, and how believable those illusions could be. He was aiming to build his endurance first, then come back and train with the illusions themselves, but he was getting better and better at making them. He strove for perfection even holding an illusion nobody but he would see while he ran out into the snowbound wilderness, because sloppy work could be habit forming.

By March, Kyven found the fox sitting in the courtyard when he staggered home still cloaked in a highly detailed illusion of him as a bear Arcan, seated sedately with her tail wrapped around her legs. He dropped to his knees before her, hands in the snow to steady himself, and she reached forward and touched her nose to his muzzle. In that touch, there was communication. Your physical training is complete, she told him. You have reached your pinnacle. No amount of training will increase your endurance any further. You must continue to exercise to maintain your endurance, but you do not have to push yourself to this extreme any further.

He could only pant his relief at that.

You have reached this point ahead of schedule. That pleases me. From here, you will practice illusions. Your work thus far has been quite pleasing, but you need more work. You must be able to produce convincing illusions on the first try, even images you have never tried before. So spend your time observing, memorizing, learning new shapes, new faces, new things. Work with your imagination, try illusions of things you have never seen, only imagined. Don't restrict yourself to animals or people either. An illusion of a wall can be just as useful to you as an illusion of an Arcan, when used properly. And remember, always, the most convincing illusions are more than just visual. An illusion that has a smell and a sense of feeling is much more convincing, and those are things you can give them if you are detailed enough.

You have reached your peak in endurance. Now you must exercise your mind, Shaman.

"I… will," he panted in reply.

Tonight, rest. Tomorrow, I have something for you to do.

He did just that. Firetail fed him a light dinner, and he went straight to bed.

The morning started with his usual massive breakfast to stave off the physical drain that practicing magic and endurance training put on him, a breakfast shared by Danna, Toby, and Patches. Firetail just smiled and piled it in front of him, then sat down and patted him on the shoulder. "So, you are finished with the physical training," she noted. How did she learn these things? "Now what? Is your spirit sending you back out to resume your Walk?"

"She said she has something for me to do today," he answered between bites of buffalo meat. "She also said that I need to work on my illusions. I think she thinks they're not good enough yet."

"They fool me," Firetail laughed.

"Only the ones I've practiced doing for a while," he answered. "She wants me to practice until I can get it right the first time. She said I have to exercise my mind now."

"Yes, I can see that," Firetail nodded. "Illusions are one of the hardest forms of Shaman magic. That she chose you to be her Shaman, well, a few of us have wondered why."

"Because I'm so weak?" he asked simply.

"Weak? Weak how?" Danna asked.

"As Shaman measure raw power, child, Kyven is, well, not very strong," she said delicately. "I doubt he'll ever be able to perform much of the magic the rest of us can."

"It doesn't embarrass me, Firetail," he said simply. "I am human. I guess humans just don't make good Shaman."

"You just lack the physical requirements," Firetail sighed. "I had thought that maybe being in an Arcan body might change it, but it doesn't."

"Why would that matter?" Danna asked.

"Child, magic requires physical strength and stamina to use," she answered. "Arcans are naturally strong, so we have the strength necessary to be able to handle the power."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Think of it like this, child. Magic is work. It is just like carrying heavy rocks. Carrying heavy rocks requires strength, but also requires endurance. Kyven is weak in raw strength. He can't carry rocks as large as I. But his endurance is just as good as my own. He may not be able to carry rocks as large, but he can carry them all day long. By the spirits, he may be able to carry them longer than I," she laughed. "But I'm old, and my endurance isn't what it used to be."

"You don't seem old at all," Danna protested.

"I'm nearly fifty, child," she answered. "The only reason I'm not hobbling about using a cane is because I'm a Shaman, and I'm in such good shape. I don't see myself lasting more than ten more years. I feel my age more and more every day when I get out of bed in the morning," she said with a light-hearted chuckle.

"Naw, Firetail, yo' be 'round for another fifty years," Toby told her.

"Spirits, I hope not," she laughed. "I'd be so disabled by age I'd be bedridden. I'd much rather sleep a peaceful death than endure that."

"I think we can talk about something less depressing now," Danna said.

Firetail gave her a smile. "By the way, dear, the council wants to see you today. They have a few more ideas to put to you."

"I didn't have anything planned today. Or any other day," she grunted.

"Have you given any thought to their proposal?"

"I've thought about it," she answered. "But I'm not sure how much cooperation I'm going to get if I do it. Most of the Arcans here won't talk to me, and if I can't get information, what good will I be as a sheriff? Most Arcans here would be afraid of a human having any authority over them."

"Those attitudes are changing, dear. I think you and Toby coming has been very good for us. It shows our people that there is no reason to fear humans, that we can get along with them."

"Well, Ah'm not so sho' about that, Firetail," Toby said. "Ah still get quite a few ugly looks an' nasty comments on the streets. Ah've even had a couple Arcans try to mug me."

"Why didn't you say so?" she asked, with sudden heat. "Who were they? What did they do?"

Toby laughed. "Nothin' Ah couldn't handle," he answered. "Arcans think Ah'm easy cause Ah'm not as strong as they are. Ah educate 'em quickly that that don't mean squat. Ah don't do no permanent harm, but Ah do remind 'em to mind they manners."

"Good," she said with a nod. "I will not tolerate any kind of behavior like that. You are our guests. The council brought you here to help both our peoples and try to stop a war."

"Some of yo' people don't feel that way," Toby told her. "No matter why we're heah, all they see are humans in they city."

"I'll have a little talk with the council. And if you get accosted again, let me know."

"Ah will."

There was a knock at the door. "Excuse me, friends," Firetail said as she stood, then she went to answer it. Kyven continued to eat, which made Danna give a slight face as he ate more raw buffalo meat.

"How can you stand that?" she asked, for what had to be the fiftieth time, which made Patches giggle.

"I was eating it raw long before I was turned into an Arcan," he answered, for the fiftieth time.

"Kyven, dear, I think you need to come into the parlor," Firetail said as she came back. "You have a… visitor."

"Really?" he asked. "Who'd be visiting me?" He stood up and came over to the matronly cougar, and followed her into the sitting room. He stopped dead not five steps in and gasped.

Across the room, near the door, stood two canine Arcans wearing the uniforms of the city watch, flanking a nude female shadow fox Arcan. She was about a rod shorter than him, sleek, slender, with the exact same coloration, but where he had short black hair and green eyes, she had shoulder-length raven-black hair and amber eyes. She didn't have the pattern small breasts of an Arcan female, instead having more pronounced breasts that were more human-like in proportion, and looked to barely be more than an adult.

"Kyven!" she said in a chiming, sweet voice. She rushed over to him and pushed herself against him, holding onto his shoulders with her hands, and then she put her head and muzzle against his chest and nuzzled him. "I made it!"

"Who–Who are you?" he asked in consternation.

"Mother made me just for you!" she exclaimed.

"Who?"

She looked at him and grinned. "She made me just for you!" she repeated. "Am I pretty?"

He was totally scattered. "Hold on, you're losing me here," he said, pushing her out to arm's length. "What's your name?"

"I don't have one. Can you give me one?"

"I guess we can, but later. Now who are you talking about? What do you mean, made you?"

She put her hands on his shoulders. "Mother made me, just for you!" she said, once again.

"Who were you before she made you, child?" Firetail asked.

"I was one of her children," she answered.

One of her children? The only person she could be talking about that would do such a thing had to be the spirit. She had done to someone else what she did to him, changed them into an Arcan. "You mean my spirit changed you into this?"

"Yes! Am I pretty?"

"Uh, yes, you are pretty," he said, a little confused.

"She made me just for you!" she said yet again. "I'm happy!" she proclaimed, pushing past his hands and hugging him again.

Kyven gave Firetail a helplessly confused look, but Firetail shrugged with a similar expression. "Girl," Kyven said, pushing her away again. "Well, I think you need a name, first. What kind of name would you like?"

"I don't know what names are good."

"Whatever sounds nice to you."

"Oh. Well, you pick. She made me–"

"Just for me," he cut her off. "Well, how does Umbra sound?"

"I like it!"

"Umbra?" Firetail asked.

"It's another word for shadow," he answered, then looked back to her. "Alright, Umbra, tell me what happened."

"Happened?"

"How did the spirit bring you into this?"

"She asked me. I said yes," Umbra said simply.

"What exactly did she ask you?"

"She said she needed a mother for a new race of Arcans. I agreed," she said calmly. "So she made me just like you, just for you," she completed. "You and me are supposed to have babies, and our babies will be a new race of Arcans."

Well, that much matched what Kyven already knew. The fox wanted him to continue his line before he regained his humanity, so her creation would live on after he was human again. "Well, did she promise to change you back when you have the baby?"

"Change me back? I don't want to change back!" she told him. "I like being this way! But she said that you might change back into a human," she added. "I guess that's okay, if that's what you want. But you'd better still come see me after you do. I'll be the mother of your babies, after all."

"She told you about me?"

"All about you," she answered. "I wanted to know you before I agreed. I liked what she said of you, and decided I could easily be your mate. I guess it's a little vain," she laughed. "But I wanted to be the mother of a whole race. I had to convince her to pick me over the others."

"What others?"

"You don't think I'm the only one she asked, did you?" she grinned. "She asked several of us, and I was the one she picked!"

"When was this?"

"About two full moons ago," she answered. "It took me a while to get here. I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, and I had about two weeks when I had to take shelter from a blizzard." She leaned in against him, wrapping her arms around him. "So, am I pretty?" she asked, in a rather seductive voice.

"Uh, you're pretty, but this is a little fast for me," he said, putting his hands on her waist. "I'm not like an Arcan, Umbra. I need to get to know you a little more."

"What's there to know?" she asked. "There's only one of you, and one of me, and we're the only two of our kind in the whole world. She wants us together. What else is there to know?"

"Plenty. I don't know anything about you at all. Where are you from?"

"We can talk about those things later," she said dismissively.

"We can talk about them now," he told her. He glanced over and saw Danna, and to his surprise, he saw a look of naked, unmitigated jealousy on her face. Why on earth was she jealous? She'd made it clear that she had no interest in him, because he was an Arcan, he was a Shaman, and he killed her men. "Now, where are you from?"

"I lived near a human village called Devonshire," she answered. Devonshire was a name Kyven knew. It was a village like Atan, but it was to the north, up in the Two Forks area. "I made my way there just as any of us do, hunting and hiding from the humans. Two full moons ago, the spirit came to us and told us what she needed. Several of us agreed to do it, but she only chose one of us. Me. I thought it was a bit strange that she would only pick one given she wants a new race, but she could only change one, so I convinced her to pick me. I guess that means I don't have to share you with other females."

Kyven coughed uncomfortably under Danna's hot stare.

"So, she changed me and told me which way to go, and I've been on my way here ever since. Being changed hurt," she said with a shiver. "But it was worth it. I got the chance to come here, and I get to appease my vanity by being the mother of a new race."

She was… strange. She seemed almost childish in some ways, like her bubbling enthusiasm, but now she sounded much more mature and wise than she had just a few minutes ago.

"So, here I am," she grinned up at him. "I was made just for you! Am I pretty?"

And right back to seeming almost childish. "Uh, you're very pretty, Umbra," he said, which made her all but glow from his praise.

"I want to see if you're as handsome as she said you were," she announced, grabbing the waist of his trousers with her clawed hands. "Take these silly things off. I want to see you."

Danna wasn't the only one leveling a hot stare on this strange Arcan. Patches was giving her what for with her eyes as well as she clumsily tried to unbuckle Kyven's belt.

"Uh, this isn't a good place for that," Kyven told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because the human here might find it a bit offensive," he said, motioning at Danna with his muzzle. "And since she's a guest, we have to be polite."

"Oh. A human, here? How strange," she noted, then looked around. "Well, let's go somewhere else then. I want to see you."

"I want to talk to you more first."

"If we go somewhere, we can talk while I look at you," she said with surprising logic.

"I think that might be a good idea," Firetail told him with a slightly amused look. "Take her upstairs, my friend."

"Just don't be gone too long," Danna said in a threatening manner.

Patches mirrored Danna's expression as Umbra took his hand with both of her own. Why was she jealous? They hadn't had sex for weeks! Patches had been going out with a very friendly little raccoon that lived down the street, and now she had the nerve to be jealous over her?

Kyven took her up to his room and brought her in. She looked around curiously, leaning over and touching the lamp with a curious finger, then jumped back with a squeak of surprise when her touch caused it to come on, to give a gentle warm light from the bulb at its top, a bulb covered with a canvas shade to protect the eyes from the direct source of light. But her attention was right back on him when he closed the door, her hands pulling at his shirt, raising it up to reveal the soft white fur on his stomach. "Alright, Umbra, talk," he said bluntly, as she pulled the shirt higher. "What's going on? The truth."

"You heard the truth," she shrugged as she pushed his shirt up to his chest. "Take these off. I want to see you as you should be, not wearing stupid human clothing."

"That's something of a stretch," Kyven said, but he did take off his shirt. She ran her fingers through his fur gently, almost sensually. "Why did you call her mother?"

"That's who she is," she answered. "She's the mother. She created us. Both of us."

"I have more colorful names for her than that," Kyven growled. "She may have asked you, but she didn't ask me. She tricked me."

"Do you hate what you are?" she asked pointedly, grabbing his belt buckle. "How do you work this silly thing?"

"No, I don't hate what I am, but I hate how I got here," he said, sighing and moving her hands. It seemed she would be quite persistent until she got what she wanted, and Kyven no longer had human modesty. If she wanted to look at him, fine.

"Does the past really matter?" she asked simply. "If you're happy the way you are, does it really matter how it happened to you?"

"It does to me," he stated as he removed his trousers, and stood unclad before her. She took a step back and gave him a long, appraising look, then she licked her chops.

"Just as mother said," she smiled. "Very handsome."

"Thanks," he said dryly. "So, you agreed to this?"

"Totally," she answered. "I get to feel special, and it's not like I'm not going to enjoy it," she said with a little hum, running her hand sensually along his white stomach, dipping it down and fondling him brazenly, which triggered a reaction out of him as his penis began to thicken. "You're taller than I expected. And bigger," she said with a wink, her tail slashing behind her aggressively.

So, this was what the fox meant when she said she'd attend the matter, months ago. She went out and convinced some female Arcan to be changed into a shadow fox Arcan, like him, so he had a compatible breeding partner. He couldn't deny that her touch was gentle and inviting, and her hold on his penis was making him erect. He was male, after all, and here was a very willing female. But the consequences of it were what cooled him down a little. If they had sex, she might get pregnant, and that meant he'd become a father. Not a father of a human baby, but the father of an Arcan, just like he was now. That would introduce responsibility into the equation, where he would feel a duty to watch over his children, and might dissuade him from wanting to be human again.

"Why only one?" he asked curiously as her hands began exploring his waist, hips, and lower torso.

"She said it was only possible to change one of us," she shrugged. "I don't know why. Ask her, if you want to know."

"I think I'd better," he said, stepping over to the bed and sitting down, and patting the bed beside him. She sat down by him, but one of her hands kept sliding up and down his side, over his hip, up and down his thigh, and her tail slinked against his lower back, hooking around him to slide its soft fur along his own in a manner he found very appealing. "And you came all this way alone?"

"Mostly," she answered. "Some guides found me last week and brought me the rest of the way. It's not like I can't hunt, or I'm not safe," she grinned. "I know the tricks of shadow. I was quite safe."

"So, you learned how to hide in the shadows?"

"Can't you?"

"Of course I can."

"Well, I'm glad you were worried about me, even if it's just now," she smiled. "So, want to get started?"

"You just got here! Aren't you tired or something?"

"A little, but I'm more curious than tired," she grinned at him. "I changed my life to take up this purpose, Kyven. Besides, are you saying I'm not pretty enough for you?" she challenged.

"I never said that. I said I wanted to get to know you better."

"Oh, alright," she sighed. "We'll take some time and get to know each other better, but I think it's totally silly. We both know why I'm here, and we both know it's going to happen. I was made just for you," she said with a smile. "Mother said you'd find me very, very attractive. Am I not pretty?"

"You're very pretty. How old are you?"

"I'm five," she said proudly.

"Five? Trinity, that sounds so bizarre," he sighed. "To a human, five years old is barely past weaning."

"Well, that's them. We're different," she said simply. "How old are you?"

"Twenty," he answered.

"You don't look that old. You look like you're only about six."

"I guess in Arcan years, I am six or so," he said simply. "What did you do?"

"Huh?"

"Before you were changed."

"What do any of us do? I hunted and stayed hidden," she answered.

"You weren't owned? You weren't a slave?"

"No!" she said with surprise.

"You've never been a slave?"

"Never."

"Your mother raised you in the wilds outside Devonshire?"

"Didn't I just say that?" she asked. "I've never been close enough to humans to get a good look at them. My parents kept me far from the humans and always taught me they were very dangerous. When I was weaned and went out on my own, I obeyed their teachings. They stayed far away, so I stayed far away."

"You're lucky. Most Arcans have very bad experience with humans."

"Then my parents were wise," she said simply. "Mother told me all about you, and your past. She said you're a Shaman."

"I am."

"What's it like? Being a Shaman."

"It hasn't been all that good so far," he said honestly. "It's a lot of work, and there were some pretty harsh lessons I had to learn," he added, rubbing at the fur on his arm absently.

"I think it's nice. I think you're pretty," she told him.

"Pretty? I've never been called that before," he chuckled.

"You are pretty. I'm glad I was picked," she said in a cooing tone, leaning against him. "Do you know me better now?"

He laughed. "Not quite yet," he said. "And I have training to do today. Why don't you stay with Firetail today?"

"Who is that?"

"The Shaman downstairs that answered the door. This is her house, she lets me stay here."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"I don't really have one," he answered.

"Well, you do now," she announced. "Me!"

"So it seems."

"You don't seem very happy," she said, a bit challengingly.

"I'm a little surprised," he answered honestly. "And a little intimidated."

"By me?" she asked with a laugh.

"No, by what you represent," he answered. "I never really thought about what she was doing until I looked you in the face. She wants me to be a father," he said, in a slightly reverent tone.

"Don't be scared. I'll help you through it," she grinned.

Kyven laughed in spite of himself. "I guess I'll get over it," he said. "I'm bound to the fox, and I have to do what she says, whether I like it or not. She wants this, so this is what she gets."

"Don't make it sound like a chore," she said archly.

He put his hand on her knee. "Sorry. I just need a little time to get used to the idea of it, that's all. Before, she was sending me to other vixens. This time, she sent the vixen to me. I, I guess you'll be living in here," he said, looking around his room.

"Of course I will," she said calmly. "At least until I know I'm pregnant. After that, if I bother you, I can move out. But I'd rather stay."

"No. No, you can stay," he said. "You'll be carrying my child, I'd rather keep you close so I can make sure you're okay."

"That's nice," she said, leaning against him affectionately. "I was told one thing."

"What?"

"She wants me pregnant before spring. I think she has something for you to do. When she told me, she said you wouldn't be here to get the job done if I wasn't pregnant before the snow melts. So, that's why I'm a little, well, enthusiastic," she giggled. "It's not long until spring, and we don't have long until the snow melts."

"Well, that fits in with what I guessed at," he said, patting her knee, and finding her fur almost sinfully soft. He found himself caressing her leg before he knew what he was doing. Trinity, was this how his own fur felt? He never really thought about it before. Umbra just leaned back on her hands, invitingly, and that spurred him to more bold investigation. He ran his hand along the soft white fur on her belly, feeling how taut and sleek her stomach was, then his hand followed that narrowing fur towards its terminus just at the crown of her pubic bone. If her fur was like his, it would be white around her genitals, but go no further. He was curious enough to check, parting her legs just enough to look at her vagina, and seeing she mirrored him in that regard, her genitals flanked by narrow strips of white fur that ended at the base of it. Her breasts were like his chest, the outside of them covered in black fur, the border between black and white just outside the area of her nipples. He traced that border from her collarbone down to her hip with his clawed finger.

"Do you like what you see?" she asked.

"Very much," he answered in a serious voice. "You're very beautiful."

"I was made just for you," she winked. "And I love it that you think I'm pretty."

"Not pretty. Beautiful," he corrected.

"Is that better than pretty?"

"Much."

She positively beamed at him, then she hummed lightly in her throat when he slid his hand between her legs and he explored her the same way she explored him, out of curiosity more than any sexual desire. "Now we're getting somewhere," she said, giving him a hungry-eyed smile as she reached over and fondled him again.

Perhaps it was pure luck, or perhaps Danna had been waiting for the perfect moment to burst into his room, but she picked that exact moment, when the two of them had their hands in some very sensitive places. She leveled a withering look at him, one filled with scathing contempt, and then crossed her arms below her breasts and stood in an aggressive posture. "Firetail wants to know if you're staying for lunch," she said, but her eyes were blistering.

"I am," Umbra said simply. "This is my room now."

"Your room?" Danna demanded heatedly.

"My room. I live where he lives," she said, patting Kyven on the thigh. "This is where he lives, so this is where I live."

"I think you'd better reconsider that," Danna hissed.

Kyven stood up. "Umbra, can you wait here for me?" he asked pleasantly. "Are you hungry? Would you like me to bring you something?"

"Sure! Can you bring me some meat? Um, you do eat it raw, don't you?"

"Of course we do," he told her, leaning down and patting her on the shoulder. He then stalked across the room, grabbed Danna by the upper arm, and dragged her out of his room.

"What is your problem?" Kyven demanded after closing the door. "I don't understand you at all!"

"Problem? A woman just shows up and throws herself at you, and you don't see a problem? I'm your friend, Kyven, and you're starting down a road that ends in a cliff! We don't know this woman! She could be anyone, even a Loremaster spy!"

"Sure," Kyven said with vast levels of sarcasm. "They found out about Haven, then found some Arcan and miraculously transformed her into a species they've never seen before, which you said was impossible, then ran her out here to spy on us instead of marching an army in to crush us, since we kinda don't have an army. I though you were a little smarter than that!"

"You're going to trust her out of blind faith?"

"It's not blind faith, it's simple logic," he answered, letting go of her. "Nobody could do that but her. She created me, and she's the only one that could create another one of my kind."

"Your kind? Your kind? I thought you were a human being, Kyv! I thought all this work was to regain your humanity, not get involved with an Arcan hussy and fuck her up a whole brood of little Arcan puppies!"

"Kits," he corrected absently. "Fox babies are called kits."

She leveled an icy glare on him.

"I am trying to get back what she took, but she also seems to have other plans," he said. "I've known since before I met you that she wants to breed me. I'm an Arcan of a monster, Danna, not an Arcan of a common animal. I have the same powers as the monster that's part of me, and the fox wants me to pass that on before I become human again."

"What powers?"

"I've told you before, I can hide in the shadows," he told her. "It's not just skill, Danna, it's a power. When I'm in the shadows, I vanish, I become invisible. The fox said I have some other abilities, but I've honestly never experimented to try to find them, I've always been too busy with my Shaman training. But think about it. If I had kids, and those kids were raised here, they'd become part of the defense of this place. That's a handful of Arcans that are totally invisible in the night, stalking the land and dissuading humans from invading into Arcan territory. If you think about it, you can see how valuable my children could be."

Her face became a dark cloud. "She's breeding you, like an animal?"

"She's been trying for a while," he said simply. "That's what most of those vixens were about. I wasn't just having fun with them–well, I can't deny it wasn't fun," he admitted. "I was sent to them. But it seems I'm not compatible with them–well, not compatible enough. Same species, but something's too different. So, I guess she is her solution to the problem," he said, jerking his thumb back at the door. "You think I'm happy about this? Not very. But it's her will, and I have to obey. I don't have any choice if I want to be human again."

She said nothing, just gave him a long, unfriendly look.

"What's it to you, anyway?" he asked. "You've made it abundantly clear to me that you won't have anything to do with me. It took you three months just to talk to me again. Why do you care?"

"I am your friend," she said, a bit defensively.

"Then why are you jealous?" he asked bluntly.

Her face flushed a little. "I'm–" she began, then she blew out her breath. "Alright, I'm a little jealous. But that doesn't really mean anything."

"Really?" he said archly.

She blushed. "You're my friend, of course I'd be concerned about you!" she snapped at him. "This stranger shows up and just throws herself at you! That's just a little suspicious!"

"Now you know why. Is it so suspicious?"

"No," she growled in reply.

"Listen. It took months to get back to where you'd speak to me. I'd rather not end up seeing more of your back than your face again, so let's not get back to that point," he said, in a reasonable tone. "Don't just skulk around and be pissed at me for something that's not really my fault. Talk to me."

That seemed to hit a nerve, and she responded by hitting him. It was not gentle. She hauled off and slapped him on the shoulder, and it was hard enough to leave his skin stinging. "You want me to repeat that?" she asked, her eyes hot.

"Not especially," he answered urbanely, which made her stamp away, muttering to herself.

What was her problem? He just didn't want to be angry with him, and yet his attempt to engage her rationally about it was about as effective as trying to freeze the sun.

The other little problem stormed up the stairs and marched right up to him. Patches stood in front of him, her hands on her hips and arms akimbo, glaring up at him like a mortally offended wife. "Well?" she demanded.

"Well what?" he asked her, in a bit of confusion.

"Who is she, and what is she doing here?"

"My totem spirit sent her, for fairly obvious reasons," he answered. "My spirit wants me to have children before she lets me be human again. If I want to get my humanity, I have to obey."

"And I'm so sure it will be a burden for you," she said spitefully.

"Patches, I'm disappointed in you," he said calmly. "I'm not the one for you, and you know it. This jealousy doesn't become you."

She gave him a heart-melting look, then threw her arms around him. "I just don't want you to stop looking at me!" she wailed. "She's so pretty, and she's your species! You have her, what do you need me for?"

"Child, you are my friend. I will always need you," he said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Friends always need each other. It's our only bastion against loneliness. I'm not going to forget you just because she's here. I'll always be here when you want to talk, or just when you want someone to hold your hand. Did you feel like I'd be jealous when you became Firetail's friend?" he asked pointedly. "When you had more in your life than just me and Clover and Teacup?"

"No."

"Did being Firetail's friend change how you felt about me, even after you found out Firetail sometimes comes to my room when she's feeling lonely and needs comfort?"

"No!"

"Well, there you go. The heart's not a confined space, my friend. It's boundless, and it has the capacity to love more than just a certain number of people. Umbra's being here won't change how I feel about you the tiniest bit. She's not going to push you aside."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I mean it. I think she's going to be a little demanding for a couple of weeks," he speculated, "but I think she'll calm down. She's a little… odd."

"What do you mean?"

"She's like two different people," he said, quite seriously. "There's a wisdom about her that's quite profound, but at the same time, she acts almost like a dumb Arcan, or a little child in some other ways. It's really confusing. She'll repeat that she was made just for me over and over, acting like the ones that aren't too smart, then she'll turn around and make a very astute observation about very complex things. She's a real challenge to talk to."

"Sounds strange."

"She's strange," he affirmed. "Something about her… it's odd. She's not normal."

"Well, your spirit made her."

"She made me too. Do I act like that?"

Patches had no answer to that.

"I'll have to get her to talk to me, try to dig for what about her makes me curious. But for now, let's attend to some other matters."

"Like what?"

"Breakfast," he said. "She hasn't eaten yet. Come on, let's make her a tray. Then I'll take it back and start grilling her. I want to find out what about her is making my tail itch."

Chapter 16