Nora woke to pain in her right arm. She winced, grabbing it, sending even more pain throughout it, she jerked her hand away. “Ahh, god I’m an idiot.” She growled in English. Her right arm was covered in bandages and she could feel more bandages on her upper right leg as well.

“Still speaking that language huh?” She looked over, it was Belle. She examined the room she was in. There were flowers and plants all along the window seal, a dresser with piles of clothes on it, and Belle was sitting at a fine wooden desk holding a quill. It was Belle's room.

“Yeah, I am. So, how long have I been asleep?”

“A few days.” What? How had she slept for a few days?

“What happened to Daniel?”

“Once we got within a block of the house, he handed you to me and said he wouldn’t tell anyone about any of this. Then he left like he said he would.” Shit, she wanted to ask him a few more things. Guess it’s too late for that.

“And what about Ayala?” Belle frowned,

“The damage to her lower right arm was pretty severe. My mom ended up having to remove the arm from the elbow down. Silver lining, she should fully recover in every other way though.”

“Seriously! Fuck!” She thought that might happen but had hoped Belle’s mom’s healing magic would be able to fix it. I hope she’ll be ok. She took a deep breath preparing herself for the worst and asked, “What about my arm and leg? What’s the damage there?” Belle looked away,

“My mom managed to mend your broken bones over the last few days but burns aren’t so easy to heal. Thankfully, she kept the nerve damage to a minimum but the top side of your arm and upper thigh is going to have some scarring.” Thank god. Scars weren’t so bad, as long as she could still move them.

“That’s good. I was worried I’d have some serious nerve damage or something.”

“Actually, there’s more.” Ok, she hoped this wasn’t a save the worst for last type deal. “The mana paths in your right arm are even worse now,” Oh, right she’d used mana on it in the fight. “Mom said if you do that even just one more time, your mana paths may burst.” That didn’t sound good,

“And what would that do to me?”

“Best case? You would lose all feeling in your right arm.” Best case?! Ok, she should definitely not do that again. She would hate to lose her right arm. She decided to do a quick check of her body to make sure everything was moving fine. Her right leg and arm were sore and stiff but still moved pretty well. The rest of her body seemed in good condition if a little sore. She wagged her tail a bit and chuckled,

“At least my tail is fine.” Belle smiled, Nora wanted to make sure her tail and ears stayed intact for the day she reunited with Anna, her daughter.

“Yup, you’d probably have to completely retrain your body if you lost your tail.” Oh yeah, there was that too. Belle frowned and looked at her tears welling, “I--I’m sorry.” What was this all of a sudden, did she blame herself for all of this.

“No, this isn’t your fault, it’--”

“It is my fault!” She interrupted with tears streaming down her face, “I wanted to go after them and I attacked them forcing you to fight.” Nora opened her mouth to protest but couldn’t find the words, “So, just accept this. ok?” Nora stared for a moment. “It was my fault.” It wouldn't help to go against her anymore, she nodded, “Ok then,” She sniffled a bit, “I’m sorry.” Nora smiled,

“I forgive you.” Belle’s tears streamed more as she started taking deep breaths, clearly trying to compose herself. After a few seconds of this, she looked up smiling,

“Thanks, do you want me to tell everyone you're up?”

“Everyone? Who all's here?”

“My mom, your parents, Ari, Leo obviously, Grey, and… Oh, Ayala’s still here too. I’m sure she’d love to see you.” Grey? She perked up. She hadn’t seen him in a couple of years,

“Ok, but can you just get Grey for now?” Belle looked at her curiously, “I want to ask him something in private.” Belle stared at her for a second then stood up sighing,

“Alright, I’ll bring him here saying I want to talk to him alone.”

“Thanks,” Nora said, smiling. Belle nodded and left the room. She’d get the others after talking to Grey. She wanted to know what all magic the Fox family had access to. She knew her mom had Divination magic and from what she’d gathered everyone in their family had the same magical affinities. While she honestly didn’t like any of them, besides Grey and her mom, maybe they could help her find Anna.

A few moments later Belle walked into the room Grey just behind her. His shock-white hair and pink eyes were a sight for sore eyes. His eyes lit up as they met hers and a big smile crossed his face. He ran over,

“Nora, you’re awake.” His voice was softer than usual. Nora reached out to hug him but a bit of pain went through her arm as she did. She winced, Right. She leaned in and hugged him with just her left. He hugged her back. “I missed you.” He said,

“I missed you too,” Nora said, tearing up. She’d missed him more than she’d thought. “I’m so glad you’re here.” He pulled away patting her head,

“Anything for my little niece.” Her tears started flowing, he looked at her smiling, “I love you so much.” He said, “I just want you to know that.”

“I love you too.” She said through her tears. She wanted the moment to go on forever. He pulled his hand away. Alright, she started taking deep breaths trying to compose herself. “Ok,” Another deep breath. “Ok,” Whew, now down to business, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Does anyone in the Fox family, have the ability to find someone with only my knowledge of the person to guide them?” He rubbed his chin for a second,

“Hmm, as far as I know, no one in the family can find someone they haven’t met before.” Nora frowned, Shit, now what was she supposed to do. “What’s this about?” He looked at her concern on his face,

“I’m just trying to find someone, I don’t really wanna talk about it.” She wanted to tell him but she wasn’t sure how he’d react to the whole reincarnation thing. His face softened as he leaned in putting his head to hers,

“Ok.” He whispered. She grinned, how could someone be so nice. Nora instinctually leaned in as he pulled away not wanting him to go, “How about we call everyone else in here?” Nora gave a light smile,

“Ok.” He stood up and walked out of the room. Belle looked to her,

“I forgot to tell you, Oli’s ok. He’s downstairs..” She’d completely forgotten about Oli but felt a little relieved at the news.

“Good, at least we got something from this.” A question came to Nora’s mind, “Why were you so obsessed with getting her back anyway?” Belle sighed,

“I don’t know. I just felt like I had to save her since I’d taken her in. I mean that’s part of being a beast-kin right?”

“It is? ” She’d never heard that. Belle cocked her head raising an eyebrow, and a look of realization took her,

“Oh, right. You're not twelve yet.” Nora quirked her mouth in confusion,

“What does that mean?”

“When a beast-kin turns twelve they take the beast-kin rights. I’m surprised your parents haven’t told you about that.” She was surprised as well,

“Is it really that important?” Belle nodded,

“Yeah,” She said it like it was obvious. Why hadn’t they told her? Maybe it was because she was still ten.

“But you’re an Elf, not a Beast-Kin.”

“True, but my mom raised me as a Beast-Kin and I’ve been accepted by the community as one of them.” She smiled with pride, was it that big of a deal for an Elf to be welcomed into the Beast-Kin community as one of their own? The door to the room swung open and Ari ran in and jumped onto her, minor pain shot through her body though she tried not to show it,

“Nora!” Ari said, smiling. Nora cuddled in through the pain. Everyone else entered the room shortly after Ari. Her parents joined in the hug but they were far more careful and soft.

“We’re so glad your ok baby girl.” Her dad said. Nora started feeling emotional again but this time she did everything in her power to not cry. Looking at the others, Leo was standing awkwardly next to his mom Posie. Posie looked to be smiling at their display of affection. Grey stood next to Belle also smiling. Ayala wasn’t there though. Nora started pushing her family off of her,

“Alright, you guys are hurting me.” Posie stepped over,

“How much pain are you in?” Everyone looked to her a little worried,

“I’m just feeling a little sore. Though my right arm hurts a bit.” Posie stepped back looking satisfied with the answer,

“Ok, that’s good. You should be able to go home in the next couple of days then.” Her parents and Ari smiled,

“Anyway, where’s Ayala?” Nora asked,

“She’s sleeping but I can go get her if you want,” Posie said,

“That’s alright I don’t wanna bother her.” She’d thank her later. Leo walked up,

“I’m glad you’re ok.” He said.

“Thank you. I’m glad too.” She replied with a smile. He smiled in return. Nora looked to her parents and Ari. “I hope I didn’t worry you guys with this.”

“We’re family, of course, we were worried.” Her mom said softly. Nora felt happy at that statement,

“I guess.” She replied. They continued talking about random things until her parents asked the others to leave so they could talk to her alone. The others filtered out of the room, Grey looked to her dad,

“Mind if I stay?” He looked at him, then nodded,

“You can stay.” Now it was just the four of them in the room. Her dad looked at her more seriously now, “If you don’t mind can you tell us what happened? Belle won’t talk about it with us.” Belle must have wanted to leave the story to her. Nora nodded,

“Alright, so they came for the dog. After they got her and we saw what they did to Ayala, we decided to follow them in hopes of finding their base. But they left the city and seemed to be following the road northeast. Then they noticed me and Belle so we had to fight, we managed to take them both out and save Oli.” She figured it would be best to say they were both dead so they wouldn’t go after him. Her dad was nodding along and her mom was focusing intently. Grey leaned forward,

“Did they say anything about who they worked for or why they wanted the dog?”

“They were definitely here on someone's orders but they never said anything about the dog.”

“Well,” Her dad said, “if they were going north-east, they were probably headed for Hanndow.”

“You don’t think they worked for The Hand do you?” Her mom asked. The Hand? was that gang from another city?

“I doubt it, they agreed to go through us if they have business in Dunar and they’d never risk breaking that alliance.” Grey nodded,

“I agree, they get too much out of it to break it. It could be they’re from the continent and were just heading to Hanndow to get a ship home.” The continent? Were they on an island? She hadn’t seen any seagulls and the like. Man, she needed to learn more.

“That’s certainly possible but if that’s the case then they came a very long way for that dog,” he replied,

“Maybe the dog is a magical beast of some kind.” Her mom said,

“Probably,” Grey said, “I could ask Liza’s husband to look it over, he’d probably know.” Liza was her mom's sister, the one that was at the ritual with the scarred ear.

“I agree, he’d probably help without a thought after hearing what happened to Ayala.” Her mom said, Her dad nodded,

“Ok, sounds good.” He looked to Nora, “Did the dog seem weird to you in any way?” She thought for a moment. It had been uncharacteristically calm and quiet for a dog. Plus she still couldn’t stop thinking that it knew more than a dog should.

“Yeah, I did. It seemed like it knew what was going on at all times and it actually gave itself up when they were threatening us.” Her mom nodded,

“Alright, I’ll tell Tye.” She said. Tye must have been Liza's husband. Her mom leaned in, “Thank you for being so strong through all of this baby.”

“Yeah, you're really calm considering the situation,” Grey said,

“You’re a Lynx alright,” Her dad said, Nora smiled and butterflies filled her stomach. She didn’t know what to say. “Alright we're gonna go look into this stuff. Your job is to keep resting.” He kissed her on the forehead and stood up.

“I love you guys,” Nora said beaming.

“We love you too.” Her mom said. They all left and a few hours later a knock at the door woke her,

“Come in.” She said, the door opened slowly, and an antler-headed woman poked through smiling, “Ayala!” She walked into the room, Nora saw that her right arm was covered in bandages and now ended just past the elbow. Nora frowned, as Ayala sat on the bed next to her,

“It’s so good to see you,” She said, hugging her, Nora hugged her tight,

“Thank you for protecting us.” She wanted to say sorry she got hurt protecting them but knew a simple thank you would probably be better. Ayala pulled back smiling and looked her in the eye,

“I’d do anything for you kids. Though my efforts were useless this time.”

“They weren’t useless!” Nora said, “You protected us, that will never be useless.” Ayala hugged her again,

“Thank you, Nora.” They hugged in silence for a few minutes then Ayala pulled away smiling, “At least I got a cool stump out of it though.” She said waving it in front of her, Nora chuckled pulling away,

“Yeah, you could attach a cool hook on it too.” Nora snorted,

“That’s such a good idea! I could freak the shit out of people with that.”

“And anytime someone asks how you lost your arm, you can tell them any crazy story you want.” Ayala laughed some more Nora joining in,

“You know, losing my arm has opened a lot of new avenues for me. Definitely an overall improvement to my life.” Nora smiled reaching in hugging her,

“I’m so glad you’re ok.”

“I love you,” Ayala said, Nora smiled and hugged her tighter, hoping it would make the moment last forever.