Chapter 15: Little Bird

"Merle," Mosor said, "Please tell me why you're doing this."

"You mentioned how Ahmond ran away."

"I would think I also mentioned how guards have arrested her since?"

"Sounds kinda like a logical fallacy. Yeah, she did one thing, and the other thing happened, but are they really related? Kinda a non sequitur if you ask me."

Mosor said, "She literally got arrested for running away. A non sequitur means it does not follow."

"Well if we're avoiding non sequiturs and non sequiturs means do not follow, then I should avoid the do not follow, meaning I should follow," Merle said.

"Yeah- Wait..."

"So I can stay!" Merle said as she bounced in the hallway of the train.

Mosor mused that Merle was either extremely intelligent, or likely to end up with Ahmond and Baynana in jail. Perhaps both. "Your parents are going to be extremely worried about you. Do you want them to worry about you?"

"No..." Merle said, as she stared down. "But we barely get to talk anymore! I'm always stuck in that house and I hate it!"

Mosor personally felt suffocated being stuck doing the same thing day in and day out in Wysdom. Maybe joining that one tournament was a way to lash out, and detach herself from her old life? Maybe a taste of adventure was a bit sweeter than a lick of ice cream.

Mosor's empathy appeal didn't work on anyone but herself.

"Fine," Mosor said, "you can stay for one night. Afterwards, you're going back home, and I'm not covering for you on any portion of it, and any consequences you face are your own, is that a deal, Merle? Sounds fair."

Merle nodded.

***

Mosor walked home with Merle hopping happily behind her. Meanwhile, the taller fox just skulked around, keeping her head low.

And Vanos stood outside the door, double taking when he saw her. "Glad to see you're back, Mosor. How about we talk our strategy for... Who's that?"

Mosor stared down at Merle, and up at Vanos. "I gave birth. Lhyna's the father. It's really complicated."

Vanos said, "I can believe that, what did you name her?"

Mosor realized if she had a child with Lhyna that she would have named the child something ice cream and lunar related. Problem was nothing came to mind that fit both. Maybe expanding to a stellar naming pattern would fit this venn diagram. No, still no names came to mind, but Vanos wasn't caring.

Instead, Merle ran up to him, and sniffed at his legs. He leaned down to sniff her muzzle.

"Hi Sweetie," Vanos said as he patted her on the head. "My name is Vanos. What's yours?"

Mosor had never seen Vanos really reacting to children before. Usually he heard them saying how they were little brats, but this wasn't even a tone he used to flirt with pretty girls he liked, this was the tone she'd expect for a six year old.

"Merle!" she said.

"How about I get you a nice bowl of..." He paused. Remembered she probably didn't have an ice cream tolerance. Said, "A nice bowl of something to eat? What would you like?"

Merle paused, and flicked her tail around. "I'd really like it if you had any pasta. My family only eats it on rare occasions, but usually we have rice."

"Don't fatten her up," Mosor threatened.

Vanos asked Mosor, "Geez, when did you become so bossy, Mom?"

"Say that again, and you'll never be one," Mosor said.

"Well, maybe because I'm a male?" Vanos' suggestion was met with a glare.

As the two went back inside, Mosor realized she was being a jerk. She'd normally never be this upset, but she forgot how to smile. Almost as if she were in... Despair.

No, she wouldn't have a crazy conspiracy theory about being in despair because it was a dark quality. Could dark qualities even affect those with brighter qualities? Yeah, probably.

***

"Are you sure about this?" Baynana asked, while Ahmond stood at the ready. "What if we get in trouble again?"

Mosor stood in their room with a stern expression. "Well it sure won't outweigh the trouble you'll be in if you don't do this experiment."

Baynana's eyes widened, as she sent dark lines into Mosor, and all of a sudden...

Worthless. Mosor collapsed to the ground, held down by the gravity of negativity. Would she stand up? No. How could she? She'd probably just trip anyway. Who could walk on such stilt legs like she had? What would she even do, what were the chances she'd accomplish anything?

Ahmond sent waves into Mosor, and all those thoughts seemed, for lack of better term, extremely moronic, and she stood up.

"Apparently, I've been affected with despair. But to prove it, VANOS!"

Vanos ran in, and Mosor said, "Use your power on me."

"Uh, how?" Vanos asked.

Oh yeah, he was the only one to never send waves into someone. Mosor paused as she realized she had no idea how she did it, as much as just had a gut feeling. Ahmond's activated when she had to use it, and Mosor's activated when she went full Prisom.

Mosor said, "The quality activates based on need, I guess. And you need to fill me with willpower to cancel out the despair."

"You think they're opposites?" Vanos asked.

"If Empathy isn't the opposite of Despair, and neither is Dependability, I guess it stands to reason Willpower is."

Vanos shrugged, and said, "Makes sense to me." He tried a more intuitive approach, and took deep breaths.

Blue waves flowed from him and into Mosor and she blinked.

"Any better?" Vanos asked, flinching.

Mosor's eyes widened, and she smiled. "Yeah!" This was great! She had finally found her reason to live yet again, and she was feeling so much better and...

Invaded.

Someone had to have been there to infect her with Despair, someone had to send lines into her.

Mosor muttered, "So they attacked us."

Vanos frowned, as did Baynana and Ahmond. Vanos asked, "What are we going to do?"

Mosor said, "I'm prepared for a war."

Vanos shook his head. "We can't go warring with someone else, when we probably won't even win. Please, appeal to your common sense, we won't war..."

"Baynana, Ahmond," Mosor said. "Whenever you go back into jail, you're going to have Whyrl explain to you what happened to his daughter. Maybe he'll be able to reveal where Despair was."

Baynana and Ahmond nodded.

***

Mosor sat down with Merle, her own little cousin, on her own little fox family side. And she picked a simple board game.

"Now I own all the properties," Mosor said. "That's a fourth win in a row for me."

"You never let me win!" Merle said, and stuck her tongue out.

"You're a feisty little one, aren't you?" Mosor asked.

Merle mentioned, "You are so much happier right now than you were when we first met. Did I say something wrong before?"

Mosor paused. "I guess the reason I never visit home is because I'm so attached to this place, here. I've grown up with the other side of my family, and I'm here in the shop."

Merle frowned. "Why can't you visit more? Can't you get more off days, or visit your other family members less?"

"Really good question," Mosor said. "As we go on, things drift apart. Families drift, but it's how they grow."

"I wish we all lived together forever," Merle said. "You were already an adult by the point I was born."

"No I wasn't," Mosor said.

"You were still mostly a grown up!" Merle shouted.

As Mosor thought back to when she was a kid, she was always of the oldest batch. Yeah, she was the youngest of the oldest, younger than Vanos, and Kyofi, and Mynt, but still in the older kid group. She was a golden child, perhaps because of being the youngest kid, and absorbing all the love. Maybe that's what grew her heart so much more.

Mosor said, "I guess it's a concept most adults don't like to think about. But friends and families have to drift apart to grow. And we're still going to be together, and I promise this won't be the last point we play these games. But it is the last point for now. I need you to sleep."

Merle said, "I don't want to."

Mosor said, "It's after 22. Sleep."

Merle shook her head.

"Do it, or you're getting put on the naughty step."

Merle said, "You can't put me on the naughty step - I'm too old!"

"So you want a big girl punishment?" Mosor asked. "How about you clean up this whole mess around the game table, and clean up the kitchen? I'm sure that will put you to sleep immediately? Will tire you out."

Merle screamed, "Mosor!"

"You need to understand I've been very patient with you today," Mosor said. "So you are going to do as I say, now."

Merle stamped her feet on the ground, and Mosor averted her gaze.

Kyofi walked into the room, eyes half lidded because of the lack of sleep, and asked Merle, "What's going on?"

"I'm not sleepy!" Merle said. "I want to stay up with Mosor all day!"

"Well I am sleepy," Kyofi said, "So... You're going to go upstairs before I eat you." And she bit her on the behind. Merle screeched and ran off.

"Kyofi!" Mosor shouted. "You know that's not how to deal with someone throwing a temper tantrum! You're supposed to ignore their attention seeking behavior and-!"

Kyofi bit Mosor on the buttocks with an audible crunch, before Mosor shrieked and scampered off upstairs.

That night, as the moonlight settled across Mosor's face, Merle nudged her awake. Mosor's eyes fluttered open as she stared at her little cousin.

"Mosor, I'm sorry for the way I acted," Merle said.

"...Same."