FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Lounging gently back on the grass, the female fox took a deep breath of fresh summer air. Her eyes squinted against the blazing sun, she pulled her tail from under her lower back and swished it lazily from her shoulder to her leg left as she shielded her eyes with her hand when she opened her eyes fully. The sun just felt so good on her skin, even as she absently mindely pulled tuffs of fur from her shredding coat with her other hand.

Her tail stopped swishing as she closed her eyes for a nap. She felt safe where she was, as it was a secluded part of the field behind her favorite forest, so she felt she could. After a few moments of relaxing and feeling the sun on her fur, she thought she felt a slight weight on the tip of her tail. Opening her left eye, she looked down and stared at it.

A large, colorful butterfly had landed on her tail. She was about to swish it away when she thought she saw it breathing heavily. She opened both of her eyes and sat up carefully, trying not to move her tail and disturb the butterfly. She bent over her tail.

"Hey, what's up?" she whispered, aiming her breath over the top of the butterfly to stop it being blown away with it. The butterfly looked up at her, a look of panic on its face.

"Please don't eat me." he squeaked, trying to move backwards and fly away, but obviously not being able to due to a break in his right wing and back right leg.

"Why would I eat you?" she asked, perplexed, raising her eyebrow.

"All foxes eat butterflies." He said, trembling.

"Now where did you hear that?" She asked, astounded.

"All the other butters say so."

"Well, I can assure you I don't," she replied. "my names Kira. What's yours?"

"Siso." Siso replied tentatively, still looking scared.

"Well, Siso," Kira replied, holding out a hand towards him. "how about I look at that wing and leg for you? They look like they must hurt."

Siso nodded his head slowly as he gently moved his good legs onto Kira's hand and she helped him up with her other hand. She gently got up and picked up her bag in her other hand.

"Doing alright?" Kira asked as she slowly started to walk towards the forest.

"Yes," Siso replied, looking up at her. "you can walk faster if you'd like."

"Alright." Kira nodded as she picked up the pace a little.

"Where are we going?" Siso asked as they entered the forest.

"To my house, I have some things that might help with your injuries." Kira replied, looking at the ground to make sure she didn't trip up and cause even more injury to the butterfly.

"Is it a big house?" Siso asked.

"You'll see." Kira smiled, hoisting her bag up on her left shoulder. She walked for only a few minutes before she came to her house. It was actually a cottage, rounded thatch roofing with a chimney to one side. A small floral garden to the right and a vegetable garden to the left from where Kira was standing. Picket fences surrounded both gardens, and trees surrounded the back of the cottage.

"Wow," Siso exclaimed, his eyes rounded in amazement. "your place is beautiful. Did you do all the gardening and vegetables?"

"Of course," Kira replied with a grin. "I've lived here for the past five years, if the previous owners had done it, it'd all died within the first few months with lack of attention or went overgrown. I use a lot of my own stuff in cooking."

"Bet it tastes amazing for it," Siso replied, looking up at her in awe. "you're certainly proving that foxes are more than what I've been told."

"Good." Kira said, grabbing her house keys from her trouser pocket and unlocking the door. She stepped in, took Siso to her desk and gently put him down on it. She went back to close the door as Siso took in his surroundings. The living room was sparsely decorated but what was there was beautiful and well crafted. It was tidy and clean, and the sun streaming in on the window opposite the front door made the room even brighter. Kira opened the window, and soon the smell of the summer air wafted in.

"You have a very beautiful place, both in and out."

"Thank you," Kira replied, smiling broadly at Siso over her shoulder as she went over to a chest of drawers and brought out a wrapped fabric bundle. She cradled it as she brought it over, untying the ties around it and loosened it up. She placed it on the side next to Siso and opened it up. Siso saw tweezers, small scissors, small bandages and plasters and even a tiny lamp.

"This isn't your first time, is it?" Siso asked tentatively, looking up at her. Kira nodded her head, then shook it.

"Well, it's my first time on a butter, but I've helped injured hedgehogs, mice, voles and the like. I think I'll know what to do," Siso didn't look so sure as Kira set up the small lamp and magnifying glass, and then picked up a pair of tweezers and another implement that looked like it was to hold stuff steady, almost like players but gentler. She steadied herself, holding them over Siso. "You ready?"

Siso gulped audibly and slowly nodded his head. Kira sat down gracefully on a stool, shifting herself forward slightly whist still holding the implements in her hands. She bent over the magnifying glass and light, and slowly but surely, started to work on Siso's broken wing and leg.

It was a delicate process, but Kira started on his leg first. She was able to use the plyers to pull the leg into place when she realised it was dislocated too. Siso tried to hide the pain, but wasn't very successful. With every moan or slight scream of pain, Kira apologised under her breath as she tried to make the process a bit easier and quicker. She was soon using cut up pieces of toothpicks as splint, and used small amounts of gauze and plasters to tighten it around his leg to keep it in place.

"I'm sorry I don't have any painkillers for you..." Kira said, looking stricken after straightening up and wiping her brow after the intense few minutes sorting his leg.

"It's alright, I know most larger animal painkillers would be too strong for me, and not everyone has some for butters to hand." Siso replied quietly, trying to not let tears to roll down his face.

"It's OK to cry you know." Kira replied, worriedly bending over him and rubbing his face with a tip of her forefinger. Siso smiled weakly and nodded gently.

"I know, but I always feel bad crying in front of new people, especially if they're trying to help me." A few tears escaped as he spoke, and he used his front legs to wipe them away. Kira's mouth turned down in sadness as she went to work on his wing. Thankfully that was a lot easier, as it was only a slight bend, so she only had to straighten it and put a few toothpick pieces on it and a little tape.

"All good, I think," Kira said with a hopeful smile. She then frowned a little. "you didn't mention how you ended up on my tail."

"Oh, a gust of wind blew me in to the trunk of the tree a little behind you," Siso replied, moving around a little tentatively. "then I just.... Fluttered down. I'm lucky I landed on you, and such a soft tail."

"Why, thank you," Kira grinned, laughing slightly. She picked it up and started brushing it down with her fingers. "I do love it. It does take some work to keep it bushy though."

"I can guess," Siso replied. He moved his good wing out in a stretch. "anyway, I think it's time for your reward."

"Oh no, no reward," Kira flustered slightly, shaking a hand. "I didn't so it for the possibility of a reward." Siso was shaking his head

"I know, but after all you've done, and proving foxes aren't bad too, I feel you deserve one."

"Well," Kira replied with a light blush and scratching of her cheek. "if you insist."

"I do." Siso replied, nodding his head emphatically. Kira picked him up and left the cottage, picking up her bag and keys along the way.

"So, which way do I go?" Kira asked, after locking back up on her way out, and looking left and right as she came past her garden patches.

"Go back to where I landed on you. My home isn't too far from there."

Kira nodded and started off, wondering what Siso's home area could be. She hadn't seen any butterflies near there before Siso. And if there was one butter, there was bound to be more. How many could there be if she'd not noticed them before she wondered. It didn't take long to return to the area. Kira looked around, but couldn't see any likely places for butterflies.

"So, where's your home?" she asked tentatively, looking down at him. He pointed a good leg toward the trunk of a tree.

"Go in there, and you'll see."

Kira gave him a sharp look before stepping closer to it and peering inside.

"But there's nothing there." Kira exclaimed, wondering if she was being taken for a fool. Siso was shaking his head when she looked back at him.

"There isn't yet, but if you step inside, you'll see what I'm on about." Siso encouraged. Kira gave him another look, frowning, before gingerly stepping forward and standing inside the trunk of the tree. It was large enough to allow her to stand at her full height with room to spare. She stood there for a few seconds, feeling foolish, and just as she was starting to wonder if it had indeed been a joke, a bright light engulfed her, and she shielded her eyes with her other arm.

Kira opened her eyes to a beautiful scenery before her. There were hills spread out as far as the eye could see, and forests lined the landscape in the distance. The trees were in greens and browns, as the autumn nip to the air told her the seasons were slightly ahead in this place. Kira was wide eyed as she looked around, and then at Siso in her hand. But he didn't look the same. He had grown to about the size of her head, and was even more colourful. The splints and bandages had grown too to stay in place on his wing and leg.

"Siso...." Kira whispered in awe. "how are you even more beautiful here?"

"In the land of the butterfly, we are in our true form," Siso replied, shaking his head as his antenna finished growing. He opened his eyes as he finished shaking his head and looked up at her with a smile. "beautiful, isn't it?"

"Of course," Kira said in awe, looking back at the scenery. "I don't know how you ever want to leave to come to my area."

"We do it for the experience, and to help pollinate your flowers. Your bees have a lot of work to do, so we come to help from time to time."

"Aww, that's really sweet," Kira said, then tilted her head. "no pun intended." Siso laughed as he pointed down the hill they were standing on, and Kira nodded as she took the hint and started at a brisk walk. The ground was soft and springy as Kira took in as much as she could as she walked, noticing the variety of trees that surrounded her, as well as the different varieties of flowers that she was careful not to step on. Soon, she noticed flocks of butters were starting to swarm towards her, their wings flapping gently as they then started to follow behind her.

They finally came to a area where Siso asked her to stop. It was a large open field area, cleared of trees but full of various flowers that were in full bloom. They covered the ground, and as Kira looked around, she heard the flaps of even larger wings, and she looked up just as a gust of wind blew across her face. A large butterfly was hovering not too far away, and it was unlike any other butterfly Kira had ever seen.

It was about four feet tall, and its wings spanned across with almost antennae like parts on the tips of its wings on top and bottom. A rainbow of colours splashed across its wings, weaving and circling all around. Its antennas were a good two feet long too, and their eyes were a blue green colour.

"Mother." Siso called out with a broad smile, and went to fly off, but stopped himself when he remembered his injuries.

"Mother?" Kira whispered as she stared in awe at the large butterfly as she flew closer to her. Even as Siso's mother got closer, Kira couldn't feel any drift of air like before, and she watched as Siso's mother reached out a front leg and he stepped on it. It seemed he hardly weighed anything as she moved him up towards her face as she gave him a peck on the cheek.

"My little one, you're finally back," She said in a high, sweet voice, her smile radiant. "you had me worried."

"I'm sorry mother, but I got caught up in the last of the pollinating, and then I got injured. And Kira," he said, looking around. "she saved me and helped trying to heal me."

Siso's mother glanced at her, and it almost felt she was looking into Kira's soul.

"Is that so?" Siso's mother asked with a soft smile, as she set Siso down and flew forward. Kira's back straightened as Siso's mother hovered in front of her, appraising her and tilting her head this way and that "It seems you have made a new and wise friend, Siso."

Siso nodded behind his mother as she flew away suddenly. She went out of sight behind a large tree Kira hadn't noticed before. It looked to be one of the oldest there by the size of the trunk, and oak from Kira's guess. A few seconds later, Siso's mother flew back out, carrying something in her two front legs.

"For you, my dear," Siso's mother said, holding it out as she came to a stop a few feet away from Kira. Kira looked at the package. It was soft fabric, and it looked like it held something in the middle. "open it, please."

Kira bowed her head as she took the package gently in both of her hands and slowly started to untie the fabric ties around it. The ends of the ties had jewel beads adorning them, and as she gently un wrapped it, she sat down as she felt the contents move around slightly. She didn't want to break anything, so laid it gently on the ground and finished unwrapping it. Inside, she found three gemstones upon small glass stands and a compact mirror that she opened to look inside.

"The gem stones are amongst some of the rarest of our lands, but are worthless in yours," Siso's mother explained. "they are to act as a reminder to always be caring and kind, no matter what." Kira nodded in agreement as she gently picked up the gems, which were red, turquoise and green. The stones came away from the stands easily, but also fitted back just as easily.

"They're beautiful...." Kira breathed, and smiled. "and my favourite colours too."

"I know," Siso's mother replied with a crooked smile, and Kira looked up, nodding in understanding. "and the mirror," Siso's mother gestured. "will allow you to always ask for help of the butter people whenever you need it. Or just to talk to us if needs be. Any other time, you can use it as a normal mirror."

"Thank you.... This is such a beautiful gift." Kira said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I have the other mirror, so we can keep in touch for when I'm not in your world." Siso said, having walked forward to stand in front of Kira. Kira looked down at Siso with a broad grin.

"I'm happy for that." Kira sniffed, wiping her eyes.