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7

Ander had stayed with the Foxes for three days now, and well... things were starting to get a little crazy.

"Are they still out there?" Kiana asked. She'd taken to spending almost more time in Ander's room than her own, something her mother didn't approve of. And she wasn't shy about letting her hear it either, whether Ander was within earshot or not. Luckily, with Salem and Layla they had her outnumbered three to one, so she'd been keeping her peace for now. No telling how long that would last, though, if Ander was to believe half the things Kiana said about her.

"Yeah, they're still out there," Ander said, peeking through a crack in the curtains. "About twenty."

"That's more than yesterday."

Foxes had started to gather outside the house the very same day Ander woke up. Just a few at first, lingering for a minute or two as they went about their business, but things soon escalated from there. As the rumours grew, so did the crowds. Mostly it was just groups of adolescent Foxes slightly more curious than they were scared, yelling for Salem to show them the Wolf-monster he was keeping in his spare bedroom, but now the adults were starting to join in, and this was no game to them.

"There'll probably be even more tomorrow," Ander said and very carefully closed the curtains, taking care not to be seen and not to hurt his stitches. His wounds were healing quickly, but Bethany insisted on keeping them in for at least three more days.

"This is ridiculous!" Kiana said. "The only reason they're so interested is because they have no idea what's going on."

"'Interested' isn't exactly the word I'd use..."

"They don't know who you are, or what you are. Probably most aren't even sure if you're really real. All they've got to go on is the testimony of those that saw you come in and the occasional glimpse through the windows. That's why they're scared."

"Now that's the word I'd use."

"So then let's show them there's nothing to be scared of! I've been cooped up in this house for too long, and I'd love to show you around a bit." Kiana beamed at the thought, but Ander had a few misgivings.

"I really don't think that's a good idea, Kiana."

"Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"

"Um... a pitchfork to the face would be pretty bad." Ander had learned a lot of new words over the past three days, and many other things besides. "And I don't think your ma would be quite as thrilled to sew me up for a second time."

"Don't be silly, Ander!" Kiana grabbed her crutch and awkwardly got back on her feet. Ander still had the mad urge to rush over and help every time he saw her struggle like that, but she insisted on getting around on her own, something that really annoyed Layla for some reason. "You don't expect to stay inside for the rest of your life, do you?"

"Well, no. Of course not."

"And I know you've been dying to go out there and explore for yourself. The way you're always looking out the windows, sneaking off to help Fa in his forge. You're even more curious about what's out there than the Foxes are about what's in here. Am I right?"

"Well..." Ander was indeed curious about the village outside: the homes, the farms, the tools, the Foxes themselves. There was a strange building with spinning blades just visible outside his window, far away on a hill on the outskirts of the village. Kiana explained to him that this building was called a "windmill," and that it used the wind to grind a plant called "grain" into a powder called "flour" which was used to make a food called "bread" by baking it in an "oven." Ander had learned so much just from talking to Kiana and her family. Salem in particular was always happy to share his knowledge of smithing, and seemed to be impressed by how quickly Ander was grasping the finer points. He had quite a good laugh when Ander told him that the extent of his knowledge of metallurgy pretty much ended with melting clumps of copper into arrowheads, something he had to discover for himself, seeing as how the other wolves preferred to chase down their prey and rip it apart with their bare teeth.

"You stick around and I'll show you how to make more than copper, son!" he had said and clapped Ander on the back. He suspected that Salem liked having another male in the house to talk to. Living with three vixens couldn't be easy.

Even so, talking about the world out there and actually being out there were two very different things.

"Well... I would like to see the windmill up close..."

"That's perfect! That windmill belongs to Old Jonathan. Him and my father go way back, so I'm sure he won't mind if we looked around a little."

"But can you walk that far?"

"Pshaw! It's only half an hour, at most. And I can show you all the boring things you're so interested in along the way. Come on, it'll be fun!" Kiana started to hobble her way out of Ander's room and into the hallway, her crutch clicking merrily against the wooden floors. Ander had to duck his head a little to follow her through the door.

"All right, but if they start throwing rocks at us, I'm pulling you back inside," he said.

"Nobody's going to throw rocks at us, silly!" Kiana said as she entered the living room. Layla was already in there, sitting at the table, reading one of her books. That's another thing Ander was really interested in: reading. The Wolves had a basic pictographic form of writing, but since they all lived together in one big tribe and hardly ever had to communicate over large distances, there was never really any need to develop it further than that. The Fox form of writing, however, was like a whole language in and of itself.

"Who's going to throw what at who now?" Layla asked, putting her book down.

"Kiana and I are going for a walk up to the windmill and back. You want to join us?"

"Ooh! I would love -" Her eyes darted from Kiana to Ander, then back to Kiana again, the corner of her mouth trembling as she unsuccessfully tried to quell the smile forming there. "Actually, on second thought, I still have some chores to do. You two go and have some fun." She gathered up her book and practically sprinted out of the room, sniggering, one hand held over her mouth.

"I get the feeling your sister thinks you and I are the main characters in some convoluted love story," Ander said.

"Oh, don't mind her. She's always like that." Kiana reached for the doorknob, but Ander stopped her.

"Hold on a second."

"What now?"

Ander sniffed the air, taking in the aromas of the crowd outside. "They smell nervous. Restless. Scared."

"You can smell all that?"

"It's kind of salty. Listen Kiana, I don't think it's a good idea for me to just barge out there. You should go out first and... 'prepare' them, if you understand my meaning."

"Soften the blow? All right, I can do that. You just stand over there against the wall and I'll call you out when things have calmed down, although I really don't see what you're so worried about. These are my people. It's not like they'll attack us, or anything."

Ander pressed his back up against the wall, where he would be out of sight. "Why don't you tell that to your fiancée?"

"Urgh, don't get me started on him. That was an isolated case. You'll see. The other Foxes are quite friendly, if a bit... jumpy, at the moment." She curled her free hand around the doorknob. "Moment of truth, eh?"

Ander nodded and Kiana pushed the door open.

*

With the door open, Ander didn't have to listen very hard to make out what they were saying.

"Look, it's Kiana!"

"Girl, I haven't seen you all week!"

"That's because she was kidnapped by Wolves, you idiot! Where've you been!?"

"Not this talk of Wolves again? I am getting thoroughly sick of 'Wolves this' and 'Wolves that'. There's no such thing as giant grey foxes over the mountain!"

"Actually Zackary," came Kiana's voice, "that's not entirely true."

Here we go, Ander thought as he listened to the excited babble of the crowd grow even louder following Kiana's statement.

"Ha!" a Fox cried out. He was standing right on the other side of the wall, by the sound of it. "I told you, Zack! I toooold you soooo!!"

"Shut up, Devin! Nobody asked you!"

"What happened, Kiana?" this voice was new. "There are so many stories floating around, but nobody seems to know what really went down."

"Yeah, tell us!"

"Have you really got a Wolf in there?"

"By the Living Soul why on the Gods' green earth would she bring a Wolf back here? Use your head!"

"Were you really kidnapped?"

"What did they do to you?"

"I bet it was torture! Just look at her ankle!"

"People, please calm down!" Kiana yelled, not that it did any good. The wild speculations continued. "I'll tell you if you'll all just shut up for a moment!"

That got the job done. All went quiet, and Ander could just imagine them outside, leaning forward, eager to hear which rumours were true and which weren't. This should be interesting.

"Yes, it's true. I was... 'kidnapped' by Wolves, for lack of a better word. And they wanted to... do things to me..."

Wow, very specific Kiana,_Ander thought with a smile. _I'm sure nobody will notice how you skipped over the part where you ran away from home or how the Wolves intended to burn you alive as soon as the wood dried out. Although that last part probably should_be left out if I want any chance at all for these people not to see me as a Fox-eating monster..._

"But I was saved by a Wolf named Ander. He sacrificed everything for me; his home, his family, the life he knew. And now I owe him my life."

The whispers started to flare up again, and a very unpleasant sensation was growing in the pit of Ander's stomach, as if he had swallowed a thorn bush covered in wriggly pricker-vines. He would have to go out there very soon, and if things went bad, they wouldn't just go bad for himself, but for Kiana and her whole family as well.

"I would very much like for you all to meet him, so please -"

"By the ancestors, you mean it's really in there!?" somebody asked. He didn't sound very thrilled.

"Well, yes. But he -"

"No way! No way! You idiots can stand around slack-jawed getting eaten by a Wolf but not me! I'm getting out of here!"

"Coward!"

"Look at 'im run!"

Oh, this is just great,_Ander thought, running a hand across his face in exasperation. _They haven't even seen me yet and already they're running away in terror.

"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted," Kiana continued, "Yes, Ander is kind of... big, but he's also really nice! So I'd appreciate it if you all didn't freak out at the first sight of him."

"How big is he?"

"Well... If I stand right next to him, the top of my head is about even with his chest."

If by 'top of my head' you actually mean 'the tips of my ears', then yes, Ander thought.

More whispers.

"That's pretty damn big..."

"I think she's just jerking us around. No way there's really a Wolf in there..."

"Edwin said he saw it, though..."

"Edwin's an idiot."

"That's really damn big..."

"If that thing chomps down on anybody, I'm heading for the hills!"

"Enough!" Kiana shouted. "If you're going to be rude, or if you think you might freak out, then you should just leave right now! I thought Ander was being silly, making me come out here first, but I guess he was right! And for your information, he is not a 'thing', he's Ander!"

Things quieted down for quite a while, with only the occasional rustlings to break the silence. What was going on out there? Were some of them really leaving? Ander strained his ears, but it was difficult to tell.

"Anybody else? No? All right then."

Oh crap, this is it.

"Ander? You can come out now."

Ander took a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever might happen, wondering what a pitchfork to the face would feel like.

It's now or never.

He ducked his head and stepped out into the sunshine.

*

The effect was immediate. A communal gasp rang throughout the street and those in front tried desperately to backpedal their way through the crowd, pushing and shoving against their neighbours.

There were definitely more than twenty - at least forty. Apparently the crowd had grown during Kiana's little speech, despite the deserters.

"My Living Soul, it's a real Wolf!" somebody shouted. "I thought this was supposed to be some kind of prank!"

"By the gods..." someone else said. There was so much variety between the Foxes it was difficult to keep track of it all, and Ander found himself staring at the crowd just as they were staring at him.

They ranged in age from pup to elder, but what really set them apart was their fur. There were some oranges, like Kiana, but also many shades of red and yellow - from the hazy hues of sunset to the bright tinge of lemon. He even saw a few with a brownish colouration not that much different from his own, maybe a bit lighter. Some had solid sheets of black running up their arms and legs and twin pairs of stripes across their faces while others had tails tipped with white. There were some that were completely white, sticking out of the crowd like daisies among roses.

The only thing they all had in common was an identical look of fear. They were staring at him in exactly the same way Kiana had stared at her captors on the day they first met. Eyes wide, heads shaking in denial. A single Fox at the back turned tail and ran without a word.

"Well?" Kiana said. "Isn't anyone going to say hello?"

The crowd backed up even more at this, the gap between them growing wider and wider until those at the back found themselves pressed up against the houses on the opposite side of the road.

Ander wanted to say something that would convince them that he wasn't dangerous, that they needn't fear him, but as he looked from face to face he knew that would be impossible. These people were on the verge of panic. A single word might be all it took to set them off.

Kiana sighed and shook her head, the look of disgust on her face even more plain than the look of terror on her fellow Foxes'. If Ander wasn't worried about inadvertently causing a stampede, he would've reminded her how scared she was of him when he first came to her in the dead of night, how she had recoiled at the sight of him. The only difference between then and now was that these Foxes weren't trapped in cages.

"Theo, no!"

A tiny little Fox broke free of his mother's grasp and hurried towards Ander in an awkward, shuffling run. He couldn't have been more than a few years old. His mother made a grab for him, but another Fox was holding her back. "Let me go!" she screamed. "That's my boy!"

"Are you crazy, lady? Don't go near that thing!"

The entire crowd seemed to hold its breath as the little Fox came to a stop in Ander's shadow, looking up at the giant Wolf with wonder, barely tall enough to reach past its knees.

Ander slowly swept his eyes across the crowd from one end to the other. Some had their eyes closed, waiting for the crunch of the little one's neck between the monster's teeth. Others were frozen in place, staring transfixed at the sight before them. The little Fox's mother held her hands to the side of her face, her lip trembling, her eyes shiny with tears, on the verge of panic. It was clear she wanted to dart in there and snatch up her son, but she was too terrified to make a move.

Finally, Ander looked down and met the eyes of the little one that had sparked this whole mess. The Fox named Theo was looking up at him with a great big smile on his face, delighted by what he saw, and Ander couldn't help but smile back. This pup reminded him so much of Hezzi it hurt.

Perhaps responding to Ander's smile, little Theo reached out and made a sound of unmistakable childish glee. "N-heee!"

Ander bent his knees, slowly sinking down to the pup's level. The crowd gasped, and the mother uttered a startled "Oh!", her hands trembling. Little Theo, on the other hand, was jumping up and down, his hand outstretched, impatient to see this fascinating creature up close. The way he acted, so full of happiness and energy, it was like looking at Hezzi as he was twelve years ago, back when the world was still a simple place, a place that made sense, where brothers loved each other, even when they didn't.

Ander held out his own hand, and little Theo eagerly pressed his own against it, his smile apparently a permanent fixture.

Ander couldn't help but laugh softly at this. Even splayed out as wide as possible, the pup's fingers barely covered Ander's palm, his triangular scars clearly visible just beyond their reaching tips.

Ander turned his head just enough to look at Kiana, certain of what he would see, and he was right. She was smiling from ear to ear, her eyes saying "I told you so."

"Now there's something you don't see every day," an older Fox whispered to one of his friends.

Theo made his noise again ("N-hee!") and dropped his hand, still looking at Ander with that look of wonder in his eyes known and understood only by the very young.

Unable to take any more, the mother rushed forward and snatched up her son. Ander expected her to run off with her child immediately, but she didn't. She merely stood there, looking down at Ander with an odd mixture of amazement and apprehension, her son clinging to her neck, still smiling.

"Ma! Ma!" he said, tugging on her ear. "Big Fox, Ma! Big Fox!"

"I see him, sweetie," she said, never taking her eyes off Ander as he slowly started to rise back to an upright position.

Ander honestly had no idea what was about to happen, but he never would have predicted something like this. Very carefully, very hesitantly, she reached out, her hand shaking, and lightly poked Ander in the chest, as if to make sure he was really real.

Kiana sniggered and the vixen hurried back into the crowd, perhaps embarrassed, her son waving at Ander over her shoulder. Ander waved back, and suddenly the whole atmosphere changed. It was as if a thick layer of clouds had parted, and the sun was still there, same as it ever was. The world wasn't coming to an end after all.

Some of the braver Foxes came forward to get a better look for themselves, standing around Ander in a crude circle, looking him up and down. One of these reached out and lightly touched him in the chest, just as the vixen had done, and that was all it took.

Ander suddenly found himself stuck in the middle of a throng of curious Foxes, their feather light touches moving across his body like leaves caught in a gale, and even more were coming to join in every second. Apparently Ander had turned into some kind of unspoken game among the youngsters. Touch the Wolf or be labelled a coward for life. Ander had to raise his arms above his head to keep his stitches safe, but this exposed his ribs to a pair of young Foxes who weren't being quite as tentative as the others, and he had to fight the urge to burst out laughing as their fingers travelled up and down his sides. Kiana had no qualms against keeping her laughter bottled up, though. She stood off to the side, doubled over, laughing her head off. If she didn't have that crutch to lean on she probably would have been rolling on the ground by now.

Ander looked over his shoulder and saw Layla peeking through the window, her laughter fogging up the glass. Her parents were standing right behind her, watching the spectacle, Salem serenely puffing away on his pipe while Bethany had her arms crossed, looking stern. Fretting over his stitches again, no doubt.

"This is the most surreal thing I've ever done," one Fox said, placing his hand on Ander's vest.

"Awesome..." said another.

"Can it - Um, I mean... Can he talk?" a pretty white vixen asked of Kiana, but she was in no condition to answer, or even breath properly for that matter.

"I can talk," Ander said. This elicited gasps from some, which led to giggles from others.

"Is it true you eat Foxes who don't listen to their parents?" a youngster asked.

"No, of course not."

"Ha! I knew it! You lied, Mother!"

"Shush, Jake!"

"Why are you so big?"

"Jake!"

"I don't know," Ander replied. "Why are you so small?"

Good-natured laughter greeted this, and the Fox named Jake had no more questions to ask, his curiosity apparently sated for now. That didn't stop the others, though.

"How many Wolves are there?"

"Are they all like you?"

"What happened to your arms?"

"Where did you come from?"

"How old are you?"

"What happened to your aaaarms!?"

"Did Mateo really try to kill you? 'Cause he was bragging about how he almost killed a Wolf."

"I just wanna know what happened to your arms!"

This was all a bit overwhelming for Ander. He could barely get a word in edgewise, but luckily Kiana came to the rescue.

"People, please! You're smothering him! We didn't come out here to play twenty questions. Come on Ander, I still have so much to show you!" Kiana waved her arm in the air and Ander slowly pushed his way through the crowd, being _very_careful not to step on any toes.

"He didn't say what happened to his arms!"

"Shut up, Devin!"

Ander finally broke through to where Kiana was waiting. "You ready to go, Mr. Celebrity?" she asked.

"Please." Ander half-expected the crowd to follow them as they made their way down the road, but they didn't.

They had Salem to thank for that. He was out standing on the porch now, trying his best to answer the slew of questions the noisy crowd was throwing his way.

"That went sooo much better than expected!" Kiana said, her crutch rhythmically clacking on the cobblestones.

"Aren't you the one that said 'Don't worry, Ander. You're being silly, Ander. These are my people, Ander.'?"

"Well yeah, but still. Some Foxes can be outright bastards sometimes. The first few minutes I was talking I kept looking for swords and crossbows in the crowd."

"And you tell me this now?"

Kiana stuck her tongue out, and Ander gave her shoulder a playful little shove.

"Hey, don't push a poor cripple!" Kiana said, brandishing her crutch.

"'Poor cripple' my eye. I've seen you chase your sister around with that thing."

"Only because she keeps insinuating stuff..."

Ander looked back at the shrinking crowd. Groups were breaking off to continue the day's business, but the little Fox named Theo and his mother were still there, listening to what Salem had to say.

Theo saw Ander looking back and waved. Ander waved back, thinking again about how much that little Fox reminded him of Hezzi.

Hezzi...

The look on his face, standing by the river... in the rain. That was the last time he saw his little brother. He wondered if he was still okay, wondered what he might be doing at this very moment.

He missed him so much...