April

It's the first of April! Time for My month! April! No, it's time to share a bit of our work that is funny enough to read on April fool's day. This time it's half of the first chapter of book two. (Not sure of the name of the book yet...)

The collar of fox fur
14. 01 2011
Tartu

This time their road went simply through the corridors, sometimes taking the stairs up and sometimes down, sometimes taking them past some other door, and sometimes crossing with some other hallway. Tiina was a bit too tired to care that their route did not take them through some interesting local library this time. The usually so seemingly infinite energy Reiko possessed seemed to diminish in these passages too. He had taken his fox form to spare his strength, yet even on all his fours, he tended to lag behind. It must have been the weakening effect of the wound he had received the previous night.
Finally, Tiina stopped and said with compassion: “Do you wish me to carry you?“ Though Tiina’s legs were tired too, she still had some wolven strength in her. She thought she could manage that. Foxes were not exactly the lightest animals, yet she could manage to carry him. Tiina was afraid Reiko’s pride would not let him accept that help, yet the fox just whimpered in agreement.“
“Let me do it, I am stronger,“ said Marina quickly.
Now there was no way she would trust Reiko into Marina’s lap! “I am not some weakling either,“ said Tiina resolutely. They stared at each other, crossfire raging in their eyes. There was no way any of the girls would give in. Marina opened her mouth, ready to argue on, and then Reiko jumped suddenly into Skadi’s lap.
“It seems that Reiko prefers I would carry him. This is the right choice. After all, I am the strongest one here,“ said Skadi. At the same time, Reiko stuck his tongue at Tiina and Marina, who were still staring at him, dazed by his act. It seemed he wished to tell them that if they would start fighting for him, neither would get him.
Now Tiina and Marina exchanged some bashful looks. So there they were, ready to start a catfight like some stupid children who both desire to play with the same doll, while not thinking of their friendship or how Reiko might feel about it. Marina reached out to Tiina with her essence, looking for reconciliation. Tiina replied with a mental hug from her own heart. They were thinking in unison they will not let jealousy ruin their friendship.
Their long and boring trip through the stony halls of the Great Library continued. After they had walked a bit, Skadi suddenly said: “Hey Reiko, can’t you take some form that is a bit cooler? Well, some snake or lizard would do fine. This heat of yours is a bit of a nuisance. Not that it would make me thaw, but…“ Reiko replied with a sad shake of his head.
“It takes at least four tails to do that,“ commented Tokala.“It’s not the easiest thing to change one’s temperature.“
“I’ll survive…“ grumbled Skadi. What an irony it was! Tiina would have been glad to take something warm and fluffy into her lap, yet Skadi could not see how lucky she was. Tiina sighed and trodded after Skadi through the halls. She did not even bother to look around. There was a monotonous corridor “decorated“ with gray stone slabs everywhere, so what was the difference? She lost all sense of time in her machine-like striding through these hallways.
Perhaps they had walked so for a few minutes, perhaps it was a few hours, yet finally, Skadi stopped. There was a door before them. Would they finally pass through some sub-section? That would have been some kind of change… But no, behind that door was a familiar library of Tartu. They had reached their destination.
“Hey, Skadi, the doors could bear labels that have the names of the subsidiary libraries on them,“ said Tiina.“I would not have recognized the right doorway on my own.“
“This indeed makes the movement here a bit irritating, yet this is an additional safety guarantee. If someone could enter here without proper rights, then they would have no idea where to go, so they would just aimlessly wander around. They might even reach some dangerous locations this way,“ said Skadi and led them out to wintry Tartu.
The clock at the Town Hall building stroke four times. Hello, morning! This night they were going to have even less sleep than on the previous one. The streets were empty as one would expect from the night-time, yet they still managed to meet a couple walking home from some party when they had reached halfway home. Skadi quickly tossed Reiko around her neck as a collar.
As a collar, Reiko was too successful. The chick stopped when she saw him and started to beg: “Hey, what a nice collar you have. Where did you get it? I wish I could get one of my own.“
“From Japan,“ replied Skadi and walked calmly on, leaving the envious chick to stare at her back.
“Kheeh-keh-keh-niits-niits, kheeh-keh-keh-niits-niits, “laughed Reiko in foxen when they had reached far enough from that couplet.
“Stop giggling into my ear or I’ll put you down,“ declared Skadi. Reiko obeyed and remained silent. They all smirked at that event till they finally reached Lupiin. There they all went to bed, and none of them bothered to have supper (and to be honest, that time was past already too).
It seemed they had just fallen asleep when Reelika started to knock at the door of Marina’s and Tiina’s bedroom.“Wakey-wakey, sleepyheads! The porridge will be cold soon. Also, Neris is here too!“
That got rid of all of Tiina’s sleepiness. Neris! Perhaps that angel would have a plan of how to go on? Tiina put clothes on as fast as she could. She was at the door already, to slip into the kitchen, when she stopped at the last moment. Then she recovered her hairbrush, beginning her eternal ritual fight against the knots that always got into her thick long hair. She could just not step before an angel with unkempt hair like some annis hag.
Finally, Tiina was satisfied with the result and hurried toward the kitchen. All the company was already in that room filled with the scent of porridge and coffee aromas, and Neris was truly among the others too. Only Tokala was missing. Instead of him, there were two Reikos in that room, both of them looking at each other and grinning.
“Ah, help me, I see double!“ Marina lifted dramatically her hand to her eyes, then she burst out laughing. Both Reikos started to laugh together with her.
“Good morning, dear Marina!“ One of the Reikos waved happily. Then they turned their eyes together where Tiina stood. They yelled together: “Good morning, wolf-girl!“ They were both grinning.
“Moo-orning,“ stretched Tiina with shock.
“Yesterday in the Library it seemed to me that one of me is not enough for both of you alone, so I used the fox magic to double myself,“ said the one who had not spoken to Marina.“Now you both can have me as your collar,“ added the first one.
“One of you is Tokala, isn’t he,“ marked Tiina.
“Teehee! But which of us?“ giggled the foxes.
Yes, which one? That truly was a question. Tiina tried to figure it out by unity, yet both of the Reikos had closed themselves to her, letting the girl sense only the foxy nature of these creatures. Then both men turned into foxes to confirm that. One of them scurried to Tiina, the other to Marina. Now was the fox who looked at her while smiling its wide foxy smile Reiko, or was it Tokala instead?
It wasn’t probably the best idea to ruin that fine game of theirs trying to figure things out. It was easier to presume this was the right Reiko. Tiina took the creature into her lap. Then she patted a bit bashfully the tiny head of the fox. The creature made a sound that resembled purring, climbed then on Tiina’s shoulder, and wound itself like a collar around Tiina’s neck. Soft fox fur was tickling Tiina’s cheek, while fox scent was tickling her nose – this a bit pungent, yet sweet aroma she loved, for it was Reiko’s scent. She could wear such a collar for days!
“And how does this collar suit me?“ Marina’s flaunting voice brought Tiina out of her dreams. She looked hesitantly at the fox around Marina’s neck. Perhaps the fox whom Marina was now so gently caressing was actually the real Reiko? Could illusions deceive even the nose?
She said: “That is so sweet, yet it suits me better.“
“Well, you both look cute with your collars, yet you can’t eat with them,“ said Skadi, stuffing then her mouth full of porridge.
“Alas, you are probably right, Skadi,“ sighed Marina. She caressed her collar again.“I can drop some porridge on your beautiful coat by accident, and this is not what we want, do we, eh, Fluffy?“
She put her fox down. Tiina did the same, though with some resentment. The foxes headed to another room and came back from there as Reiko and Tokala, both of them grinning from self-satisfaction.
Tiina was on the verge of asking which had been which collar, yet she thought it over again. It was probably better to not know the answer to that question.
Or maybe she knew this. Foxes could not change their color. That meant one of them was not Tokala, thus it must have been an illusion. The other one was then probably illusionary too. So that’s what seven tails could brew out together.