Chương 22: Bonny Fox: III – Human Contact

"Miss? Hello, Miss?" Maeve tried to ignore the voice, she wanted to go back to the dream. Or maybe it had been a nightmare? Zorua had been so fluffy though, and waking from that dream was something Maeve almost didn't want to do. She was right on the precipice…" Hugo! The young woman is waking up!" Maeve heard the voice call ag ain. T his time louder, clearer. That made sense, she was waking up after all. It wasn't a voice she recognized.

Maeve tried to get up, instead flailing around under something heavy and warm. She opened her eyes, finding herself somewhere she didn't recognize. This wasn't her home. She was on a rug in front of a fireplace in an unknown building. She blinked, taking in the room around her. It seemed to be the main room of a plain home.

Rolls of decorative cloth hung on sealed wooden walls, curtains drawn over frost-covered glass windows, a closed metal fireplace with a glass viewport against one wall, a kettle on top and fire burning merry and hot within, and doors on either side. Turning, Maeve looked behind herself to see the final wall. A wood-fired cooking station with a pot heating on it and a washing basin sat against it, and to the side of both was a door, obviously leading outside.

In front of the wall was a rather nice wooden table with four chairs, in one of which rested a woman in her thirties, dressed in heavier clothes, patiently watching Maeve. The girl looked at what she was covered with. It was a large, wool-stuffed quilt with circles and diamonds in repeating colors and patterns.

"I'm sorry for you waking up on the floor, dear, but we thought you should be near the fire." Said the same voice from earlier, making Maeve jump slightly. Turning to face whoever had spoken, Maeve's eyes landed on the woman at the table again.

"W- Where am I?" Maeve asked the older woman, glancing around again.

"Who are you?" The woman frowned, propping her elbows onto the table and leaning her head into a hand, "That's not what I was expecting… Can you at least understand me?" That simply confused Maeve more. The woman was clearly- Clearly not speaking English. Two things about what had to be— but seemingly wasn't — a dream came back to her; Zorua and her ability to understand him, and how he said 'humans can't understand us.' What did that make Maeve?

She curled herself up, backing into the farthest corner she could and hoping to disappear. To go home. She jumped when the door to the outside opened and a man stepped through. He was slightly dirty, with large arms and swarthy skin, wearing a stained white shirt and suspenders.

"…She looks scared." The man commented after a moment of stillness.

"Of course she does. You found her out in the woods, freezing to death." The woman replied.

"I don't think she speaks Unovan."

"Wh- Where's Zorua? O- Or…" What had the other one been named?

"Or Solosis?" The two adults locked onto her last word and then shared a look.

"Guess it was her 'mon." The man said.

"She might be reassured if we let them in, husband." The woman's voice held an edge of warning. The man nodded contritely, "Sorry, love. You were right." He said, turning to the door he just came through. He paused in front of it, then sighed as he opened the door and cold air came rushing in.

"Hey!" He called, leaning out slightly and looking to the sides, "Your master is awake." He paused, and sighed again, "You two can come in." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He held the door open a few seconds longer before Maeve saw the horse-like shape Zorua had taken when he was protecting her step through the entry, followed shortly by the odd, floating form of Solosis.

Maeve saw the man's hand hover over a red-painted sphere on his belt, but he otherwise just watched as her disguised companion and whatever Solosis was moved towards her. When what Maeve hoped was Zorua reached her, it stuffed its head into her chest and started crying silently. His tears redoubled when she placed her hands on- The fluffy fox she'd held before. The form she was seeing truly was no more than an illusion.

"What- What happened?" She asked Zorua, growing less frightened and more confused. It wasn't Zorua who answered, however, "Performed as promised I did, humans alerted." Said the floating orb, Solosis.

"Zorua?" She checked the fox, still crying against her.

"Speak he will not, negate his disguise it would," Solosis explained.

"Attached to you he is, strange for the dark-ones," She offhandedly commented. Dark ones? Maeve was beginning to feel more and more lost.

"…Hug me too, you will?" Solosis timidly asked. That surprised Maeve, though if she were honest with herself, she needed someone to hold onto, and two was better than one.

"O- Of course." She stuttered, raising a beckoning hand. Maeve didn't know what she was expecting when Solosis impacted her, the creature looked unlike anything she'd seen before, but the soft, squishy feeling wasn't it.

"Where do you think she's from? We're awfully far from the next town." The man quietly asked who Maeve suspected was his wife. The woman carefully kept her gaze away from Maeve, "I don't know. I'm not sure if she can even understand Unovan, but it's not what she was speaking."

"Hey, girl, can you understand us?" The man asked, turning his full attention on Maeve.

"Hugo…" The woman warned, though her words died at Maeve's slow nod.

"Oh, poor dear."

"You think her head got a little… you know, in the cold? I doubt she was ready for it." The man glanced at his wife.

"Nobody was, dear. I don't think she wanted to be out that late either, with the way she's dressed." The woman sighed, "At least her monsters knew to get someone. How's the reservoir looking?"

"Frozen solid," The man spoke in low tones, "We should have enough dried wood at least. Honestly, I'm just hoping the next train has enough food, maybe a fire or grass trainer, because I don't think Sammy's getting the last harvest off his fields." The man shook his head, "It feels like the wrath of Articuno out there."" We have coats, you know." The man smiled warmly, "Yes, but I know how much you appreciate looking." Maeve began to tune the two out, uninterested in the adults making eyes at each other.

She instead looked to the two creatures huddling into her. She had thought them fairies, and perhaps they still were, but the woman had called them monsters? They didn't look particularly monstrous, Zorua was adorable and even Solosis was cute in her own way. But wasn't that how some fae tricked you? And why had the woman called them Maeve's? Maeve's mind ticked back to Solosis' use of the term 'dark-ones' to refer to Zorua.

"What does 'dark-ones' mean?" She asked the squishy spheroid.

"Unseen in the beyond they are. Find their minds or know their thoughts we cannot," Solosis said, before taking on a thoughtful air, "As shadows they are, follow that which casts them, it seems." Maeve wasn't certain what to make of that description, but it didn't sound like something outright evil, thankfully.

"Where- Where are we?" She asked the informative creature. The floating ball thought about it, then glowed for an instant before replying, "Named Anville, this town is."

"Anville?" Maeve hadn't heard of any place like that.

"Where is the town, then?"

"Human lands, it is within," Solosis replied, unhelpfully.

"Miss?" The woman interjected.

"Are you… speaking to them?" Maeve didn't know what to do, so she simply pushed herself farther into the corner, hugging the two fae closer.

"She looks overwhelmed," Hugo spoke, taking a seat at the table.

"What do you think we should do?"

"We can't just put her out in this weather, and if she can't even talk to anyone then it would be cruel to simply send her away when it lets up…" The woman trailed off thoughtfully.

"We need to find her parents, obviously. Although, how old would you say she is?" The man looked confused for a moment before a sort of sadness eclipsed his features, "Oh. You think they just… And without even preparing her?" He shook his head, "Well then, I say we feed her and make sure she's ready for a journey. Since it looks like nobody else did." Journey? Maeve was more confused now, though glad for the kindness the man and women seemed to have.

The thought of food made her stomach rumble as she realized how hungry she had been.

"I think she agrees with you," The woman chuckled, causing Maeve to blush slightly.

"There will be food in a bit, miss…" The woman trailed off, prompting.

"Maeve," The girl said, hoping that they would at least understand her name." Well then, Maeve, lunch should be ready soon."