Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 78 – Finding The Right Words

[Ellaria POV]

“Ell- … No. Aria… I need some help,” Sister said as she sheepishly stepped into my domain.

I did nothing but stare back at her in disbelief for a moment. Sister had actually called me Aria without me having to say anything.

Something big must have happened.

But I was watching the little kitsune the whole time… Is this something else?

…

It took a few more seconds before I was able to break away from my thoughts and respond to her.

“Why don’t you come sit next to me and tell me what exactly is going on?” I moved over to one side of the bench as I spoke before patting the now available space.

Without saying anything, Sister quickly came up next to me and sat down before immediately proceeding to rest her head on my shoulder.

Do you try to be this adorable?

I carefully ran my fingers through her hair, almost immediately noticing that it was a little more ragged compared to when I had seen her in the morning.

“So, what’s on your mind?” I asked.

“…” She didn’t respond.

“Look, you came to me for help. How am I going to help you if you don’t tell me anything?”

“… It’s about Kierra,” She eventually admitted with a sigh.

…

So this is about the little kitsune.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Why don’t you start from the beginning? Because I didn’t notice anything unusual myself,” As I spoke, I brought out the panel showing what the little kitsune was currently doing.

Looking at it, I could see that the little kitsune had gotten back to the inn safely and was in the middle of eating her dinner.

“You were watching?” Sister asked as she saw what I was doing.

“Of course I was watching. You’re not the only one who wants to keep an eye on her… especially now that John has taken an interest in her.”

The silence that followed my comment went on for an uncomfortable amount of time before I said anything else.

“Sister? You still need to tell me what you need help with,” I said as I moved her bangs out of her face, “All you’ve told me so far is that this problem of yours has something to do with the little kitsune.”

“I… I don’t know how to say it…”

…

When was the last time I saw you acting like this?

“Then how about you just tell me what happened? One step at a time? Then we can sit here and try to figure this out together.”

“…”

It took a while still before Sister started speaking again.

“I… I was talking to her… She met another kitsune and started panicking… s-so I tried to calm her down, to explain what was happening…”

“Does that mean this problem has something to do with the kitsune she met?” I asked.

“No?… Yes?… I…” She swallowed loudly, “It wasn’t anything special… I just tried to explain that feeling you get when meeting another kitsune… but…”

“But?”

“… I don’t know… I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” Sister suddenly tried to bury her face in my shoulder to the point that it started to get a little painful.

“Hey,” I carefully lifted her head up, “I think you did well. The little kitsune just stood there and listened; nothing happened to her. I even noticed her ears twitch beneath her hood when the village was mentioned. I’d say that’s much better than a certain someone who I remember used to run away when this sort of thing happened.”

“That’s not-” She stopped herself before saying anything more.

“What’s gotten into you today? I know you tend to worry quite a bit, but nothing has happened. Not to you, not to me, and not to the little kitsune,” I turned so that I was facing Sister directly, “Now, why don’t you tell me what this is really about?”

“I… I just…” She clearly struggled to find the right words.

“You can take your time, just like always. I’m not going anywhere.”

“She… I… We… We’re the only other kitsune she knows… that she’s met before… or at least the only ones she remembers meeting…”

“Yes, that might be true, but-” I reached for Sister’s cheek, but before I could reach it, she jumped off of the bench and onto her feet.

“She… She doesn’t need to end up like me!” She shouted, a tear just barely forming below her eye.

I was utterly taken aback by her comment and just left sitting there, staring at her, unable to say anything. Words were racing through my mind, but I just couldn’t put the right ones together.

What do you mean?

She doesn’t need to end up like you?

What part of you?

“Sister-” I tried to reach out again, but she took a step back out of my reach.

“I… I have you… I have Kierra… but that’s… that’s all I have! I don’t have anyone else. I… She…” Sister clenched her jaw tightly as another tear fell.

“Ovia!” In my own panic, I accidentally called Sister by her name, “Please try and calm down. I… No. We can sit down and figure this out, okay? You said you wanted my help, so please let me help you.”

“But… But… I… I don’t know what to do… I don’t even know if I should do something… I… I don’t know how to help her… I just…” She swallowed again, “I know I want to do something.”

Instead of trying to say anything more, I got up myself and hugged Sister, slowly guiding her down to the floor and having her rest in my tails. She quickly buried her face in one in an attempt to dry her tears… a sight I had hoped I wouldn’t have had to see again.

I let her do as she wanted for a little while so she could calm down before I tried to talk to her again.

“Now, Sister, can you tell me exactly what you want to do?” I wrapped another tail around her, “Once we know that, maybe I can help you figure out how you can do it.”

“… I want her to have… more?… I know she has Raynelle and Ava, and even you as well, but… she deserves more than that… So much more…”

“So, from what I understand, you just want the little kitsune to have some more people around her?” I asked.

“I think so…”

“Alright, at least we have a place to start… although… even after only thinking about it for a few moments, I don’t think this will be too difficult to figure out.”

“What do you mean?” Sister finally lifted her face out of my tail and looked directly at me, “How is it not difficult? She… I’ve watched her… I know how she reacts to people.”

“Well, if you want the little kitsune to have more people around her, the first thing we would need to do is encourage her to talk to someone,” I explained.

“But that… I… I don’t want to force her…” She said, “I… I know she doesn’t want to…”

“I didn’t say anything about forcing her,” I cupped Sister’s cheek in my hand, “I said we should encourage her. If she truly doesn’t want to talk, then that’s okay. We will have done the best we could at this moment… But, if you want to know my opinion, I think with the right encouragement, she’ll be more than happy to try.”

“… Why do you think that?”

“Because you’ve done it before,” I said with a smile, “I’ve seen you help the little kitsune open up, even if just a little.”

It seemed to take a second for Sister to process what I had said, but as soon as she did…

“What do you mean? I haven’t done that before. I haven’t done anything like that before. I… I can’t-”

“Sister,” I interrupted her before she got too far along, “I remember a time, about two years ago now, when you asked the little kitsune to share her name with someone.”

“But that was your idea…”

“That doesn’t matter,” I spoke quickly so as to not give her the time to argue, “You were the one who asked her, telling her all about how she should show off her name because you gave it to her.”

Sister’s face went bright red after that comment.

“And do you remember what happened? The little kitsune went and pushed herself to do it, even passing out in the process. But, what came out of it, in the end, was her relationship with the two she now considers her family,” I grabbed onto Sister’s arm and pulled her out of my fluff, “So I just think she doesn’t know how to make that first step, or maybe she just doesn’t know if she can make that first step. I’m sure once she starts talking, the rest will come naturally… as long as it’s what she wants of course.”

“But-”

“No buts,” I interrupted again, “You said that you wanted my help, so I’m going to give it to you. What we’re going to do is give Kierra a simple task with a reward at the end. Something that would encourage her to step outside of her comfort zone a little.”

“…”

“I even already have an idea of what task we can give her.”

“What is it?…” She asked quietly.

“Well, she ran into that red-haired kitsune today, didn’t she? She would be a good person to talk to even if just because she’s also a kitsune,” I said, “The little kitsune was also interested in the village, and who better to tell her about it? If anything, it all seems a little too obvious.”

“… But… I could also tell her about the village…”

“Yes, you could… and so could I… but that isn’t all this is about. You want her to try to talk to more people. If you just give her all the answers, then she won’t need to, not now or in the future.”

Sister thought about it for a while before finally giving her answer to my suggestion.

“… Okay… But what about the reward?” She adjusted the way she was sitting in my tails so she was upright, “You said we needed one…”

“Oh, that’s the easy part,” I couldn’t help but smirk, “All you need to give her is a single wish.”

“A wish?!” Sister blurted out, “B-but… that’s… not enough… I know it isn’t… A wish from me…”

As she spoke, her face once again started to look a little red.

“I think it will be more than enough,” I giggled slightly, “If you’re okay with it that is.”

“If that’s all it takes… I can do that…” She looked off into the distance, “What would she wish for?…”

“Then it sounds like we’ve got a plan,” I clapped my hands together, startling sister a little, “All we need to do now is put it into practice.”

I pulled the panel back in front of us to check on the little kitsune and saw that she was just going up to her room in the inn.

“And it looks like the perfect opportunity is already presenting itself in front of us.”

Sister’s eyes were immediately glued to the panel, watching the little kitsune’s every move.

“Sister?” I shook her a little to get her attention.

“Yes… I will. I’ll do it… as long as it helps…” She wrapped her hand around her pendant as I watched her prepare herself.

…

I don’t think that’s how you should be getting ready…

You need to relax a little more.

“Oh, and by the way,” I leaned in close to her ears and whispered, “Congratulations on getting over your stutter.”

Her blush only grew, yet she didn’t say anything back, just continuing to focus on the panel in front of her.

“Remember, I’ll be right here if you need any help,” I wrapped an arm around Sister’s shoulders in preparation so that I would be able to hear what was going on, “But I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”