Kitsune in the Shadows

[Ava POV]

“So… What’s the plan for when she comes back out?”

“…” Mom didn’t respond.

“You said we were going to do something in the morning and the evening. Didn’t you plan anything?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Look, I… don’t… really know what you’re supposed to do on someone’s birthday,” She leaned back in her seat, “I had thought about bringing the cake out in the evening, but we already did that, even if it was a bit rushed… It wouldn’t feel as good if we just did that again, y’know?”

“What about-?…” I was unable to say anything else; the words just wouldn’t come to me.

I… don’t know what you’d normally do either…

We gave her the gifts… We had the cake…

…

Is there anything else?

There must be…

As we were lost in thought, Beni came and sat down next to Raynelle, immediately leaning backwards, letting his ears drape over the back of the pew.

“So… you finally decided on Kierra’s birthday…” He spoke, taking exaggerated pauses between every few words, “That helps to explain the rush this morning… Although… I wish I knew in advance so I could congratulate her… I do wonder if I scared her a little… but that’s neither here nor there… For now… it sounds like you have a problem?”

No matter how many times I’d come here, I’d always just found Beni to be… hard to talk to? Something about him was just a little off-putting.  Maybe it was his bright red eyes that seemed to pierce the darkness of the temple, or maybe it was the chains that clinked every time he moved. Yet despite all that, he could be someone you would happily sit down in front of just to hear his stories and lessons. That combination was just… a bit too much?

“I don’t know how much help you’d be I’m afraid,” Mom spoke up first, taking a small jab at him.

“There’s only one way to find out…” Beni responded immediately, turning his head to look at us.

“Well… It’s Kierra’s birthday, as you now know, and we wanted to go and do something to celebrate when she comes back from talking to… whoever she’s with. We just don’t know what you’re supposed to do… y’know? Just something to cap the day off in a way.”

“Hmm… That is a problem…” Beni sat up straight, “Lucky for you… Though it’s… admittedly been a while since I’ve seen them… I do have a… number… of siblings… So I can probably come up with some ideas…”

Siblings?

Wait.

A number of siblings?

…

It… does make sense… He is a rabbit beastkin…

But…

It’s still strange to think that there are multiple Benis out there in the world…

“So-?” Mom pressed him for an actual answer.

“Normally… we’d invite friends round… Which might be a little hard for Kierra…” He closed his eyes, “Maybe you could go eat out somewhere?… Just something you don’t do often?… So it’s special…”

Go out to eat somewhere?

That’s… actually not a bad idea…

Though… I don’t know if Kierra would be happy with all the people around…

Kierra had gotten much better when it came to being around people, even if she still wouldn’t talk to anyone she didn’t already know. However, I didn’t really know if she would be able to cope with the atmosphere.

“Ooh, I like that idea. I don’t think we’ve ever taken Kierra to eat out before; it would be a nice change of pace and,” Mom turned and smiled at me, “and would give our chef a little break. Though, I must admit I don’t know anywhere in this city we could go.”

 “I can’t say that I get out much myself… I attract a few too many eyes… as you might expect…” He lifted one of his arms, letting the chain clatter against the pew.

“Then we need to go and-” I tried to speak up.

“But…” Beni interrupted me, “Celica did recommend a place the other day… It’s a small pub… somewhat near the outskirts of the city… I think it was called… The Hearth & Harvest… or something along those lines…”

“A pub?” Mom sounded a little surprised, “Is that a good idea? I mean… I don’t know if I want either of them drinking…”

Huh? Wait.

Why can’t I drink?

“That’s… a very… very… wise decision…” Beni sighed, “In my experience… it’s a good idea to keep alcohol and kitsune separate… It… exaggerates some of their natural instincts… Granted, every kitsune I’ve met has reacted a bit differently… but they’ve all been… more than a handful if you understand what I mean…”

Natural instincts?

I never noticed anything like that with Kierra…

Could she really be that different if she just drinks a little?

…

I’ll have to remember that for later.

“Luckily, you don’t need to worry too much about it with this place… It’s a little different… they focus more on food rather than drink… That isn’t to say they don’t sell alcohol… you just need to be a little careful of what you let them order… Another nice thing is that since they’re a little unusual… they normally attract a younger crowd during the day and calm down in the evening… so it should be a nice place…”

“That… doesn’t sound too bad, actually,” Mom said as she turned to face me again, “What do you think? It could wind up being pretty good.”

…

I guess…

Worst case scenario… we can just leave…

…

Though… I am a little worried about who we could run into there…

If there’s a knight like…

No.

Ava, you can’t keep thinking like that…

It… It doesn’t even sound like the kind of place they would visit…

…

“I think we could give it a go,” I respond, “Though we should still ask her first. I don’t know if she’d agree with the idea.”

“If that’s the case… you’re in luck…” Beni pointed to the far side of the room, “It looks like she’s already back… just in time…”

Both Mom and I got up together, expecting Kierra to come over to us at any moment. Yet… even after waiting a little while, she didn’t appear.

…

I looked over at Beni, but all he did was shrug.

That’s not very helpful.

Just in case something had happened to Kierra, I decided to try to go over to her instead, even if I couldn’t really see. I slowly walked into the darkness, holding my arms out in front of me so I didn’t accidentally bump into Kierra, or anything else for that matter.

Thankfully, it was only a few steps before my hand brushed against something fluffy.

“Oh? I seem to have found myself a little fox,” I teased.

“…”

Nothing?

No talking back?

Not even a peep?

“Hey, Kierra?” I fumbled about a little until my hand eventually found her shoulder, “Is everything alright?”

She jumped as soon as my hand made contact.

“Ah, I- Y-yes,” She blurted out, “I’m okay.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm,” Though I couldn’t see her, I was able to feel her nod.

“If you say so… Anyway, let’s get back to Mom. She’s got something she wants to ask you.”

 “Mm,” She hummed as she picked herself up off the floor.

As Kierra made her way back to Mom, I kept my hand on her shoulder, mainly just to make sure I wouldn’t bump into anything on the way back out. I just couldn’t understand how everyone else was able to make their way around this place without any issues.

“There’s the birthday girl!” Mom shouted as we got close, “Say, how would you feel about going out tonight? Just to do something a little different? To celebrate?”

“…” She didn’t respond.

Now that I could make out her face, it didn’t even seem like her eyes were focused. I squeezed her shoulder a little, and once again, she suddenly came to life.

“Oh, y-yes, okay,” Kierra said immediately.

That was a little quick…

Did you even think about it?

What’s got you so distracted?

“Well… Great!” Mom responded, sounding a little surprised herself, “I guess we can head out right away. I just got the directions from Beni, and since it isn’t too far from home, we can probably take as long as we want once we’re there.”

“Ah… Before you go…” Beni walked over to Kierra before crouching down to meet her height, “Happy birthday… and sorry that I don’t have a gift… I found out about all this a little too late… I hope you can consider the place recommendation as a gift from both me and Celica… as I’m sure… even though she isn’t here… she would have liked to prepare something as well…”

“Mm,” Again, Kierra just hummed in response.

Once Beni had stood back up, I quickly turned Kierra around so she could face me.

“Hey, are you sure you’re alright?” I asked.

“Yes,” She responded immediately, “I’m alright.”

I… can’t do anything if she doesn’t tell me.

I’ll just… have to keep an eye on her then.

…

“Okay… but, please tell me if anything is going on. Can you promise me that little fox?”

“… I’m not little…”

“That’s more like the little fox I know,” I ruffled her hair a little, “Now, let’s get going. Just make sure you don’t forget your promise, alright?”

“I won’t.”

I chuckled a little as I stood back up, hoping that maybe I was just imagining things before.

“What’s with the hold-up?!” Mom called out, already waiting by the rear exit.

“You’re just impatient!” I yelled back, pulling up the hood of Kierra’s cloak before gently pushing her forward until she started to walk herself.

Beni quickly saw us out before we set out on our way to the pub. The trip there wasn’t too bad, although there were a few times when I had to pull Kierra out of the way so she didn’t accidentally walk into people.

The pub itself was hard to miss, mainly due to both the large sign hanging above the door and the two large chimneys on the roof. On the sign it read, ‘The Hearth & Harvest’ in large letters over what looked to be a burning field of barley.

“This seems to be the right place,” Mom said as she confidently pushed the door open, “Let’s hope it isn’t too busy.”

Both Kierra and I followed her in. As soon as we were inside, I was a little overwhelmed by the atmosphere after having not gone out anywhere for the last two years. The place was very warm, yet it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was also a little loud, but compared to most pubs, at least the few I’d been in, it wasn’t too bad.

Mom quickly made her way over to a table where we all sat down before she raised her hand to call someone over. Almost immediately, a waitress who was leaning on the bar noticed and came to our table.

“These are a couple new faces,” She said with a smile on her face.

“That does seem to be the case,” Mom responded.

“Indeed it does,” She chuckled, “Now, what can I get for you?”

“Well, we’re actually here to celebrate a birthday,” Mom made a show of whispering to the waitress, though she had to speak quite loudly to be heard over all the background noise.

“Is that so? Tell me, who’s the special one here today?”

“That would be our shy one. I wonder if you could pick them out?” Mom teased.

“Hmm,” The waitress turned to face me, making a show of looking me up and down before doing the same to Kierra, “I wonder… Might it be the girl with her hood still up?”

“That’s the one.”

“Well, I wish you a very happy birthday. I guess I’ll have to ask the chef to make things extra special for you.”

Kierra didn’t respond.

“Actually, on that note, we’ll just take whatever you recommend,” Mom spoke up, redirecting the waitress’s attention away from Kierra, “I was told the food here was quite good, so I trust in your choice.”

“That’s definitely a big ask… but I’ll see what I can do,” She smiled again, “Any drinks?”

“Whatever fruit juices you have would probably be best,” Mom quickly responded, not allowing the waitress to look at anyone else, “For the three of us.”

“Alright, I’ll go get that all ready for you then. Should only be a few minutes.”

She quickly made her way back over to the bar, calling over one of the chefs in the back.

This place doesn’t seem too bad.

Then again… can’t really say that before we try the food.

I looked over at Kierra to see how she was holding up, however, wasn’t able to see her face as her hood was in the way. I started reaching a hand out to try get her attention but stopped myself just before I tugged on her cloak.

Don’t worry so much Ava…

She said she was okay…

If she wasn’t, she would tell you… She promised.