The hospital was confusing, bright and sharp and full of metal and wards and blinking things and people and colors and strange smell. The people were soft, and kin, their ears out and their noises reassuring as she was left to pace on the bed and still herseff at the touches of the examining ones. 

They bathed her with strange foams and gels, held her still to sink sharp things into her thighs, and then let her go, for a while. 

Later - so much later, when all she had to occupy herself was the pain from the sharp sounds and harsh things and murmurs of words words words - a strange woman came to her, and shared her thoughts with her. 

Oh you poor thing... 

I'm just happy that it doesn't look like you're going to be permanently feral, even if your language exposure was so delayed. I know that the foxes in the old days grew up like this, but to think something like you'd happen, nowadays....

We'll take care of you, give you a warm home and language and peers and a chance to refine that magic of yours - well done, by the way. You've gotten the fundamental bloodline workings down pat, even without a teacher out there...

You're going to have to do things pretty differently from how you used to, but I promise it's worth it. You've seen what it's like, I think, from the sound of it, so I think it'll make sense once you start to try.

That seal... 

That'll be coming off in time, though you've worn your way most of the way through it already. 

I just hope you'll be able to adapt to all of this, in time. 

Sorry about the shots - just don't want you getting sick, or spreading anything you've caught. The forest's had enough problems with unprotected sex causing issues already, and not everyone here will have a bloodline like yours to protect them. 

I hope you enjoy being human, too. 

The OTC response team dug up her details soon enough. Her physiology - magical and otherwise - was distinct enough to narrow it down even without calling up the records of the traditionalist plans on file. 

Taking care of her vaccinations was simple enough - nothing had deviated too far, and the programs that had designed them were broad enough to cover simple hybridizations and a touch of spiritualization. 

The logistics going forward, on the other hand...

There were funds, set aside, by her parents and other places besides, and a wide variety of experts available to hire with those. 

A speech therapist competent in the native tongue of the foxes of Arcbright was easy enough to acquire, though one competent to work with one most versed in the tongue of dreams that had grown so far already was a difficult ask. 

Tutors in the magic of her race was simple enough, of course - it was fairly traditional to play more instinctively rather than through words, and the intermingling of lines was something adaptable by a competent teacher, and perhaps a touch of crossover - easily enough arranged. 

And for her schooling...

It wasn't as if alternative arrangements were unheard of - disabilities not simply healable (practically or legally) were common enough that thousands upon thousands had them on Arcbright. An ecosystem of teachers and tutors and schools was in place that could handle most cases well. 

But for a child, with a past like hers, and no connections to the humanoid world...

A different approach would have to be taken.

...After she was returned, for she still had every right to be there, in a sense. Time for arrangements would be required too, for it was known that her kind didn't suffer from a lack of language in the way that humans do, and the path her parents took was rare enough to be ill-catered to, despite what their paperwork suggested.

She was sleeping, tired and small, soon enough, after all the examinations and cleanings and needles, and when she woke up, she was back. 

No cloying scents, no grey walls and odd soft pelts beneath her back, just the earth and her. 

She shivered, a little, oddly cold despite the niceness of the spring day. She dug into her reserves of fruits, and curled into eat, after all that. 

She'd think later about the humans and the big tall foxes. 

She settled back into place quickly enough, after a few more naps then usual, and a few few dreams of the wider world, but a certain restlessness remained in her. 

No one would just come into her territory and take her away and leave her be forever. That was simple enough, and nothing had changed in the smell in the air or magic, beyond the trace of still mage and her workings. 

Still... 

Working to find the meaning in the wards took up more and more of her time - the cycle of bearing fruits was as easy to recall as the position of her paws beneath her, and her hunts were swift and sure, especially when she let her magic trivialize the chase. 

She could tell they were simple, basic, but creating anything with her claws that stuck the working felt almost futile, even in the few patches of ground she found that held it a little better. 

The magic in the world shifted beneath her feet, and her spine stilled, as she felt the presence of another. 

She preens, showing of her crown of sunlight weft of dreams and fire. It glimmered bright and burning upon her brow, but the sparkling lights were oddly easy to watch. Her fur is fawn spun to white-gold, fading out into a flaxen yellow past the light of her circlet. Three sleek tails twine and lash behind her back as she leaned down to methodically scratch into the dirt, magic pouring out into the ground. The earth beneath filling with the weight and wisdom of her soul as the barest base of the ward took shape. 

Ahh... She'd missed performative casting work. She'd never been quite expert enough at it to make herself a one woman-show, and the cadres travelled too much for her taste. Still, she loves to get to make her audiences marvel and stare at it all, and part of that was what made tutoring (and this particular project) worth it, for her. 

It was so good to make people lose themselves in the art of it...

She glanced quickly over her shoulder and repressed a bit of a frown. 

Amber - that was the name the records had, at least, who knows if she'll end up liking it, the poor girl - was watching intently, yes. But she was flinching, too, her ears pulled back and her spine as stiff as a board. She didn't look too too stressed, at least. She was... what, trying to give her space and - her territory, perhaps? 

She shook her head, and barked out a little conciliatory growl. 

Goodness the old tongue tasted odd on her - tongue. 

A few little sunburst sparkles radiated off of her crown, twinkling with her amusement at the quip.

She focused down into the warding and the steadiness of her movements - no need to give her more reason to fuss...

She paused, relaxing a little at it, before sending back a little confused whining noise. 

One tail whipped out gently to erase her work, brushing away the marked dirt and lingering magic before she pressed in again, starting at the outwards little lines. 

She goes through the motions, the little dance of the seal of the basic structure, settling down the ripples, then beckoned her close. Trying to just freehand something like that wasn't going to work too well if she couldn't see it properly, and practice like that...

Her hairs bristled a little at the thought. 

She was pretty big, and she radiated a soft power, but...

Her claws stilled in the earth, and she settled and watched. 

She's here to show me something. 

She set herself up on her haunches and watched.

Tracing out the ward demarcation again and again is simple enough. It was relaxing, almost, and something that she'd done before many a time - though not too often in this shape. She kept it clean, and smooth, and lit her work well, each step deliberate and slow. 

Amber seemed to mostly follow the flow of it, if not the execution and what she was supposed to do with the control so... 

She talks, a little, small soft words coming out of her throat, thinking back to the long ago lessons in her heritage. They were a little stiff, still, but explaining it and using her control of focus and attention to help her listen would hopefully be enough to catch her interest, and share it with her. 

To think that she needs to teach a feral one of the old ways...

She just sort of goes on, her magic working and twining and twisting and sinking and dragging and drifting on things that she can't quite see yet, her words babbling on and on and on. She shifts enough to show her work, but there's just so much... 

Despite herself, there's a little smile on her maw as she tries to follow the start again, seeing where it all falls apart. She listens to soft words and little gestures and little brushes her tails make against her workings. 

In time, the nervousness creeps back in a little, and her breathing labours, from the noise and the strain and tiredness.

She bows her head a little, and cancels her magic. 

She's catching onto the manipulations well, even if she's pretty distant from the style this came from. Still, the language barrier is... awkward. She hopes that the other hirelings will be able to work that out, a little better. 

When she departs, she sends her crown up into the sky, flicks up at it with her tail, and beckons her, before turning away and slinking off into the forest. Hopefully she can understand a signal to meet again - if not... 

There's options. 

She sighs a little as her body unfolds back into her human form. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to go all the way back to her base.

She smiles, a little cheery, already planning to schedule some time somewhere like here for her husband. He always had so much fun with her when she got all preeny and showy, and this really helped with that. 

Maybe he'll be tempted to get back to primal things too...~

She snickered a little. 

Coming back home after the lesson is... odd. Her fur still bristles, her pace still slips into a hackle-raised prowl, and her steps are still softer then normal, despite the warmth of the golden fox, and her kindness. She's from such a different world... 

She shakes her head, and saunters off back. 

She must eat, then perhaps... 

It may be time to practice yet more. 

Her fur mats with the soft juice of her saved berries as she bites into it, gorging in on them for a good long while. 

She whines lightly, and rolls softly up against the dirt. She shakes it off with a harsh little breath, then settles, taking a look around at her home, the same as it was before, still. 

There's a faint purple glimmer in the air, just outside her den, and a light clink of something metallic plopping down against the packed dirt.

Her head tilts up a little questioningly, and her tails swish out behind her. She peeks her head out at it, looking intently at the little item they've decided to deliver. 

It's a little metal sphere, with a mesh of material along the surface, alongside a handful of blinking lights. It's faintly magical, too. There's a tightly wound enchantment that vaguely reminds her of the 'power' part of a ward on it, it seems, and probably a few more complicated things threaded into the body of it. There might even be something - bound into the shell loosely? 

It chimes softly, lighting up a soft green as it starts playing back something the older fox said. 

She prowls over to it reluctantly, and noses against it, smelling it and seeing if it does anything at her attention. 

The volume adjusts a little as she draws closer - it's hard to tell if it's just part of the 'wake up' or if it's actively downshifting to make it more comfortable for her ears. 

It doesn't smell like much of anything, in the mundane world - just the faint tang of the grey-things that humans like to make things out, and the lingering scent of finger oils and the dirt in landed on. Magically, it's a little sharper, like thunder and thunder-struck air, rustling leaves and solar cycles. 

There's a little - fuzz, and a spark, gently playing against her snout from the staticy metal. 

She jumps back reflexively, and feels the little download into her mind play out, like in that white and clean place. 

A - schedule and a dial, and an image of how it's meant to be used. 

She blinks a little at it, and the dissipating little bubble of dreams it leaves behind. 

She... 

She whines, and goes hunt, this time. 

There's time. 

When she comes back the final time, it's dusk. 

The little orb still blinks against the night a vibrant unnatural green, innocently glinting on the floor. 

There's clearly so much to learn but.... 

A flick of her tail picks up the little bead - it's oddly small, for something so significant. It nestles on her fur nicely enough, and she can do the little manuever she saw in seconds, if she wants. 

Her eyes go somewhere a little different. 

The ward lines, on the floor, so solid after all this time. She has a start, but... 

She ought to be able to do more. Make things like this, too, and be able to do better then this, at making them gifts. 

They're probably supposed to be gifts. 

The thought doesn't help her restless energy as much as she'd like. 

As for why not...

There's nothing so clear, there, but she feels tight and tired and tense and like it's not time, yet. 

She spends some time, bouncing between that, and the thoughts before, prowling in place, 'til one of the appointed times comes. 

Past the faint crackle of ward interference, a soft lullaby plays. 

The song is light and soft, choral and calm, reciting a legend of how a kitsune goddess made the first foxes of arcbright dream with each of her tails, with soft hums and lingering notes that slip into yawns.