Our eyes were wide as Yuki and I twisted around to get a better look at the four tails that were all wagging happily behind us.
The two on the right were a very deep dark purple, but the tips were much lighter. And the two on the left were gleaming snowy white. The fur over the rest of our small body wasn't as evenly divided, but from what I could see our back and sides were mostly that same dark purple, while our paws were almost pure black. Our belly and the inner sides of our legs on the other hand were white.
The only part of our face I could see was our little muzzle and nose, and we had the dark fur there too, while our chin was white. I couldn't see our ears, but I was positive the one on the left would be arctic white while the right one was dark purple.
It turned out Yuki and I weren't the only ones admiring our new form. Those three agents were still staring at us as well, in varying degrees of surprise or shock. With all the excitement of getting our fourth tail after our successful transformation I'd almost forgotten about them, until one guy suddenly spoke up and reminded me they were there.
"What the hell kind of fox is that?!" Mr. Badcop demanded.
Our tall beautiful bird girl replied calmly and succinctly, "The best kind. She's a kitsune."
Hearing that got our tails wagging all over again. We were already riding a wave of euphoria, but it was another nice boost of validation to hear the normally aloof and occasionally abrasive raven girl call us the best.
Unfortunately the agents seemed unconvinced. And from the look on the leader guy's face, I got the impression his partner wasn't sticking to whatever plan or strategy they were supposed to be following.
Sure enough Mr. Badcop spoke up again. He was scowling this time as he asked his colleagues, "How the bloody hell are we supposed to arrest a fox?! Or a raven, for that matter?"
It was clear that our transformation had startled all three of them, but the other two were doing a better job keeping their emotions in check. The lead guy managed to keep his voice almost level as he addressed Cara, "I don't suppose you could ask your ah, associate to turn back into a human again?"
"No," Cara replied without a second though. "She may at times look like one of your kind, as do I. But we are no more human than any of my brothers and sisters in attendance."
Our raven continued, "From what you've said I gather you're here to arrest some humans? There aren't any of those on the property, apart from the ones you've brought with you."
Mr. Badcop spoke up again at that point, and from the looks the other two gave him it was easy to guess he'd completely gone off script. He demanded, "What about the other two, at the farmhouse? The freaks with the dog ears and the tails? You're going to tell us they're not human either?"
"I assume you're referring to our wolfgirl groundskeeper and our dogkin maid," the statuesque bird girl replied calmly. "As I've already said, all of us here are Gaia's children."
Her tone became a little more pointed as she added, "And given the recent events in Australia and the USA, I'd like to hope that this island's human government isn't so foolish as to try and attack or interfere with any of Gaia's representatives."
The three agents exchanged another look, then apparently decided to change tactics again.
This time it was Mr. Goodcop who spoke, "You're right ma'am. We don't want to cause any sort of incident here. Having said that, our superiors do need to speak with you. My fellow agents and I have to do our job, and that means investigating certain crimes. So I'm asking for your cooperation. We just want to have a conversation with you and your associates."
Once again our beautiful bird girl dismissed the request out of hand, "No. You came here making threats of arrest and talking about serious criminal charges. You brought armed soldiers onto our land to try and further intimidate us. You and your masters may think us criminals, but in the eyes of Mother Nature we're heroes."
"What do you think would have happened, had no-one exposed your human minister's treachery?" Cara continued in a haughty condescending tone. "How do you suppose Gaia might have responded, had nobody warned that oil company CEO of the error of his ways?"
She answered her own questions a moment later, "There would have been a new mountain in the heart of Westminster by now, and odds are a second one would have replaced 'the Oil capital of Europe' as well. London and Aberdeen would have met the same fate as Canberra and Port Abbot. How many tens of thousands of human lives would have been lost if those two cities had fallen?"
"We killed no-one," Cara stated firmly, "To the contrary, many lives were saved."
In the middle of our raven friend's speech my favourite little arctic kitsune suggested internally, "Aster? Let's stop hiding behind Cara. We should move closer, stand at her side so she knows we're backing her up."
"Yeah ok," I agreed. "That's a good idea Yuki."
We stood up on our four paws then moved off the little pile of clothes, to stand next to our bird friend's right leg. That's when it really hit me how much smaller our kitsune form really was.
Cara's human form had always been taller than us, but now we were standing alongside her and our head wasn't even level with her knee. I had a feeling our size was somewhere between an arctic fox and a silver fox. We were probably no more than forty-five centimetres tall, including our ears which were angled slightly forwards. And perhaps a hundred and twenty centimetres long from nose to the ends of our tails, which were splayed out behind us like a fan.
By the time Cara finished speaking it seemed like the three agents didn't know what to do or how to respond. I wasn't sure if they bought what she said about us being heroes and saving all those lives, but the leader guy at least seemed to be considering her words. Or maybe he was just worried about what Gaia might do if him and his men actually tried to hurt us.
Unfortunately the hothead of the group wasn't ready to back down. He sounded impatient and angry as he demanded, "We've wasted enough time here. This is your last chance to surrender, right now!"
"I'm done screwing around," he added. "You two want to be animals, so be it. There'll be a lot less paperwork if the only things to get hurt around here are some stupid birds and a freaky fox."
At that moment all the ravens in the area seemed to lean forward and ruffle their feathers at once. And the sound of more than four hundred big black birds moving in unison was not the sort of thing you just ignored. In fact if they weren't on our side I probably would have had my tails between my legs at that point. Instead Yuki and I bared our teeth and let out a little growl. And Cara stood firm, the statuesque beauty didn't even flinch.
She addressed the three humans in her most disdainful tone, "If any one of you harm a single feather here, you will all find out first-hand why a gathering of ravens is known as an unkindness."
The ravens all ruffled their feathers again in agreement, and this time many of them also called out. Hearing something like a hundred angry "Caws!" fill the air in unison left me thinking more than a few of our allies were as eager for a fight as that one agent. And I honestly couldn't tell if that made me feel better, or worse.
"My brothers and sisters have Gaia's protection," Cara continued. "If you pick a fight with us, you are declaring war on Nature herself. And if that's the course you insist on taking then all I have to say is this: You should have evacuated London first."
After that everyone was silent. Yuki and I, our bird girl, all the hundreds of ravens around us, and the three human agents. They were glaring at us, we were watching them. It seemed like everyone was waiting for someone else to make the first move.
The stalemate dragged on for almost a full minute, before the other side blinked. Metaphorically speaking, that is.
"Stand down," the lead agent told his partners. He repeated it a little louder, presumably so the soldiers would all get the message too. "Stand down!"
Then he addressed Cara, "All of this will be reported to our superiors, and I'm sure someone will be back again soon to meet with you. Until then, we will be keeping a close eye on all you uh, people. So watch your step."
With that he gestured to the other two men, and all three of them retreated into their car. At the same time we could sense the soldiers had all moved back to their vans, and at long last the whole lot of them turned around drove back the way they came. Within a minute or two they crossed the visitor parking lot and left our land entirely.
It seemed like more than half the ravens took flight after them, and it was obvious a lot of them were following the humans. Others set out in different directions, presumably to return to their own homes or territories. One pair came towards us though, and a moment later they swooped down to land on the ground in front of Cara and Yuki and myself.
Unlike most of the other ravens, I noticed these two both had colourful bands fastened around their legs. They were the kind scientists used to track or identify birds, which made me think there was probably a story behind this pair. I was even more surprised when one of them spoke up in perfect English. She even had a refined accent, like she'd been educated using Received Pronunciation.
"Hello Cara. And this must be Aster and Yuki?"
"Hello Branwen," our own raven returned the greeting. "It's good to see you and Harris. And yes, these are my friends and colleagues Yuki and Aster. Speaking of, are the rest of your associates with you?"
It was the other bird who answered, and his English was just as clear. "Jubilee and Poppy are here too, I'm afraid the four of us only just arrived in time to see the humans leave. Edgar and Georgie are en route, but I'm sure they'll arrive presently."
"They're still dealing with some trimmed flight feathers," Branwen grumbled angrily. She scratched at the ground with her talons as she added, "Damned beefeaters."
The remaining ravens all ruffled their feathers again like they shared Branwen's sentiments, then a few dozen more took to the air to head back to wherever they'd come from. Cara looked unhappy too about that last statement.
Then she turned and gestured at the castle, "I've claimed the postern tower as raven territory, so make yourselves at home. The gatehouse tower belongs to a colony of bats, but they mostly keep to themselves. I'll join you all later, right now my support fox and I need to let the rest of our staff know that the crisis has been averted."
"Thank you Cara," Harris replied. His tone made it sound like he was joking as he added, "From one tower to another, hey?"
None of the birds bothered to explain what he meant by that, and without another word both Harris and Branwen took to the air and headed south to inspect the castle. It seemed like the last of the huge flock was also airborne by that point, but the rest were all dispersing rather than joining the talkative pair. Meanwhile our bird girl set off on foot in the opposite direction, back towards the farmhouse.
"Come along Yuki," she added. "And you too of course Aster. Let us go and show off your new form. I'm certain both Shirley and Wes will be excited to see that you've gained a fourth tail."
That thought got our tails wagging again as we set off to follow the tall naked beauty, but I also had quite a few questions for her. So as we hurried along to catch up I asked, "Hold on! How many more ravens have you invited to move in here? Who are Branwen and Harris?"
"Not many," Cara replied. "Branwen and the rest of her squad hail from the heart of London, where they'd been kept as glorified pets. We thought relocating them here would be a fun way to worry the humans."
Hearing that suddenly made sense of Harris' comment about towers, and I almost stopped in my tracks. "Wait a second, they're from the Tower of London?! If they're all moving here that's going to do more than just worry a few humans!"
Our bird girl rolled her eyes as she replied in a dismissive tone, "It's nothing more than a silly legend."
"Anyways look, here comes your sister and her partner," she added a moment later, as the front door of the farmhouse opened.
Shirley was staring wide-eyed at us, while her ears angled forward and her tail swished slowly back and forth behind her ankles. Meanwhile Wes's ears were standing up tall, while his cute curled tail wagged happily.
"Aster?!" my sister gasped as she looked down at me. "Is that really you?"
The cute little dogkin grinned as he added, "Congrats you two on getting your fourth tail!"