Niphru spent several weeks learning from Dawn in the mornings, exploring the forest and practicing his illusions in the evenings. During this time he found numerous twisted beings that he reported to the humans. This gained him significant goodwill with the villagers, including those who had previously attacked him.
After this time, Niphru had mostly caught up to what Dawn knew, telepathy allowing far faster learning especially once he knew words.
At this point, Amilya and Morris came out to meet with him as Dawn returned to go to school..
“Niphru, the villagers are quite grateful for your efforts in reporting monsters before they can harm anyone. The farmers are also thankful for your help in reducing the number of mice getting into the grain silo,” Morris began.
Amilya continued after him, “The majority of the village agree to see you as the first non-human villager, and as such, you are allowed to enter the village on your own. The guards know about your flame, and we have never seen any other fox use it, so that is your proof of identity, along with being able to speak.”
Morris spoke up again, “And on an unrelated note, now that you are comfortable with speech, I’d like to talk with you about your past when you feel up to it.”
Niphru was quite excited by this, as it meant he would finally be able to thank the old healer, Monti, for his efforts in healing Dawn. He was also curious what the village was like when it wasn’t hostile towards him as before, but that was far less important. His human had been hurt, and someone helped, that required thanks.
Amilya turned and headed back to the village now that she had said what she came for, while Morris waited for a response.
Replying to Morris, Niphru exclaimed, “I have to visit Monti first, but then we can discuss the past if you want.
Morris nodded, remarking, “I’m sure he will be glad to see you again. He was quite shocked by you at first, but liked how calm you were when we brought you in. He was quite upset when you were driven out, as he was curious about you as well.”
Niphru nodded, having gotten roughly that impression from the man when he had spent the night with Dawn in the man’s home.
Continuing, Morris went on, “Since you want to see him and are fine with chatting later, why don’t we go together? I’ll wait outside while you meet with him. That direction is along the way to where I am staying.”
Again Niphru nodded, before following Morris to the village gate, shifting his foxfire back into an orb rather than an illusion field, noticing it had reached twice the size of his head and felt ‘complete’ for lack of a better term.
As they reached the gate, the guards nodded towards Morris before speaking to Niphru, “Thank you for your help in making the area safer, we’ve had less attacks lately, and the children who sneak out have been coming back alive. If we didn’t keep getting your reports about nearby monsters, it would be much more dangerous for everyone.”
“You are welcome,” Niphru replied, his foxfire flickering as it was used partially for illusion, “I just wanted to make sure my friend Dawn was safe and wouldn’t get hurt again.”
“Well,” replied the guard, “you’ve done a great job, regardless of the exact reason. Thank you. Hopefully you enjoy your time in the village.”
Nodding, Niphru replied, “I hope I do as well. Thank you for the well wishes.”
Conversation finished, Niphru followed Morris through the gate as the guards shut it behind them. Morris led the way to Monti’s home, as it had been quite a while since Niphru was brought there, and that had been from another gate. Upon reaching it, Morris sat down on a chair outside after opening the door to let Niphru in.
“Monti, I’m glad to meet you again!” Niphru exclaimed, seeing the old man getting up from a chair on the other side of the room.
“I am glad to see you again too, little fox. It was quite a shock meeting you the first time, and I apologize about how people acted in the morning. Many have lost children to foxes in the past.” Monti said.
“I understand,” Niphru replied, “I am different, but it isn’t obvious. Anyways, I came here today to thank you for helping Dawn stop feeling pain after the snake attacked her, as well as your work healing her afterward.”
“It is no trouble, little one,” Monti replied, “it is my job to aid those in need, and she was in a bad state. Thank you for saving her, the world would have been darker without her presence.”
Monti rubbed his chin for a moment before continuing, “I suppose I should also thank you for pointing out the monsters in the forest. Thanks to your warnings, those who go to hunt them can prepare much better for what they will face, and there are less injuries that require tending.”
“I didn’t realize it helped so much, but I am glad,” Niphru exclaimed, “I’m also glad I could meet with you today, but I need to go with Morris to talk about how things ended up this way. Thank you for your time, Monti!”
Niphru then turned to the door, passing his foxfire under it and forming an illusion of himself beside the door. A moment later, Morris opened the door for him, saying, “What a clever trick, I assumed you’d ask Monti to let you out.”
Niphru left Monti’s home, following Morris, and replied, “I would have, but I knew you were right outside this time.”
As they walked through the village, Niphru paid attention to how people were looking at him. Most seemed relatively calm, though a few here and there showed significant amounts of hate in their gaze. No one did anything though, so he tried to stay relaxed as they approached Morris’ home.
Entering as Morris opened the door, Niphru waited for him to sit down before heading to another chair, leaping into it and curling up. Kel swooped in through the open window and landed on the table, hopping over to Morris.
Niphru began speaking, describing his life, beginning with the attack of the hunters Amilya, Diara, and Harold on his parent’s den and his escape from it. Continuing on, he explained life was relatively simple for a time after he established his own den, though he was hunted a few times unsuccessfully. Then one day he ate a rabbit and his mind seemed to expand right as something struck him from above. This seemed quite interesting to Morris, though Niphru was unable to explain more about it.
Continuing on, he went into how he accidentally attracted the hunters again and couldn’t lose them like the ones before. Morris mentioned this was due to magical tracking, and Niphru nodded, expecting as much after his own experiences with magical links. He continued with how he lured them into a fight with a monster and helped them defeat it, then saved Diara from being bitten by a snake as they left. He then explained how he met Dawn and they bonded before Morris showed up and scared him away.
Then he turned silent for a moment before speaking again about how he felt Dawn moving closer one day, then the pain and fear through the link as he raced to follow it, finding her being crushed by a constrictor snake. Niphru continued with the short-lived battle with the snake, then being grabbed by Dawn and held in place until Amilya, Morris, and the guards arrived.
“From there on, you know roughly what happened,” Niphru finished.