The Fox Den Dweller

“Kaui, Kaui! Slow down!” Raven swam past the little turquoise bean, “you’re going to exhaust yourself at this rate!” She softly chided the young esk, who in turn gazed up at his guardian with large excited eyes.

“But I can’t help it Raven!” Kaui exclaimed, throwing his little hands above him to exaggerate his excitement, “you’re taking me to this fur-rest!”

“You mean the forest.”

“Four-rest?”

“Forest.”

“Pho-prest?”

“Forest.”

“F-Fovest?”

“N-..cl-close enough..” a soft chuckle escaped the flamboyant esk, “Kaui, I know you’re excited but this place is out of your biome. You need to reserve your energy for when we are out in land. Or else we won’t be able to go on an adventure.”

The small esk gave out a horrified gasp as he placed his tiny hand in front of his mouth in disbelief, “n-no adventure!”

“No adventure,”  The feathered being nodded with a faux dejected look plastered on her face, “I guess Kaui doesn’t want an adventure. Is it safe to assume you’ll be satisfied with just a small walk?”

“NO!” the marine esk vigorously shook his round head, “No! I want an adventure! Oh I’m sorry! I won’t swim fast! So don’t bring me back early Raven!”

“Alright…” the older of the two stiffled a giggle, “as long as you conserve your energy I won’t end your adventure early.”

Kaui sniffed and nodded. He tucked his mini seaweed journal beneath his armpit so he could swim over to Raven. The palm-sized being plopped himself down on his guardian’s back, “I’ll sit here like a good boy, Raven. I won’t move a muscle. Not a twitch.” 

“Ok Kaui. I believe you.”

Raven thrusted her four legs downward and propelled herself towards the surface. The sunlight grew stronger as the two esks got closer to land. The smaller esk squinted his eyes and attempted to block the sunlight with his paws, “Is the sun always this bright on land?”

“Only if you look straight at it. Once we get onto land, you’ll be fine Kaui. Now remember, once we leave the sea your nature feature will be gone, and that is completely normal.”

“You won’t lose yours, Raven?”

“Nope,” the dark esk shook her narrow head, “I’m an abnormal remember? Us abnormals don’t lose our features when we exit our biome, or else I would have lost them by now.”

“Oh...right. Can I be an abnormal?”

“Well it’s not impossible. But I will tell you all about next time. Right now we’re about to enter land.”

Raven’s swimming slowly morphed into a walk as feet began to come in contact with the mushy sand. She could feel the weight growing heavier and her pace becoming slower as they entered the world above the ocean. 

Kaui’s eyes grew owlish at the sight of this new foreign land. The sky was so blue! The endless vastness of blue was startlingly clear and vibrant. The puffy white clouds decorated the sky instead of blemishing it. He tilted his head back and saw the bright glowing medallion in the sky, blessing the world with its aureate, luminisceneing warmth and light. Kaui closed his eyes, took in a deep breath then breathed out a content sigh as the smell of his home wafted past his senses. He blinked his eyes open again just in time to see white feathered things soaring above them. 

“Raven..”

“Hm?” The female sat down and the younger slid off her back. She shook the water off herself before shifting her attention towards Kaui. She followed his paw with his hand to the sky, “Oh? Those? Those are called seagulls.”

“Sea...gulls…?”

“Yup!”

“Are they esks too? They have feathers, like you!”

Raven laughed and shook her head, “no Kaui they are not esks. They’re animals...just like a fish or an octopus.”

“Oh!”

“Seagulls are part of this species of animals called birds. You will a lot of them today in the forest.”

“Really?” 

The seagulls flapped their wings two raise themselves higher into the sky. A loud, deafening cry left their beaks as the group flew further away from the pair. 

Kaui scrunched up his face, “seagulls are loud, aren’t they?”

“They sure are. By the way Kaui, have you seen your back?”

The marine esk blinked blankly at the dark being then turned his head towards his back...and to his surprise he saw nothing! His rock was gone! So was his tail!

“Whoa!” the smaller being jumped to his feet, “Raven! My rock is gone! I didn’t even notice!”

“How do you feel?”

“Fine! I feel like I always do!”

“Sad?”

N-No!” the younger squeaked before pounding his little paws against Raven’s leg, “I meant physically! Physically! Also I’m not ALWAYS sad!”

“Mhm..” the older hummed and got up to her feet. She started to make her way towards the forest then turned over her shoulder and towards the pouting esk, “are you coming?”

The bipedal esk sniffed before reluctantly marching after Raven, “I’m not always sad.”

~~Time Skip~~

The second Kaui took his first step into the foreign landscape, all his anger faded. The small being followed his guardian while his jaw dropped. There were so many things he had never seen! The trees..the trees were really everywhere! Some trees stood straight and tall while the others twisted and turned in strange ways. He could barely see the sky, for the canopy was blocking his view. But the sunlight still managed to pour through. The leaves filtered out the brightest of the sunlight but on the forest floor, the marine esk could see dapples of the golden light scattered all around the mossy ground. 

At the very end of the path, the two came across a medium sized den. The den was located on a well densed ground, sheltered by bunch of brambles. The two esks entered the shelter for a break. Raven settled herself down and Kaui plopped down to lean his back on her side. The pair, looked out into the peaceful forest with admiration in silence until a voice broke through.

“Uh...who are you guys?”

Raven swiveled her head around and found round, small sized esk standing behind them. The esk was female. She was mostly liked colored apart from the dark markings on her chest and tail. She had a moss bell heather placed on her head like a hat, and another above her tail.  Kaui climbed over Raven and peeked his head to see the owner of the voice. 

“Oh, I’m sorry! Are we intruding on your home?” The largest of the three furrowed her eyes apologetically.

“Kinda...but you two don’t look bad or anything. So don’t worry about it. Plus, the little one looks exhausted,” she focused her red eyes on Kaui. 

“We’re the same size ya’know,” Kaui sulked before leaning closer to Raven’s head to whisper, “is she also an esk?”

“Of course I am!” the stranger answered. The light colored esk trotted over to her visitors, “haven’t you ever seen another esk before?” Despite her question in tone, the new esk’s face lacked the hostility one would expect, and instead her eyes glowed with curiosity. 

“It’s his first time out of his biome. You’re the first esk he has seen outside of his boundary,”The eldest of the group scooted over to create room for the younger female to sit. 

The marine esk slid down from his guardian’s back to tottle his towards the other bean, “is his your nature feature?’ he inquired as he scrutinized with the same amount of curiosity the other held, “I’ve never seen a plant like this before. What is it?’’ Kaui reached out to plant his little paw on the petal. 

“It’s called a Moss Bell Heather,” the stranger’s red eyes lit up at the mention of her proud hat. She tilted her head to one side when she saw the other lacked his own feature, “where is yours?” Her face brightened with realization and her mouth formed into a small ‘o’, “Oh riiight. You’re out of your biome, huh?”

Kaui nodded, “I’m from the sea ...mine is just a rock salt. It’s usually on my back like a shell...and my tail are made out of rock salt pebbles. But Raven’s!” He herded his new bean friend over to his guardian excitedly, “her feature can shift forms!”

The new bean gasped and snapped her attention to Raven, “yours can change features!”

The dark esk sweatdropped as she was met with two pairs of sparkling eyes, “N-no..I can not change my features…” she sheepishly laughed, “I can change the shape of my feature. That’s it.”

“Ooooohh.. That’s still pretty neat!” The light esk raised herself on hindlegs to get a closer look on the nature feature, “what is it?”

“Fish poison tree,” Raven slightly cocked her head to the side, “I just realized we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Raven and this is Kaui, what is yours?”

“Bean!” 

“What a lovely and cute name!” 

‘Hehehe…” Bean lowered her head in shyness, settled herself down on her behind and rubbed her snout with her paw to cover up her flushed face, “Thank you. You guys both have nice names too!” 

“You are welcome~” The older female giggled to the younger’s response, “did you make this place Bean? It’s a pretty sturdy den. Must keep you pretty warm at night.”

The previously flustered esk shook her head, “nah...this used to be a fox den. It’s abandoned now…”

“Oh? A fox den?”

“Yeah..it’s my boundary now.”

“Ah..I see...what a pretty cozy boundary you’ve got here.”

During the exchange between the two females, Kaui sat in the middle following the conversation with his eyes, “what is a fox?”

Both females turned to look at the ignorant male, “they’re animals that have fur and a fluffy tail. Sharp teeth and pointy ears. A long snout but they’re really cute!”

“Is it big?” Kaui’s eyes widened

Bean shook her head with a giggle, “not really. Maybe to you..since you’re small but to me and Raven..not that big.”

“You’re the same size as me!” the marine esk protested. He leapt to his feet and stomped over to his new friend, “In fact I’m taller!” 

“You are not!

“Am to!”

“Are not!

Raven laughed at the silly argument being thrown back and forth.

~~Time Skip~~

Raven scooped Kaui up with Bean’s help and placed the sleeping male on her back. The sun has set, and the evening creatures were starting to come out from their slumber. She left the den and headed to the sea. Before she entered she turned around to face the little esk who has offered to walk them out, “Thank you for letting us stay at your place today, Bean. We had a great time.”

“No problem! I had a blast! Feel free to come visit me again!”

“We sure will...and you too...visit us.”

“I will!”

The feathered being gave the small esk a close eyed smile, nodded her good bye and began to submerge herself into the calm sea.

Bean watched the ocean slowly swallow her new friends whole, and before Raven’s head completely vanished she yelled out, “TELL KAUI I’M TALLER THAN HIM!”