Fox O' Nine Tales: Larissa Of Foxwood

Chapter Five: Journey to Athena

A Fox O'Nine Tale

By R.W. Slavin

Book One: Larissa of Foxwood

Chapter Five:  Journey to Athena

     "Why, I can't imagine a better time for you to have arrived in Foxwood!  Right on the cusp of our Bliss turning into Glory!  You'll get to attend the ceremony when Princess Winona transfers the administrative wand to Princess Zenobia!  It's always so exciting!"

     Larissa was having a hard time not laughing. She choked back another giggle as Bea's evidently uncontrollable fluffy foxtail once again whipped her poor husband Reggie's face.  Such was the matronly fox wife's excitement in describing upcoming events for Foxwood's young "visitor."  Reggie just kept swatting Bea's wayward tail away from his nose, but said nothing of the annoyance to his beloved.

     "What Bea means," explained Reggie, "is that we are near the end of the Month of Leo, and so the one-month reign of Princess Winona, Princess of Bliss, will soon be over and passed on to the next council princess, Zenobia, who will officially administer the Kingdom of Foxwood for the next month."

     "So why is Princess Winona so blissful?" asked Larissa.

     Bea exploded in giggles, her excitable tail again whipping Reggie's nose.

     "Princess Winona rules the Province of Bliss," explained Reggie in careful professorial tones, as if imparting information of the utmost importance to Larissa.  "We live in the central hamlet of Bliss Province, called Radiance. There are twelve provinces in the kingdom, all centered around Athena, the capital city of all Foxwood.  That's where we're going to right now - Athena."

     "For your official presentation to the Council of Princesses!" shouted the very excited Bea.  Reggie dodged the swish of her very excited tail, only to bump his pointed nose against the ornately carved wood interior of the horse-drawn carriage the three travelers were riding in, for the carriage lurched from side to side, just a bit, from time to time.  

     Larissa suppressed her laughter as Reggie struggled to regain and maintain his calm composure.

     "The twelve provinces extend outward from the hub of Athena like equally divided sections of one great wheel," said Reggie.

     "Not like a wheel!" said Bea.  "Like a pie chart!  The twelve sections of Foxwood are like twelve pieces of a scrumpt-deli-licious pie!  Each with its own distinctly different yummy flavor!"

     Bea patted her plump tummy, making Larissa laugh.  Foxwood's newest visitor and guest turned her head to look out the carriage window at the neatly cropped and well-tended fields, abundant with ripening melons, golden gourds and other delights, all flowing past in the morning mists.  The sun was just then rising to warm and nurture Foxwood's obviously boundless bounty. 

     "Time has no sense or meaning in dreams," Larissa remembered a teacher explaining in science class. "You can dream a week's worth of minute-by-minute events - only to awaken and realize you've only been sleeping a few minutes."  Larissa wondered if such a thing could really be true.  Could she really still be sleeping in Dr. Gwen's medical lab, all hooked up to sensors and monitors, and just dreaming all this crazy dream with funny, talking foxes living in a magical kingdom?  And even with today being the second day she'd awakened to be embraced in the loving arms of her new friends, Reggie and Bea, could it really be that she was caught in dream-time, which didn't make any sense? Could she stay here a week - even a month! - during just one night hooked up to Dr. Gwen's dream machine?  She was having so much fun, enjoying Reggie and Bea so much, that she decided it wouldn't be such a bad thing if she were a castaway in dreamland for a whole "dream month."  She decided not to burden her hosts with her scientific speculations about her trip to Foxwood.  Whether they were somehow "real" or just make-believe fox people in her mind, she didn't want to risk upsetting them.