The Rares

Chapter 11

~~~~Third-Person View~~~~

"Can we go outside today?" Rhea asked Zerrec, bouncing around the half-awake fox.

"Muh...Yes." He replied, muzzily.

Rhea squealed, and jumped on her adopted father.

It had been a few weeks since Zerrec had rescued her, and the kit was strong, and back to full health. Her eyes had changed, and were now amber. She still smelled, and looked, almost exactly like Russet, though Zerrec hadn't told Rhea about her.

Zerrec yawned and sat up, eyes still closed.

"Okay, okay, hang on." He mumbled, licking his paw, and drawing it over his face.

He yawned again, and followed the excited kit out the door.

They had buried Zorio soon after Rhea was found, and she had asked questions, naturally, but Zerrec had carefully avoided them.

"Let's visit Zorio first." Zerrec called after her, as she ran out to their hunting grounds.

She followed him to his brothers' grave.

She stood just out of earshot, as Zerrec walked to where they had laid Zorio to rest for the final time.

"Zorio, I miss you." Zerrec started. It was their ritual for Zerrec to talk to his brother, while Rhea watched. "I hope you understand, me taking care of Rhea. She needs me.

"But that's not what I want to say. Not this time.

"I need help. Should I take Rhea, and go visit Russet? Should I try to see my kits?"

From where Rhea stood, she could only hear mumbling, and she watched as Zerrec looked up to the sky, as if Zorio was in a fox-heaven.

While Zerrec talked to his brother, Rhea packed snow into little balls. She would throw them at the gray fox to hopefully lift the somber mood that would always fall over him when he talked to his dead brother.

Zerrec stood up, and Rhea readied a snowball in her paw. She grinned to herself.

Zerrec walked over to her, and, once he was close enough, Rhea let loose.

Zerrec was instantaneously covered in snow.

He yelped in surprise, and earned himself a snowball in his mouth.

Rhea's eyes narrowed mischievously, and she pelted away, Zerrec chasing her.

She tripped, and fell down a hole, her startled yelp echoing.

"Rhea?" Zerrec called. "Are you okay?" His face appeared at the top of the hole.

Rhea barely heard him. Panic washed over her. She closed her eyes, trembling.

Tears fell from her eyes as she hyperventilated. She curled into as small of a ball as she could manage, the sides of the hole closing in on her.

"Rhea, I'm coming to get you." Zerrec told her. 

He slithered in, grabbed the kit, and slid out.

"It's okay, it's okay." Zerrec soothed her. "Breathe. Sh, sh. It'll be okay."

He turned human, a risky move in the snow.

He was gray-haired, and blue-eyed.

Zerrec gently picked Rhea up, and she pressed against his chest, still crying.

"Shh, sweets. It's okay. It's over. It's over."

Slowly, Rhea's breathing went back to normal, and she calmed down.