The Fox, Red

052 - "Home" Again

Exhaustion is what I keep being told.

I've asked every day for three days and every time I'm given the same answer accompanied by an apology that I am not allowed to see her just yet. Anne has been a rock while I wait. She's been tending to my every want. If I need a towel for a shower, she provides one. If I'm feeling hungry, she'll return with something small to snack on. In the morning she makes sure that I don't oversleep and waste my day. She's been making sure I'm going to bed on time as well for adequate sleep.

She's been a rockstar and I would be lost without her at the moment.

I've never had the chance to live on my own and while what I have is considered some realm of freedom there is still one major stake that keeps me grounded, Madam Odette. She's always there. Even when she's working, she is always around. When she is out of commission, everything is different. Everything in the air just shifts differently.

As Anne has been helping me, I have been helping her. She still wants to pursue her interest in baking. Penny has been doing her best to teach her new things. She and I had an agreement but after our last encounter, she seems rather hesitant to make me pay for it now. I may have gone a bit too far. Or maybe she's still processing what Madam Odette and I have done.

Who knows? Maybe one day she'll bring it up again. What am I going to do though? Do I follow through and make good on our deal or do I play coy and just let her think what she wants? I'll have to weigh which will be better for both of us.

"Sir Red, it is 10 pm. I recommend you go to bed." This has been our nightly ritual. I'll be at my desk reading while Anne takes the reclining chair by the fire. At 10 pm she'll close her book to let me know I should be sleeping. "Thank you, Anne. I will finish this paragraph and head there. You are dismissed for the evening."

"Thank you, Sir Red."

She always bows so daintily. No matter what I tell her, she just reverts to habit. I tried to squash the "Sir Red" title but it lasts an hour before it's back. She doesn't need to show me such respect with how she acts. The bowing, the reporting to me the progress of her work, it's all too much for someone like me. I am just another person. Not the royalty she treats me as.

The days blur together until it begins to snow once again. It was a light flurry all day that left a little over three inches on the ground. It wasn't hard by any means to move around. There's still a wound that has not healed. I noticed I hesitated when I approached the door for my daily visit. That chill is still there. The tail may have grown back but the empty feeling is still there.

Once again I was turned away. They're very polite about it. Before they used to treat me as though I was a trespasser. Now I'm almost one of the family. The trek through the snow is tiring. It might just be the worry getting to me. Physically, I feel fine. I'm as strong as ever. Even with the lack of proper nutrition for a week. Now that I am back, I am being fed properly. I can feel the weight coming back. Still lean though. Anne compliments me all the time.

I'm still spending my afternoons reading. I've moved away from my educational materials for the moment. I still pick one up for at least one hour a day but I need the escape. The various adventure books I have at my disposal are great for it. Far-off lands with impossible situations that put the hero into the throws of perils. Well, maybe they're not as impossible as I thought. I thought magic was a work of fiction yet here I am. I light my fireplace with magic every morning.

I lean back in my desk chair after closing my book. I've caught myself reading the same paragraph a few times now. It's nowhere near evening but I'm dragging. "Anne, I think I'm going to call it an early day. You can stay if you would like but I think I'll lie down."