REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 46
Dreams and Better Worlds
 

For the fifth time that morning a sonic boom rolled over the valley as yet another ship from the USS Leif Erikson began a long, slow circle to bleed off inertia from orbital drop before landing on the surface of Bastien. All of the foxes of the Abeona colony had rushed their morning chores so that all of them could watch the landing en masse of the human settlers and new Furs that would be sharing their planet.

Sofiya was no exception and stood atop the wall that surrounded to compound with her mates, Richard and Charity next to the blond vixen, the three passing a pair of binoculars back and forth. The grey vixen stamped her foot in nervous anticipation as she scanned the first of the large transport ships.

“Why don’t they open up?” Charity asked in exasperation. “The ships have had plenty of time to cool!”

Richard snorted in amusement at the younger fox’s enthusiasm. “They need to wait until the remaining ships are down first, sweetie. Don’t worry. It won’t be much longer.”

As the rest of the Abeona colonists also watched, another boom sounded across the valley, though instead of beginning a low orbit of the drop zone, the latest ship headed north, passing over the colony, apparently on its way to the other landing site for the Canis group that would be setting up.

“Look!” someone else further along the wall called out. Rupert Campbell leaned forward with his own set of binoculars aimed at the other side of the valley. “The first ship is letting the people out!”

Trading the field glasses around again, Sofiya and her family watched as the first ships were indeed letting their passengers out. As Richard accepted the glasses, he made a quick estimate of the crowd forming. “Huh. Looks to be almost a hundred people. I guess without the slip-drives there’s more room for passengers.” As he scanned the colonists milling about, most of them resembling little more than colorful specks against the deep green of the valley floor and the grey hull of the ship, the giant cargo doors began to trundle open. “Looks like they’re getting ready to start unloading the trucks and cargo containers.”

Sofiya nodded and turned to address the rest of the Vulps. “They have started their unloading,” the vixen said loudly. “I am promising that all of you will be getting a chance to meet the new colonists, but right now we are to be helping. Emanuella? Are the wagons and crates being ready?”

The South American Fur nodded and gave a ‘thumbs-up’ gesture. “They are. We can go when you are ready. We have tools packed and ready and enough food prepared for sharing a little.”

Sofiya nodded with a smile. “The work team that has already been chosen may go ahead and get on the wagons. It is time to be helping our new neighbors!”

Half of the Vulps hurried to the wagons, less concerned about the hard work that would comprise a substantial portion of their day than they were at meeting the new colonists while the other half stayed behind to tend to the Abeona colony and the children of the different Furs. To help out the Great Dome had been turned into an impromptu daycare with Suzette and Maria Paccinni monitoring the kits whose parents were on the work team. Sofiya climbed down from the wall and made her way to the seat of the first wagon in the line. Richard and Charity joined her with the silver fox taking the reins, waiting until others had piled into the back before flicking the leads.

“This will be a day to be remembering, I think,” Sofiya said brightly as she took her mates’ arms in hers and adjusted how she sat so her tail wouldn’t get pinched on the ride to where the ships sat.

***

For the Furs of Abeona seeing a human for the first time after so long of only having other Vulps to speak to was a little strange. While many still corresponded with family and friends back on Earth, the contact was distant and somewhat detached. That wasn’t the case with almost five hundred homo sapiens struggling to get cargo containers shifted and placed so that the process of setting up shelters would go more smoothly. The reaction from many of the humans was the same, many never having seen a Fur except in news articles or various televised specials.

Sofiya demonstrated again why she had been selected for the Abeona colony leader position and stood, using the height of the wagon to her advantage. “Rupert, Matthew! Gather helpers and begin the moving of the dome materials to the staging area. Conchita! If you would be getting assembly teams together to be helping these good people it would be very appreciated.”

Once her foxes were moving, the vixen climbed own and found the nearest human that was directing others with a bullhorn.

“I am Sofiya, the colony leader of Abeona,” Sofiya said warmly as she extended a paw-like hand. “It was believed that a little help would be something appreciated.”

The man stared at the Fur for a moment before grinning and taking the anthrofox’s paw, shaking it enthusiastically. “You bet! I’m Jim Harrington, the second in command. The extra help is definitely going to a long way in getting us going. You might want to go talk to our overseer, though. Our colony Captain is over in that tent trying to get everybody going in the same direction.” The man pointed to what looked like a flex-frame military style tent. “Just tell him Jim sent you.”

“Thank you, Jim. We are also having food and water in the wagons to be passed out when your people are needing the break,” the red fox told the human. “It is not much, but our thinking is that such would be better than having to be using field kitchens and cobbled together snacks.”

“Bless you, ma’am!” Jim enthused. “Go on over and see the Captain. I’ll radio ahead to let him know you’re on your way.”

Richard would have jumped in with the work crew but Sofiya firmly taking his paw stopped him as the vixen did the same with Charity. “I would like for you two to be coming with me,” Sofiya said. “I do not know why, but I am feeling a little nervous.”

The grey fox accepted the explanation, but Richard only looked at his other mate in slight confusion as she didn’t give any indicators of being nervous. What Sofiya was exhibiting was the drooping left ear that was her tell when she was scheming something.

The tent flap was opened for airflow and inside was a human that was giving directions to several others. He was of middling height and fairly trim bespeaking the man’s penchant for keeping in shape, though after being on Bastien for so long he looked a little soft to the three Furs. An aide tapped the man on the shoulder and pointed at the trio of Vulps that waited in the doorway. When the man turned around, Richard felt his jaw drop open in shock.

“Dad?!?”

“Richard!” the man exclaimed, his arms thrown wide as he stepped up to the silver fox and gave his son a warm embrace. “Well, colony life looks like it agrees with you, my boy!”

“What are you doing here?” the silver fox asked as he returned the hug, his eyes suddenly flowing with tears.

“Are you going to ask me the same question every time we meet?” the elder Tavington male inquired, pulling back to show that his son wasn’t the only one crying. “We’ll get to that in a moment,” Nathan said as he turned to the red fox and embraced her as well. “Sofiya! It’s good to see you again!”

“As it is you, sir.”

“Call me ‘Dad’ or something. I’ve got enough people around here calling me ‘Sir’.” Nathan then turned to the other vixen. “And this must be Charity. Richard and Sofiya have told me all about you. Welcome to the family, dear.”

The grey fox accepted the hug, a perplexed expression on her face at not knowing the proper way to react. “It’s a pleasure,” she mumbled, scanning her mates’ faces for help.

“We have others from our colony helping your people to be setting up. It seems that we are having a little experience in such things,” Sofiya said lightly with a negligent gesture as she waved her paw in the air. “We have also brought along food and water. It is not being much, but it should suffice until your people are setting up their kitchens.”

“You’re a godsend, Sofiya!” Nathan informed the vixen. “What we’re really going to be needing help with is getting the primary structures set along with water and sanitation, however I don’t want to see any of your people digging latrine pits. We’ve got enough backs for that little endeavor and a couple of small excavators. What I would like is for your Furs to work more like supervisors. You’ve done this already where my people have only had a few weeks of training for this.”

“I can be coordinating with your second. Jim is seeming like a sound individual,” the blond fox said with a nod. “This will be giving you and Richard a chance to talk, and for you to be spending time with Charity.”

Nathan nodded with dampness still streaking his cheeks. “Good call. Jim’s a good person. Dependable. Surprised me when he resigned from the TCC to join the rest of us out here.”

As Sofiya turned to go find the human group’s first officer, she paused and nuzzled the silver fox. “I was telling you that I trusted the human colony leader!” she said brightly before stepping out of the tent.

Richard was still reeling from the surprise of seeing his father. “Is Mom here, too?”

“Of course,” Nathan said with a grin. “Turns out I wasn’t the only one tired of jetting around the world and attending seminars, lectures and so on. Your mother said if she had to endure one more cocktail party with the wives of the various dignitaries or corporate heads we had to deal with that I would ‘regret it’. Something about them being ‘catty, sniping, gossiping busy-bodies’, and several more colorful descriptions I won’t repeat. Apparently those little events set your mother on edge.

“She’s coordinating the housing for the families that have children.” The man waved his son to the table where there were simple topographical maps of the immediate area. “Now then, water is one of my big priorities. We’ll have to get points set up not just for the colony, but the livestock pens. I was thinking of placing four points to start with along this river. Here, here, this spot…and here…”

***

The long day finally came to an end and Richard, Sofiya and Charity walked along one of the ‘streets’ that ran between a myriad of tents and geodesic domes with Nathan and Amanda Tavington. The food that the Furs had brought had taken some strain off of the mess staff that ran the kitchens, and the two humans had found the offers of foods that were native to Bastien had been met with delight by many of the human colonists. Nathan was the kind of individual that preferred a hands-on approach, and once planning had been concluded, he was out with the rest of the people under his charge, hauling materials, setting up shelters, nearly everything possible with the exception of herding the livestock into the temporary pens.

“Considering what our ‘First Day’ was like, that was pretty smooth,” Richard said as he surveyed the makeshift town.

“I’ll take that as high praise, indeed,” Nathan replied with a chuckle. “I read the reports that Ásmundr forwarded me. You and your Furs apparently had this portion down to a science.”

Sofiya smiled at the compliment. “I have had very dependable individuals that were also being very dedicated.” She squeezed Richard’s paw as she spoke. “That and ‘dependable’ is a quality that is being very important out here.”

Charity wasn’t part of the conversation as she was behind the group and speaking with Richard’s mother, Amanda Tavington. When the woman let out an almost girlish squeal, the others turned to see her with her hand on the grey fox’s stomach. “Do you know if you’re having more than one yet?” Amanda asked excitedly the dark haired woman’s brown eyes sparkling merrily.

Charity nodded with a beaming smile splitting her muzzle. “Our doctors think there’re two, but it’s still early yet. I won’t even start showing for at least another month.”

Amanda gave the Fur a one armed hug as they resumed walking, though the woman gave a very pointed look to her son. “So when do I get to meet Nikoli?” she asked archly. “Pictures are all well and good, but if I’m here I want to hold my grandson!”

“Now Amanda…” Nathan began in a placating tone before he was cut off.

“Don’t you ‘now Amanda’ me! We’ve known for the longest that we were coming here and it took everything I had not to break the news accidentally. I want to see my grandson Nathaniel Theodore Tavington, and I want to see him now.” The order was delivered a bit tartly, but there was no refusing the woman when she wanted something. “Besides, I have all manner of toys that we brought from Earth.”

The elder Tavington gave his son an apologetic look, eliciting a smile from both Richard and Sofiya. “I suppose we could. We’ve still got a few hours of light left,” the silver fox agreed. “And it would give you a chance to look our colony over. Maybe you’ll get some ideas that might help.”

“That and it’ll give you a chance to take the new Vulps to your site,” Nathan said.

“I was almost forgetting them!” Sofiya exclaimed ruefully. “They were helping with the livestock, yes?”

“I believe so,” Nathan replied as he pulled his radio from his belt and gave directions for the Vulps that had arrived with the human colonists to collect their gear so they could transit over to the Abeona colony site.

“I like the modular buildings,” Richard told his father as they waited by the last wagon for the additional Furs and looked over the mass of people, tents and domes with four prefabricated buildings near the western edge of the colony zone. “It would have made our set up easier.”

Nathan smiled. “Well, we did have the luxury of a little more room for cargo, and as Jim put it ‘a big honkin’ ship’ to load everything on. Apparently a group of almost half a thousand requires a lot of room for files and the like. Someone asked why we didn’t have more of them to use for housing. I don’t think that everyone’s appreciative of just what it takes to move three tons of prefab building across interstellar distances, much less four of them. And two are for the hospital at that. No, if the domes were good enough for you and your people, they’ll be good enough for mine.”

“Um, Dad, we don’t live in our domes anymore,” Richard informed his father with a grin.

“What are you using?” the human asked before his expression grew worried. “Please don’t tell me you’ve gone totally fox and dug dens…”

The three Furs couldn’t help but break out into laughter at the notion of dens. “No. We are having something very different,” Sofiya informed the two humans as a group of foxes approached from the far side of the new colony site. “You will be liking our solution, I think.”

The group of new Furs parted as a sandy haired red fox pushed his way through. “Sofiya! Richard!” the new Vulps called as he ran towards the Abeona colonists.

“Robert!” the silver fox replied with a grin, Sofiya also smiling as her tail wagged furiously. Richard caught the younger male in a friendly embrace, parting after some back slapping to let his mate also give the new Fur a warm hug. “Wow. You make a pretty good fox.”

“I hope so! It took a lot of begging to get to go through the program,” the filmmaker informed the others as he all but bounced nervously. “Not that I’m not glad to see you guys, but is Charlotte around?”

The group smiled at the inquiry, knowing how close the pair had grown during their time at the Adirondack Institute. “She is being at home and helping with the children,” Sofiya said.

Robert blinked and pulled back a little. “Children? Really?” he asked in a slightly surprised tone. “She has children?”

“No. Not her. The rest of us that came out to help,” Richard told the red fox. “I think you made an impression on her because Charlotte hasn’t gotten together with anyone else. In fact,” the smoky colored male said with a mischievous grin, “you are about the only one she ever talks about.”

“Seriously? I-I am?”

Sofiya nodded with a somber expression. “You are. She is still very much taken by you.” The vixen gestured to the two carts that were left, the other Abeona Vulps having headed back to their site. “If you and the others would be loading your belongings onto the carts we will be taking you home.”

“Home,” the sandy haired fox said before a smile split his muzzle. “Yeah. Home!”

***

Watching the reunion between Charlotte Bujold and Robert Knowles was one of the most emotional things that many of the witnesses had ever seen. For several long moments the two Furs simply stared at each other, almost as if to say anything or move would reveal the event to be a dream that would vanish like a tendril of smoke on the breeze. When they finally did reach out for each other it was with trembling paws, the awe they felt mirrored on the other’s face. By the time they finally embraced it was with much crying from both foxes, and the kiss that was shared was one of tender passion that stunned everyone. No one said anything as Charlotte led her beau by the paw to the house that had been built for her, though there were plenty of smiles.

“You know that tomorrow she’s going to be pretty ticked we didn’t tell her Robert would be one of the new Furs coming, right?” Richard asked his mate.

Sofiya wiped at her eyes, touched by what she’d just witnessed and understanding what her friend was feeling at that moment. “I think I may be handling it,” she said with a soft expression.

The rest of the Vulps that had just landed were handed over to Hector who showed them the one new house that had been built, despite work still needing to be done to the interior, and the four domes that were ready for occupants. Once the newcomers were taken care of, Richard, Sofiya and Charity headed for the Great Dome, the matter of introducing Nikoli to his grandparents taking precedence.

The kit trundled to his parents when he saw them, yipping and growling excitedly with partial words interspersed. Then Nikoli stopped short, tumbling forward tail-over-ears when he saw the strange creatures that were with his mothers and father and tried to stop suddenly. As the kit came to a rest on his rump, he cocked his head quizzically, a soft growl rumbling deep in his throat until one of the weird, furless things sat down on the floor and held its arms wide.

“Oh my goodness! Nikoli you are just too precious!” Amanda said with a look of unbound glee.

The kit looked to his parents, seeing their expressions and the wagging of their tails. Cautiously he moved forward on all fours, drawing close enough to sniff at the stranger. The examination was long, and the kit was unsure what to make of the woman until she pulled a bright blue rubber chew bone from her small backpack and mimed gnawing on it before handing it to the child.

Nikoli knew exactly what to do with such a gift despite never seeing anything of the like, and proceeded to start chewing on the end with fervor. As he began drooling in bliss, Nikoli determined that anything that brought him such treasures and had the trust of his parents was good and promptly climbed up into Amanda Tavington’s lap.

“Good grief, Amanda,” Nathan said with a laugh. “Now I know why you went to Super Pet Mart! I never thought the day would come where my grandchildren would get their toys from a pet super store.”

“I read the letters from the Furs on some of the other worlds,” Amanda said loftily. “Maybe you should send a message to Ásmundr and tell him that future colonies need chew toys. Heavens, Nathan! Not a single planner for colony missions thinks about the eventual children the different groups will have. If they had the R&D teams would have come up with suitable diapers.” The woman looked up at her son and his mates. “What did you do for diapers?”

“Um, we didn’t, Mom,” Richard said with a grin. “The second time you have to clean poop out of fur you realize they don’t work. Instead you make sure there are lots of rags and cleaner easily available.

Amanda made a face and turned back to Nikoli. “Good heavens. My son is turning into a complete caveman…”

The babble was just that to the kit. All he knew was there was something about the strange thing that only had fur on the top of its head that seemed familiar, had good things to chew on, and gave good tummy rubs. As far as the infant Fur was concerned, that was all of the important things.

***

The elder Tavingtons were shown the house that Richard, Sofiya and Charity lived in, both marveling at the ingenuity and accomplishments with extremely limited resources. After a hot meal together, Richard and his father took a walk around the Abeona site, the silver fox pointing out the different improvements they’d made.

“Richard, I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am by all that you and your group has accomplished!” Nathan said with more animation than the silver fox had ever seen from the elder Tavington. “You, Sofiya…all of you have done the amazing. It makes me realize that we couldn’t have better trail blazers for us!”

“Was that one of the reasons that you volunteered?” the silver fox asked archly.

“One of them,” Nathan admitted. “There were other considerations, of course. I’ve seen about all of the Earth I’d care to. Tensions in the Middle East are tumultuous as always, pollution’s getting better, but there’s still a long way to go. More species have been declared extinct in the wild…” The man paused and put his hand on the Fur’s shoulder. “Mostly it was because I missed my son.”

Richard’s head jerked up and he saw the beginnings of tears filling his father’s eyes.

“We lost so much time, my boy. Too much. I can’t begin to tell you the regret I’ve carried in me all these years. If I could, I’d go back in time, do things differently. That isn’t the case, though. That, and if I could change things, would you and Sofiya still meet? Or Charity? Would there even be a Nikoli, cute scamp that he is? I don’t know. All I know is that we are here, right now, on this world with a new beginning ahead of us. And knowing…really knowing that I can share this with you, your family and your mother…well, that means everything to me.”

The silver fox made a choking sound deep in his throat before he threw his arms around the man in front of him, tears seeping past tightly closed eyes as Nathan hugged his son in return. “Maybe we can both let the past go and really live in the here and now. Sofiya has always said she wanted a better world. She promised her father before he died that she would find it or build it. Wanna help me make her dream come true, Dad?”

“You better believe I do, Richard!”

***

The weeks that followed found a great many of the human colonists of Axis Mundi coming to study the Abeona site, to learn from the Vulps that had discovered how to do without, to improvise and begin the long process of becoming the first real citizens of Bastien. There were a few human colonists that weren’t sure what to think of the Furs they had settled near, but the ready help that all of the Vulps offered soon had even the doubters realizing that there was a potential for unprecedented cooperation. Before all of the domes had been erected, Rupert, Matthew, Richard and many other Furs were helping build real houses for the humans, showing them the process of making the ceramic building blocks and how to construct a wood burning kiln.

There was no shortage of help when it came time to plant the crops that the humans would soon become dependent on, or the different plants indigenous to Bastien that were edible. The reaction from the new colonists was rather amusing the first time they saw an aurodon, though there was no denying the speed in which the large animals could ready a field for sowing.

The different Vulps doctors, particularly Riva Weicz along with Daniel Holt formed a solid relationship with the human physicians and those that had science backgrounds, going over the results for the test kits, showing the meticulous examinations of everything that had been discovered thus far.

When it came time for foraging, Kurt was pleased that there were other serious hunters in the latest group from Earth, men and women both that saw hunting and the experience as more than just killing something, but treated it almost as reverently as the platinum fox.

Working with Nathan Tavington, Sofiya and the human began to schedule joint exploration forays. By splitting her survey teams and attaching them to human groups, the joint project was able to cover greater areas for longer periods. The added benefit of this arrangement was that the Furs were able to shorten the learning curve for the men and women that ranged out to learn more of their new world.

The different foxes of Abeona were old salts, now, and Nathan Tavington was adamant about his contingent learning all they could as quickly as possible. Ruiz and other Furs were called upon to demonstrate the fabrication of tools that were an actual improvement over some of the items that had been included in both groups equipment modules.

Then the day arrived that Richard received a message from Sofiya that he was needed at the Abeona operations dome.

The silver fox had been surveying land closer to the Furs’ colony with his father for the placement of actual houses, everyone agreeing that it would be better to move the two groups closer, though with a small buffer of land as each of the disparate colony endeavors were still acclimating to each other. Fearing something was amiss, Richard and Nathan all but sprinted to the center of Abeona operations.

Richard pulled up short when he found both of his mates talking animatedly with a strange Vulps, though as the pair drew closer they realized that the unknown Fur wasn’t a fox at all. It took the silver fox a long moment to place the familiar face and he stepped forward, panting slightly. “Your name is Connie, right?” Richard asked the maned wolf uncertainly.

“It is!” the odd looking, though no less attractive Fur replied in a sultry contralto as she held out a paw. “Pleased to meet you in person, Richard!”

“Likewise,” the silver fox said. “But if you’re here, then where’s-”

Before he could finish the question, Richard was lifted off his feet in a huge hug and swung around. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the fox spun, a grey and dun colored wolf regarding him with a toothy grin. “What says, brother?” Jack Baines said.

“Holy smokes…” the fox mumbled before embracing his friend, feeling his emotions tumble over each other. “It’s good to see you!”

“It’s good to see you, too, Rick!” the wolf emoted and slapped the other Fur’s back happily. “We got all our people set up and cozy like with the first fields plowed and planted so I asked our colony leader if he’d like to come down here and get some pointers from the gal that wrote the book on Bastien.”

“I was not writing the book, Jack,” Sofiya interjected with a laugh. “You are very bad for telling such fibs. Much of the work was done by the prior colony in the four years they were here before us.” The red fox gestured to the white and russet patched beagle that had stepped out of the operations dome with her. “And this is being Edward Landry, the leader for North Downing, the colony the Canis have been establishing.”

Richard took the other Fur’s paw as the anthro-beagle extended it. “It truly is a pleasure, Richard,” the Canis Fur said with a distinct British accent. “Jack has told us quite a few stories regarding your group and Sofiya just confirmed the tale of her bear incident whilst your group was at the simulation site in Washington State. Absolutely amazing!”

“Yeah, Sofiya’s quite an amazing lady,” Richard commented with a slowly growing grin. When the other colony leader gave him a curious look, Richard simply shook his head. “Don’t mind me. I’m just amused. I can tell you’re from England, you chose a beagle, you came to meet Sofiya, a vixen. Given the sport of fox hunting in Great Britain…”

Edward had the good grace to look embarrassed before laughing in a rich tenor. “Good heavens. It never even occurred to me how inappropriate that might look!” He shook his head. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I never took part in one of those. Ghastly thing to be called a sport, if truth be told. What I am amazed to find, though, is the progress that your lot has made utilizing local resources. Granted it’s a bit of a haul, but I would relish the chance to have some of my Canis come down here to see what you’ve done.

“We’ve already started a wall around our colony site as well, what with the reports of that creature that you good people were calling a snow dragon,” The beagle shook his head, “A rather frightening beast, to be sure.”

Sofiya stepped up next to Richard. “I am thinking that having some of your Canis visiting would be more than acceptable,” the vixen said. “And we can also be sending some of our Vulps that were vital in our success to your colony site.”

Nathan agreed with the thoughts of personnel visiting the other colonies. “I think that cooperation would serve all of us well.” He nodded and cast a smile at the beagle. “It’s good to hear that your people are doing well, Edward.”

“I’d like to think so,” the beagle answered then waved a paw around to indicate the Abeona colony, “but this is what I’m really hoping to attain. This is absolutely magnificent! And I didn’t think there would be so many children already.” Edward continued to scan the area around the commons, his paw-like hands on his hips as his tail churned the air behind him. “In fact, I dare say if we manage to do half as well I’ll consider my people extremely fortunate.”

***

The sun rose in the eastern sky, an orange red ball that gave the world that Sofiya could see from the top of the wall surrounding Abeona a surreal glow, as if everything the light touched absorbed it and reflected it back at the sun. Already individuals from both Abeona and the human colony, Axis Mundi, were hard at work building houses and tending fields. In the distance a group of her foxes were helping the men and women that had come to Bastien in herding their livestock or putting grain out.

The red fox anthro couldn’t help but smile at seeing such things. All of them, human and Fur had come to create a better world, to live on the edge of explored space without the trappings of Earth, to trade modern conveniences for a more primitive way of life because all of them felt they could do better.

Perhaps they could. The two groups had thousands of years of history to learn from. Maybe they could put those lessons to good use and make the kind of world that so many dreamed about. It wouldn’t be easy, but then the things that truly mattered and had value beyond the mere material never were.

Nikoli looked up at his mother, his tiny paw patting her tufted cheek and when Sofiya looked down she saw something in his bronze eyes that were so like his father’s. It was almost as if the vixen saw gratitude, that her child was thanking her for what she’d lost and chosen to give up to be where she was. “This almost wasn’t the path I chose, my darling son,” she whispered in Ukrainian to the copper colored kit. “There was a moment not all that long ago when I considered death as the only way to end the pain that was in my heart.

“It seems like a lifetime ago, and perhaps it was. I had to endure things that no person ever should. But the moment passed, and I believed that there had to be another way. A better way.” Sofiya smiled at the kit and hoisted him higher so that she could rub her cheek against the son that she and Richard had made. “I made the choice to give up my humanity, to become something different that would guarantee I would have to leave the Earth. And I am so very glad that I made that choice. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have our family, our friends, and I wouldn’t have you.”

Nikoli burbled happily, slipping the end of the rubber chew bone that was always with him now into his mouth and began gnawing, though his eyes never left his mother’s.

“Perhaps I was being punished for sins that I committed. Maybe it was for not doing enough to heal the planet that I was born on. I don’t know, and most likely I never will. I think that I have found my redemption here, though. Your Grand Poppa told me to find a better world. Find it or build it. I think that I am doing both.

“I have you, I have your father whom I love with all of my heart, I have your Momma Charity whom I also love so very much. I have our friends and those that are like family. And here…here we have a world that has never known war, sweet Nikoli. It hasn’t seen the trouble that the world I was born on has known. We will continue to grow this better word for you, for the other children, both human and Fur. Maybe here all of us can find redemption for what was done to the world that we left behind.”

Smiling at having spent more than enough time watching the activity of others when her own duties beckoned, Sofiya turned only to find Richard and Charity waiting for her. The other two anthrofoxes held their arms out to her, pulling the red fox into a long, warm embrace. As she felt the strength of her mates, the warmth and love that flowed through them and into her, Sofiya couldn’t help but smile with joy.

“What were you telling Nikoli? Charity asked as they made their way down the steps and onto the springy, moss-like Bastien turf.

The red fox nuzzled her son happily. “I was telling him that here, this beautiful place and all that are sharing in it, is our redemption and that here we will be setting a course for bright dreams and a better world.”

Author's Afterword

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.