With a lot of new things to think on, I left our tent. Mother had thrown a few bombs of information on me, and given me several new things to wonder about.

  Is Mother right when it comes to the elves? Or have they done something horrible to her in the past? Maybe I should ask about her past? I haven't really heard much about the history of our race. I only heard that I was named after my grandmother, but I don't know anything else about my grandparents or any of our ancestors. But for now I should get to hunting, the solidarity could do me some good too.

  Nothing to do about that now I shrugged, and turned my nose eastward and started running on all four. Running was one of the things I enjoyed the most, I ran much faster than any human back on Earth could. The way I could jump over roots, dash around trees without losing speed made running almost feel like taking a rollercoaster, and I was loving every second of it.

  Several hours later, I halted my extended run. I had gone much further than I originally planned to go, my head being completely occupied with Arissa growing up and trying to deal with the idea of me eating that elf. It still felt wrong, but I had already done it. I had to either accept what I had done, or keep dwelling on it for the rest of my life, something that could end up being a very long time, considering the eternal youth aspect I had going on.

  I looked around me and took in a deep breath, taking in the fresh scent of the forest. There were no scents of the village remotely close, if I wanted to go back I would have to follow my own trail of scent all the way back. I had never been this far from home before, not even with Arissa. Should be fine, it's not like there are many things that can pose a threat to me or my kind.

  I spent several hours tracking scents of wild game, Killing and eating dozens of rodents, and several larger animals that reminded me of bunnies. They were larger than their earthen counterparts and had horns and large spikes on their back, making it harder to just pounce on them. I had even gotten stabbed once in my shoulder because I was a bit careless when I tried to get a hold of it with my claws.

  The fact that the tribe rarely had names for the animals we hunted was annoying, things were simply referred to as prey. Smaller things just went under the rodent category, so hearing the hunters talking about their hunts, you rarely understood what they actually had caught. The exception was predators that could fight back, it seemed like a species had to pose a threat to be respected enough to be given a name.

  The revolution that magic actually was a thing that kept messing with my head, it was weird that I had been a part of the tribe for so long, and not heard or seen anything about it, even Arissa had never mentioned it. I know Mother said that they didn't use it often, but when it is what we feed on, it should be a relevant topic to come up. Maybe celestial snow foxes generally don't care about the how and why? They tend to be fairly simple minded, when the topic isn't hunting or eating. If Mothers had said this earlier I might have been a little more invested in hunting in the first place. I actually feel more driven to hunt now,

  The idea that every living thing contained magic seemed a little odd though, I trusted what Mother said, but I could not say that I tasted the magic, everything just tasted good and some thing tasted better. But the idea that some of the races here could wield magic made me wonder, was magic something native to this world, or did magic exist back on Earth? If humans here could learn it, why couldn't humans back home do the same. Maybe there was more to it than the public knew? I should get back to my hunt now, maybe I will learn more after growing that damn tail, she did say I would be able to sense it better when I had gotten it.

  I started chuckling to myself at the thought that I was actively running around in the forest, trying to grow myself a tail. Putting it like that sounded incredibly stupid, and my old self would laugh at the idiotic notion.

  I kept hunting and eating anything I came across, surprised over how much game there was around these parts. It seemed like there were a lot more things to hunt the longer away from the village I got. Something that could make sense, the tribe must have a heavy impact on the local wildlife.

  I was so absorbed in my hunting spree that I barely noticed that it started to get dark outside, and I needed at least four hours to get back home. I had never tested out how late I could be before Mother got angry at me, I usually just followed Arissa’s lead. I would only catch one more thing and then I would be on my way back.

  I quietly kept prowling around, fully alert on any sound, movement or scent that could lead me to my next meal, and it didn't take long until I came over a scent I recognized. I knew that I had smelled something similar before, there was also a slight flowery aroma mixed into the familiar scent, almost like the owner of the scent had rolled around in a field of flowers.

  Excited and curious, I started to follow the scent. A predator prowling in the night, being as silent as I could be. No matter what this creature might be, nothing good could come out of being discovered first. The element of surprise would always be a good thing.

  I kept myself to the trail, and the light kept fading, giving me additional cover of darkness. I was getting closer and closer for every minute, and I felt the excitement build up in me. I knew I should have headed home, but the thrill of the hunt was too exhilarating. I couldn't just let this go, I had to find out what this prey was.

  The sky had turned completely dark now, and the scent trail intensified for every minute I kept prowling, I should come across whatever I’m stalking any minute now. Instead of finding any tracks of any animals as I expected I could suddenly see a distant light in the darkness, something that didn't make sense. I started to consider what could make a light at the ground level, in the middle of the forest at night, it didn't look natural at all. The only thing I could imagine it being was a campfire, and campfire means people. This might actually be humans, is that why I felt I recognized parts of the scent ? I haven't encountered humans in this world before, but I was human once after all.

  Excitement was rushing through my veins. Imagine that I might be able to meet humans again, I had so many questions I wanted to ask them. Maybe this is destiny, that I get the opportunity to meet them like this alone. If Arissa had been here, she would only want to eat them. If I had said anything about making contact and communicating with them, she would only get frustrated and mad, and would most likely say something like: There is no point in talking with your food.

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  I moved towards the little light as silent as I could be, doing my best to not snap a twig, or rustle the leaves, I just couldn't reveal my presence yet. It's not like I know of all the species that live in this world, and it might be something else than humans.

  I finally came close enough to hear voices now, sadly it was not loud enough to hear any words yet. But I was hopeful and my heart started beating rapidly in excitement, I had to risk going even closer to see who these people were.

  I snuck up behind the underbrush, located under a large tree only 80 feet from the light, doing my best to not make a single sound. Giving me a clear view into the clearing where the light source came from. It was as I thought, there were people there, three people in fact, all gathered around a campfire. I was so happy to see actual people, and I had to hold myself back from running up to them and start up a conversation. It would be so satisfying to be able to talk to someone that isn't a damn murderous fox, I could even learn a few things about this strange world.

  I kept my position and observed the group for a while. I quickly noticed that there were two men and a woman, and they all had elongated ears, making them elves, but what difference does that make? Elves are counted as people, right? I know I would count elves as such. They spoke in an unfamiliar language, not remotely close to the language my tribe uses. A real conversation would be difficult unless they knew several languages. I know Mother only said negative things about the elves, but had she actually tried to communicate with them?

  Anyway, we could come far by only using body language, and I might even slowly learn their language. That would make future interactions much easier, and we could try to improve the relationship with our races. I can see a lot of good coming from building a relationship with the elves. What is the worst that can happen if I casually went up to them and tried to communicate? Oh yeah, right. they might turn hostile and attack. According to Mother, that is a risk. But if that were to happen I could just eat them.

  Wait! Where did that thought come from? Eat them? That was not what I wanted. I really need to put a lid on those damn fox instincts. I genuinely want to communicate and make friends here, hopefully even learn something. I need to be careful and do my best to not act threatening towards them. For all I know they have never encountered any of my kind before, or at least not survived any meetings, since my tribe isn't the most peaceful bunch out there.

  I should just get it over with, sitting nervously and hiding in the underbrush isn't doing much good. I really hope I look decent enough, What wouldn’t I have done for a looking glass now. I checked my hair for any major tangles and started licking my paws and forearm, grooming myself the way celestial snow foxes usually did.

  I finished the bare minimum of grooming possible in the middle of the wilderness, I started getting myself ready mentally. Maybe being a girl here could be useful. If I try to look cute, they might not feel as threatened. Just as I was about to step out from my hiding spot, one of the men suddenly rose to his feet, pointed toward the exact spot I was hiding and said something loudly to the two others.

  I instantly panicked, and hid myself behind the tree again. I felt my heart beat like crazy, and I was listening after footsteps, afraid they had seen me and wanted to investigate, but I didn't hear any movement from their camp, only their continuum conversation.

  Relieved, I let out my breath, and sat nervous for several minutes, arguing with myself if I should just drop it and leave. Almost getting found had put a scare into me. I debated with myself for way longer than I wanted to admit, but ultimately I would regret this chance if I didn't even attempt a first contact.

  Making my decision, I took a deep breath, and started to slowly walk towards the little group. I held my paws up in front of me, and tried my best to look as non threatening as possible.

  As I got closer, I spoke up, in the most cheerful tone I could muster.” Hey guys, Could I join you by the fire”

  All three jumped straight to their feet, and their eyes went wide in terror as soon as they saw me. Up closer, the woman seemed older than the two younger men, with her fair complexion and copper hair, she was an attractive woman. The two men had the same fair skin tones, but one was elegantly slim and tall, with golden hair, while the other was shorter, heavier built and had light auburn hair.

  The woman stepped in front of her two younger companions, in a protective manner while the shorter man only stood there, pointing at me while stuttering the word Gargul, over and over again.

  God dammit. Instantly they are terrified of me, this is not how I hoped this would go. I have no idea what Gargul means, but apparently they think I am one. What would be the best way to de-escalate this situation?

  I held my paws in front of me, and tried waving them, non threatening in front of me, hoping to stop them from whatever they were thinking off. I slowly sat down in the lotus position and smiled at them, doing my very best to not show any teeth, while keeping a 40 feet distance, hoping that would reinsure them a little.

  They all seemed confused from seeing me sitting down, and started arguing between themselves in what must have been elvish. Their fearful eyes never left me for a single moment, and the auburn haired elf was frantically arguing with the others with tears in his eyes. If I only had understood their language, I could have reassured them so much easier, unless they actually knew of my tribe, and had stories about us as elf eating demons. Which wouldn't be far off the truth when I actually thought about it. Damn, I even ate an elf this morning.

  I felt my mouth water up and my stomach rumbled, thinking of that delicious elf flesh I had eaten earlier. Nope stop thinking of that, I’m trying to make friends here. Thinking of how delicious they would taste wouldn’t get me anywhere. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of that thought, before I spoke in a soft tone” Can you guys just chill, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to sit by your fire and share stories”

  Talking seemed to have the opposite effect from what I was hoping for. Both men shivered at my words, while the woman tensed up. Wow. Am I really that scary?

  At that moment, the golden haired shouted something, and both men rushed back to their bags, while the woman stood protective in the front, anticipating something to happen.

  The auburn haired elf pulled up a sword and pointed it directly at me, while shaking in fear.

  Seeing that they turned hostile, I figured my diplomacy had failed. I stood up and held up my paws in a surrendering pose before I spoke.” Yeah yeah, I get it. It doesn't seem like we’re gonna come to an agreement here. Don’t worry, I’m just gonna leave now.”

  I turned around and started walking away in a calm fashion, turning occasionally in case they started running towards me to attack. As I reached the tree with the underbrush I had originally hidden in I took one last glance at the elves I had failed to communicate with. The golden haired elf had found a bow, and started drawing it.

  Shit. I Screamed mentally to myself. As I started to run toward cover. Just as I was about to reach the safety of the tree, I felt a sharp pain hit my left shoulder with an unexpected force.