Winter Vixen

Finally, the Truth

“So,” Nix began, returning to her chair and her coffee. “Are you going to tell me now that he’s gone?” She was wondering what it was she had to do, and why she couldn’t do it alone. Does it really have to be him? She thought with a sigh. Her mother sat on the other side of the table, tucked her tail around her waist, and put her head in her hands, her beautiful russet ears drooping low. It alarmed Nix, and she reached out to touch her arm in reassurance.

“Mom?”

“I’m sorry honey,” she sighed and looked up at Nix, her brown eyes soft. “I’ve just kept so much in for so long, I don’t know where to begin.” Nix smiled softly at her, saddened by her mother’s stress, but excited she was finally going to get some answers for once.

“Well, how about we start with me?” she asked, hopeful. Her birth and where she came from was something her mother never, ever talked about. Every time she’d bring it up as a young kit, she was hushed quickly and told not to speak about it. It confused and frustrated her to no end, but eventually she just delt with it. Now, she was finally going to be able to ask her questions.

“Nix, what I’m about to tell you goes against everything you’ve been told since you were young.” Her mother took a drink of her coffee. “To the beings above, I wish I had something stronger,” she huffed, staring at her coffee as if to will it to change for her. The statement surprised Nix, and she raised her brows at her.

“I’m sure it’s not all that bad,” she chuckled nervously. Nix was feeling unsure now, if the topic in question had her mother wanting mead over her coffee.

“It’s not you, my love, I’m sorry.” She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes for a moment. “It’s just been so long. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. But to tell the truth, now that it’s here, I’m terrified.” Nix was starting to feel a bit uneasy. The woman that was a picture of strength and resolve was confessing she was afraid. Her mother closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it go.

“I’m not your birth mother, Nix.”

Nix blinked at her for a second, then started laughing. “Surely you jest,” she laughed breathlessly. When she looked into her mother’s serious eyes, she stopped laughing and sucked in a sharp breath.

“So, for all this time, you’ve had me believe you’re my mother, to drop it on me one day that you’re not?” Nix wasn’t sure how to feel, but she did feel a bit frustrated. “Why? What was the point?” Nix had forgotten about her coffee, which had finally turned cold.

“It was meant to protect you. You’re not from here, from Patet.” Nix was a bit confused.

“You mean, I’m from another place? Like, a different kingdom, correct?” she asked quickly, leaning against the table. Her mother shook her head yes. “Well then, where from?”

“You are the last and only living heir to the Kingdom of Crystallos.”

Nix’s mind started reeling at her words. Did she just hear this woman correctly? To be an heir meant to be born of royalty, and Nix had never known the life of a royal. She was a slave, and treated as such her entire life. She just blinked at her mother. I can’t even call her that anymore, can I? Nix started feeling a little dizzy, but she swallowed and forced herself to process the information. Her blue eyes were squinted in concentration.

“So, I’m a princess?” she asked slowly.

“You are indeed. My true name is Virena, and I was enlisted to smuggle you out of Crystallos when you were a baby.” Nix let out a snort.

“Enlisted?” She was finding it hard to believe this soft woman was trained in combat of any kind. “Like, you were a soldier tasked with smuggling me out of my kingdom? Did you steal me?!” She squeaked. Virena shook her head quickly.

“No, no, it wasn’t anything like that. Your father, Articus, was tipped off that his land was about to be raided. He sent word to the Kingdom of Silva to lend aid.” Nix listened intently, her fluffy ears perked forward as far as they would go, trying to take it all in and make sense of it at the same time.

“Your mother and father were great friends with the king and queen of Silva, and when they learned Crystallos was to be invaded by the wolves, they sent everyone they could spare. Articus asked for someone they could trust with your life to ensure your safety.” Virena’s deep brown eyes clouded over in memory, and Nix imagined it must have been hard for her. To keep such things to herself, no one familiar to talk with, and to be suppressed and raise a child on her own in a territory that swarmed with enemies.

“It wasn’t long after the conquer of Crystallos that…” she paused, and it looked to Nix that she was making sure she couldn’t hear or smell anyone near their door. She lowered her voice further, “King Regus took over Silva.” Nix wasn’t surprised at all that it was the mad king who raided the fox kingdoms, that information she figured already, but to hear it aloud was another thing entirely. It made her blood boil. But something was bothering Nix.

“If he raided all the kingdoms of the vulpes race, then how does Nouren not know about it? Does King Torren know?” Nix realized that Nouren didn’t know a great deal when it came to the foxes. Virena shrugged her shoulders at Nix.

“That, I do not know. Silva doesn’t touch borders with Caelum, and I don’t believe the vulpes monarchs of Palus had anything to do with the wolves of Caelum. While Nouren and his family seem fair to the foxes, I doubt any towns neighboring Palus were sympathetic to any of our kind that ventured to the border. The strain between the two races have been hard set for so long, I have doubts that anything has changed.”

“Wait, wait,” Nix said, holding up her hands. “If we are the last of our kind, does that mean I am the only white fox left on this planet?” The thought of it wanted to crush her, to be the only one like her; she thought she might lose her breath. Virena shook her head.

“It appears that way, but I believe the others that may have survived went into hiding, trying to endure and staying out of the wrath of the wolves. If it were me trying to survive in the aftermath, I’d want them to think we were wiped out too.”

“If Silva and Palus and the other kingdoms were raided and its people brought here, do you not have anyone familiar to you? I’ve never really seen you talking to anyone here.” Nix was a bit confused by some of the information. The shaky breath Virena took left a feeling of dread in Nix’s stomach at what she was about to tell her.

“The slaves that were first brought to Patet were solely children, and young teens. Anyone that could have been old enough to fight back, or possibly start an uprising, were killed off.” Nix’s breath caught in her throat. Children were separated from their parents, orphaned by a lupine driven with greed, and whatever other sick, twisted reasons that plagued his mind. Nix never knew she could loath someone so much as King Regus, but what she was hearing intensified the intense feelings of hatred in her heart.

“How many kingdoms were taken?” Nix asked softly.

“There were only four; Crystallos, Silva, Palus, and Adamas. Crystallos isn’t connected by land, it is a vast, snowy island surrounded by smaller ones. Silva borders Patet with it’s beautiful forests, and Palus is a marsh country that borders Caelum. Underneath Palus and Silva lies Adamus, famous for its diamonds in the southern mountains.” Nix was trying to keep up, she wanted to know more about where she came from. Virena never talked about the history of her people, just that there once had been kingdoms full of foxes. But she never once mentioned Crystallos until today.

“I want to know more,” she said eagerly. Her stomach growled loudly, and it made Virena chuckle lightly.

“Let’s get some lunch in us first,” she told her, and stood up to make them both some food.

The very moment Nix finished the soup in her bowl and was licking her lips, there was a sharp knock on their door.

“You are both being requested to the throne room at once,” they heard a guard say, his voice clear despite being behind a door. Nix looked at her mother, fearful that someone heard them after all. Virena placed a reassuring hand on Nix’s shoulder, and tried to smooth down her fluffed-out tail.

“I’m sure it’s something to do with a performance,” she said calmly. “Be calm.” Nix gulped and nodded her head, and together they went to the throne room.