I hid behind some tall grass, carefully monitoring my prey. My slow, stalking steps didn't make any sound as I followed its every move. The creature sat still in the sunlight. I paused as well and prepared to pounce, energy building up in my hind legs.

With one powerful push, I leapt at the ambertail. It gave a startled chirp and ran off. I was hot on its glowing tail, yipping and barking playfully. Something light hit my back. I dared one glance up and saw a second ambertail victoriously hitching a ride.

The ambertail in front of me had used my distraction to get away. With my prey gone, I focused on getting the little thing off my back, performing the oddest leaps and mid-air twists I could. With a squeak, the ambertail opened its wings and drifted down to the grass.

I pursued my new prey, running after the little ball of feathers at full speed. The game of chase continued for a while, but in the end, all four of us collapsed on the grass, panting for air.

Raset chuckled, watching us as we lay there. "I was wondering how long you guys could go on. I'm a little impressed. You're like little explosions of energy."

I barked. "I'm not little! I'm twice as big as a common fox, and an adult one at that."

The past few days, good food and the salve had worked wonders. My fur was already halfway back to its full glory, and all my wounds were gone. The constant sunlight made me feel better as well. I hadn't realised just how much I had missed the sun, but now I got to play beneath it all day. The only thing that was missing, was a certain vampire...

The spirit gently nudged my side, interrupting my thoughts. "Compared to me, you are little."

"You cheat. You can stand on your legs and are as big as you can get. I will grow a whole lot bigger than this," I defended. "When I grow up and stand on my hind legs, I'll be taller than you, just you wait."

"Mm," she hummed. "It'll take a few more centuries until you're that large. Until then, I'm the biggest."

Huffing faintly, I got up and walked towards the fire. The sun kept me warm enough, but the flames were still nice, and it gave me an endless supply of hot coals to eat.

The trio of ambertails hop-glided after me. They recovered energy as fast as I did. While I settled in the fire, they took their spot on the log, chirping loudly as Raset approached and sat down next to them.

I watched her for a moments, hesitating. There was a question I wanted to ask her for a while now, but it seemed inappropriate. But then, questions couldn't hurt, right?

"Raset?" My uncertain eyes met hers. She watched me, silently encouraging to continue. After shifting my body around a bit, I asked, "Will I become a spirit too when I die? I thought souls went to the Underworld."

The spirit sighed softly, reaching out to pet one of the ambertails. It emitted soft chirps as she spoke. "I am a rare case. I've always been a follower of Esnain, and in my last moments, she heard my prayers and saw that I was giving my life for something she stood for.

"When you die - which won't be for another few thousand years, so don't worry - you will go to the Realm of Spirits to face Mafrel. You won't become a spirit like me. It's very, very uncommon that such a thing happens. Getting the attention from the gods is hard, and it's a small miracle that I managed to do it."

I tilted my head. "So you avoided Mafrel? I heard he's really scary and judges everything you've done in your entire life. Oh no, would he be mad that I ran away from my momma and lit half of the town on fire?" Sudden fear filled me, remembering the thick columns of smoke that rose into the air.

"You did what?" Raset looked at me with wide eyes. When I didn't answer, she continued, "Yes, I avoided his judgement, but I don't know for how long. Maybe I'll stay this way forever, maybe Esnain will decide it's been long enough and allow me to die for good."

I fell silent, mulling over her words. She was right, it was still a very long time away until I'd die of old age... But then, hadn't that greencat nearly killed me? That could've been my end.

And even if I died, I wouldn't like it. From what momma had told me, that place was all cold, since Mafrel's brother liked that. The only part with fire was Sayya, and I didn't want to go there. Ablait was there, and no one liked Ablait.

But then, if I became a spirit, would it be much better? I would get to see the sun and lay in fire, and occasionally enact the gods' will. Even after thinking for a moment, I couldn't find something truly negative.

"When I die, could you help me become a spirit too? I don't want to go to the cold and dark Underworld. They also say Mafrel has really freaky, dark eyes. I don't want him to look at me," I said.

Raset seemed to hesitate. "You're too young to think about things such as this. You should just grow up and enjoy life as it comes."

"Being in a bottle for so long gave me a lot of time to think. Life and death was a common topic when we still bothered to talk to each other. We'd weigh the options, tell stories of what we'd been through, and weigh options again. It gave us something to think about."

My unconcerned tone seemed to throw the spirit off somewhat. She probably wasn't used to someone as young as me talking about these things... But then again, I had so much time to talk about things. She knew more, so she may as well help me.

"Well, I'll-"

Raset was cut off by the sound of someone thrashing through the wall of thorns, hissing aggressively.