F0X09T Book 1 Chapter 9

Fox O'Nine Tales
Book One: Larissa of Foxwood

Chapter Nine

     "Princess Winona!" cried Larissa, realizing she had lost track of Reggie and Bea in the friendly crush of Royal Council Princesses. She spun round frantically and, seeing the Princess just behind her, reflexively clutched the Princess's royal wrist.  She then gasped a slight gasp and released her impulsive grasp, hoping she had not done something wrong. But Princess Winona only smiled a reassuring smile.
    
     "What's wrong, Larissa?" asked Winona.
     "I've, I've lost Reggie and Bea!" sputtered Larissa.
    
     Winona's smile remained. "I'm sure we've only misplaced them. They are certainly too precious to us to ever become lost to us."  And with that, Princess Winona made a motion with her hand and the small engulfing sea of Royal Council Princesses parted to reveal the two nervous fox folk, who were only hidden due to their being just slightly shorter than the surrounding Princesses. Larissa motioned to them and they hurried over to her. Larissa clasped Bea's paw in her hand tightly.  And then Princess Winona took Larissa's other hand in her own.
    
    "Come," said Winona, quietly, in her tone of voice so serene and reassuring. "I want to present you to Foxwood."
     
     Larissa's tummy felt as if a sudden swarm of butterflies had just taken flight inside her and flipped her insides upside down. But she obediently followed as Princes Winona led her (and Reggie and Bea behind her, and the other Council Princesses behind Reggie and Bea) across the polished stone of the Throne Room floor and toward an open arched doorway beside one of the twelve magnificent thrones.  Above the opened doorway hung a large oil painting that Larissa instantly recognized to be of Princess Winona herself.  So Larissa deduced that this particular throne must be Winona's. (She was right.)
     
     Passing through the arched doorway, Winona led Larissa and the rest of the entourage down a long, wide hallway.  Larissa marveled at the paintings and bronze sculptures and marble busts (all depicting regal foxes or young women who had to be other Princesses … or, maybe, "Visitors"?) that hung on the walls or rested on pedestals or were piled up several deep against the hallway walls.  It was, thought Larissa, what it must be like to snoop around in the hidden back rooms of the big art museums in the big cities.  There were also more open doorways along the way, which Larissa glanced through as they passed, seeing that they revealed what looked like elegant dining rooms and drawing rooms and music rooms and even a library.   
     "These are my private quarters, Larissa," said Princess Winona. "You are always welcome to visit here, or even stay here if you so desire, at any time during your visit.  My home is your home away from home."
     Larissa felt Bea's paw spastically tighten at the mention of Larissa maybe staying for the duration of her visit with the Princess.
     "Oh, of course I'll visit," said Larissa, "but I'm really quite happy staying with Reggie and Bea! I'm having such a great time with them at their cottage!"
     Larissa felt Bea's trembling grip loosen and, glancing sideways, saw a spontaneous smile brighten Bea's momentarily worried face, her slightly drooping worried whiskers springing up into their "happy" position again. (Larissa was beginning to be able to "read" her fox friends' whiskers as well as their tell-tale tails.)  

     Princess Winona led Larissa and Bea and Reggie and the full contingent of Princesses following them through a heavily curtained open arched portal and out onto a broad stone balcony ringed with a waist-high marble balustrade.  A sudden roar of cheering and paw-clapping and whistling and bell-clanging almost made Larissa jump backward, and she would have, had Winona not held her hand so tightly (as if in anticipation of the startling roar. She must be used to these awesome ovations! thought Larissa).  
    
     Winona tugged Larissa (and Bea and Reggie) right along with her right up to the marble balustrade where the immense gathering on the lawn below, an uncountable crush of fox folk in all sorts of colorful clothes, from fancy regal bejeweled raiments to simple common peasant shifts and togs, could be seen cheering and waving wildly at the appearance of their reigning Princess.  Larissa noticed that the fancy foxes and the common foxes were all mixed up in the vast crowd, with no particular noticeable divisions between who got to stand closer and who had to stand farther back and so on and so forth.  This observation made her happy, adding to her mental list of happy things she had noticed about the Kingdom of Foxwood.  But then, she also noticed one and then another and then another of the frightening Wolfen Guards, standing at very serious attention (not clapping), as if on duty, in certain carefully spaced out places among the cheering foxes on the great lawn below.  The wolves towered over the foxes but, it seemed to Larissa, the foxes didn't seem at all frightened or menaced by their menacing presence.
    
    It seemed to Larissa that the cheering foxes would never stop their enthusiastic cheering.  She was afraid she would start blushing violently at any moment. Then Princess Winona raised one of her hands as if asking for quiet and received a respectful hush instantaneously. That this simple gesture commanded such power made Larissa suddenly feel a rush of lightheadedness in her slightly spinning head. There were just so many foxes, so many fox faces with flashing foxy eyes thrust upward, staring right back at Larissa, at Larissa and Princess Winona…
     
     Larissa felt her knees disappear under her, but she also felt Bea's furry arm quickly loop round her one side and Winona's arm just as quickly loop round her other side and, having been caught before she could fall by an alert fox and an alert Princess, it seemed to her as if she were slowly floating out over the marble balustrade, floating out to sea – a sparkling sea made of waves and waves of friendly furry fox faces.  She was relieved when Winona began to speak, somewhat loudly, because that seemed to wake her back up into the somewhat (admittedly) surreal reality she was just beginning to get a real feel for navigating through.  She could feel the warm tingling of blood returning to her knees and her toes.

     "Citizen subjects of Foxwood!" exclaimed Princess Winona in her very confident and authoritative voice. "Citizen Foxes!  Citizen Wolves! Faerie folk! And all other loyal subjects of the Kingdom gathered here today!  Today is a happy day! For we welcome our newest Visitor, Larissa! She is come to us through the good graces of Reggie and Bea of the hamlet of Radiance in the Province of Bliss! I present her to you now that you may know her to be a true friend of Foxwood and welcome her into your hearts during her visit here with us in Foxwood!"    
      The crowd of fox folk roared in approval. Larissa saw even the wolves opening wide their mightily fanged mouths and howling her name. The butterfly swarm in her tummy took flight anew and now she was definitely blushing.
The general ovation turned into a thunderous clapping of paws and stomping of boots and other footwear in unison. After a few moments, Princess Winona whispered in Larissa's ear.
     "They want you to speak to them.  Go ahead, Larissa. I know they're going to love you."
     Her mind suddenly mayhem, Larissa's entire life flashed before eyes (just as she had heard that lives will sometimes flash in moments of expectation of imminent death) and, unfortunately, she saw nothing in all the experiences of her brief lifetime that could have in any way prepared her for this most awful test, this totally unfair pop quiz, this lamest of lame nightmare practical jokes!
      Larissa heard a quavering voice, which she realized was her own, whispering a whisper back to Princess Winona.
      "What do other Visitors usually say?"
      "It's simple," Winona whispered back. "Just be true and say whatever it is you're feeling in your heart right now."  And with that, the Princess took a short step back, leaving Larissa to stand alone before the stomping, hooting and howling Foxwood citizenry.  (Bea was determined to stay standing by Larissa's side, but the Princess reached over and gave her a tug, forcing her to relinquish her protective grip and to take a step back, leaving Larissa truly standing alone.)
     Finally, after a long few moments of standing nervously frozen like a shaking statue, Larissa spoke.
     "I feel…," she sputtered in an unsure voice, before repeating, a bit louder, "…I feel…"
     A pin could have been heard hitting the perfect green lawn as the entire crowd became instantly and absolutely quiet and still, not a whisker moving, their fox faces pressing forward and upward, hanging on Larissa's every word – which made her all the more spooked and nervous.  
     "I feel … really scared…"
     A murmur of confusion, or possibly concern, rippled through the great gathering of foxes, wolves and others.
     "But…" said Larissa, and then she paused and closed her eyes.
     A faint smile broke out across her face.
     "Really, really happy to be here."
     And she could manage to say nothing more.
     
     There was a moment of scary silence.  And then came the last thing Larissa would ever have expected in response to what she already had decided to be her all time most witlessly weak performance under pressure: The crowd roared! And not to boo her off the balcony, as she had feared!  They were cheering and chanting her name! "Larissa! Larissa! Larissa!"
      Larissa opened her eyes to behold an ocean of friendly furry faces, all smiling back at her, and she even thought she could see happy tears in some of their eyes.  Many of the fox fellows were tossing their caps in the air, and there were even banners unfurled and hoisted aloft bearing Larissa's name in fanciful glittery stitched letterings. It was like the best surprise party ever!
      Princess Winona and Bea wrapped their arms around Larissa, hugging her tightly and saying, "Good job! Good job!" (Bea was weeping openly, her tears of joy dripping off the tips of her whiskers; Reggie was trying to hide that he was crying.) Larissa could see that all the other Princesses were smiling and laughing and applauding her gloriously good reception from the subjects of Foxwood.      
      And then the tightly-packed cluster of delighted Princesses, all centered around Larissa (and Reggie and Bea) began withdrawing from the balcony's balustrade and began making their retreat back into the Castle.  But something suddenly changed in the sounds from the crowd still roaring up and reverberating in the balcony. The sound was now not as happy as before. Larissa could see Princess Winona's smiling demeanor disappear, replaced by a very serious, though not at all frightened or even terribly concerned, expression.
      
     The cluster of Princesses, who were no longer smiling and laughing, parted so Winona could return to the balcony's edge to observe her subjects below.  Larissa could see her standing there all alone as the crowd noise, so cheerful only a moment ago, grew even more threatening. Suddenly fearful for Princess Winona, Larissa pushed her way free of the Princesses and of Reggie and Bea's attempts to restrain her, and stepped quickly over to be at Winona's side.
      "What's wrong?" asked Larissa, a bit scared by some of the unhappy expressions on some of the fox faces looking up from down below.
      "It will be alright," said Princess Winona in her calm, soothing voice. "They were expecting a bit more information this morning, that's all. There is some upset and unrest in the kingdom."
      
      Before Larissa could ask anything more, Lord Chamberlain Reynard, having appeared as if from nowhere, almost knocked her over in his haste to secure his spot at the balcony next to Princess Winona.  He began making urgent hand signals to someone down below. The crowd suddenly became much quieter. Larissa leaned over the balustrade to get a better look at what was happening.
     The vast multitude of fox folk had earlier been crowded in so tightly that they had occupied the lawn even up to just underneath the balcony. But now, Larissa could see the whole crowd moving slowly backward, away from the balcony.  There was now an empty expanse of lawn of about ten yards or so between the balcony and the crowd of citizenry.
     Then Larissa saw why they were all slowly moving back. Three of the Wolfen Guards, their long spearheaded pikes in hand, walked out from beneath the balcony, and stepped ominously toward the mass of mostly foxes. So that's who Reynard was signaling to, thought Larissa, her heart skipping a beat at the thought.   
     "What's all this then?!" shouted Reynard. "Ho, there! Guardian! Is there something that's the matter?! Report to the Royal Princess at once!!"
     On the Great Lawn below, the three Wolfen Guardians stood at attention facing the solid wall of gathered fox folk.  One of the Guards turned his head round to answer the Lord Chamberlain. Larissa was sure he was the one who had winked at her earlier and made her jump in fright.  She was relieved that there didn't appear to be any sort of angry expression on his scary dark face.
     "There is a request for petition, Lord Chamberlain," the great Wolf shouted with a sort of low rumbling roar in his voice. Larissa noted that wolf voices were as scary and intimidating as fox voices were playful and inviting.
     Reynard stiffened and sniffed a demonstrative sniff as if he were highly offended. His highly offended expression then instantly snapped into his dismissively patronizing expression.  Larissa thought his histrionics would be quite funny – if only the tenseness of the situation weren't making her heart beat so fast and making her mouth turn to cotton.  
     "Well, well, come on, Guard!  Who deigns to seek petition with Princess Winona at such a rude and inappropriate time?!" said Reynard, fairly spitting out his venomously reproachful words.
     A fox voice yelped from within the crush of fox folk.
     "No rudeness either intended or even imaginable! If I have offended the Princess, I mostly humbly and despondently withdraw my unthinkingly insolent petition!"
     "Who so speaks?!" shouted Reynard.
     
    A fox attired in a most colorful red and green vest, bright yellow leggings, and curly-toed slipper-shoes (like a genie might wear), topped off with a tri-cornered blue felt hat (accented with what might be an ostrich feather), popped forth out of the wall of foxes and strode most purposefully up to and then, with chest most bravely puffed-up, stood stoutly before the "head" wolf who had spoken to Reynard. The Wolfen Guard regarded the fox unblinkingly for a moment.  Then he coughed a loud gravelly wolfish throat-clearing cough and the brave little fox jumped backward just a bit before reassuming his brave stout stance.  Larissa thought the fox looked like some sort of harlequin – a comic relief character just in time to relieve all the tension and save the day!  
     Lord Chamberlain Reynard had another name for the fox.
     "What of it, Foole!  We've no time for your jests today!"
     The Court Jester! thought Larissa, remembering from Medieval history class that the "foole" is the royal court's stand-up comedian. His job is to let Princess Winona know the mood of the people, but in a respectful, joking way. He's important! Reynard must let him speak!
      
     As if Winona were reading Larissa's mind, the Princess raised her arm, gesturing for Reynard to back off.  Which he did, but with a most aggrieved expression of disgust on his face, his whiskers twitching angrily, his braided foxtail whipping violently.
     "I recognize you and greet you most warmly, Riddler Fox," said Princess Winona, smiling brightly. "I accept your petition to speak with greatest appreciation for your wise observations.  Rest assured, I have never nor could I ever infer rudeness or insult from your timely address."
     The mood of the crowd softened immediately. Larissa's heartbeat began to approach it's more normal thump.  The colorful little fox, Harlequin or Foole or both, doffed his cap theatrically and bowed deeply to the Princess.
     "Rise up, rise up, my Riddler Fox!" shouted Winona. "For I must know!  Does the Riddler Fox have a fine riddle for me to consider on this fine day?! One to concentrate my mind, perplex me and make me ponder long into the night?! A sly rhyme to slyly edify me, that I might better serve my beloved subjects of Foxwood as they so wholly and manifestly deserve to be served?!!"
      
      The crowd roared, and it was again a happy roar as it had been earlier. She has them back!  thought Larissa. But how could she ever lose them?  She's like a magician! They adore her!  Larissa wanted to applaud the Princess as hard and long and loud as she could but, not sure about balcony protocol, simply stood proudly by Winona's side, smiling along with her at the cheering fox folk.

     The Wolfen Guard raised one of his mighty leather-clad arms and the crowd immediately fell silent.
     "Your petition has been recognized, Riddler Fox," said the wolf in a most businesslike and almost bored manner. "You may address the Royal Princess."
     The Riddler Fox took a step forward and then planted his feet as if he were about to attempt some Olympic event.  He cleared his throat with a yelpish foxy cough and tugged a straightening tug of his red and green vest (which, Larissa observed, made the many tiny bells on his vest tinkle like little lucky charm bracelet chimes.  And there were also tiny bells on the curly toes of his curly genie shoes! How great is that?!  she thought).

     "Princess Winona, beloved sovereign!" cried the Riddler Fox loudly, obviously intending his words to be heard by all the gathered citizenry as well as the Princess. "Submitted for your approval, a rhyme for your behooval!"
     Larissa could see that the Princess had locked her eyes with the eyes of the Riddler Fox. The mood was now almost playful, but Larissa could tell that there was something very serious happening, a very real communication about to take place between the official spokesfox of a people and that people's Princess.

    And then the Riddler Fox began reciting his rhythmic rhyming riddle.

     "A storm of rumor and suspicion
      rains upon Foxwood an agonizing pain.
      And so we beseech you, Princess Winona,
      to provide us with the one medicine
                     that only you might ordain,
      that will bring a cleansing sunshine
      and increase the abundance of love
                                    we have for you,
                which will be your rightly gain.
       Pray, we beseech anew,
       don't torture us,
       with the poison
                   that feeds the evil flame,
       that brings on only blacker clouds,
       And possibly, just possibly,
                               a final falling rain.
       Such it is as it is, Princess Winona,
       this thing for only you to choose.
       By which choice shall you surely win?
       By which choice shall we surely lose?"

     The Riddler Fox and Princess Winona remained for a moment more locked in one another's unblinking gaze.  Then the Riddler Fox again doffed his cap and bowed again a great bow before the Princess. The crowd remained silent.
      Finally, Princess Winona smiled and raised her arms to all her assembled subjects in a gesture that Larissa could tell was understood by the crowd to mean that the Princess had  "accepted" the Riddler Fox's riddle. There was then a long round of sustained applause, sounding more like the approval of a great artist's fine performance than the raucous celebratory cheering cheered for Larissa.
      The Princess began to speak, and so the fox folk again fell silent, and they listened most intently.
      "Rise up your head, beloved Riddler Fox, for I deem your rhyme to be a fine one.  I will take your words into my heart and consider them well, for I know they were intended to illuminate rather than darken that solitary chamber. I thank you and bless you, Riddler Fox, as I thank and bless all of you, loyal subjects of Foxwood. I have no need to tell you that I take all of you, too, into my heart this day, for you know that you all already reside there, and not one of you will ever be evicted.  Sleep well tonight, my brothers and sisters, for all is well, and well it shall always be."
    
       And then the Princess turned to Larissa, smiled at her and took her hand in her own, and they both stepped back from the balcony balustrade. The fox folk and others of Foxwood gathered on the Great Lawn cheered again, but this time, all smiles, they also began dispersing. Larissa was happy see that the jostling and bantering sea of foxes again flowed, unfearfully, right up to and right past the Wolfen Guards, including them again in the one great flow of furred citizenry, including them as their brethren rather than their policemen.

    As the Princesses, led by Winona leading Larissa, Reggie and Bea, made their way back inside and back down the great hallway through Winona's private chambers, there seemed to Larissa to be an atmosphere of general satisfaction with the day's meet and greet with "the people", but no sense of exhilaration or of a great triumph having just been had.  All that Larissa had been able to glean from the Riddler Fox's cryptic rhyme was that the fox folk of Foxwood were all on fire with gossip about some suspicious something, and they wanted Princess Winona to get everything straightened out and back to normal. As the Princesses took turns in the hallway squeezing Larissa's hand, kissing her cheek and congratulating her on a job well done, she got the sense that what they weren't telling her was that a temporary lid had been put on the kettle today, but the kettle was still in danger of boiling over.
     Lord Chamberlain Reynard was particular incensed and throwing a hissy fit over one of the lines in the Riddler Fox's riddle.
     "The unmitigated gall!  The audacity!  The impudence!  The impertinence!" he thundered as he stomped in looping circles down the hallway, the huge heels of his elegant shoes snapping loudly on the polished stone hallway floor, his foxtail flying in hurky-jurky flailings that kept almost whipping the faces of  Larissa and the Princess who trailed just behind him.
     "Can you imagine!" he spat. "'A final falling rain' !  That's what he actually had the chutzpah to say to his sovereign's face! 'Just possibly, a final falling rain'.  The bounder!  The blackguard!  He should be jailed immediately!!"
      Princess Winona only smiled at Reynard, Reggie and Bea.  "Calm yourself, Chamberlain.  No harm has been done.  We must indulge our artists as much as we can.  They are our truest treasure."
     "Foole's gold only, in this case, I say!" shouted Reynard, almost as if he were yelling at the Princess.  
     Winona brought the procession to a dead stop, a stern look on her face directed squarely at Reynard.  The Lord Chamberlain suddenly regained his wits enough to realize he had just gravely overstepped the bounds of his position, even as privileged as that high position was.  He became and silent and quickly knelt on the hallway before the Princess.
      "My most abject apology, Princess Winona. I beg your forgiveness for my most grievous trespass," said Reynard, sounding as if he were almost sobbing.
     Winona rolled her eyes and, looking to Larissa, shook her head as if she were greatly weary from endlessly correcting her errant executive assistant.
     "Rise, Chamberlain," said Winona, "but please get hold of yourself and stop embarrassing me in the presence of our guests."  This admonition
startled Bea and set her to blushing a deepest purple blush.  
     Reynard rose (sheepishly, thought Larissa, the first time she had seen him so) and he dusted off his formerly bended knee with one big paw.
     "Eternal pardons, your Royal Highness," said Reynard, "but it seems I have been driven to near madness only because of the disrespect shown to you this day.  I can barely contain my fury."
     "If you cannot control your emotions," said Winona, "your service will only be more harmful than beneficial in the proper administration of this Kingdom.  Do you understand this, Lord Chamberlain?
     "Absolutely, Princess Winona," replied Reynard quietly.
     "Now then" said the Princess. "Speaking of guests, Chamberlain, can you explain why there is a sash drawn across my sitting room door, which would indicate a guest patiently awaiting me?"
     Reynard spun round and pointed at the double-doors where, Larissa could see, there was indeed a golden sash drawn across the enormous ornate pull handles.
     "Blast!" yelled Reynard, already yelling again.  But he then quickly calmed himself. "I'd forgotten in the rush of events.  There is indeed a guest come all the way from the southern provinces to visit you, Princess Winona.  Well, actually, no.  He has come in want of an audience with Larissa, actually."
     "Ah!" exclaimed Winona, smiling at Larissa. Larissa was stunned.  Someone besides Reggie and Bea knew she was coming before she got here?  Reggie and Bea excitedly pinched Larissa's elbows, which didn't help her to calm her sudden return bout of general nervousness.   
     "And just who is this gentleman caller, then?" asked the Princess, winking at Larissa
     "A savant fox," said Reynard, "named Winston."
     "My oh my oh my oh my!" whispered Reggie in Larissa's left ear.
     "I've never met a savant fox!" whispered Bea in Larissa's right ear.
     "Winston!" exclaimed Winona. "I haven't spoken to him in years!"
     
      And with that, Princess Winona threw wide open the sitting room doors and led Larissa, Reggie and Bea into the vast but very comfy-looking chamber, littered with overstuffed chairs and sofas and featuring a humongous fireplace with an absolutely unnecessary but quite beautiful fire roaring within it.
      But Larissa just barely noticed the grand décor and the fine furniture. Her full attention was centered on the fox gentleman who rose from the center sofa to return a friendly greeting to the Princess.  For this fox gentleman had two extra quite magnificent foxtails, his three foxtails rising and separating behind him as he rose from the sofa like a most glorious and fantastical peacock.  But a peacock fox with three furry, not feathered, foxtails, each absolutely covered with complex rings and bizarre tattoo-like markings. It would take a foxtail translator with a masters degree to read those tails, thought Larissa.
     Princess Winona motioned for Larissa, Reggie and Bea to come closer, to meet Winston, the three-tailed savant fox. Larissa, Reggie and Bea shuffled awkwardly over, as commanded, and then made themselves look quite silly by trying so very hard not to look at Winston's wondrous tails. The savant fox maintained his calm and serene demeanor and pretended not to notice, or maybe he just ignored, their uneasiness in his presence.
     "Larissa!" said Winona. "Winston has brought you a gift!"
     The Princess tugged Larissa hard by the hand to maneuver her into a toe-to-toe position with the savant fox.  Larissa was grateful that the fox was no taller than herself, greatly alleviating the level of intimidation. She liked that she could look the fox folk right in the eyes, eye-to-eye.  They had such beautiful eyes.  Larissa's nervousness seemed to ebb away once she looked into the savant fox's big gray eyes.  They seemed to her be like reflecting pool reservoirs of all the kindness and caring and sympathy in the world. A feeling of family, of kinship with this strange being came over her and bound her to him instantly, similar to the feeling that had captured her heart upon meeting Reggie and Bea, but even more intense. Maybe three times as intense, she thought. Three times the tails, three times the total empathy intensity. Makes sense.
     "Larissa," said Winston, "I'm so glad I've found you."
     "How did you know about me?" asked Larissa.
     "We have secrets in Foxwood," said Winston, "but Visitors are spotlighted, not hidden away."
     The savant fox reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a simple folded piece of paper.
     "I really don't have any time to get to know you today, Larissa, you and Reggie and Bea, as I'd like to.  I was hoping that sometime in the next few days you might have time to visit me where I'm staying at here in Athena.  I'll be in the capital city for at least another few days…"
     "Well, I don't-" Larissa managed to say before Reggie and Bea cut her off with, "Of course we can make it!  We'd be ever so delighted!  An honor, sir!"
     "Well, that's a settled item on your itinerary, then!" said Winona.
     Winston looked for a long moment into Larissa's eyes before taking her hand in his paw.
     "I'll look forward to seeing you. Until then…"
     Winston pressed the folded paper into Larissa's palm.
     "I have," said Winston, "a student I am mentoring. An artist, actually, and one quite taken by what he's seen of your fine artworks, Larissa.  If you would, I'd like you to do him the honor of taking a look at one of his sketches, critiquing it, if you will, and then maybe you can give him some pointers when you visit. I'm afraid the gift that the Princess Winona spoke of is really more of, well…"
      The fox wagged his three tails just a bit as he coughed before completing his thought.
    "It's really more of an artist-to-artist kind of thing … a plea for help. But I really must be going now. My apologies to you all."
    "Apologies accepted, Winston" said Winona. "I know we kept you waiting here for hours. And I assure you Larissa will visit you within a day or so."
    And with that, the savant fox smiled at Larissa, nodded to Reggie and Bea, kissed the signet ring on the Princess's extended hand, and swept out of the room.
    Larissa unfolded the folded piece of paper that Winston had gifted her with.
    "How nice!" said Bea. "Admirers already hounding you!"
    Larissa looked at the pencil sketch drawing she held in her hands.  She closed her eyes, shook her head, and then looked again.  But what she saw only continued to knot up her brain in a twisting burning ball of confusion.
     The pencil sketch she held in her hands was the sketch of the leather-jacketed wolf that Timothy had drawn and that she had then "fixed" a bit.  She could even see where Timothy had forged her signature next to his own in the corner of this, their "first collaboration."  
     Alternate possible explanations instantly sprang up in the cauldron of Larissa's roiling mind in frenzied succession, so desperate was her need for this new twist in her dreamland journey to not be happening, but there was really only the one inalterable reality that refused to be budged from first position in her clearest consciousness:
    
    Timothy is here in Foxwood!