The fox sniffed and asked, "How old are you trying to say that I look?"

Danika blinked. She tapped on the foxes description, which told her: "This aged vixen is a skilled hunter. Identification: red fox, the largest of the true foxes. Omnivorous. Winter coat is especially dense and soft. Known for trickery and cunning."

Danika replied hesitantly, "Um, fully mature?"

"Well of course, I haven't been a kit in ages," the fox agreed dryly. She added, "But I'm not old enough to have two tails."

"How old would that be?" Danika asked curiously.

"Over a hundred years!" the fox exclaimed.

"Ah," Danika replied, and a silence fell between them.

"Are you planning to just hover there all day?" the fox questioned after awhile.

Danika looked around and then shrugged. "It's not a bad place to hover." The little meadow with its fruit tree looked peaceful in the sun. "I should probably go sleep soon though," she added.

The fox asked with scorn, "What are you learning to keep a squirrel's schedule, sleeping midday?"

"What is it that you think I should be doing?" Danika asked with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I'm glad you asked," replied the fox triumphantly. "Apart from the obvious, I could use the a.s.sistance of someone with wings today."

"In doing what?" Danika asked cautiously.

"Getting a drink of water," the fox replied with a sly smile.

Danika narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, "Why do you need someone with wings to get water?"

"Because it only fountains out for a moment each day at the top of a magical stone tower," the fox informed her, "and it's always absorbed by greedy plants and creatures before it can trickle all the way to the ground."

Danika gazed at the greedy fox. The fox smiled at her. "What do I get if I do fetch this rare water for you?" Danika questioned.

"I won't eat you," the fox replied with wide eyes.

Danika huffed a laugh and told the fox, "No."

The fox narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you want then?"

Danika replied promptly, "Someone to keep the squirrels from collecting the acorns I need as soon as they ripen."

"Both squirrels and acorns tend to be found in the tops of trees," the fox pointed out dryly, "while foxes run best on the ground. If I could climb like a squirrel, I wouldn't need a winged a.s.sistant to get a drink."

Danika asked with feigned innocence, "But aren't foxes known for their brilliantly cunning plans? I only need to have the acorns protected for a few days."

The fox's bushy tail traced a wavering path through the air before she replied again. "I might be able to think of a few tactics," she admitted, "but I certainly couldn't promise that the squirrels wouldn't get some of the acorns."

"I can't guarantee I'll get as much of that water as you want either," Danika pointed out logically.

The fox laughed silently at her. "I can say with certainty that you won't be able to fetch that much of it," she stated. The fox turned away from Danika and flicked her tail. "Let's get going then, time never stands still," she barked as she trotted across the meadow.

Danika followed. As they traveled deeper into the woods the trees grew taller and closer together, and she began to wonder if she was going to have trouble finding her way back to the acorn laden trees she'd worked so hard on.

The fox trotted quickly while describing the task ahead. "The water will only fountain for a minute, so you'll need to catch as much as you can before it falls to the ground. There's a lot of compet.i.tion, but no one has time to eat anyone else while the water is falling. The moment it stops though, all bets are off, so fly away as quickly as you can with whatever you've collected."

Danika asked curiously a little later, "What's the usual thing that you thought I should be doing?"

The fox grinned and replied with amus.e.m.e.nt, "Providing nourishment."

"I'm probably not very tasty," Danika retorted.

"Who knows," the fox asked, "but wouldn't it benefit both of us if a few squirrels happened to fall out of the trees at an opportune moment?"

Danika didn't reply. It was probably true, but it sounded like a horrible thing to admit.

They zipped past hidden springs that steamed among tall stands of ferns, as the woods became darker. Mosses began to colonize the towering trees, showing that even the air was wetter. The fox dove beneath a tangled knot of brambles and broad leafed plants, calling out, "Just a bit farther."

Danika veered away from the dark pa.s.sage and zipped up and over the tangled vegetation. The fox stood among the crowded leaves at the base of a large stone cone that looked curiously slick. Danika asked uncertainly, "Is this the magical stone tower?"

"Obviously," the fox replied.

Other animals were pus.h.i.+ng their way through the dense greenery. There were deer, rabbits, opossums, and elk. There were also two wolves and a large cat that yawned and showed fangs as long as ZipZing was tall. Birds of many varieties were crowding the nearby branches. Danika flinched away from the sharp talons of an owl that fluttered past and shoved several smaller birds off of a branch as it landed.

"Any moment now," warned the fox.

Danika pulled out the embroidered bag of holding that could hold an unlimited amount of any one thing, and watched the top of the cone intently, like all of the animals around her were already doing.

There was a sort of coughing popping noise a moment before the geyser erupted. Danika darted forward with the rest, dodging over the ears of the large cat where it scrabbled for purchase, and under the talons of the owl, as she shoved the bag into the spray of water. It burned her wherever it touched her skin, but she grimly held on despite the pain as it felt like her claws were boiled. It's just a game, she reminded herself, you can recover from anything that doesn't kill you. The instant the flow of water began to falter, Danika zipped away from the geyser and back into the forest in the direction they'd come from.

The fox bounded after her, but when ZipZing never slowed she shouted breathlessly, "Hey this is far enough!"

Danika slowed and then landed on a branch. She tucked the pouch into her inventory, to the fox's dismay, and pulled out Justin's apple. Danika took a large bite, and stored the rest again before speaking. "No," she told the fox as her hands began to heal, "I'll pour the water out for you when we reach the place where we met."

"You weren't heading in the right direction anymore then," the fox complained.

"You can lead," Danika agreed.

She followed the fox back out of the deep wood, to the little meadow with the little fruit tree and the acorn laden oaks at it's edge. When they arrived the fox turned and snapped, "Well?"