The fox gazed up at her with a startled expression and asked, "Do you think you really got more than this leaf," she pointed with her nose, "will hold?"

Danika nodded.

The fox said, "Wait here a moment," and darted back into the woods. A few minutes later she reappeared carrying a large mushroom cap delicately in her jaws. She set the cap down and bit small neat bites into it until it was mostly hollowed out, and then looked up at ZipZing expectantly.

Danika asked cautiously, "You promise not to try to eat me, and to try to prevent the squirrels from harvesting acorns until I collect them next week?" In all the stories she could think of, foxes sometimes played some really cruel tricks, but they didn't actually lie.

The fox bobbed it's head and said, "If you can fill this mushroom cup with the water, you have my word."

Danika kept one eye on the fox as she dropped to the ground beside the mushroom cap. She carefully lifted the bag, and poured. She wasn't certain she'd gotten enough water to fill the mushroom, but the water continued to pour until the cap was br.i.m.m.i.n.g full. Danika shut the bag, flicked it back into her inventory, and zipped upward with relief.

The fox lapped up the water greedily at first, and then carefully, sc.r.a.ping every drop from the cup with her tongue. She looked up at Danika and asked, "There's more in your bag isn't there?"

"I think so," Danika agreed.

The fox wheedled, "If I give you something valuable, will you pour out the rest for me to drink?"

"Ok," Danika agreed. She dropped back to the ground and poured out the rest of the geyser's water. The mushroom cap was only about half full.

The fox made no complaint, and simply lapped up the rest of the water, and then ate the rest of the mushroom cap. Then she turned and nipped at her own tail until a small tuft of hair with a spiny looking seed dropped out. "Take this in return with my thanks," the fox declared.

Danika picked up the hair entangled seed doubtfully. Her plant identification said that the seed was a Black Datura seed, and gave warnings of poison and hallucinations. After a minute, she stored it carefully beside the three moonflower seed pods.

Danika activated her wings and returned to the air. Looking down at the fox, she thought she seemed somehow smaller and softer looking than she had before. She brought up her lens, and saw that the fox's description had changed. It now began: "This young vixen is a skilled hunter."

Danika's morning alarm popped up a notification window informing her that she'd stayed up playing for the rest of the night. She informed the fox, "I'll be back in a couple of days," and disconnected from the game.

--

Danika had just finished eating breakfast when the access bell of her apartment chimed. She scooted over to the door and opened it cautiously. It was a delivery person, who handed her a st.u.r.dy oversized envelope. Danika grinned happily as she said, "Thanks! I've been waiting for this!"

She opened the envelope and admired the printing on the large decal sticker as she logged in for her s.h.i.+ft. She was satisfied with the quality and it was just as cute as it had appeared, or even cuter, since she could see the details of the kitten's fur and the dragon's scales. She set it aside and worked with renewed enthusiasm.

On her first break she carefully cleaned the inside of the VR-medi pod, paying extra attention to the area around the warning stickers. On her last break she applied the cute kitten and dragon sticker over the top of the warning labels.

--

When Danika returned to "Living Jade Empire" after she finished her work that evening, the fox and the traveling merchant were talking softly together beneath the oaks. The merchant looked up and smiled as Danika approached.

"ZipZing," he called out, "you look like you're in a good mood this morning!"

The fox asked with interest, "Oh, did you catch a tasty breakfast? Is there any left?"

Danika laughed and replied to them both, "I just saw something pretty on my way here, instead of the usual annoying view."

The fox rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to go frighten the squirrels again." She added hopefully, "Maybe one will fall out of its tree."

"Ok, thank you," Danika replied.

The merchant inquired cheerfully, "Have you obtained anything interesting lately?"

Danika nodded and showed him the spiny seed entangled in the tuft of hair that the fox had given her. The traveling merchant whistled and said, "A black moonflower seed, are you sure you want to sell this right now?" He held it up to her and added, "I'm not sure you could carry that much coin."

Danika objected, "It doesn't look anything like the moonflower seed pods."

The merchant grinned at her and replied, "They are different plants, but both produce scented trumpet shaped flowers that bloom at night, this one is quite poisonous though."

Danika took the seed back from him and stowed it again. "I'll keep it for now then," she agreed, "but will the buying price change later?"

"It might," the merchant answered cheerfully. "Market prices do vary according to supply and demand."

Danika thought of the frog's teeth in her old salt sack, and asked, "How much would I get for a frog's tooth?"

"I generally buy them for 100 coins each," the merchant informed her. "Their price has never changed much."

That meant that the pouch she'd bought in the beginner's vale was the equivalent of two teeth. Danika felt rich all of a sudden.

She sold him one of the frog's teeth and bought four large cheeses to fill the empty s.p.a.ces in the bag of holding that she had been using for food before adding the seeds to it. She also bought the radish seeds she'd asked about before.

The merchant warned her, "Be careful planting things in the wild like this. Although it seems that you haven't had any trouble dealing with foxes, there are many other potentially dangerous creatures."

Danika nodded and the merchant left with a cheery wave.

She used a small stick to dig holes for her radishes along the edge of the meadow. She looked around carefully as she worked, in case something decided that she looked delicious, but she soon finished safely.

She cast her plant growth at each seed from the air. She had just finished when a creaky voice said, "Begging your pardon great seed cultivator?"

Danika spun in the air, and made two full revolutions before spotting the elderly squirrel with tattered ears and only a bit of tail left peering at her from a high branch at the edge of the meadow. "Were you speaking to me?" she asked.

The squirrel nodded. "It was a hard winter for us, and we're delighted to see you working in our territory, but… well, we've seen you talking with that sly red fox," the squirrel told her with a quaver in it's creaky old voice.