Returning Home

“Do you not have anywhere to go?” You saw her skill first-hand and, frankly, it did impress you. The implications of reading the future are vast, even in the small rural world that you come from. With that power you expect some type of hidden temple. A secret archive of magical secrets walled away from the world. A mountain retreat rich in mana that pilgrims might visit. Any of that.

“I'm a bit down on my luck right now.” Kara says shamelessly.

“Are you homeless?” You look at her in disbelief.

She stares back at you with wide, cat-like eyes. “Is my apprentice homeless?”

You consider answering yes just to see how she will react. You have been with her for just a few minutes and so far she has presented you with a strange contrast. On one hand she is truly capable in some form of impressive magic. On the other hand, her main concerns so far have been your access to meat and shelter.

“I have a home I could go back to, but truthfully I expected this to be the beginning of my adventure. I planned to set out, make a living doing jobs and working my way up the rankings until I could make something of myself. After that I would return and impress my village with stories of far away lands and devious creatures.”

Kara nods slowly as if she is following along, but the impression you get is that she is not processing your aspirations. “So... You got parents? With a house? On a potato farm?” She smiles at you and leans forward suggestively.

“Is that right?”

Your shoulders slump. “That's right.” You can see that the beastwoman is trying to contain her excitement. At the very least she is maintaining some form of politeness. Kara has done everything short of outright asking if she can crash at you place. You do not feel like she is impossible to refuse, just that she is trying to be very convincing with the hopeful look she is giving you.

“Would you... Like to come back to my village?”

She gasps and you have to assume it was feigned, but her demeanor seems genuine. It should not take a fortune teller to understand what the eventual result of all her questioning and non-verbal begging would be.

“Of course! Thank you, apprentice!” She glomps onto you and hugs you tightly, causing most of your hesitation to melt away as her soft chest presses into yours.

You curse your own willpower over the newly gained knowledge that even a small amount of affection from a beautiful woman is enough to sway you completely. “I think I can predict the future...” You say offhandedly.

Kara releases you from her tight grasp and tilts her head to look at you. “Oh yeah?”

“I predict I'd be a terrible pet owner.”

“Huh! What makes you think that?” The talented fortune-tell is unable to decipher your meaning.

You stare at the fox, her bushy red tail swooshing back and forth. She is genuinely curious and you do not have the heart to tell her that she reminds you of a small, cute animal that does not have the awareness to realize the subtle power it exerts over humans.

“Never mind.” With that her attention is already elsewhere. She looks towards the door, then back at you.

“You wanna get going?” She looks hesitant. The only thing you can think of, based off everything you know about her so far, that would cause her to be hesitant would be.

“You are hungry.”

Kara smiles widely and lifts a finger. “Apprentice, your powers of prediction are blooming nicely already!”

You look at her skeptically. “Are you just taking advantage of me?”

She is surprised by the accusation and a little hurt. “What? No way! Not at all.” She makes a stopping motion by crossing her arms as she says that.

“I wouldn't hurt you or take advantage of you. You're meant for big things.” She stares at you sadly, her ears bending forward.

“Is that the read you're getting on me?”

You stop yourself from answering instinctively. “No, actually...”

She huffs. “Why do you sound surprised?”

“Because I just feel like I know your intentions.” You open your status screen to see a new skill has appeared. Unlike the esoteric ability that you only just figured out the meaning of, the skill you gained seems fairly self-explanatory. It is called 'Judge Character I' and you can assume it does exactly what it implies. From Kara you do not get the impression that she is trying to take advantage of you at all. You do not need the skill to infer from that judgment that she is simply very bad in social situations. You look upon her somewhat pitiably.

Her cheeks flush. “W-what? Why're you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing.” You smile warmly. “Since we are heading home, anyway, I'll buy us something to eat out of my travel expenses. To celebrate.”

“Great! Let's go right away.” Kara grasps your hand tightly. You know that it is an act that she is not even considering, but for you the simple gesture makes you feel a bit awkward. It is your understanding that, in general, men and women that hold hands are lovers. You lower your head as she begins dragging you out of the hall towards the market and finally pull your hand away once you are outside. She turns around and looks at you questioningly.

“What's up?”

“Nothing.” You move next to her and the two of you begin walking together. Watching her closely, you notice the way various normal things catch her interest more than they would a normal citizen of the empire.

“Are you... Familiar with human customs and cities?”

“I don't come to places like this. I usually don't got a reason to.” She says matter-of-factly.

“I think humans are really good at making food. The stuff you put on it makes it taste really weird, but I like it.”

“The spices? Okay...” You know that does not sound like the type of cooking you are used to. Not that your mothers cooking is bad, just that it is very simple and almost always devoid of anything other than salt.

“Sounds like you're more familiar with the eastern lands.”

“Didn't know there was a difference.” She shrugs.

“If you say so, Apprentice.” You make a mental note to buy some exotic food that she might like before you leave. It is something you would not mind trying, anyway.

After feeding Kara you mention that it is probably best to just start the trip back. The journey is both short and well-traveled by merchants, which means it is well-guarded. You did not feel uncomfortable making the trip on your own despite being inexperienced in combat or hunting for that reason. If you were attacked, help was not far away and if you were in need of aid, it would come within a day down the same road you were walking. You know that it took you from dawn to dusk to reach the city from your village so it should be about the same on the way back. Even though it will definitely become dark based off the time you are leaving from, and therefore a bit more dangerous, you are comforted by Kara's assuredness. She at least seems to fully believe that she is capable of defending the both of you.

You walk the road with what little sunlight you have after leaving the city. Once it starts to become dark you divert off of it into a small flat patch in the woods to camp. “I'll go grab some dry wood to make a fire.” You offer generously. Living in a rural area, the ability to make a fire is a common skill, but the promise of fumbling with two sticks in front of your new master is not exciting, since survival certainly isn't your specialty.

“If you want.” Kara does not sound particularly interested in the prospect, either.

“I get that some of your kind are nocturnal but I'm not really comfortable sitting in the cold and the dark.” You explain, expecting this to just be another simple cultural divide.

The fox-woman perks up. “Oh! Me neither. I just do this.” She holds her hands in front of her as if she is carrying a bowl between them and casually summons a wisp of blue light that glows brighter than a camp fire. It is enough to illuminate the entire clearing.

“That's useful.” You get closer to it.

“It's warm, too.”

“You can touch it and there's no smoke. I can makes small or big ones so it's good for indoors and outdoors.” She lectures proudly, passing her hand through it. Kara releases the wisp and lets it float lazily between you both. It only moves occasionally in the form of a gentle bobbing.

“Could I learn how to do that?”

Kara looks down in thought. After a few moments she looks up to say cryptically. “I hope so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, most of this stuff I can do is passed down through my tribe, so I'm not sure if a human can do it.” She speaks innocently, obviously not fully grasping the implications of what she said.

You shake a little, trying not to become angry immediately. “You don't think that would've been a responsible thing to mention when I was deciding my future?”

You words reach her, thankfully, proving she is not completely inept socially. Kara bites her bottom lip lightly with one of her sharp canines. Not enough to draw blood, but just enough to leave a small mark. “Worst case scenario I just watch over you while you're training.” She looks at you with big eyes. Her ears and tail droop. All of this, in your limited experience, shows you that she knows fully that she did something wrong.

You calm yourself. As bad as the situation is, you are simply back to where you would have been had the four women not offered anything. It is exactly what you expected. What you wanted, even. At least now you also have what should at the very least be a somewhat loyal companion, or pet, or what-have-you.

“At least give me this. What did your predictions tell you about me? Can you read my fortune?”

Kara brightens. “I know that!” She clears her throat and sits you down around the wisp of light.

“The prediction actually occurred a while ago. Every so often, when certain events line up it is possible to read the flow of the world itself. When that happens, those who can read the stream get together and try to gather as much as possible.”

“I guess it would be because, if you're reading the fortune for the fate the world itself, there's going to be more than one or two things to pick out and a lot of it is probably not going to be relevant. More people means more chances to get something important.”

“That... Actually makes a lot of sense.” She looks as if she only now understood why so many of her kind gathered together.

“Are you well regarded among your people?” You do not mean to sound derisive, but it comes out sounding that way, regardless.

Kara looks offended. “I'm very good at what I do!” She waits to see if you have anything else to retort before continuing.

“Anyway, what I was able to pick out was simply that a hero will appear at the city you appeared at, around the time you appeared. That was a big enough deal that I was willing to risk it being wrong. The rest of my tribe and the others there agreed, too.”

You can not get over the fact that she is the one they picked. “So... Are you more or less skilled than most of the people in your tribe, or in your circle of fortune tellers?” She leans forward and flicks your forehead aggressively..

“Ow!”

“I'm an esteemed Elder!” She argued. You can tell she is not lying, but it is still hard to believe.

“Alright, alright. Can you read my fortune?”

“I was getting to that.” She slides closer to you and takes your hands.

“You don't need to do anything except relax.” Nodding at her instruction, you find it easy to do by staring at her calm expression. Her eyes are closed and she has a serene, mature quality to her in the moment that does not come out when she is talking to you normally. It calms you even more to imagine how ideal it would be to have a serene, matronly Beastwoman mentor. With that thought you feel yourself becoming a bit too calm as your pants strain slightly due to a growing hardness between your legs. While you struggle to will your member to stop you hear an audible gulp from her. Kara's serene expression is now somewhat pained. She opens her eyes and gives you a worried look.

“I hope I'm wrong.”

“Wrong about what?” You lean in curiously.

“You are supposedly going to lead a very unfortunate life. I see many streams where you become strong, but few where you are happy. Many bitter streams and even more that lead to disaster.”

You are not sure what to say to that. “W- What? But I become strong in most of the paths? How is it that I become strong and bitter or strong and unhappy?”

She looks down sadly. “I'm not s-”

“What?” You wonder what made her stop and quickly realizing where her eyes are pointed. You cover yourself quickly.

“Don't worry about that.”

Kara looks up and makes eye contact. She does seem upset or embarrassed. Her demeanor could even be described as casual. “No no. It seems like you're ready to breed?” She leans over into your lap and pulls your hands away easily before going for your belt.

“Sorry. This must hurt.”

You guess that this is another misunderstanding. The beastwoman has no concept of human shame or boundaries. You can tell that much by reading her intentions. She is genuinely trying to help you by unbuckling your pants to get to your rapidly hardening member.

“S-surely you aren't planning to-”

“I'm not a good partner for THAT, but I can still take care of you in other ways.” She reaches into your opened pants and draws free your cock with her slender hands. Her touch alone, the first touch you have every felt from a woman in that area, is enough to cause your heart to start racing. There is no willing your way out of this, now; blood is rapidly rushing to your member and causing it to throb.

“Hmm.” She looks down at it. While hard she is able to wrap her fingers all the way around it and it is not particularly big-looking. You become anxious not knowing what she thinks about it and assume she is used to far bigger.

“Just remembering that I haven't really done this much. But it's a pretty normal thing to do in my tribe.”

You squirm a bit since she is clutching your member gently while she talks. Every small movement of her hand is heaven. “N-normal to take care of men like this?”

She looks up at you as if it is an obvious thing. “The men of the tribe get aggressive if their needs aren't taken care of and they'll get their needs taken care of one way or another. Better to handle it before someone ends up pregnant.” Kara looks like she is ready to second guess that practice, now that you are bringing it up.

“Is that... Not normal for humans?”

***

The question posed to Patrons: Is it normal, or is it not normal? The characters answer can be voted on here. https://www.patreon.com/TVWintergreen $3 a month grants you voting rights for all future chapters and access to all of my exclusive content.