Critters of Bright Valley Shorts: Faith In Friends

Author’s notes: This is a work of fiction. Nothing here is intended as a personal attack on anyone, anywhere.

Cover art and editing By GodzillaWolf1

Faith stood on her balcony during another sunny day in Bright Valley.

“Hi everyone, it’s me, Faith the fox! Everyone knows it’s good manners to act like someone is watching. It’s been a long time since we spoke, but I needed this more personal.”

Puck the panda was meditating in his hut. In her gym Sunzhine the zebra was kneeling in front of a pencil drawing of her parents and siblings. Seabright the seal in his library read a book with the cover hidden from view, one page a wall of text, the other a mind bending geometric shape. In the top of her keep, Wren the blackbird and her servants knelt before a crow statue so polished it almost shined. In Faith’s studio, and Blush the rabbit’s little tree house, both sat on their beds at high noon clutching similar but slightly different wooden symbols.

“While Sunny, Seabright, Blush, Puck, me, and the creepies, all believe in something greater, none of us believe in the exact same something or someone.

“Puck never wants to upset the applecart, but after some coaxing, he admits he thinks we all walk a great circle, and it’s our job to rise above it.

“Seabright won’t talk about what he believes much at all, only that everything happens for a Reason.

“The Creepies believe in many figures greater than themselves, and that it’s a mage’s responsibility to climb up to stand with them (or climb higher).

“Blush and I, we’re actually pretty close in what we believe. We came from nearby domains after all. But Blush follows a different branch from me. Or I follow a different branch from her. But we both believe the world was created with love, and is a gift for all Critters.

“Sunny says, ‘it doesn’t matter’, but did admit she knows her ancestors are always looking out for her no matter where she is.

“Wren and me are the only ones who usually make a big deal about it.

“The point is, none of us think we’re better than the others for what we believe, or that others are inferior for believing something else.”

Faith flash-backed to walking in her hometown, dogs of every breed, wolves, coyotes, jackals, and foxes mingling casually.

“Growing up with my parents, I was in a close-knit community. Every kind of canine you can imagine, but there were a lot of foxes. I was never taught anyone was inferior or superior. No one shouted beliefs were stupid. No one called me a brainless pawn. I never imagined why anyone would. None of the plays and stories I read ever said anything bad about my beliefs, in fact, it didn’t mention them at all. The heroes were righteous, and the villains were wicked, that was proof enough they agreed with the message of my beliefs.”

Imagines flashed in Faith’s mind’s eye of the troubles Faith had faced.

“I thought after everyone I’ve met, everything I’ve faced, there was nothing left the world could throw at me. Not Lilly’s lies, not my parents’ good intention, not Wren’s obsession, not that sunlit village’s unfairness, not the monster inside that attacked Madam Salvia, not the Royals’ pride and seeing us as inferior.”

Faith was exploring the Forest of a Thousand Different Trees. It’d been an exceptionally foggy morning, and that was a typically sign the Timeless Fog had moved things around and might have brought something from the outside world. It wasn’t like the Timeless Fog gave them whatever they wanted, but they’d most often get what they needed.

Faith found a cardboard box, (Mitty and Ditty always loved those), filled with dust covered books. Faith never thought about Seabright and Wren always seeming to have more room in their libraries. No spell books (thank goodness), some history books, all published the same year Faith came to Bright Valley (typical), ‘the Runaway Bunny’, ‘the Colour Out of Space’, ‘Bambi: a Life in the Woods’, ‘Goodnight Moon’… and the published memoirs of her favorite author.

“I loved everything he’d written! I loved how imaginative everything he wrote was. I could NEVER stand text-books even as I was forced to read them, but storytellers, they could make up their own rules for their worlds. Everything he wrote was so clever, it all fit together, I got to know his characters like they were friends, and no line was wasted. The adaptions of his stories I saw on stage were even more magical.”

“One story was about a city ruled by a massive mother-machine that made every critter’s choices for them. Even when it was time to die, claiming they were ‘recycled’. The hero starts as one of her minions, but turns against her. One thought in his head refusing to break from her attempts to brainwash him, and freed everyone.”

“A land ruled by a wicked emperor, who used a cursed spice to keep everyone unthinking and obedient, until a humble school teacher dared refuse to take the spice and stood up to him, inspiring others to do the same.

“Another was a hero protecting his best friend from a former hero turned villain who wanted to make the best friend his slave. The best friend had in fact been the goddess of the land who had reincarnated to learn things from a mortal perspective.

“It’s sequel was my favorite, a couple hundred years after the first story. Where the god of darkness had taken over the goddess of light’s church from within, and the loyal goddess’ messenger had to set things right.”

Faith dropped the rest of the books off with Seabright without a second thought, barely even saying hello before racing up to her bedroom. Eager to read through the thoughts of her favorite author, and what had inspired his many wonderful stories.

She’d sat on her bed with a bowl of salad (foxes were omnivores after all) to munch on, and eagerly began reading.

The first line was,
‘Nothing is more disturbing than the disease foxes have spread.’

Faith stopped dead in her tracks. That… that had to be a joke right? Faith felt like she’d punched in the gut. She kept reading.

‘It was foxes who spread the brain destroying illness called ‘faith’ among canines. The fraudster patient zero not even using magic, but simple parlor tricks to form his cult. Then the fraudster died when he got too popular for the authorities’ own good. But the disease already had more carriers.’

Faith kept reading, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

‘I saw the lies fed to the people, told things would work out so they’d never try to set things right themselves. I saw creatures spend their time praying instead of actually doing something to help themselves or anyone else. I’ve seen silver-tailed concritters use the magic words ‘just have a little faith’ to justify buying their junk. Promise a good afterlife to encourage good behavior instead of choosing to be benevolent for its own sake. As a kit I kept waiting for them to say there was no creator, like there was no tand-fe, or Easter Hare. Until I realized, like the Emperor’s New Clothes, none of them had the courage to admit none of them truly believed it.’

Faith hoped against hope that there was some turn around, some admitting to the other side of the fence. She remembered Lilly, telling Faith what she wanted to hear with impressive sounding noise to make Faith dance to her tune, playing back Faith’s own beliefs to her and not even questioning it. If Faith could do that, couldn’t he? Could he give her something, anything, other than being spat in the face?

‘I knew, like all people who have spoken truth through history, I’d be given a show trial and ‘publicly executed’ if I dared speak directly. So I’d tell parables to awaken the people.

‘I wrote my hero fighting against the mother-machine as a way to crush the idea of unquestioned authority that faith propagates. And for him rejecting the idea of ‘recycle’ to undermine the idea that our spirits go anywhere when we die. That it’s just us and we shouldn’t behave as we do with hope of a reward.

‘And of course, the evil emperor and his drug. Enslaving the people to not think for themselves, keeping their heads in a mindless bliss.

‘But readers thought it was critters rebelling against a ‘material authority’ and ‘temptations’. I tried to spell it out more strongly with the story of the hero and the goddess, but instead of critters realizing my message, they just took it all in at the surface level. The ‘adaptor’s of my work for theater should be arrested for piracy! It’s my last hope that people will read my true intentions, and finally rise up against this disease called ‘belief.”

Faith dropped the book. She was dizzy. The world wavered around her. She stumbled to her widow. The green of Bright Valley was so vast… now it was feeling empty. Hadn’t she been here before? She vomited over the side.

She felt like she’d been slapped in the face over and over and over and OVER. But she couldn’t pull away from the book until it let her go. Faith tried to throw up again, instead her stomach just clenched, and clench again until she spat out bitter yellow liquid.

She wandered over to her book shelf. The books she loved so much. The adventure that inspired her imagination. The stories had helped shape who she was. And she’d been blind to what they were really saying all along.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID LITTLE VIXEN!” Faith banged her head against the wall. “You saw what you wanted to see! And the rest just flew over your head. You didn’t read them! You spend so long loving stories that hated you. He was making it more and more obvious, but you just buried your head in deeper.

“I’ve never even met him… he didn’t know me… so why do I feel… betrayed? He never promised me anything.”

Faith was happy they’d thought to install some railing on the stairs leading down the Grand Tree, she didn’t think he could safely use the zip vine leading straight down. She needed… she needed to talk to her friends.

Unbidden, Faith saw her friends around a table looking bored.
“Faith’s traumatized again, who wants to pick up the pieces THIS time?” Seabright said. Blush rolled her eyes. Puck sighed. And Sunny groaned. They took out a spin to decide.

“My friends having to deal with me being hurt again over something that had nothing to do with me? … What right to do have to be hurt after I watched a world die, and made a friend only to lose them right after? I… I don’t have a right to force them on this merry-go-round again. They have lives of their own, I can’t make everything always about me.”

Time ticked forward.

“I give up,” Faith said in front of the Go board.

“Faith, I only took one of your pieces,” Puck said confused.

“I can’t win.”

–

“Here is your portrait, Sunny,” Faith said, giving the picture of Sunny as a pirate.

Sunny’s eyes bulged at the painting. Everything was made of squares and rectangles, there was no shading. “Faith… is this a new style?”

“There are no surprises, it’s everything it seems to be.”

–

Seabright tilted his head as Faith ended her one vixen play. Seabright waited for something, anything before saying, “Faith, that’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Faith, sorry for being rude, but that play had no twists, no development. Nothing changed from the start of the story or the end. No one faced or overcame anything. It was a just servant’s day of doing the same thing over and over.”

“YAY!” Mitty called.

“Encore!” Ditty clapped.

“See? They liked it,” Faith said flatly, gesturing like a wet noodle.

–

“Mitty, Ditty, could you ask Wren to turn me into a golem?” Faith asked.

The kitties stared for several seconds, screamed, and slammed the door shut. “MISTRESS! AN ALIEN INVADER IS IMPERSONATING FAITH!”

–

“Faith! Remember that giant wasp we swatted who wanted us as food for her larva? I think her mate’s found us and he’s angry!” Blush shouted, holding the door closed as a giant stinger poked its way through.

“Huh? Right. I’ll help.” Faith said robotically getting up from her bed where she’d been laying like a log.

–

A ghostly fox made of colored flames tried to come close to Faith’s apartment, but it was like there was an invisible wall between them that no force could penetrate. The fire-fox sadly turned and left.

–

Faith, tell me what’s wrong,” Sunny asked, as Faith sat on her balcony with a blanket.

“Nothing you have to worry about.” Faith didn’t look at her.

“You’re my friend, that’s reason enough.”

“You have your own problems.”

“And one of them right now is you!”

“I’m sorry.” Faith lowered her head.

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”

Faith went inside her room, and barricaded the door. “I’m sick of poisoning you all with my problems.”

“Faith that isn’t-! Agh!” Sunny grunted. And ran down the side of the Grand Tree… and ran all the way to Bone Quarry and Ravens’ Keep.

“WREN! We need to talk! Now!”

Wearing a shower cap Wren looked out the window. “Fine! Just give me a few second!” Wren turned from the window. “CAW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“It’s a few second later,” Sunny panted, about to faint.

Behind Sunny Mitty and Ditty were on their tails, their eyes spinning in opposite directions, planted on either side of burning hoof marks.

Wren didn’t ask Sunny how she got up the stairs so fast, the less attention that was drawn to happenstance like this the better!

“Something is wrong with Faith, but she won’t let me in, literally or figuratively,” Sunny painted. “But you’re always spying on us all.”

“It’s not spying if you know I’m doing it,” Wren said.

Sunny snorted air. “The point is that you know what’s going on with her.”

Wren waved a wing. “You’re her friends. You should know what’s going on with her too.”

Sunny sighed. “We can’t know what’s wrong if Faith won’t open up. We’re not mind readers.”

“Just have Blush kick Faith’s door down.”

“That’s plan B.”

“I’m plan A? I’m honored.” Wren said smugly.

“Faith won’t let any of us in, you’re so out of left field that she won’t see you coming.”

“You sure the little fox wants help?” Wren baited, hoping for Sunny ask the witch more for help.

“I’ll help her as many times as I want!”

Wren smirked. “How very witch of you to say.”

“And as many times as I don’t want!”

“Never mind.” Wren stood a regally as she could in her washing cap. “You know what I want in exchange.”

“One week.”

Muzzle and beak inched close together.

“Two weeks.”

“”Eight days.”

“Thirteen days, you need me.”

“You took less from Blush and we were punishing her.”

“So?”

“This time you’re doing it for a friend.”

“Ugh! Fine! Nine!”

“Deal.” The two shook claw/hoof.

“Now will you PLEASE let me put my cloak and hat on?”

“Certainly,” Sunny said calmly. “But first tell me what happened to Faith!”

---

Faith was confused when there was a knock on her skylight. She was even more surprised when Sunny and Wren were on her roof.

“Open up Faith! I didn’t agree to be turned into something by Wren for nine days for nothing!”

“Still deciding on what. But open the window before I start blowing your door down!”

Faith awkwardly opened the skylight (including a few ‘anti-witch’ precautions she’d set up over the Christmas’).

Wren flew down, Sunny holding comically onto Wren’s wand like a broom stick.

“Faith, I apologize. I had a little birdie tell me what happened. With you and your story books.”

Faith was shocked. Then glared. “WREN! How could you?! Don’t my friends get dragged into my problems enough?”

Sunny said, “Yes, and I’d do this for you again and again, and again! Blush will give you a kick int he tail! Seabright will reason you! Puck will hug you and understand how you’re hurting. As many times as we need to! Friends don’t keep score remember?”

“Friendship isn’t take, take take!”

“You think that’s all you’ve done?” Sunny asked bewildered.

“I want to help everyone, but everyone saves me instead. I couldn’t save anyone in the sunlit world. I couldn’t save Blush from getting kidnapped, she saved me instead from becoming a monster. I was too wrapped up in my painting to notice my friends leave. I’m not super smart, not fast, not strong. Not a warrior princess. I can’t even live up to my name! I just imagine, and all those imaginings were build on faulty foundations.”

Wren slaps her.

Sunny silently thanks Wren for doing it for her.

“For how many times you’ve ruined my quest to turn you all into my friends season after season, over the years, don’t you dare call yourself weak.”

Sunny counted off on her armored fingers.

“If you hadn’t dared to trust Wren, she wouldn’t have come to rescue us after we rescued Blush. You were the one to think to tell the entire airship crew that Blush, their new princess, was hypnotized.

“And, good or bad, YOU were what snapped Blush out of her hypnosis. Not any of us. You dared try to befriend Wren when none of us would. You saved us from being Wren’s toy puppets forever. You always contributed whenever we’ve had to face Wren’s newest scheme.”

“It’s not easy coming up with new material,” Wren said.

“You stopped Prince Toltecatl with nothing more than your kindness! And your insight helped the Royals move on!”

“It was a team effort.”

“YES! And you’re part of that team! And you forgot your first accomplishment! Being our friend! If this had happened to any of us, would you do nothing? Puck would just turn inward, and bury it as deep as possible and just keep his brave face going. Blush would throw a tantrum and throw out her collection. Wren would burn her books out of spite.”

“It’s true,” Wren said.

“Seabright… Seabright wouldn’t let the opinions of others bother him. But I’d be heart broken, finding another wolf in the golden underbrush before moving on. Would-you-do-nothing?”

Faith slowly shook her head. “No… I’d do anything I could help you heal, however much or how little you needed. I’d run myself ragged if I had to. Because you’re all my world!”

Sunny hugged her. “That’s my brave little fox. No matter how many times this world tries to break you, know that it’ll always lose. Because we’re here for you!”

Faith hugged her back.

Wren put her claws behind her back, wrapped her wings around herself awkwardly, and turned her head. She blushed.

“Well, now that we’ve got that emotional journey out of the way, and since Sunny had already agreed on payment, I’ll give my contribution the to conflict at claw… Faith, if your author really thought so little of what you hold sacred… then forget about him, he’s not worth it. I thought you were going to lecture about your superior beliefs when you first saw my shrine. But you never did. And you never have. Whatever slave drivers he was talking about, you’ve never been one of them. He forgot the second rule of bullies, they use anything as an excuse, good or bad.

“I’ve seen you read his books. And for his talk of being against belief period, his cross-hairs sure seemed to focus on yours. The Golden Domain, Lepusopolis, Corvus Mons, and the rest, they didn’t exist as far as he was concerned. Heck, he acted like foxes were the only ones with your beliefs when the Lepus practice almost the same time.” Wren gave a scoff, crossing her arms. “I’m almost annoyed he seems to think foxes are nastier than witches. Enjoy his stories the way YOU want to enjoy. He had a right to say what he meant, but he has no right to what YOU imagine when you read his stories.”

Wren raised a claw. “Know what witches believe that you might agree with? Once we own something, we can make it whatever we like. Another witch trying to change what you earn isn’t something we take lying down, and neither should you! He has his kingdom of his mind, and you have yours! Once its in your kingdom, do with it as you please!”

Faith said sadly, “Villains have used that excuse to justify horrible things with author’s stories who couldn’t fight back.”

Sunny hugged tighter and said, “Yes, yes they have. And many authors have been upset at their works being turned into something they weren’t. But this isn’t about what’s being TAUGHT, this is what YOU enjoy.”

“But what I’m enjoyed was a version of the story that didn’t exist.”

“Did you write in new lines? Did you cut out or replace old ones?”

“No.”

“No is telling you to read MORE of his books, or that you need to suggest them to others. But what YOU enjoyed about them, is SEPARATE from what message he was telling. If he had to TELL YOU what he meant, then that’s his failure. Besides, stories are meant to be interpreted. That’s why we tell stories instead of lectures. What did YOU get from his stories?”

“… That nothing created by the created can replace the creator. Bullies fall when they’re stood up against. And love, be it friends or family, is always stronger than you think. And the world was made in the name of love.”

“Poetic as always,” Wren cawed.

“Faith, do you feel better?” Sunny asked.

Faith thought for a moment, then said, “Yes, yes I do.”

Sunny broke the hug and ruffled Faith’s purple hair. “There now. Was that so hard? Wasn’t that much better than just locking everyone out?”

“Yes, yes it was,” Faith said. “Thank you Sunny.”

“It’ll ALWAYS be my pleasure.”

Faith said, “And thank you too Wren.”

“‘Thank you’ nothing, I did this as an exchange, nothing else to it.” Wren tipped her beak upwards. “And speaking of which, I just realized what to turn you into for nine days zebra. I get to turn you into what I chose when I chose, and I chose now.”

Sunny gave Faith another quick hug. Sunny sighed. “Fine. You helped Faith break free. And that was what I asked you to do. And you told me what I needed to learn to help her. You fulfilled your end of the bargain.”

“Sunny… Wren, I’ll take her place!” Faith put herself between Sunny and Wren.

“A lovely suggestion, and having you as my toy plushie is a dream come true. But these kind of bargains don’t allow for substitutions, exchanges, or refunds.

“And as a willing subject, and our agreement is made, and conditioned fulfilled, let me show you.” Wren spun her wand about until it created a glowing green ring. Sunny stood firm as the ring moved over her head.

The ring struck down. Sunny’s outline became jagged. Sunny tried to keep her dignity even as her skeleton became visible as her outline bent left and right like a pulled piece of film. She was enveloped in a puff of smoke.

A yellow and orange plush fox Faith’s size stood in a maid uniform. “For nine days, I am your faithful servant, command me, oh lady Faith.”

Faith’s jaw dropped. Wren cawed in laughter. “Wren?! What did you do?!”

“Letting you enjoy things from my point of view for a while! Maybe you’ll appreciate things from my perch when we’re done.”

Faith hugged the plush fox servant. “You haven’t changed anything Wren, I already know my friends would do anything for me, like I’d do anything for her. Maybe you can turn me into HER plush servant for a week when she’s done.”

Wren slapped her claw over her beak. “You Critters! I don’t think I’m EVER going to understand you!”

“That just means you’ll always have something to work towards.” Faith smiled.

“Caw! Now I know you’re feeling better if you’re giving those happy-go-lucky speeches. Try to HOLD ONTO that stupid attitude this time!”

“I’ll do my best, that’s all anyone can do.”

Wren cawed and flew out of the skylight.

“Shall this servant introduce herself to the others lady Faith?”

“Later… There’s a pirate costume around here somewhere, right now I have to make things up to Sunny.”

“It’ll be my pleasure lady Faith.”

“No, mine,” Faith said. Sunny would enjoy the orange and yellow fox pirate painting, saying it was the most alive painting Faith had done in some time.

~Fin