Mordecai watched with some amusement as Fuyuko proceeded through four more pys. For one se she was ara for a ballroom dance, and a trio of bunkin were stacked inside of a rough framework with the e o the frame to keep it in pce. As the bunkin couldn't dance like this, and Fuyuko clearly had no experience dang, the results were eaining. It took several takes, but eventually, they made it through without falling over or knog anything else over.

  In another py se, she art of a trio of heroes setting out to find a gift left in the world by a goddess, but she was separated from her friends during a stage battle and found herself wandering alohrough a wastend, her friends o be found. Passing this one required her to figure out that she o bemoan her fate with proper melodrama, and when she passed, the se ended with her being captured by the enemy army.

  came the same py that Nainvil and Brongrim had gohrough as their first py, only she ying the part of the princess who was being saved from her father. She gave it a new ending by tossing both her father the king, and the prince hero ing to rescue her, over the 'walls' of the castle and deg herself queen of both tries by right of quest. Watg the bunkin oage floor yell out a slowly fading scream as if they were falling down a cliff was great, and he was amused to see the rest of the actors scramble to finish the suddenly revamped se a a to put on her head.

  For the final py, she was the daughter of Yamaraja, the Judge of the Dead, and was trying to sneak her way out of her father's realm and into the mortal world. Unfortunately for the other actors, they had not ated for how much her gear was going to help her blend into shadows wheing up the stage, and her ambushers found their positions reversed as they failed to keep her from esg.

  After that st py, Mordecai found her sitting on the ground with her arms around her knees, her head down. Fuyuko looked exhausted, and he suspected it was as much mental as physical. It was a lot to deal with in a short time, with so much that was very different than she was used to. So he sat down a short distance away, fag her, and simply waited for her to recover.

  When Fuyuko felt rested enough to raise her head and wave at him weakly, Mordecai gave her a smile, “You did well. Taking over the se like that for those st two was great. You worked to create a ory and made them respond to it. But I think you're done for the day, so when you have caught your breath we collect your prize and then I'll show you to our shortcut on the level.” Easy access to the nice side of the library was important to have avaible for their long-term guests after all.

  “Yeah, alright,” she said before she rocked up onto her feet, “let me see whatcha got.”

  The director had been waiting for her to rest, and noroached with a soft, paper-ed package, “You seemed to have a bit of fun with some of the dress-up, so we put together a few sets of clothes you might enjoy. They are lightly ented to resist wear and prevent staining.”

  Fuyuko took the package and bowed slightly, “Um, thank you. I'll try them on ter.” She was talking a bit slower than normal as she made herself enunciate more clearly. Mordecai appreciated that she made the effort when she was trying to be specifically polite. After the director left, she stowed the package in her pack, and then looked at him questioningly.

  “Clothing isn't an unon reward here, but year already covers most of the special items people might get here, so it seems they decided to just give you something to enjoy. I checked, the outfits are a bit more colorful than what you have, but not tht. Most of it should be able to go over your armor, but some of it is really meant to be worn without.”

  Once she was satisfied with uanding what she'd received, they headed dowairs leading to the rest area before the actual level, which got her curious about he the floor was going to be, but seeing a giant library open up in front of her caused the girl to step back with a shocked, slightly fearful expression. “Ya jokin' yeah?”

  Mordecai was amused to hear her street at getting worse when fronted with books. “This is one of Kazue's favorite pces, and she put a lot of work into making the puzzles and riddles for the library. We've been adding to our colle as fast as we , and we have started to gather the occasional schor. We don't have the waiting list that the libraries in the capital have, but we also do not have the depth or breadth of them either, so it's usually more junior people wanting to do some private research for a project.”

  Fuyuko muttered something under her breath and then sighed, “Alright whatever, where's shortcut ya were talkin' about?”

  “It's a little way in, Kazue ected it to her favorite se, and I think you'll like a treat ick up there. Now, this is a library, so keep your voice down and follow the rules that Kazue posted. And don't let the head librarian startle you.”

  She tilted her head, “Why would I be startled by a rabb-”

  “Ook.”

  He watched her bite down on a startled scream as she jumped and spun to face the hairy e primate behind her. Horace waved then adjusted the pair of gsses on his face, looking amused. Mordecai raised an eyebrow, “Where did you get those? I know you don't hem.”

  “Ook,” Horace replied with a sniff.

  “Hmm, I guess they do give you more of an educated demeanor. Well, as long as you like your 'smarty gsses', I'm fih it.”

  Fuyuko pointed with a slightly shaky hand, “Ah, I take it, this is ya librarian?”

  “I'm sorry, I fot to introduce you. Fuyuko, this is Horace. Horace, I would like to introduce you to Fuyuko. She may be joining us as a tractor, and as our ward for a few years as well. Assuming that happens, I'm hoping you'll be willing to take on the responsibility of her formal education in the basics; reading, writing, math, and history. We work out the details ter.”

  Horace scratched his as he examihe girl, then nodded. “Ook.”

  “Excellent. Kazue will tackle religion and philosophy, while Bellona and I will work on her bat skills.”

  The girl iion looked dizzy at the sudden rush of information. “Wait, ya mean proper schoolin' like a rich kid?” She asked rather dubiously.

  “It's not just rich kids who get a proper education, and if yoing to be my ward I am going to do my best to see you as educated as any of my children have been.” Mordecai replied, then shrugged, “That said, we'll be izing it to your needs. History is best told as stories, not lectures, and reading is a good way to find even more stories on your own. Math is a little trickier at first, which math you need depends on what you want to do with it, but at the least, I want to make sure that you will have the knowledge o handle money properly and make a budget. It's important to know how much you will o pay to buy the equipment you need for a trip.”

  Fuyuko shook her head, “It's kinda strange, you figurin' out all this stuff so soon. Why do ya care so muyway?”

  “Two of my oldest friends care, which would be enough on its own. But from what we've seen of you so far, Kazue and I like you too, Bellona's seen less but got a positive impression, and Moriko likes what she's hearing from us. So why shouldn't we help you out to the best of our ability?”

  They had begun walking again as they talked, and Horace waved goodbye to them before heading back to a pile of books he'd been s. Fuyuko used this as time to think before she responded, “And ya all just talkin' in ya head while we're doing all this? Is that gonna be part of being a tractor?”

  “Only the way that Bellona . You would have to focus your thoughts to be able to send them, and you aren't going to send anything you couldn't unicate by just talking. And only when you are in our territory, our bond with Moriko is fairly uhere were other ways to create simir mental bonds, but a e with such range ah is difficult.

  While she was thinking about that, they arrived at the hidden shop with the cold drinks and frozen desserts, “You have a drink and treat of your choice, you'll have plenty of time to try out more ter.”

  Fuyuko was uain at first, but quickly fell in love with the sweet creamy desserts, “Ya just tryin' ta bribe me,” she muttered halfheartedly before shoveling another spoonful into her mouth.

  Mordecai tried not to ugh, that retty much the rea he'd expected. “It's one of our more popur spots for visitors, but we'll be able to provide it anywhere. e on, I'll show you the shortow.” Letting a guest use a shortcut always took a bit of effort and will, and eve was usually hard for them to find the entran their own.

  Ohey arrived in the main hall, he took her on a brief tour of the more public areas, including the kit where she picked up a meat and cheese roll, before leadio her room. “Gil's room is across the hall, I am not sure when he'll get dowhough. Right now he and Li are having a party in the mushroom forest.”

  “A party?”

  Mordeodded, “Yes, after they beat the two fas on the floor, they insisted everyoher for a big feast and party. They haven't hit the final chamber yet though, so they still have some work in front of them. So you should take some time to up and maybe take a nap, and try out your new clothes.” He paused as a hought came to him, and he briefly sulted with his wives, “Do you want Kazue to make a proje ptform in a er of your room? We add a button for you to be able to call on her if you want to talk about anything.”

  Fuyuko seemed pleased with that idea, “Yes, thank you. That could be nice.”

  Ohat ge was pleted, Mordecai let her know she could go wherever she wanted in the public spaces he'd shown her, as long as she didn't interrupt anyone , and they'd let her know iy of time before dinner.

  Then he was off to visit Betty, who had let him know she wanted his attention. It felt important enough to be face-to-face, rather than just his core's focus. He appeared in his standard form a few feet away from her. “Hello Betty, is everything all right?”

  Their boxing bunny was looking ptive as she slowly petted a purring Umbrowl. “Yes, nothing's wrong, I just, well,” she looked nervous, but she finished gatherihoughts and practically blurted, “Look, I like what you guys did for me, and I'm happy really, but I think I might like a ge.” She gnced down and said more quietly, “I was hoping you might be able to modify me a bit more. I don't really want to give up being a rabbit, but I'd also like to try out having a body a little bit more like a human or elf's.”

  Huh. He'd actually been sidering something along those lines, specifically to be a runner's build to take advantage of a rabbit's speed and a human's cooling sweat and endurance, but he hadn't really worked on the idea past the cept. “I think we mahat, but what brought this on so suddenly?” To Kazue he sent, “Do you think you could design a dress for her, once we have finalized the ges?” She'd seemed tent with her gi and its copies before, but if she was ging up her appearahis much, he suspected she'd want something new.

  “Mhm, I'll see what I do for now, she and I talk more about ideas ter,” Kazue replied.

  “Well,” Betty began, looking rather shy, “None of the others are as tall as me, and while I hadn't really been looking to be, um, close to anyone specific, I realized earlier today that I could find humans attractive too.”

  Mordecai was about to ask what she meant when realization hit. Oh. That could be tricky. “Ah, I think I see. You know that he's probably leaving in a couple of days? It might be several decades before you have a ce to see him again.” If she chose to follow Gil, Mordecai wouldn't stop her, but he didn't get the feeling that was what she wanted.

  “I know, but, I just, I want to explore the option. And maybe nothing will e of this, but at least I'll have a better idea of what I like and what I want.”

  Well, he saw no reason to deny her, and as long as she wao pursue this idea, “Do you wao help you fit what I know of his preferences?”

  He retty certain that Betty was blushing under her fur as she mutely hey talked for a little while to get the details finalized, and the to work, using kitsune biology for some of his design choices.

  Excluding the ears, Betty ended up just a little bit shorter than Gil, and as fur receded to the normal light fuzz of human hair, Mordecai used a tempte of toned muscle and soft curves like the elven avatar he'd shown to Fuyuko earlier.

  Betty's hair remaihe same light blue as before, though now her hair and the tips of her ears were frosted, fading to a bright white color. Her newly revealed skin was a rich, medium brown and her eyes had been lighteo a tawny amber.

  She kept her tail as well, and the proportions of her height masked that her feet were jointed differently than a human's. While she could fortably rest her heels on the ground, ing up to a running pose left a slightly longer se of her feet on the ground, and she could soft-lock her joints in that position to stand like that indefinitely. Her muscles were alsed to aodate this stance.

  The dress Kazue designed was fairly simple, ending slightly above the knee and with most of the focus being on fittiy ftteringly and plimenting her coloration. The fabric was a light gold color and decorated with a scattering of pale blue and green flowers, and she also gave Betty a few pieces of turquoise jewelry as ats, along with some gold earrings for each of her long rabbit ears, and as a final touch, Kazue gave her lightweight sandals made of leather with a gold sheen on top of the natural brown. The sandals had straps that went over her calf, and they were desigo not interfere with her ability to run.

  When they were done, Betty looked herself over in a mirror that they jured for her, then bounced happily as she gave him a hug. “Thank you, I look beautiful!”

  Mordecai smiled as he disentangled himself. “I am gd you are happy with our work. But you might like to know I also worked in some other options for you. Since I used kitsune biology to help shape this form, you should be able to learn to ge back to your previous form, or even to a bunkin or dire rabbit shape with practice. I just wouldn't do it immediately, you might want to wait until you don't mind the risk of not being able to get back to the form you want immediately. I assume you want to join us for dionight, when Gil gets down that far?”

  That was exactly what she wanted. Mordecai wasn't certain how he felt about setting up one of their bosses to help her sedue of his oldest friends, but he would always do his best to help his people pursue their happiness. He was also going to have to work on a raining regimen for her; while rabbits weren't suited for forward kicks, her new body was much more flexible in that regard.

  Zagaroth