Nilau feels like he has been let in on an important secret. There's a new species, and it must be lonely, because it talks to him sometimes. He's named it Guide. It never speaks in words. Sometimes in oddly insistent hunches, sometimes in emotions. Simple thankfulness, curiosity, confusion, or surprise... They don't seem to understand words, but instead are sort of talking in his head? He thinks of Undines first, of course, but there's nothing he can really do if someone is reading his mind... And anyway, magic never repeats. So they can't be reading his mind. Probably he has to actively push out his thoughts to talk to Guide.
He enjoys the conversations, and makes sure to say thank you once in a while- Especially when he visits one of the patches of water chestnuts Guide showed him, so deliciously crunchy- Trying to learn how to wield emotions as something closer to normal speech... It must be lonely if it can't talk normally. He asked hinting questions to some other kitsune about the voice of emotions... Maybe Guide is the kitsune spirit! If spirits really are a thing. The sun being a cat, just because catfolk can make fire, never made much sense... If Guide is a new species, though, where is its body? It seems confused about the question. Confused and unworried.
Well, no matter. He still has the rest of his life, but Guide is like his little secret, one more thing to hold close and not spread too widely...
The leaf-person leaves a while later without much more that is interesting and notable happening. They give more fox-people additional leaves some time later, after sleeping and more relaxation, and then the hooved person comes back again, stomping along at speeds no animal could ever reach- Taking him back to wherever they came from, no doubt.
Focusing on what you can do for people feels good. Plants stick out from your wide-seeing view. There isn't a whole lot to do that's not watching, listening, and thinking... And catalog the plants. There's a lot of kinds. Most of them seem to produce only a bare scrap of edible matter over a long, long time, but you can see which ones are fresh and ready. Providing these places to the teleporters when there's a prayer from them is easy enough- And you think you're learning the words for different kinds of foods! Specific individuals have specific tastes, preferring the ones with long thin red pieces ('storm pepper'), or the ones that grow large bulbs of food in the ground (radishes), or the ones that grow multiple edible seeds in little pods ('wild beans'), or the ones that grow juicy clumps with thorns ('blackberries'), or the ones that grow in the occasional ponds and lakes that slowly flow back towards the bright side of the planet ('cattail'), or the little animals that eat leaves and mites ('bugs'), or the slightly less little animals that eat seeds and sometimes bugs ('mice').
You spend days watching tiny ecosystems. Getting to know people by what they prefer to forage, and what they feel and do when they pray. Almost everyone you see is a teleporter. You even find a few birds, though they look rather pitiful and bedraggled in this environment. They're not really suited for it. You steadily start to learn how life goes for these teleporting fox-people... They wander, a lot, looking for new places. They forage and lounge and groom each other and relax. Some of them vanish to other places a lot. There seems to be some sort of friendly competition, a usually-playful game of surprising each other and dumping water on each other suddenly, or touching each other without warning, using the teleporting for elaborate games.
A few of the teleporters seem to jealously guard little secret gardens, hidden in remote parts of the already scantly-inhabited region and disguised from the outside with piled rocks that look ordinary from a distance. You decide not to share the location of any of these little secret sites. The ones who guard them so carefully would be infuriated... But the younger ones, who don't seem to have as many possible-places in their repertoire? You can see what they enjoy best and point them to some of the best places for those things. You quickly get the hang of doing it... Quietly. Without expending nearly so much Aether, you can implant a fainter nudge that might be noticed or might not. It's much more efficient this way, allowing you to spread your effort and not expend too much of the precious resource.
You do seem to be helping the foxpeople, on an individual level. Some of them start praying to you more often, even, once they notice that prayer draws your attention and sometimes prompts some Guidance to a new location for their favorite kind of food, since you know what they're asking for and already looking in that direction... That it prompts more prayers, which generate more Aether, is a happy coincidence.
Of course, food is not the only notable landmark you track. Over time you identify two more 'meeting places' that look like the one where the leaf-person party took place, as well as several parts of the brighter area that seem to be used more often, and a few points that have an expansive view of the surroundings. The foxpeople can gather almost anywhere on a moment's notice, if they know where to go... It's kind of interesting to see how they move and act, given this. Some of them disappear out of your range entirely for large portions of time, coming back mostly to sleep...
You wonder if you can make the plants grow faster? Either by providing them what they lack, light, or perhaps directly? You get the gut feeling that it's not impossible... But certainly out of your reach right now. Similarly out of reach is having a body, like 'Nilau', who prays to you often, apparently thinks you ought to. You get the same impression- Not impossible, but very difficult. Like learning more words is difficult. You're doing better and better, picking out more individual words and getting a feel for the grammar and flow of typical speech, but most conversations remain as inscrutable and impenetrable as ever. It feels like a thankless task, one where you're making no real progress.
You're shaken out of your routine when Nilau asks you a clear and direct question through his prayer...
What do you want? (Characterization moment)
[] Write-In, 5 words max
