Headpats, Tuhi and Wolf

Morning rose with a soft, fresh breeze, the ground beneath them still dry and warm from the previous day. Joash awoke first, eyes opening slowly to the sight of Foebe still using him as a pillow.

He couldn’t help but smile as his mind caught up with reality.

A beautiful wolf-girl, her head resting on his chest, breathing slow and gentle as the sun climbed behind Neko-chan’s hulking form. Carefully, almost nervously, he eased a hand onto her head, between her ears.

She didn’t wake.

Her orange-brown hair was soft - naturally pretty - cut just above her shoulders. When she stood, it curled slightly inward toward her face. Her ears, despite her unconscious state, still twitched faintly with every movement of his fingers.

Then he became aware of something far more dangerous.

His stomach.

It was holding him at gunpoint.

He gritted his teeth, silently begging it not to growl with her head so close. His stomach made an offer he couldn’t meet: feed me, and I’ll behave. With no food forthcoming, it played its ace card.

Foebe jolted upright as his belly betrayed him, vibrating loudly. His hand slipped from her head. She pressed a hand to her chest, breathing deeply.

“That scared me.”

She noticed his flushed face and burst out laughing.

“I’ll get us some breakfast.”

As she fished around in her pocket, she smiled again - this time avoiding his gaze.

“Also… I’ve been awake for a while. You’re a good head-patter.”

His breath caught.

Before he could say a word, she whipped out a parchment that immediately began to glow. There was a bright flash, and when it faded, a steaming stack of pancakes sat neatly atop the parchment, drenched in syrup.

Joash blinked.

She held it out to him.

“Here we go.”

He carefully peeled off the top pancake and took a bite as she took the next one. It tasted exactly like a classic home-cooked meal. He hummed softly in appreciation.

She smiled, placing the stacked parchment between them.

“I’m glad you like it. I didn’t bring many meals, so it’d be a problem if you didn’t.”

He pointed at the parchment, eyes wide.

“This could solve world hunger.”

She tilted her head.

“What’s world hunger?”

A problem that had never existed. Incredible, he thought.

“Don’t worry about it.” He paused, then gestured at the parchment again. “If you can generate infinite meals, does that mean you can generate infinite resources with tuhi magic?”

She shook her head.

“In theory. But funnily enough, the more complex something is, the easier it is to make with tuhi magic, because you know all the ingredients to write into the symbol. Simple things, like air, we can’t make.”

She shrugged.

“We don’t know what it’s made of.”

He frowned.

“But… isn’t everything made up of smaller things?”

She nodded.

“Yes, but the magic only requires you to go a generation or two back. Like these pancakes, for example, go back two generations.”

She sighed.

“The further back you go, the higher the quality of the final item.”

She took another pancake from the stack.

“But then there’s also the symbol you use. This one is an auaha symbol, used to create things. The ones in the restaurant were kawekawe, used to place an effect on something.”

He blinked.

“What other symbols are there?”

She shrugged.

“Those are the main two. I couldn’t list the specialized ones. They’re too niche.”

He nodded slowly.

“And… letting it get drenched in syrup isn’t a problem?”

She shook her head.

“It was enchanted when I was given it, so it’s invulnerable to damage from things like that.”

He nodded again. It made sense.

But his mind was racing.

“Why does it take so long to learn tuhi magic?”

She smiled.

“You want to learn it, don’t you?”

He nodded. No point hiding it.

She sighed happily.

“I suppose you will have the time and the funds… very well. One of the reasons it takes so long is because you have to memorize so much.”

He blinked.

“Huh?”

She took a third pancake.

“People who reach mastery have memorized everything about everything.”

He frowned.

“Then couldn’t you just specialize in one or two areas?”

She shrugged.

“Doesn’t pay well. But in your case, you might be able to. You don’t need a career.”

He nodded.

“And the other reasons?”

She smiled.

“Just one. Getting the symbol right.”

She took the last pancake and pointed to the glowing script beneath it.

“Get it even slightly wrong, like misjudge the shape, the spacing, the size of the words, and it’ll fail. Everything has to align and fit. Nothing can stick out. Not even the tittle on the letter i.”

He nodded. That did sound difficult.

For a normal person.

But in no world did he consider himself a normal person.

He pointed at the unfamiliar words.

“Do I have to use things from this world? Or can things from my old world be made?”

She shrugged again.

“No idea. No one’s tried it, as far as I know.”

She sighed.

“My mother was the otherworlder in my family. She had her hands full raising me before-”

She trailed off, then shook her head before he could ask if she was alright.

“Nah. She didn’t seem that interested in magic anyway.”

He nodded, deciding not to pry.

“So there are male anaruhis. Or… were.”

She laughed.

“What, did you think we were all female, needing men from other worlds to keep our race going?”

He nodded, embarrassed.

She laughed again.

“I will say this. Any child born with an anaruhi parent is born an anaruhi, so you were close in that sense. And before you ask, marrying another anaruhi doesn’t stop us from fading. And no, having children before marriage is impossible.”

She sighed, her eyes drifting somewhere far away, memories surfacing unbidden.

And then - without warning - she began to tell her story.