"In my father's country," Kira says, always careful to specify, lest his heritage lay some greater expectation on his shoulders, "foxes are different from other animals. They're messengers of the gods, and they can take human form, so you take that into account when encountering one. You--well, you treat it a bit like a person. It's a bit like fairies, I guess."

As he explains, Kira frowns, trying to pack in the wood the way Tim or Rene might position it. Trying to pretend he learned something in all the camping he's done. He realizes Bodhi is less in need of a Western explanation than a kind he isn't sure he can give. "I don't know, maybe for you it would be like--assuming they're in tune with your Force. That they're conscious enough to feel slighted or form grudges."

What is any religion, but a way to inform group behavior? Invisible forces or foxes: hadn't he run from his own paranoia over the Observers singling him out? Hadn't he sang and made up syllable games with his dog, for his parents' stories? "They're a bit like Aurora," he adds, if he's just being descriptive for Bodhi's benefit. "Just smaller, paler, pointier."