She stood in her rooms, the suite assigned to her in the Academy's dorms. She had constructed a door, frame and all, in the alcove across from her study. In her hand she held a doorknob with delicate lines forming esoteric patterns etched onto its surface. She sighed and muttered to herself, "The pattern is solid, the door is ready—then why am I stallin'?"

She shifted the weight of the hooded grey travelling cloak she wore over her teal sheath dress. "Right." With a moment's concentration she fed mana into the doorknob, dull silver energy pulsing across the pattern. She slipped the knob into its waiting slot with a satisfying clunk. She turned it slowly and opened the door.

Bringing the hood of her cloak up, she hid her fox ears and obscured her muzzle. With it also hiding her six tails, she could almost pass as fully human. Looking through the portal within the door frame, she could see a darkened apartment living room. Familiar furniture brought a smile to her lips, and she stepped through, pulling the door closed behind her.

Ali let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, then breathed in deeply. The scents she remembered were all there. Tears welled in her eyes. Home. She was home, after so many months in that place. She walked across the living room, revelling in the feel of the carpet against her toe pads. She paused at the dining table, blinking at a stack of papers. They were missing persons posters—with her old face and name, saying she'd been missing for only a week.

She stood, the poster in hand, trying to make sense of the time discrepancy. She didn't know for how long, and it wasn't until she heard a key in the lock of the apartment's front door that she became aware of the room around her again. She could hear the voices out in the hallway.

"You still wanna go to the cops? Really?"

"Micha, she's been missing for a week. That's nothing like her, and you know it. I'm worried sick and, trust 'em or not, Seattle PD is a resource to tap into."

The key turned. The doorknob followed. Hinges squeaked as the door creaked open. Ali froze. Molly's voice flooded her with memory. She heard the two women enter the living room and stop. The door closed. "Hello? Who's there?"

Ali's voice was soft, almost cracking. "It's me, Molly…" Her back was still to them, and she was afraid to turn around.

"Ali…? ALI!" There was a soft thud as Molly dropped her grocery bag. She darted forward, arms wrapping around the waist of the cloaked figure tightly, face buried in their back. "Sweet Lady, you're back."

Ali's ears flattened under her hood in joy, whiskers twitching with a touch she had missed for so long. "Yeah, Mol, I'm back. I'm home." Her eyes closed, tears of happiness soaking the fur at the sides of her muzzle. She wanted this to go on forever—to not have to turn, not to explain, to hope they wouldn't scream.

Micha gently set her own bags down. She stepped forward tentatively, her head cocked, one hand clenched at her side. "Molly, somethin's wrong. They're like six-foot-ish. Ali was only pushin' five-seven."

Ali spoke softly. "Micha, could ya turn on the lights, please. And Mol, could ya let me loose for a moment? Please, love—" There was movement under her cloak as her tails wrapped around her legs. "I… I need to show you somethin'."

There was a click as Micha turned on the room's lights. She had picked up a bat from next to the front door, holding it lightly.

Molly reluctantly let go and stepped back. "You're starting to scare me. What's up? Where have you been this past week? What happened?"

"I'm sorry, and it's a long story." She turned and stepped back into the centre of the room, holding the cloak tight. "And for me it's been months, Mol—not just a week."  She glanced over. "You don't need that, Micha."

"Months? What do you mean by that? That doesn't make sense, love." Concern was etched on Molly's face.

Micha shook her head slightly. "I hope you're right, but for now…" Her voice trailed off.

Ali nodded slightly. "Fair. And, yeah, months. And it just gets weirder. I was transported to a mage university. It's, well 'strange' is way too mild. I think I was picked for 'spell practice'—something those students do too often. I started taking the classes—just to try to have a chance at surviving."

"I also started looking for a way to come back home. Along the way though I learned something about myself. Something I can't just explain—but you have to see." Her hands slipped from under the cloak, black fur and claws obvious. She reached up and pushed the hood back, revealing her head. Her unmistakable red hair framed her fox ears and muzzle. Her green eyes, uniquely her own as they were when she first met Molly, pleading with them to see that she was still herself.

“You’re beautiful,” Molly whispered, voice full of awe and tears. “Different, yeah—but so unmistakably you it hurts. I thought I lost you.”

“That’s… a lot,” Micha said flatly, studying her. “But your eyes… yeah, I see it. Just… don’t expect me to take this on faith alone.”

Eyes wet with tears, Ali undid the cloak's clasp, letting it fall to the floor. Freed, her tails fanned out and fluffed in joy. She stepped into Molly's embrace. "Thank you, I thought I'd lost you too. An' I was scared. Scared you wouldn't recognize any part of me." She held Molly tight, drinking in the richness of her scent. Thankful that she was home. Happy and content.

Later…

Ali was sitting on the couch, legs tucked under her with her tails awkwardly crammed beside her. She didn't care—Molly was snuggled up to her. They were both ecstatic.

Micha, sitting at the dining table, asked, "So, are you going to tell us what happened?"

Ali nodded slowly. "The Academy likes to pride itself on focusing on transformation and augmentation magicks. Some of the magicks there… One of them is a kind of confection: lollipops, chocolate, gummies. They are enchanted, triggering different types of polymorph spells. They change you when eaten, but they also imbue a knowledge of the spell so you can cast it yourself. One of them is a lollipop that looks a little like the Foxfire logo. I tried one and grew a fox's tail. It pulled at something deep—right here." She tapped her chest, over her heart.

"And that turned you into… this?"

"Yes, but not in the way you mean, Micha. There were other things going on. Other spells I learned and was targeted with. I stayed human, but I found that I felt more like myself a little taller, a bit curvier."

Gently rubbing Ali's side, Molly piped up. "I'm not gonna complain about that, love."

Ali's ears dipped slightly, almost in embarrassment. "One day I found a scroll in the Academy's Library. It was old and had a sheaf of notes rolled up in it. It was a spell set to transform someone into a kitsune. I was enthralled and I felt that same tug, the one the fox tail had stirred, come rushing back. I took the scroll and studied it. Learned how to cast the spell. Then I did, at least partially. I stopped after gaining three tails, hands, and ears. I started feeling something, so I paused to try and figure that out."

"Weeks later I had a talk with another student on what I thought was Halloween. I'd planned to cast the last parts of that spell, changing my legs and face. I had thought of it as a costume, but after that talk, I wasn't sure. A chance encounter with another student gifted me two things. A functioning replica of the 'Rubber Brush' from Naga's Den—and a week with nine tails." Ali went quiet, gently stroking Molly's hair.

"This keeps getting stranger and stranger, Ali. This student, they what, painted on those tails?"

"That's exactly what he did. He said they would only last a week. But after a week only three vanished. I did a lot of soul-searching after that. Then it hit me—that tugging had been a kitsune soul in a human body. And—" Her voice faltered, then softly she continued. "And I realized, I'd come home again for the first time."

Micha's jaw dropped. "Sis, did… did you hear what I just heard?"

Molly blinked. "Yeah… but I just… how?"

Her eyes closed, Ali replied. "Because I remember when Micha said that, back when the HRT kicked in. I sort of got it at the time. I thought I understood… but I didn't, not really—not until that moment. This is me, fur an' all. Not a costume or cosplay. Not something I'm goin' t' undo."