Eventually, a group of eleven better-dressed rabbit-kin emerge from a distant trapdoor, larger than the others we saw, and join the original rabbit-kin farmer beside us. As I inspect the group, I'm struck by its composition.
Twelve rabbit-kin, with every age group from children to the elderly represented by a male and female. It's like they are trying to include every possible demographic in the representative group. Clearly, Zara was not joking about how seriously they take this collective decision-making thing.
As the new group arrives, there's another brief round of speed whispering amongst them, then the rabbit-kin farmer man that's been waiting with us nods and steps forward, locking eyes with me apprehensively. However, he seems to have overcome his stutter, at least.
"Thank you for waiting, Visitor. As I mentioned, you can discuss with us, and we will pass important matters along to our people and call votes if necessary. First, if you don't mind, those who have joined me would like to know about the Visitor and his companion, and why the Visitor saved us. {in rabbit-tongue}"
I glance at Zara, who is staring at me helplessly. Naturally, she can't understand a word of what is being said. I nod at her, then turn back to the rabbit-kin and smile warmly.
"My name is Mizuki, and this is my friend Zara. She is the Elder – the leader – of the wolf-kin. The reason I saved you is actually because she asked, and she came here so that she could discuss establishing a mutually beneficial relationship between the rabbit-kin and the wolf-kin. {in rabbit-tongue}" (Mizuki)
I glance at Zara again, then I switch to Common.
"Also, do you mind if we speak in Common? Zara does not speak your language, and as I said, it's mostly her that needs to talk with you. I just came to ask for a favor, and to give you a warning of potential danger to your people." (Mizuki)
Not missing a beat, Zara gives a respectful nod to the rabbit-kin, briefly drawing their attention.
"Hello, as Mizuki said, I am Elder Zara Zuki of the wolf-kin. It is nice to meet you." (Zara)
My head snaps to her in surprise as I hear her use Alara's last name – a bastardization of my own name. She catches my gaze, seeing the question in my eyes. However, she just gives me a small smile and shrugs before looking back at the rabbit-kin. I absolutely plan to follow up on this though...if I keep having young women pop up with that damn last name, it's not going to look good for me!
More speed whispering from the rabbit-kin, then our liaison nods at Zara and me. I also catch a little rabbit girl staring at me.
"Some of the younger ones aren't as fluent in Common yet, but we will translate. It is nice to meet you both, Mizuki and Zara. Since I will be speaking for our group, you can call me Quira. Elder Zara, Mizuki says that you are the reason he saved us, and that you want to establish a relationship with our people. Can you tell us what he means by that?" (Quira)
Zara cuts me a conflicted glance, then nods at the rabbit-kin politely.
"Just that I'd like the wolf-kin and rabbit-kin to help one another going forward, just like we did today. I think that demi-humans are under more threat than ever from the humans, and we stand a better chance if we're allied. I know the rabbit-kin are not fighters, but you are excellent at agriculture, while my people have the opposite problem.
"We are excellent fighters and hunters, and we're advancing in our city-building and wood- and metal-work, but we don't have the skills necessary for farming. In exchange for some of your produce, we could offer protection from threats and trade our own goods. In addition, I was hoping that we could start keeping regular communication between our people to monitor human activity in demi-human lands going forward." (Zara)
After conferring with the others, Quira smiles nervously. I also notice that the same little rabbit girl's eyes are still fixed on me, holding an intense mix of curiosity and fear.
What's her deal?
"We do not mind exchanging information to help our lands remain safe, but for everything else, I'm afraid that we already have such a relationship with the fox-kin. In exchange for food, they give us better farming tools and clothes, they keep any humans from coming into our lands from the east, and they helped us build underground shelters to protect us from other predators." (Quira)
I can't help but raise my eyebrows. The fox-kin, huh? I guess that explains Zara's alleged shift in the rabbit-kin's housing situation. That kind of expansive underground construction...the fox-kin would have to be relatively advanced. They could also have magical abilities that help with such a thing. Or both...guess I'll find out.
Beside me, I see Zara's face contort in shock at the news, not even bothering to hide the uncharacteristic bewilderment in her voice.
"The fox-kin!? I thought they had gone into isolation!? And since when are they actively opposing humans!?" (Zara)
Quira glances at the oldest pair of rabbit-kin in their group, and an elderly woman nods and steps forward. She gives Zara a light nod and a sympathetic smile.
"Many decades ago, when I was still a girl, the fox-kin started changing their isolating habits. At first, it was just agricultural trade with us. But they became more involved in the outside world with time, until they were even safeguarding the eastern border of demi-human lands from human exploitation. In recent years, I hear they've gone so far as to open up their three cities to other races."
Zara's eyes widen again, this time with something that I vaguely recognize as excitement. That's interesting, but I also have another realization that's more pressing – I'm clearly the most ignorant person in the group right now.
"Uhm...Zara, perhaps you could fill me in? We haven't told discussed much about the fox-kin, and now I fear I'll be lost for the rest of this conversation as a result." (Mizuki)
Zara glances at me as if caught off guard by the request. After a moment, though, she nods her understanding.
"Of course, I'll tell you what I know, though it seems my information is out of date..." (Zara)
And so, Zara proceeds to give me a rundown on the fox-kin, and why she's so interested in them. Throughout her summary, the rabbit-kin occasionally interject updated information. Suffice it to say, after hearing everything, I'm downright dying of curiosity about these guys. Fortunately, since fox-kin territory is directly east of the rabbit-kin territory, Zara wants that to be our next stop anyway.
Anyway, it seems that in the early centuries after the various demi-human races transmigrated here, they used to keep in touch more, and their borders were less defined. They, much like the elves, experienced periods of growth and general prosperity.
However, eventually some of the humans of Azura, who'd largely left demi-humans alone due to their lesser technological development, decided that they actually had some use as slaves. This new 'workforce' reservoir for the humans soon put the demi-human races on the receiving end of raids and other exploitation, which stifled their population growth and development.
One would think that this would make the various demi-humans band together in self-preservation, but therein lies the subtle difference between them being allied versus united. They always considered themselves different races, it's just that they were friendly enough to get along in times of peace and surplus. But with growing pressure from the humans came desperation, and with desperation came the clarification of each race's priorities.
Over time, they could afford to prioritize their inter-race relationships less and less, creating a natural, unintentional rift between the demi-human races. At the same time, there was still safety in numbers, causing the previously scattered and inter-mixed demi-human settlements to slowly collapse into one or two mass settlements per race. This, of course, only accelerated their isolation and dwindling communication with one another.
It was also this shift that caused the current, informal territorial designations of the demi-human lands. The wolf-kin in the southeastern woodlands, the fox-kin in the eastern woodlands, the rabbit-kin in the western plains, and the cat-kin in the northwestern foothills. This is the state that the demi-humans have found themselves in for the longest time. This is also the time period that most of Zara's historical information about the other races comes from, minimally supplemented by newer knowledge from wandering wolf-kin.
As of three hundred years ago, give or take, the wolf-kin, fox-kin, and rabbit-kin were at similar levels of development, while the cat-kin had long since fully isolated themselves in the foothills, their status unknown. The rabbit-kin lived in huts in the plains and grew their food, and the fox-kin led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, wandering through their woodlands.
However, for reasons unknown to Zara, the fox-kin suddenly stopped their nomadic lifestyles around three hundred years ago and started building permanent settlements. Much like the wolf-kin are now, they built large defensive walls around these settlements, and closed themselves off to outsiders to develop in relative stability. Though they still faced attempted raids from humans at first, they grew rapidly adept at thwarting them, until new enslavements of the fox-kin virtually ceased.
With the disappearance of the cat-kin, and the geographical buffering the rabbit-kin enjoyed, this placed most of the pressure of human exploitation onto the wolf-kin.
According to the rabbit-kin, over the past several decades, the fox-kin have been taking more of an interest in the world outside their three cities. They began actively regulating the eastern woodlands, going so far as to completely ban humans west of their easternmost city, and enforce laws on their activities elsewhere in fox-kin territory. Eventually, they initiated trade with the rabbit-kin, too.
In recent years, they've even begun opening up their cities to tourism by other demi-humans. According to the rabbit-kin, there's a rumor that they are now even allowing human visitation – albeit highly regulated – to their largest and easternmost city, Central Tail. This was the news that had Zara the most excited. She was apprehensive about gaining an diplomatic audience with fox-kin leadership – the Central Council, but now it sounds much more feasible.
Alas, I'm interested in the fox-kin for an entirely different reason – what I've heard suggests a strangely advanced culture. Of course, they helped build an entire underground settlement for the rabbit-kin, but it turns out that fox-kin are all elemental class mages. They have earth manipulation spells that make it far easier to build underground structures than it was back on Earth.
That said, according to the rabbit-kin, a few of whom have had the pleasure of visiting a fox-kin city, the fox-kin also appear to be advanced in more traditional ways as well. Fine weapons and armor, and elaborate houses and other structures built from an aesthetically pleasing blend of colored wood, metal, and stone. They also apparently produce exotic clothing, spices, and foods.
Nothing that I've heard suggests that they're anywhere close to Earth's level of modern advancement. Clearly, that wouldn't fly with Azazel. However, I think they might be on par with the elves, or at least close to catching up. Still, while that's fascinating and good news for Zara, it's not enough to make my heart pound with anticipation.
Yet, that's exactly how I feel about the prospect of visiting their city.
As for why, it has more to do with the fox-kin's particular style of advanced development. From the clothing, to the food, to the weapons and buildings – every description I hear sounds suspiciously reminiscent of east asian culture on Earth. If I had to guess, specifically – Edo period Japan.
Of course, this is just based on a secondhand description, probably rife with my own mental imagery bias, and I can't rule out the possibility of similar but independent cultural development on separate worlds. However, that's before I consider one other fact. According to both Zara and the rabbit-kin, both the advancement and style of the fox-kin's current culture seems completely alien compared to their pre-isolation culture.
So in summation, a race less advanced than the wolf-kin inexplicably seals itself off, then undergoes lightning fast technological progression and unrecognizable cultural overhaul, all without interacting with another race. Given all that, I can't help but wonder...
Are the fox-kin are being backed by an Otherworlder?
And naturally, I can't ignore the fact that the fox-kin's revolution started centuries ago, far past a normal human or demi-human lifespan. Does that mean the otherworlder is dead already, or from a different, long-lived race like the elves? Or maybe, just maybe...
Am I dealing with someone like me?