Danika winced as the squirrel mentioned the fox. She wondered if the fox had had anything to do with the sad state of its tail. "Yes, I've spoken with the fox?" she admitted reluctantly.
"We've recently lost several members of the community to that cunning fox," the squirrel complained. The squirrel nattered on for awhile about the previous winter and the various tricks the fox had used to catch the squirrels it had eaten recently.
Danika finally interrupted to ask hesitantly, "If I could persuade the fox to stop bothering you for awhile, would you have the authority to make the rest of the squirrels leave my acorn crop alone?" The squirrel looked at her with such a betrayed expression that she added quickly, "I only need the 10,000 acorns that should be ripe by the end of next week, I don't mind how many are taken after that."
The elderly squirrel asked sourly, "What benefit is there for us if you get the fox to leave us alone, but half of us starve after all?"
Danika thought quickly and then suggested hopefully, "What if you squirrels also assist me in my harvest next week? If you could do that then I could spend more time casting growth on more acorns." She added a bit doubtfully, "Although then not as many acorns would be available here in the fall."
The squirrel eyed her for a moment and then replied, "That's no problem, in the fall there are also hazelnuts, pine nuts, blackberries," it nattered on with its list of potential foods for awhile before finally declaring, "If you can really dissuade the fox from eating anyone else, and encourage more nuts to grow, then I will persuade the youngsters to help you harvest your 10,000 acorns!" It spoiled the effect a little by asking, "How many is that?"
Danika replied quickly, "About a hundred and seventy trees full."
"Ah," the elderly squirrel nodded wisely before asking, "how many is a hundred?"
"Lots," Danika clarified.
--
Danika caught up with the fox about midday. She'd cast her spell on more acorns as she searched, so the time hadn't been wasted.
"I see you're keeping your priorities straight and working hard on your future food supplies," the fox commented complimentarily.
"Thanks," Danika replied. She hesitated a moment before saying, "And thank you for doing such an excellent job of scaring the squirrels, but now I need to ask you to leave them alone."
The fox gazed at her with astonishment, and then narrowed her eyes and questioned, "What are they bribing you with?"
Danika blushed, making the sparkles coming off her wings turn pink again, and admitted, "The elderly squirrel I spoke with said it will convince the younger ones to help me harvest the 10,000 acorns."
"Wow, one of those silly squirrels actually lived long enough to learn to talk?" the fox questioned with amazement.
Danika nodded.
"And what will you give me to leave those squirrels alone?" the fox asked sharply. "They've been a lot easier to catch than I'd expected," she added a bit smugly.
Danika sweated a little and questioned, "I had to do a task for you to get your assistance in keeping them from taking my acorns, why do I need to give you something now to leave them alone?"
The fox grinned and replied, "It's turned out to be a fun task, and what will I do if I've promised to leave the squirrels alone, and I get hungry later?"
Danika nodded seriously and said, "I can see how thin and malnourished you seem today." When the fox glared at her, Danika laughed merrily.
The fox sniffed. "Insults won't get you anywhere good," she said darkly.
Danika asked curiously, "Can you eat nuts?"
"I can," the fox agreed warily, "but I'm no squirrel to be bribed with them."
"Even if it's the squirrels bribing you with them?" Danika questioned.
The fox gazed at Danika with surprise. "Do you really think that you could convince those silly squirrels to pay me not to eat them?"
Danika shrugged, and pulled one of the cheeses she'd bought from her inventories and dropped it beside the fox. "I can try," she replied.
The fox gazed at the cheese greedily before asking, "Are you giving this to me?"
Danika nodded and told the fox, "Yes, I'll give you this for now, to leave the squirrels alone until I'm done here."
"Alright," the fox agreed.
--
Danika found a squirrel about an hour later, and told it, "I wish to speak to your elder."
The squirrel chattered at her unintelligibly, and Danika wished that she had already learned the illusion skill and could simply show it an image of the old squirrel.
She tried saying the same thing to the next squirrel she found. That one just blinked its eyes and ignored her.
The fifth squirrel she asked nodded, and dashed off. Danika waited hopefully for a while, and then wondered if it had really understood. Uncertainly, she decided to wait a while longer. Just when she'd decided to give up, after having cast her growth spell on all the acorn buds of that tree and the three surrounding it, the elderly squirrel showed up.
"What is that you need of me great seed cultivator?" the squirrel asked.
Danika replied seriously, "I have arranged it so that the fox won't bother you for a while, and if you squirrels keep your promise to help me harvest all of the acorns that I need at the end of next week, I will persuade it to make a bargain with you."
The elderly squirrel gazed at her with astonishment. For a moment Danika was afraid that it had forgotten about their deal. Finally the squirrel replied creakily, "Yes of course, we are all waiting for the harvest day, and if you can really convince that cunning fox to leave us alone, we'll gift you our greatest treasure."
"It's a deal," Danika agreed without asking what their treasure was. It didn't really matter what else they gave her as long as she was able to collect the acorns and get the spark cantrip from the merchant. She calculated how much time was left and decided that she had about two and ¾ real days left before the acorns were due. She added, "The harvest will need to be done in ten days."
Night was falling and real midnight was approaching as Danika logged out.
--
For the next couple of days, Danika leisurely cast her growth spell on the acorn buds of an ever expanding territory whenever she had time to play from her phone, and in the evenings after work.
Once she had a close call when an owl almost caught her, but she'd been able to use her dragon's strength to release herself from its sharp grasp, and then cast her invisibility and escaped. She saw Aishin online several times, but they only exchanged short greetings.
Danika finished her shift and hurried into the VR-medi pod on the last day. She'd checked from her phone several times throughout the afternoon, and the squirrels had seemed to mostly be keeping their bargain. Only a few of the ripening acorns had been eaten early, but she was still nervous about whether or not she'd be able to collect the full 10,000.
Danika logged in to find herself surrounded. She blinked and stared back at the hundreds of squirrels, and gulped nervously. Her wings sparkled in orange tones.
The elderly squirrel with his bit of a tail and his tattered ears pushed his way through the crowd. "We are ready to begin the harvest oh great seed cultivator," the squirrel announced.
Danika breathed a sigh of relief and called out, "Then bring me every ripe acorn you can find until I have collected as much as I need!"
The elderly squirrel turned and chattered loudly to the crowd of squirrels, and they all scampered off in every direction. The squirrels brought Danika acorn after acorn, and all she had to do was count them as she popped them into the embroidered pouch of holding. The witch hadn't lied, and the pouch never filled up.
When she at last stuffed the 10,000th acorn into the pouch, Danika closed it with a sigh of relief and announced, "That is enough! I have all I need, and the rest are yours."
The elderly squirrel chattered loudly and the rest of the squirrels dispersed, some of them stopping to eat the nut they had in paw at the time. Then he turned to Danika and asked, "Were you able to bargain with the fox?"
Danika nodded, and below the tree the fox spoke, startling both of them. "Indeed. And I am here to give my word if my demands are met."
The squirrel asked nervously, "What are your demands?"
Danika interrupted before the fox could answer, and gave the squirrel the bargain that she'd decided sounded fair, "You'll give the fox a cache of food at the full moon," she'd decided that that would be easier for the squirrels to understand than months, "and the fox won't eat anymore squirrels for as long as you continue the bargain."
The fox didn't argue, but she added, "If you forget even once, I may start hunting squirrels again."
"We will agree to this bargain," the elderly squirrel declared in his creaky voice. He turned and beckoned to another squirrel who brought forth a shiny blue gem which he took in his sharp claws and then turned and placed it carefully into Danika's claws.
"You must touch it and speak the first magic word to activate it, and the second magic word to deactivate it," the squirrel instructed her seriously. It folded its claws and told her, "The first magic word is 'aqua', and the second is 'desino'."
Danika asked, "It produces water?"
The elderly squirrel gazed at her with respect and replied, "It does."
"Will you be ok without it?" Danika questioned.
The squirrel nodded and replied, "Yes. It has been a great treasure, but I am very old now, and while I've been able to teach a few of the young ones to understand this speech, none of them have been able to learn to speak it yet."
"Thank you," Danika told the elderly squirrel.
He nodded, and then departed, leaping with surprising agility from branch to branch.
The fox looked up at Danika and said admiringly, "You're such an accomplished extortionist!"
Danika glanced down at the fox who'd been paid at both ends of the deal and now had a potentially lifelong arrangement for food with the squirrels, and didn't dare a reply.