Sammy and Jessy were both amazed as they looked at My-yam-me. The city had gone through many of the same changes that other towns and cities that baby furs had altered through their inherent magic. Signs now had long words either spelled completely wrong, hyphenated to be spelled as they sounded, or were mixed letters, numbers, and random drawings. Many buildings now looked as though they were made of plastic and simply snapped together like a kid's backyard "pretend" house. Some things didn't fully change entirely, as Sammy and Jessy made their way from the bus stop toward the beach, they noted that some of the major buildings and skyscrapers that had been built in My-yam-me still had a great deal of glass in their architecture. Sammy reached out to touch one of these windows as he and Jessy walked by it. He was greatly surprised when he didn't even leave a smudge on the glass.
"Cool..." Sammy spoke as he looked to the window.
By this point, they had stopped. Jessy looked over to see what Sammy was looking at and could easily see their reflection in the glass window. There she saw two baby furs, one a male fox and the other a female raccoon. Both looked completely adorable.
"It's like a mirror," Jessy smiled, "wanna make weird faces at it?"
Sammy giggled and stuck out his tongue, just to get Jessy to laugh. She laughed and lowered her right ear, left the left ear perked, and fulled down with with hand on her lower left eyelid. Sammy giggled at that, and the two tried a few other weird faces, including pulling up on their noises at the tips of their muzzles before moving on. That had set them in a very good mood as they walked along. Things about the city looked very much like every other city and town that baby furs had touched. In addition, baby furs went about their business, said hello and did other things that they'd traditionally done. Though much of it was also a parody of things adults did, but perfectly normal to baby furs. Sammy enjoyed that as they walked along.
The two quietly made their way toward the beach with the idea of going swimming, which sounded like fun. However, as they made their way along, they moved from a business area to a more residential area. The houses began to mirror may of the sort of play houses that had once been sold for kids to play "house" in, but scaled up and in some cases even potentially having multiple floors. They continued along until they came to a building that hadn't changed under the touch of baby furs. It wasn't too big of a home and pretty much looked like a small sort of beach house, which made sense. Sammy could primarily hear the sound of the waves in the distance and they were getting close to the beach.
"That's strange," Sammy said curiously as he looked at this beach house, "No one upgraded this one."
"Yeah... strange," Jessy agreed.
Curious at how a house that hadn't been altered by baby furs could exist in a place where everyone was a baby fur, Sammy walked slowly forward. Jessy quietly followed behind him and the two looked at the house. It wasn't big and parts of it looked a little run down. Paint was chipped in places and Sammy thought he saw that a window was cracked, which contradicted everything Sammy knew about baby fur construction, which he admitted wasn't much. The two curiously looked around the house as they tried to determine how this house couldn't have changed, and why so many other baby furs had just ignored it. There were no lullaby playing to make them sleepy. There was no force field. There was no electric fence. Baby furs were just ignoring the place, or if they did notice it, they didn't think about it.
Eventually as they came under another window they heard something that really touched at their heartstrings. They heard the sound of deep sobbing, as though someone was in deep sorrow, something Sammy hadn't really heard since his transformation. Some baby furs might be "sad" initially, but as Jessy had explained, they were simply surprised by feeling the unquestioned joy and empathy that baby furs had and were shedding tears of joy. This, however, didn't sound like tears of joy, though. And it made everything in Sammy urge him to make whoever was crying happy.
"Hello!" Sammy called to the window he and Jessy heard crying from, "Hello! Are you okay?"
There was a silence for a few moments.
"Are you okay?" Sammy and Jessy called again.
Eventually a kindly looking elderly human woman appeared in the window. Her eyes were red with tears and while her clothing wasn't dirty, it was rather simple. This puzzled Sammy and Jessy as they'd been told that everyone in Florida was already a baby fur, and yet here was an elderly human woman.
"Hello, young ones," the woman said weakly, "go on and play. Things are fine."
"You were crying," Jessy pointed out.
"You shouldn't be crying," Sammy added.
"It's nothing," the woman answered.
"You were crying over nothing?" Sammy asked, "that doesn't sound right."
The woman looked to Sammy closely and then looked to Jessy.
"And who are you, young one?" the woman asked.
"I am Sammy the Fox, this is my bestest friend Jessy the Raccoon," Sammy answered, "who are you?"
"How can we help you?" Jessy asked.
"You may call me Bella," the woman answered, "and the best help would be to let me be."
"And leave you to cry?" Sammy asked, "No way. Everyone should be happy."
The woman, Bella, nodded and disappeared from the window. A few moments later, she appeared at a nearby door and she beckoned them both in. Sammy and Jessy hesitantly made their way in, but Bella seemed sad, not threatening.
"So... why are you sad?" Sammy asked asked as Bella shut the door.
The interior of the house was clean, but rather simple and basic. The floor was linoleum and from what Sammy could see, it had been kept clean, but not to the point where they were things shined. It was all very basic.
"I suppose you can call it the truth," Bella answered.
"The truth?" Sammy and Jessy both asked. Sammy was genuinely intrigued by this as this related to what he hoped to learn from the first fur and a way give them a chance at gaining control over their powers.
"Yes," Bella nodded with a sniffle, "On how your kind came to be."
"You know?" Sammy gasped.
"Of course," Bella nodded and sniffled again, "I'm the one responsible."
"But... you're not the first fur," Jessy pointed out.
"She is my granddaughter," Bella answered, and then waved an arm, "come with me."
Bella lead them through the house, which Sammy found looking like many homes before the arrival of baby furs. There were a couple of bookshelves with leather bound books, but Sammy couldn't see any title written on the bindings. Bella lead them into a small bedroom. On the bed was a small plush doll of a squirrel and a photograph.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, Sammy, that much of your abilities as a baby fur are magical in nature," Bella spoke, "so... I suppose you should know the truth."
"The truth?" Sammy wondered.
"On your origins as a baby fur," Bella answered, "and how it started."
Sammy nodded.
"It began with me and wanting to give my granddaughter a gift she would enjoy," Bella spoke, and handed the photo of a young human girl with Bella, "my granddaughter was young and special. And I wanted to give her a gift..."
"You're a witch!" Jessy gasped with some realization and surprise.
"Yes," Bella chuckled, "though you have no reason to fear me. The idea that witches are bad are nothing more than old fairy tales told by people with an agenda... Usually churchmen who fear those with magic. Some witches may do evil... or have done evil, but they are few and have generally dealt with by us to either reform them or make sure they can't use their magic."
Sammy and Jessy blinked as they looked at the photo.
"And your abilities to make friends will probably deal with any potential "wicked" witches as more become baby furs," Bella commented.
"But you're not a baby fur," Sammy pointed out with Jessy nodding. Both had some puzzlement as the woman looked more like she was someone's grandma, not a witch.
"I cast the original spell, and it wasn't cast to be reflective," Bella answered, "the spell was create a Golem to be my granddaughter... Sally's ... friend. As such, your magic can't affect me... and my time is coming."
"We don't want you to die or be sad," Sammy told her.
"I'm sure you don't," Bella spoke with a smile as a tear went down her cheek, "the spell was designed to keep Sally happy and innocent."
Bella sat on the bed and pointed to the photo and began to explain.
"Sally's parents died in a car crash thanks to some random drunk driver and she began to withdraw inside herself," Bella spoke, "saddened by the loss of my son and his wife... I couldn't let Sally withdraw thanks to the loss her parents. I wanted to be happy. She had some school friends... but they couldn't be with her all the time and sometimes they didn't always understand her."
Sammy looked at the photo, which showed what the first fur looked like before she was a baby fur. He then looked up to see Bella stroking the small plush squirrel.
"So... I had the idea to channel a bit of my magic into this little toy," Bella held out the plush squirrel, "it'd be the perfect Golem. It would be full of joy and happiness, love and empathy, kindness and respect. It would be capable of rudimentary learning and would be able to be there with Sally for all time. She could keep it with her and it would always be her friend and do whatever was needed to keep Sally happy. There would also be some connected spells that would protect the Golem as well... both physical and with perception."
"That sounds nice," Jessy commented... "but big."
"It was a nice idea," Bella gave a weak smile, "but the spell itself wasn't that hard to cast..."
"But we're all furs," Sammy commented, "the doll isn't..."
"That was an accident," Bella said weakly, "I was getting ready to cast the spell to animate the Golem for Sally when a spider drifted down into my light of sight. And nervous old Nellie that I am... I lost track of things and misspoke the spell. It turned Sally into what many of your fellows have called the first fur and held her age as it is."
"So we're an ax-ee-dent?" Jessy asked.
"No," Bella answered weakly, "Sally's transformation was an accident... it was an accident that the spell would become something where it would just go from person to person to person... but the friendship... the empathy... happiness that it created... that wasn't an accident."
"Would there be any way to go back?" Sammy asked nervously, "You aren't going to make us human again?"
"If that were possible, I would have done so, already," Bella answered, "not to mention that in a way the consequences of the spell have gone beyond the spell that I've cast. Turning you back and protecting you would be a bigger spell than creating baby furs was in the first place."
"We don't want to go back," Sammy answered, "I'm happy as I am. I'm closer to Jessy than I've ever been as a baby fur... and it feels good to be friends with everyone."
Bella gave a very grandmother-like smile and patted Sammy's head.
"And you won't," Bella answered, "there isn't anything I can do reverse what's been done and doing so would make things worse. In that way... it'd be best to just let it go. Go and have fun and let things happen. As trying to stop it may only make things worse."
"What about a way that could let us assure humans that we mean no harm and only want to make friends?" Sammy asked, "give humans a chance choose to join us or at least make it possible for us to make friends without humans being scared of us."
"It is too late," Bella answered, "I don't have the power to try and edit what's been done... and doing so wouldn't necessarily work... Not to mention that the measures I took to make sure that the Golem would be protected have even altered how many baby furs have even perceived their own existence. I'm sorry, young one."
Sammy looked up to a woman and began to do something he hand't even considered doing since he became a baby fur. He began to blubber and then cry. Sure he'd had fun on the way to My-yam-me, and he'd loved being with Jessy, but there was also a mission to try and make things better and easier for baby furs to make friends with humans and prevent them from doing anything silly so that all sides could be friends, even if humans remained human. Yet, from the way Bella had explained things, it seemed as though the entire mission was a lost cause from the start. They'd come all this way for nothing. Jessy looked at him, seeing him cry, and began to cry as well, clutching at Sammy's shoulders.
Bella scooped up both crying baby furs and held them to her and even through his tears, Sammy felt what felt like a grandmother's love radiate off of the woman. It helped a little.