"...no, I think I'll let you discover that on your own. I'm bringing it out from your own inner self after all."
I wasn't really sure what she was talking about, but I was rather relieved I wasn't actually transforming. It was such a recklessly impulsive choice on my part, after all. What if it had actually happened?
"Sorry, Yuna, it was silly of me to say that, I guess what I meant was..."
"No, don't apologize, my noble but impulsive human friend. You made your wish, and I'm granting it. Most humans would despair to lose their humanity, and I do sense your qualms, but tonight's wish is your destiny, and deep down you know this or you wouldn't have spoken it. There is no need for shame."
I went silent and tried to appear calm as she looked into my eyes, but my heart was racing with fear and exhilaration. I'd always wanted to know what it was like to be an animal, but did I really want to go all the way? Could a talking fox really do that? Was a talking fox even real? Maybe this was all just a dream.
I was quite still, almost in a trance, as she began to speak even more solemnly and seemed to enter a bewitching sort of trance herself.
"You had the power to harm a creature of the forest, and no obligation to me in the world of man, but you chose to have compassion on what was unknown to you. You showed your true kinship with the land and the sky and the earth, and they will grant you the desire of your heart if not that of your mind. Your destiny is not without hardship, but it is not without joy. You will find your first gift when the sun rises. We may meet again or we may not, but before the sun has set three times you will join me in the life of a beast."
We sat wordlessly for several more minutes, as I felt chills go down my spine like her words were more than just words. They moved something deep in me that I couldn't describe. When she said her goodbyes and thanked me one more time, I felt a profound peace, as though something just felt right. I really didn't know what to think of any of it, and when I went to bed about a half an hour later, I tried to let myself forget that the incident had even happened.
Even as I slept, though, sunrise was coming soon, and I turn out to be some kind of animal in three days... or less.