Pax

Gray fights with a challenger to assert dominance: “He wants this territory, but his display is for the young vixen’s benefit—she will choose a mate this winter” (83). The wild foxes smell fire and realize they will have to leave this territory soon. Grey decides to go south with Pax to help him find Peter. Gray tells his mate: “He is returning to the humans he lived with in the South. I will travel with him to search for a suitable place to move. He and I will rest, then leave tonight” (84).

As they’re about to set out, Bristle calls Pax a “human stinker” and says that all humans are dangerous. Pax again sees the vision of the steel trap and the two foxes.

Peter stumbles in the rain, already bleeding—knowing he needs to turn around. He heads back inside to Vola. He addresses her: “You learned how to get around on one leg. Teach me. You were a medic, set my bone. Please. I’ll do whatever you tell me to” (88). Vola scrutinizes him and says Pax may already be dead. Peter doesn’t care; he’s going to go back to find his fox and bring him home. Vola asks if he’s going home or going to find Pax, and Peter belts out that they’re the same thing. Vola presses him “And you’re going to do this no matter who tries to stop you? Because it’s the right thing for you, at your core?” (89). Peter stops a minute. “The answer would have been the same if he’d waited a lifetime to think it over… ‘Yes. In fact there’s nothing else I know at my core” (89). Vola says she’ll help him, but only on three conditions.

Pax finds out about The Vixen’s sad past—Bristle and her sister watched their mother go into human territory because her children were starving. She got caught in a trap: “Our mother headed for a gap in the wooden boards near the house, with us a few tail-lengths behind. Just before she reached it, steel jaws sprang out of the earth with such speed that the air snapped” (91).

Her leg was caught in the snare. The father fox appeared to help his mate, and they both yelled for the young foxes to stay away. A human appeared with a stick: “The human raised the stick, and in front of our eyes our mother and our father burst into blood and fur and shattered bones spattered over the snow” (91). Bristle curled up around her sister; they didn’t want to leave the bodies. When Bristle woke up in the morning, her sister had died. Bristle’s other siblings all starved to death; she and Runt were the only two to survive. She tells Pax “because of the humans we have no family” (93). Pax longs to express the kindness of his boy, but he knows Bristle is too wounded to understand.

Vola tells Peter the three conditions for him to stay. Peter has to write to his grandfather and say whatever it takes to make sure nobody comes around and bothers her. The second condition is that he has to eventually tell her the significance of the bracelet. He asks her why and she says, “Because I’m curious about you. Besides you can tell a lot about a solider by what he carries into battle” (96).

Vola’s third condition is that she needs his help with something but is careful not to reveal what it is just yet. She says it will take two weeks for Peter to get enough strength to go after Pax. She suspects he’s hungry and commands him into her kitchen to slice the dyableman bread—this language is significant because it’s a word that is unique to Vola, something that only she uses. Peter also sees jars of plums, tomatoes, blueberries, and apples. He notices that she doesn’t have electricity. Lastly, Peter also meets Francois the raccoon—named after Francois Villon, one of the most famous thieves in history, who sits out on Vola’s porch.