[Trphlthdl]

-Day 6-

-Spark-

"Morning Spark." My girl says.

I roll over onto my back for tummy rubs, and she pats my stomach.

"Lets get breakfast okay?"

I get up and follow her up the stairs and into the kitchen where her mother and father are already up. She pours me a bowl of dry food, which I eat fast.

"Honey we've got to go today, so after breakfast could you help us get our stuff into the car?" Says her Mother.

"Sure." She replies, then sits to eat her cheerios.

"You forgot the milk."

"Don't care."

"Alrighty then."

After dinner they all go outside with her parents bags, but they forgot one thing. It's covered in leather with little plastic cards inside, and it smells like her father. I pick it up in my mouth and run to the front door, but the door is closed. I jump up to the door handle and turn the knob, opening the door. I grab the leather thing drop it outside the door, then close the door and pick up the leather thing again. I race down the outside stairs as her father is closing the car door, and jump up into sight next to the drivers side window. He rolls the window down.

"What's Spark excited about, and whats that in her mouth?"

I hook my paws over the open window and drop the thing in his lap.

"Well I'll be darned, it's my wallet. Thanks Spark!" He says as he pets my head, and I lick his hand.

"Bye! Love you!" My girl says as they pull out of the driveway, then to me she says "Come on in Spark, you did good."

[Trphlthdl]

-Day 11-

-Me-

For past few days, Spark and I have been working on her fear of fire. She seems to fear this most because we have made no progress, and our sessions have all been her hiding under the couch. It's the same today as well.

"Spark, I guess if you won't come near the candle you can't see the ocean later...." I say in a sing song voice.

She whimpers and comes out from under the couch and sits about 5 feet away from the candle.

"You'll have to come closer than THAT to see the ocean, Spark."

She comes a foot closer.

"Closer."

She sits 2 feet away, and then looks at me.

"Now we can see the ocean later."

She bolts back under the couch.

"Good enough. That's some progress. Lets go to the ocean now then." I say as I blow out the candle.

She sits by the back door, we had the walkway remade the day after my parents left. As soon as I open the door, she races to the gate.

"Calm down Spark! Let me grab the baseball!" I say laughing lightly, and I grab the baseball.

As I open the gate Spark races down to the water, and frolics until I get down the stairs.

"Fetch!" I exclaim as I throw the ball down the beach, there's almost no one on it today.

Spark races to get the ball and brings it back.

"Good, again?"

Spark yips so I throw it again. Once she gets tired, she drops the ball at my feet and heads towards the stairs. I follow her up, and I see her use the bench on the patio type area to walk on the railing like a cat. Once she gets to the gate, she hops down on the other side.

"Clever girl." I say as I open the gate and walk through.

Spark wags her tail, and I open the door to go inside. She races up the stairs, and sits by her bowl. I open the kibble cupboard and pour her food, then make myself dinner.

[Trphlthdl]

-Day 18-

-Spark-

I sit tensely by the candle, after the first two fears I thought this one would be a breeze.

"I did too hon." says my Girl.

Turns out this one will be quite a bit harder.

My Girl suddenly grabs another candle, lights it. I give her a stare that practically drips with sarcasm.

"Two can play that game, but only one can win."

I relent, My Girl has a sarcastic streak none can beat.

After another five minutes sitting next to the candles, My Girl deems it enough and blows out the candles. It's beach time, she opens the screen door and I run out. When she gets close enough she sticks out her knee, and I jump on it and over the gate landing on the other side. My Girl backs up a few steps, and so do I. She takes a couple running steps forward before putting a hand on the top of the gate, and swinging her legs over. I wag my tail and jump on the wooden boards a few times before sprinting down the stairs, and flying over the last section of steps. I land in the warm sand, and hop up, running like crazy down to the waves.

After frolicking for a good two hours, My Girl and I run back up the steps, and I use the bench as a step stool onto the railing. I run along the top before vaulting over the gate and landing on the hot tub lid. I hop off and trot over to the door, wagging my tail.

"Not so fast Spark, you're covered in sand!" she grabs the hose and turns it on, spraying first her feet then my fur.

"Alright, now we can go in. Ready for dinner?"

[Trphlthdl]

-Day 23-

-Spark-

Five candles today, I'm stressed. This is hard, and I'm fighting to shove down the fear that's arising. The candles dance in my peripheral vision as a stare at my Girl, pure fear and helplessness in my gaze.

"Spark, I know you're scared but we've been putting this off for 2 days. We can't dawdle anymore, you need to get over this fear. I'm not going to disagree with you. Fire can be dangerous, but you're with me you have nothing to worry about. As long as you are with the right people, you don't have to worry about fire. It's all logic. If you are with someone who can't be trusted and they've got fire, then yes run for the hills, but you know you can trust me." She kneels down and takes my head in her hands as she says this. "Spark, you will be fine."

I calm down a bit, but five is still a bit many candles. I could probably handle four though, so I lean over and put my nose in front of a candle. I've seen my girl do this many times, she just blows at the candle and it goes out. So I blow at the candle, and just as it did with her it does with me.

"See Spark, it doesn't take much to put out a candle. Unless it's one of the prank relighting ones, those are angering."

I snort with amusement. A few minutes later my Girl blows out the rest of the candles.

"That's enough training for today Girlie."

[Trphlthdl]

-Day 34-

-Spark-

My girl's been gone for a couple hours now, and I'm getting worried. The only comment to me when she left was telling me to stay and that I was in for a surprise. I hate surprises.

Suddenly I hear the cars engine come down the road and up the driveway, and I see my girl get out. She closes the drivers side door and circles around to the back doors. When she opens the door, another guardian fox hops out! She must have known that even though I love her, I still need a friend.

She strokes his head and leads him to the door, by this time I'm going nuts with excitement. When my girl gets inside I'm running up the stairs and around the furniture, before running back down the stairs. I greet them both with enthusiasm, and lick my girls hand.

"See Spark? I told you you were in for a surprise! Geode, meet Spark. Spark, meet Geode." She says laughing.

After a couple minutes she leads us into the backyard, where we ran around for hours.

[Trphlthdl]

-Day 34-

-Spark-

After Geode and I ran around for a bit, it was time for my training. Geode was with me, so that helped, but it was still stressful as there were 10 candles. I am still very scared of fire, and just can't accept the fact that when you're careful with it you should be fine.

Then came the nest part of training. My girl lit two sparklers, and put the handle end of one in my mouth, and the handle end of the other in Geode's. Geode was fine with this, he just sat there wagging his tail happily. I was... a different story. I was shaking where I stood, and only when I felt my girl's hand on my fur could I even semi-calm down. Luckily sparklers don't last long, and when that was done my girl blew out the candles and called for dinner.

Geodes bowl was a few feet away, so we could socialize without one stealing the others food. After we all finished eating my Girl lead the way downstairs, and out the door. She walks towards the gate, and sticks out her knee. I hop onto her knee, then over the gate. I trot a few steps to slow myself before stopping, then turn around and look back at my Girl and Geode. Geode sniffs at the gate, and then at my Girl's knee. He doesn't jump over or anything, just sits there. Then my girl has an idea, she bends down so her back is like a step stool half as high as the gate. Geode steps on her back, and then onto the top of the gate, then onto the boards. I nudge him backwards, and he look questioningly at me. Then my girl gets up and walks backward. When she gets far enough back, she runs up to the gate and hops over.

All together on the other side, we head down to the beach. It's the first time Geode had even been to the ocean, and by the smell of it he's in for a surprise. You see the ocean is cold most days, but today it's going to be freezing.

I trot down the stairs with Geode and my Girl close behind, and then down to the water. I barely react to the cold, my Girl sucks in a short breath when she gets to the ocean. Geode though, well he wasn't prepared. He rocketed back up the sand before splashing down in a hole a 12 year old had dug. Those aren't much better, they're still cold. Geode hopped out of there faster than light, let me tell you. Meanwhile, I had to sit down I was laughing so hard, and my Girl was laughing hysterically.

When we finished at the beach, we had dinner. After dinner my Girl went to her bedroom, and both Geode and I hopped into the bed. problem was, we took up most of the bed. We then lied at the very end, and my Girl got into the bed as well. Exhausted, we sailed into the land of dreams.

[Trphlthdl]

-March 5-

-Me-

Spark still hasn't gotten over her fear of fire, and I'm going to fix that today. I called a group of friends, and we're going to have a campfire down on the beach. I'm bringing Spark, and we'll see how this goes. I've got a plan though.

Spark and Geode are barking at the door, my friends have arrived. We've all eaten dinner beforehand, so we're not roasting hotdogs or anything. My friends are what we refer to as 'Key Buddies' meaning they've got keys to the house, and that they can let themselves in while I grab the bag of jumbo marshmallows.

"I can't believe you didn't let us in E!" M exclaims.

"You've got the keys, besides I had to fish out the jumbo marshmallows." I reply.

"Marshmallows!" screams S.

"You don't get ALL of them." M says to S laughing.

"One of you come to the landing, I'm gonna toss the bag down and look for the skewers. Don't eat them all, and go set up!"

"Aren't you going to introduce us to the Foxes first?" M and S say at them same time.

"No, I'll introduce them as we toast the marshmallows. Ah, here they are. S you're in charge of the skewers" I say as I hand them to her.

"Fine." She sighs.

"You're gonna want to watch this." I say as I open the back door, and the two foxes run out.

I stroll to the gate an then stick out my knee. Spark takes a running start hops on my knee, and then vaults over the gate. She almost trots as she slows to a stop. M and S are gaping at the sight, but that's not all. I bend down so my back is like a step stool for Geode. He takes his cue, and hops from my back to the gate to the ground. Now it's my turn. I back up then run at the gate and leap over it, inches to spare.

"Show off." S says jokingly as she open the gate and walks through, M close behind.

Spark and Geode run down the boardwalk towards the beach, and S and M meander along with me as we carry the supplies for the fire.

"You aren't worried about them running off?" asks M.

"Nah, they can be trusted. I've only used a leash with Spark a couple times, but that was before she trusted me."

"Before she trusted you? I thought they were extremely trusting." Says S from my left side.

"Many Guardian Foxes are, but she's had a bit of a rough past." I say and then explain her story, and by the time I finish I can feel the warm sand sifting between my toes. "Lets set up the fire." I say as I set up the sticks. "You two get it going I'm going to get Spark and Geode.

I walk towards Spark and Geode, and then explain to Spark whats going to happen.

"Spark, we're starting a campfire. You can't be petrified every time someone lights a candle. You'll be sitting with me, and I'll protect you."

Why

"Because you need to get over this fear. It's good to be cautious around fire, but you can't be completely afraid of it. That'll just cause more problems."

Fine, but that doesn't mean I like the idea.

"Thank you Spark. C'mon now, they've got the fire lit." I finish as I hear a startled noise from S.

We get close to the fire, and then Spark hops into my arms. I sit on the sand, and whisper to her rocking back and forth.

"Spark it's fine. While it's still in my power I won't let anything hurt you. I'll protect you from the fire if it turns nasty. I love you, and will never ever leave you,"

I'm safe here. I'm truly finally safe, and didn't realize it.

Spark hops out of my lap and lies on the sand next to me, relaxed and content. I smile and stroke her fur.

"How'd you just do that?" M says as S looks just as curious.

"I talked to her."

"There's more to it than that, but you obviously don't want to say." M says raising an eyebrow at me.

"You're right on both points. Now pop out the marshmallows, I wanna set mine on fire!" I reply.

"E!" they say.

"What?" I respond, and burst out laughing.