Food, please. I'm so sick of hunting.

"Sure."

He makes a gesture as though spreading an invisible tablecloth over the floor, and a tablecloth appears in his hands and unrolls neatly; the draft as it settles down pushes the last few letters of the alphabet out of place, and he absently taps them back into their neat half-circle, then starts pulling plates of food out of thin air. Bread, sausages, grilled fish - things one might reasonably guess a fox could eat, but nevertheless definitely human food.

Thank you, she says, after a pause. Then she sits up from her little foxball and begins eating. Daintily. Scarfing all of the food present would probably make her sick.

Isfain grins delightedly at this spectacle.

She eats a little bit of everything, because she's really not sure how healthy her diet was before.

Partway through, as she moves on from the sausage to the grilled fish, she notices Isfain's gaze. She returns it, and tilts her head in an unspoken question.

"Hmm?"

You're smiling at me.

"Oh, I guess I was. It's—nice to feel like I'm off to a good start in helping you. And you have charming table manners."

Oh. Thank you.

This having been communicated, she returns to eating. With the most fantastic table manners.

It's so charming!

She's a little surprised that he finds her this charming, but okay.

Soon enough, she eats her fill. She's a fox, it's not like she has a very large stomach. And, well, she's. Not been eating well for a while. She doesn't want to push it.

When she's finished, she asks, Now what?

"I suppose I could make up one of the guest rooms for you. Although I'm not quite sure how to be properly hospitable to a fox. Suggestions?"

Fox box, with blankets to snuggle in, she says, immediately. Maybe a little door or something so I can go outside, if that's possible.

"There's only the one door, but I can have it open for you."

She decides not to take the time to spell out her sentences, in favor of giving a little happy yip.

He giggles.

"All right, give me a minute and I'll have a guest room set up for you," he says, and he stands up and steps into thin air and disappears.

She barks agreeably, then settles down to think about what other things she might want, now that she's in a position to ask for things.

It's closer to five minutes before he reappears.

"You have a box!" he says brightly. "And all the doors in the house will open and close if you tap them with your paw. Your room's this way, if you'd like to see it."

(He flutters his fingers at the remaining dishes of food, and they disappear.)

Affirmative yip!

But also: Bath?

"Hmm. I have baths, of course, but they're not very fox-sized... I can probably come up with something smaller if you like."

She nods agreeably. The soap's more important. Nothing really smelly?

"I expect I can manage that! Let me show you to your room and then I'll go fiddle with the bath problem."

Affirmative yip! She hops to her feet and trails after him.

On their way out of the front hall, he flicks his fingers at the alphabet and vanishes it; when they arrive in her room, he flicks his fingers at the floor and the alphabet appears there.

It's a nice room. Obviously meant for human guests, but he's put in a cozy little blanket-lined box, with a pile of small pillows next to it in case she turns out to prefer that. There's a little water fountain on the floor in case she gets thirsty. The box and pillows and blankets and fountain all match the blue-and-silver theme of the room's other decor.

Aww! How cute.

She gives a little approving bark.