Era1 Universe: Encore!

Your character makes a numerical discovery. What is it?

"Let's try this one more time. This is one. ONE. How many is that?" Amari asked, pointing to the apple on the ground between herself and the young wolf boy.

Fang tilted his head. He was beginning to grasp the language Amari and her younger brother Kahvae spoke. Though he understood it in part, he didn't fully understand it. And the lessons Amari was trying to teach him? This was more confusing than trying to learn to say her name in the language she spoke.

"You can do it Fang~" She warmly coaxed.

"One," he practically choked on the word that came out of his mouth. It felt funny. Like it had a weird taste even though it was just nothing more than vibrated air. He scrunched up his nose and shook his whole body. The fur on his ears poofed up to be fluffier. But his tail? His tail fluffed up to new levels.

Amari chuckled. "Good. Yes. One. This is ONE. So if I add," she paused and took a second apple from behind her and set it down next to the first one, "one more. How many is that?"

There was one apple. And now another one. Fang squinted. "One one."

A defeated noise escaped the fox-hybrid. She'd been at this for hours already and with hardly anything to show for her efforts. But she was determined above all else.

The three lived together in Amari's house in the Canopy Shores, just a stone's throw from the ocean, at least so it felt. Both Amari and Kahvae were in their young adult years, having finally been reunited after being separated most of their lives due to a traumatic accident. Kahvae worked as a ranger in the various areas of the Canopies while Amari served as somewhere between a healer and a doctor. What she called herself varied on the patient and the day of the week. Then there was Fang. Unlike the two siblings, both beautiful fox hybrids having ancestry in both the desert dwelling foxes and those of the Grove, that was to say the kitsune-like hybrids, Fang was of the wolf-folk. A strange set of circumstances had led him to a place the two siblings visited on their travels once and they took pity on the poor soul in need of help. The siblings never intended on taking the boy in but he bonded with them and worked his way into their hearts to stay with them until he was grown.

Which is where Amari was at. Fang was young and in need of proper schooling. At least, as proper as she could provide. Though she lacked formal training to teach others, she had a lifetime of experience she could use as the foundation for a good education.

The problem?

Many.

Fang and the fox siblings didn't speak the same language. Amari and Kahvae spoke a few dialects of Kit that came from the various zones of the forest as well as Common. But Fang only spoke a language that no one seemed to know. The wolf-folk weren't common at all which meant information was uncommon at best.

The second problem came by way of Fang's upbringing. Amari and Kahvae knew next to nothing about the boy when they found him and as time wore on they barely had any more information to add to what they knew about him. From what Amari was gathering he'd only been taught the essentials for living rather than any sort of proper education. She couldn't decide if his parents were to blame or if the wolf-folk operated differently and didn't prioritize things like math and science.

"Let's try this again, remember what I told you earlier? You can do it. This is ONE." Amari removed the second apple and pointed to the first one then looked up at him expectantly.

Ah. She wanted him to repeat. He understood this game. Kahvae was teaching it to him when they'd go out on patrols together. "One."

"Good! And now this is?" She set the second apple down and gestured to the both of them.

What came after one? He tried to remember but Amari said a lot of words he didn't understand. "Apple."

"No. Well- yes. Technically. Those are apples. But how many?" She hoped with every fiber of her being that he grasped this. She didn't want to keep spoon feeding him information. She knew he was smarter than this.

Fang glared at the apples then laid down so his chest was on the floor. He poked one apple then the other. His tail swished back and forth with curiosity. Weird as this all was and foreign as it felt he was enjoying himself to a degree.

"Fang? You can do it. Remember..."

A vague idea came to him. "Tw-twoo?" The word came out mangled but he was learning and trying.

"Yes! Yes Fang! Very good!"

Hearing the pure excitement in Amari's tone made his tail wag excitedly and his ears perk up. "Good?"

"Yes! You did a good job..! One and one makes two."

"One... and one... makes... tw-oo."

Amari chuckled softly. "Two. Yes."

Though he didn't know it yet, he'd learned the most basic of arithmetic problems. The path ahead was a steep one paved by many hours of learning but the future was bright for the young wolf boy under the care of the two fox siblings who would do anything to protect him.