Pax

Bristle runs after Pax. Bristle leaps over the crest of a hill to find him and says, “The crows say war-sick humans are nearing. This exploding earth, these death wires, leave this for them to find” (179). She yells at him to come back. Pax says he sees another fox, but she doesn’t believe him: “No fox from our valley would venture past the territory boundary” (180). A small fox splashes into the water, and Pax recognizes him. Bristle springs up, seething, ordering the little fox to go home. To no avail. Runt jumps on a wire running towards them: “A swath of lower field exploded into the sky… the broken world went silent” (181). Pax calls for Runt and Bristle. Finally, he sees Runt, who’s alive but missing a leg.

Peter carves a small figure that looks like Pax. He then tells Vola about the feeling of merging with Pax, “how sometimes he didn’t just know what his fox was feeling, but actually felt it himself” (186). Vola tells him he’s experienced Two but not two—A Buddhist concept about nonduality. Peter asks her “Do you think that if I feel Pax living, then he’s alive” Vola says yes, and Peter is overjoyed.