Larrikan does not sleep well. The tree sways and pixies apparently cling to things in their sleep. They have sharp claws.
When Larrikan can tell dawn is close, he works himself free of the sleeping, clingy pixies. Once free, he moves away to a clear spot in the branches where he can see the horizon. When the first edge of the sun touches the sky, he begins to sing.
He sings a long, old Shy Folk song, which is a greeting to the dawn, and thankfulness for the return of the day, the light, and life everywhere. That lasts until the sun just clears the horizon, and the pixies are all awake. They listen, raptly.
Larrikan drinks a leaf full of dew, then sings some more. He sings, for lack of anything better, the old teaching songs. Songs for cubs, to entertain them and let them know about the world. The pixies listen intently as he sings about clans, and names them all, and about the wonders and most of the dangers of the forest. He leaves out a couple of verses about the voracious chaos of pixies.
He walks slowly along the branch, singing the children’s songs and looking for shaded, dewy leaves. He sips between verses and tells the stories of Uncle Reynard, the fox who helps and vexes the Queen of the Fey herself. Some of the Reynard songs are a little rambunctious and this gets the pixies worked up and flying about energetically. Some try and sing with him, but don’t remember the words long enough to sing the verses.
The sun is well up, and the day warming up when Larrikan finally runs out of voice. The last verses of the song he sings – the one where Reynard tried to get closer to the Queen by turning himself into a vixen and becoming one of her handmaidens, but gets loaned to an elven Duke with a thing for furry tails, and how she couldn’t talk her way out so had to stay – got a bit quiet at the end, and all the pixies crowded close to hear how Reynard got out of that mess.
When Larrikan stops, the pixies mob him, crying about how nice the music is, and how glad they are they didn’t eat him, and if he will sing more later, and what was that part in the bedroom all about?
Larrikan tries to answer the barrage of questions, but has a hard time keeping up. It isn’t long before the pixies distract themselves again, taking up a cry of, “Food!”, “Time to eat!”, “Hunt!” and begin to fly around in a veritable swarm.
One of the pixies who has been looking after Larrikan swoops over and says, “Hungry, fox?”
When Larrikan nods, the pixie says, “Come!” and sneezes out another blast of pixie dust on Larrikan, grabs him with clawed hands, and pulls him headlong into the air.