#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
¶¤¤££^†«~.                                          .~«†^££¤¤¶
¤^^†~.....                                          .....~†^^¤
#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
@¤£†~.....     .. ferrets                           .....~†£¤@
#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
¤£†«~..... ...~~~«†††^£££¤¶¶¶@##@¶¶¶¤£££^†††«~~~... .....~«†£¤
¤¤¤¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¤¤¤
#@¶¤£^†«~. you see something move in the corner of  .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.    your eye - probably one of these.     .~«†^£¤¶@#
@@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@@
@@¶¤£^†«~.            backbone animals.             .~«†^£¤¶@@
#@¶¤£^†«~.         cat-snakes, or so called.        .~«†^£¤¶@#
@¶¶¤£^†«~.       comes in different flavours.       .~«†^£¤¶¶@
@@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@@
¶¤£†«~~~~. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the mink ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .~~~~«†£¤¶
¤¤^^††~... ~                                      ~ ...~††^^¤¤
#@¶¤£^†«~. ~ minks, also called the snow ferrets, ~ .~«†^£¤¶@#
¤¤£^††~... . make up the "wandering food supply"  . ...~††^£¤¤
#@¶¤£^†«~. . used by the shamans and underlings   . .~«†^£¤¶@#
¤^«.......   of kirugu vargir. when called upon,    .......«^¤
#@¶¤£^†«~.   they present themselves, and can be    .~«†^£¤¶@#
@¶¤£^††«~.   caught.                                .~«††^£¤¶@
##¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶##
¤£††~..... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the marten ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .....~††£¤
#@¶¤£^†«~. ~                                      ~ .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~. ~ the marten is the sneakier one here, ~ .~«†^£¤¶@#
##¶¤£^†«~. . often used for spying, or stealing.  . .~«†^£¤¶##
#@¶¤£^†«~. . in the older tales about vidmi,      . .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.   these are probs the ferrets that she   .~«†^£¤¶@#
@@¶¤£^†«~.   was said to control. this connection   .~«†^£¤¶@@
#@¶¤£^†«~.   might explain why many denizens have   .~«†^£¤¶@#
¶¶¤^^^†«~.   this as their main "pet" god.          .~«†^^^¤¶¶
##@¶¤£†«~.                                          .~«†£¤¶@##
¶¤^†«~.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the ermine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ....~«†^¤¶
@¶¶¤£^†«~. ~                                      ~ .~«†^£¤¶¶@
¤£^^«..... ~ the lusher one in the family is the  ~ .....«^^£¤
¶¶¤¤£^†«~. . ermine. used as bedwarmers, or       . .~«†^£¤¤¶¶
¤^†«...... . harvested for their beautiful fur,   . ......«†^¤
¤^††~~....   the white coat, very pretty,           ....~~††^¤
¶££^^†«...   although rare.                         ...«†^^££¶
@¶£££^†«~.                                          .~«†^£££¶@
¤^^†~..... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the mewn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .....~†^^¤
¤¤^†††~... ~                                      ~ ...~†††^¤¤
¶£^«~~.... . one of the most notable in kirugu    . ....~~«^£¶
@@¶¤£^†«~. . lore, the otter ferret? it goes in   . .~«†^£¤¶@@
#@¶¤£^†«~.   rivers. there are a lot of ferrets,    .~«†^£¤¶@#
¤^^†«.....   but for some reason, this otter one    .....«†^^¤
#@¶¤£^†«~.   is hardly ever seen. it might be       .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.   that it is unbound...?                 .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.   locals use it for sport fishing.       .~«†^£¤¶@#
##@¶¤^†«~.                                          .~«†^¤¶@##
#@¶¤£^†«~. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the husky ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~. ~                                      ~ .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~. . the husky may seem like a dog, but   . .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~. . it is actually a kind of ferret.     . .~«†^£¤¶@#
##@¤£^†«~.   this makes it the largest of the       .~«†^£¤@##
#@¶¤£^†«~.   phylum, and it's the most recently     .~«†^£¤¶@#
¶£^^††«...   evolved as well, bred for use as a     ...«††^^£¶
@¤¤£^«....   predator. it's made more dangerous     ....«^£¤¤@
¤¤¤£^†«...   by the fact that it's almost           ...«†^£¤¤¤
¤££^««~...   completely unknown to biologists.      ...~««^££¤
#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
#@¶¤£^†«~.                                          .~«†^£¤¶@#
¶¤¤^^«~...                                          ...~«^^¤¤¶
¶¤^«~~~...                                          ...~~~«^¤¶
@¤££††~~~.                                          .~~~††££¤@