Tails from echidna's tribe

Angel Island. An island floating high above the clouds, unseen by anyone, but inhabited. Its only inhabitant is surrounded by small animals, who did not allow him to enjoy another silence of this day. Sitting under a palm tree, the young echidna does not understand such a sharp alarm of the animals, but he himself feels that something is clearly wrong. The earth transmits to him someone else's pain, someone else's fear, and if he does not find out the reason, it seems that the newly arrived soul will sooner leave the island. Reluctantly getting up, the echidna wandered after the animals showing the way. The critters obviously know what is happening, but can't do anything themselves. Deep in the trees, incomprehensible sounds were heard. They mixed between the crying of a child and the howling of a dog. The echidna continued to walk towards the source of the noise and noticed in the distance how the animals crowded around the screaming bush. The guardian came closer and saw a moving cocoon of a blanket inside. In this cocoon lay a small crying fox. The echidna was taken aback. Where did this baby come from? He was alone on this island. He looked around hoping to see the fox's parents, but he didn't even feel anyone else. Without overthinking, the echidna carefully picked up the baby - the baby fit perfectly in his large palms - and brought him closer to himself. "Hello, little one," the echidna greeted, "How did you get up here?" The fox fell silent and opened his small blue eyes. They stared at the big purple ones, and all his fear evaporated. The echidna carefully wiped his cheeks, which glistened on the yellow fur. "Don't cry, everything is fine. I won't hurt you," the echidna spoke quietly and slowly. "My name is... I'm Knuckles. Do you have a name?" He looked around the fox, all over the place where he was lying, and finally unfolded the diaper. There was nothing that could tell what this baby was called (if they even called him at all), the baby just started to cringe, showing his two tails. The echidna noticed this detail, but did not say anything about it - the fox was born yesterday, but his eyes were very smart, which means he can be offended. "Okay, we'll figure it out later. You can't be alone here. I'll take you to my place..." Knuckles picked the fox up to his chest and went back. The animals calmed down a little, but some of them stayed next to Knuckles. He rocked the baby in the hope that he would fall asleep, but the fox thought otherwise. He stared at the echidna's slightly protruding chest. He carefully pulled out his hand and pinched the echidna. "Ow," the echidna was not in pain, but he still felt the touch. "What are you doing?" The fox was silent, only trying to reach the grabbed place with his mouth. "Stop pinching me. I'm not edible," the echidna tore his paw away from himself and stuck his finger in the baby's mouth. The lips quickly grabbed the finger - it was obvious that the fox was hungry. Not feeling any teeth, Knuckles thought: it would not be possible to feed him his food, the baby didn't even know how to chew. He would like some milk... Returning to the place where he was resting, Knuckles noticed small squirrels on the palm tree. They climbed higher and jumped onto the coconut. Under their weight, a large nut fell to the ground. The echidna looked at the nut, remembered that there was its juice, very similar to milk. In addition, it is very nutritious. However, this did not solve the problem. The nut is too big for a child - he might choke, or everything might spill out. "Why is it so hard...?" Knuckles sighed, trying to remember what it was like to be that age, but unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. Suddenly it dawned on him: he had seen abandoned houses with lots of stuff inside. Maybe there would be something suitable there? After a while, having found a couple of them, after several unsuccessful attempts to find anything, Knuckles finally found a small bottle with a rubber band on the lid. This rubber band stuck out, creating a neck of the bottle large enough to feed a child. The echidna did not return to that same palm tree, because that palm tree was not the only one. He punched a similar palm tree with his fist, and all the coconuts that were hanging on it fell out. Watching how the nuts fell to the ground one by one, the fox cub laughed. Knuckles carefully placed the bundle containing the baby in the shade. After washing the bottle in a spring, he removed the rubber band, clenching it between his teeth. Using the spikes on his knuckles, Knuckles pierced the coconut. He held the bottle to the hole and filled it to the brim with coconut milk. He put the rubber band back on, picked up the baby, and sat down, leaning against a palm tree. The fox looked at the bottle brought to his mouth and opened his mouth greedily. There was silence again. The echidna watched the little creature, wondering what to do next. Who would have thought that at eight years old, Knuckles, the last echidna, would have a baby fox that would consider him as father?