Chapter 50: New Accommodations.

“Wasn’t me this time,” Ren said again, still frozen mid-knock. It seemed it didn’t matter how the girl herself acted. Doors around her simply had a way of destroying themselves. There were [Passives] like this during my time. This girl’s was rather unique.

Sol chirped from my chest. It was a small, satisfied sound. It seemed Sol had sneezed herself awake. At least she hadn’t burned down the entire door, just a…very sizable chunk of it.

“What,” Ren said slowly, lowering her hand, “is that.”

“This is Solara. She is my familiar, the great steed I said she would one day be. She is not to be touched.”

Ren opened the door and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her. I saw now that she was carrying some kind of brown bag in one hand. The girl set it down on the ground. Ren took a few steps toward us. It seemed the girl had not heard my warning, for her hand was already reaching towards Sol. Sol’s four wings flared wide and she screeched. Ren yanked her hand back just before the beak found her fingers. “She bites?!”

“She does,” I said. “She bites those unworthy of her. It seems she has made her decision, and found you wanting.”

Sol settled against my chest and puffed with satisfaction. She watched Ren with one golden eye. Ren stared back, rubbing her almost-bitten fingers. Her expression shifted from shock to something brighter. “She’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Ren breathed. “What is she? Four wings? Seriously? And those black ones are…oooh.”

I permitted this assessment. Ren reached again. This time she moved slowly and with exaggerated care. Her fingers inched forward. Sol watched her come. She let the hand get within an inch of her feathers. Then she turned and bit the air where the fingers had been. Ren pulled back. “Okay, she really does bite.”

“I did warn you. She is exercising great restraint. You did see what she did to the door.”

Ren huffed. “Yeah, but I thought she’d warm up to me! Animals always warm up to me!”

“She is not an animal. She is a great steed. No, she is the greatest steed. There is a considerable difference.”

Ren tried a third time. Sol did not even bother with a warning. She simply turned her back to the girl, tucked her wings, and closed her eyes. “This is so unfair,” Ren muttered, slumping against the wall. “She won’t even look at me!

“She looked at you. She simply found you wanting.” I corrected. “Why are you even here?” I asked. “Is something wrong with the boy? What Ash and I did should be-“

“No! No, nothing like that!” Ren said quickly. She pointed back at the pouch she had deposited on the floor. “I was just walking outside when Ash ran into me. She said something about needing ‘food for the egg’ and then she ran off! I didn’t even have time to ask. By the Divine she runs fast! So….” Ren shrugged. She stepped back and picked up the pouch. “I figured I could get some.”

“You got…food?” I asked. “Why? From where? How?”

Ren’s face went a shade of pink. A wisp of flame shot up her arm and died. “There are ways.” She said. “If one is willing and knows how to break into the beast hall when the Mistress is asleep.” She said this second part very quickly. In a much lower voice I barely heard.

I stared at her. “And why would you do such a thing?”

Ren’s face deepened from a pink to a light shade of red. “Do you want it or not?!”

“Very well, you may lay out your offerings before her. I will see their worth for myself.” I would have folded my arms, but it might have disturbed Sol.

Ren let out a breath as she reached into the pouch. She pulled out a handful of oddly shaped stones, each a different color. I saw green, red, blue, purple, and violet. She laid them out in a row on the floor.

“And just what, pray tell,” I said. “Are these?”

“Essence stones!” Ren said. “Familiars love this kind of thing like you wouldn’t believe.”

Sol, for her part, hadn’t even turned to regard her offerings. I rose and stepped forward, before gently lowering the bird to the ground. Sol rose, chirped, and turned to regard the offerings at last. Her head twitched. First it twitched right, then left. She hopped away from my cupped hands and waddled over to the first stone. The red one.

“She finds your offering wanting.” I said.

“Shh…she’ll bite. Just watch.” Ren said. The girl was on her hands and knees, leaning forward towards Sol. Any more, and she might fall flat on her face.

Sol let out a chirp. A loud chirp. She smacked her beak into the first stone. Then, her beak opened. Orange and yellow flame poured out, incinerating the first stone. When the fire died, there was nothing left but ash.

“Hey! Do you have any idea how expensive those are!” Ren said. “Not that I’m paying for them but still!”

Sol for her part, was already waddling over to the green stone next. I suspected this offering would not meet a kinder fate. “Oh no you don’t!” Ren yelled, scooping up the stones and hurriedly shoving them in the bag. “You can eat them, but I didn’t steal these just so you could burn ’em!”

Sol let out something that sounded remarkably like a huff. Then she turned and regarded me, before letting out another chirp. Did she…want me to raise her again, or was she asking for food? I did not know.

The door opened, Ash stepped inside. The Hero was breathing hard, and carrying a cloth bundle from the kitchens. She looked at us, looked at the bundle in her own hands, and then looked at Sol. “Sorry I’m late. It’s…it’s hard to get something this late. Has she eaten yet or….”

“She has not. Your effort was not in vain.” I said. I looked to Ren. “All she has done is use more of her energy dealing with the paltry tribute laid out in front of her.”

Ren grumbled something under her breath. Something a minion surely shouldn’t say before their Queen. Ash nodded slowly as she approached Sol, got down on her knees, and reached into the bundle. The Hero set out strips of raw meat, bread, and some dried fish. Sol inspected each offering with all the imperiousness of a Queen. Ash picked up the bread first, and slowly moved it towards her.

Sol rejected the bread by turning her back on it. The dried fish received a look of contempt. It had to be that, at least. Ash held out the strip of raw meat last. Sol regarded it, regarded Ash, and then chirped. She did not eat from Ash’s hand. Ash nodded slowly, and set the meat on the ground. We were all leaning close now. I did not know when I had leaned.

Sol sniffed at the food, but she did not eat. It was a marked improvement from the insult she’d felt from those ‘Essence Stones’, but it was not enough. “What’s wrong with her?” Ren asked. “Is she sick?”

“She was born an hour ago,” Ash said. “I have no idea. She looks healthy to me.”

Sol chirped. She looked at the meat, then up at me. Then at my left arm. She chirped. Confused, I reached for her. She pecked at my wrist, right where the Cradle’s fake green Line sat against my skin. She pecked again, harder. “Ow. What are you-“

She pecked a third time and chirped so loudly it echoed off the stone walls. Then she looked at the meat. Then at my arm. Then at the meat again. Could it be? Something clicked.

I picked up the meat and let the Cradle’s white warmth seep through my fingers into the flesh. It was a small thing, just the tiniest bit of Essence that bathed the meat in white fire. It didn’t seem to do much of anything. There was no hollow in a piece of meat for my power to fill. Still, I reached it back out towards her. Sol’s head snapped toward it immediately. She chirped once, lunged, and devoured the piece in three regal bites.

She looked up at me and chirped for more.”She…she will only eat things you do…that to?” Ren asked, staring. “That’s…very strange. And she…told you. I’m not just seeing things right. You all saw that, right?!” Her voice had obvious surprise to it.

“She is my familiar,” I said, as though this explained everything. It did not explain anything.

Ren nodded slowly. Her Sigil flickered as she picked up another strip and channelled her own fire into it. The meat sizzled faintly in her palm. She held it out toward Sol with obvious excitement.

Sol looked at the offering. She looked at Ren. She knocked it out of Ren’s hand with one black wing and returned her gaze to me. “Are you serious?!” Ren cried out. “I literally just cooked it for you! That’s way more effort than whatever she did!”

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Sol chirped. I was quietly proud. Ash tried next, without using any of her powers. She held a strip out for her. Sol regarded her for a long moment. Then she hopped forward, snatched the meat from Ash’s fingers, and retreated towards me, holding it out. I bathed it in white fire, and handed it back to her. Sol ate the strip with great satisfaction.

Ren’s mouth fell open. “Hey you were way less rude with her! This is bullshit! It’s…it’s discrimination!”

“Perhaps she senses something in Ash that she does not sense in you,” I offered.

“Like what?!”

“Composure? Sense? Goodness? There are many things. Even I will have trouble finding the exact cause.”

Ren made a sound. Ash, to her credit, bit down on whatever smile was forming. Sol finished her meat, chirped once at Ash. She finally settled and chirped once, before lying flat again.”This isn’t over,” Ren said, pointing at Sol. “You and me. We’re going to be friends. I’m going to win you over.”

Sol yawned. The faint glow at the back of her throat made Ren take a half step back.

An Inker arrived not long after, one I had never seen before. The man had a reedy build, a hooked nose, and only the tiniest clump of hair covering his bald head. A blue sigil covered the length of his right arm. He had been pacing the hallway outside. He had seen the door, seen the hole in the door, and had stepped inside. The man’s jaw was set.

His gaze found Sol -who I had set on the bed- immediately. His face cycled through several expressions, none of them pleasant. “I see an unregistered beast,” he said. “In student quarters.”

Sol hissed at him from the pillow. From what was her pillow, I had decided. Sol’s hiss was a thin sound, and it was the most threatening noise I had ever heard from something that weighed nothing. “She is mine,” I said. “That should be enough, for you.”