[All Things Wild] It All Begins Somewhere

[Haeli]

Timestamp: 71st Fall 510 AV Task: Getting the Business Open Location: All Things Wild Tag: By Invite The building, by Haeli's standards, was huge. And that it was hers seemed somewhat impossible. But once she was inside, it was easy to understand why it was given away so easily. Dust coated everything. As an observatory, it hadn't been used for years evidently and the inherent grim was such that it made cleaning supplies a necessity. Haeli had ventured into other stores to see what they were like, and she'd understood immediately that what she had and what the people of Lhavit would expect were two different things. A dirt floor wouldn't do, even if the building had stone floors already. She'd have to pot most of her indoor gardens or set them with raised stone to fill with dirt and transplant seedlings. Her starts she'd get from the Gyvaka, and indeed had. Making many trips in her egret form, Haeli had gathered already produced supplies from Ozantha's stocks and precious seedlings and starts from in and around the swamp. The first floor would be her showroom, where she sold things in cool bottles and jars, wrapped in paper and twine. There'd be things she needed that she'd retrieved from Ozantha's cabin. The scale had come first, the majority of the burden for her egret form that first flight. Powders needed be weighed and measured. Without accurate accounting, things wouldn't work correctly and what was meant to heal might indeed harm. Not knowing that things had to be bought, Haeli fixed a makeshift broom from a cut sappling and broken off branches and began sweeping out the building all three floors worth. Once the building was swept clean, the glass had to be polished and cleansed. She used vinegar water to do so, getting the light down to her plants was important, especially to the plants she knew needed more warmth and sun than Lhavit provided this time of year. The place had a large glass ceiling common room, two bedrooms upstairs, a kitchen, a philtering lab that was fully stocked, a workshop, and beneath its floors elaborate storage complete with bins and racking. There was also a simple bath, which she cleaned thoroughly as well along with everything else. One bedroom would go to Brig, for she had no use of it. He'd perhaps like it unless he preferred sleeping in the tree out in the garden behind the building. The walled garden was what she loved about the place. It even had a stream running through it that would provide enough water for her to damn up and create some ponds to grow some of her more potent ingredients. Other than cleaning, and making her supply runs to the swamp, Haeli had no real idea where to start getting the place set up for a shop. She knew she had to make signs, price things, organize things, and set up the place so people felt like they were visiting something special and exotic. She didn't want the building to be like others in Lhavit. She wanted them to think they were walking into someplace exotic, a place they'd never get to visit otherwise. She wanted to turn the place into an indoor swamp and gardens that just happened to have work tables and sales counters buried in the pathways between plots. She'd coax birds inside as well as insects and anything living that would make the place run smoother. Brig would like that, Haeli thought, as long as she kept their living area human enough. She'd also leave a sitting room area near the storage people friendly for conversations with clients and a place to take tea. Otherwise, the place, she decided, would be called "All Things Wild" and would have a variety of wild creatures and plants to back up the pretentiousness. The workshop she'd leave for Brig to work on, carefully working up the layout for the main floor and gardens instead. Once things were lean, it was time to haul dirt and stone to create her raised beds and drag enormous pots in from the garden to populate the main gallery. Sometimes she shifted form to do this, using Derek's body with its stronger muscles to aid her work. And along the way she'd study the local pack animal's shape and try to master it so that she could indeed utilize its shape to haul better dirt up the slopes in big packs she'd have to purchase at the stable. All in all it was big undertaking. And it was one they had thirty days to get going before the city said she had to open. Thirty days. Twenty nine now. Haeli had a decided note of urgency in each and every one of her actions. It didn't help either, that nightly she was flying back to the swamp as an egret to bring back more supplies.

[Brig]

Haeli’s work, was Brig’s work. Or so the Kelvic believed with every bit of himself. In the brief amount of time since they’d met down the mountainside, such a connection had developed and grown, was still growing, that it was beyond Brig to completely comprehend it or to know the reasons why. They were many, some transcended the makings of his kind and went to something more personal. But it was a compulsion no matter what exactly defined it. Which meant that throughout the process of getting the place put together and ready for opening, the Kelvic was ever present, underfoot until she’d allow him to shoulder as much of the burden or more by her side. He was in his human form as much as the other. Whichever best suited the task at hand. In breeches and bare chested in spite of the gathering chill, digging, hauling or lifting this or that, inside or out. He’d shifted to his raccoon form to scamper off in the night, either down the mountainside to hunt or fish for their supper, or bring back odds and ends that had caught his eye along the way. Other times he took to the rooftops of the city, or along alleyways past houses, shops and open doorways. He’d proven to be something of a talented panhandler, charming old housewives where he could and scrounging where he couldn’t. And brought home even then little odds and ends that other people called rubbish, but he considered a treasure just waiting to be combined born into some marvelous new and useful gadget. After one of his trips down the mountainside he’d come back with company. Another raccoon had waddled in, in his wake. Smaller, scruffy, grayer than him around the face, slow moving and thin. He wasn’t a particularly engaging fellow, he’d rattled and huffed grumpily but had seemed grateful enough for an invitation to hunker down for the Winter in a nicely walled garden with plenty to eat…supplied by his much younger Kelvic friend. There was the workshop for Brig to fix up and when he wasn’t hovering near Haeli, helping and watching her with a growing affection and bond, he was in the large space figuring just what to do with it. Some of the treasures he’d brought back during his nightly outings, he’d arranged in corners or on the top of the large heavy table in the center. Tidiness of the indoors was a wholly new concept to grasp but he put forward a valiant effort and swept the place and pulled down the cobwebs from the ceilings and window frames. He’d liked the idea of bringing the outdoors in, and liked the name she meant to call the place. He told her so with a pleased smile and vowed that he’d need to devise a name for his own corner of it. It would come to him on its own when the time was right, he was sure. Until then he’d need tools, things he could hardly name but he’d know them when he saw them. The traveling tinker who’d taught him had had a case full of the things, and it only meant that Brig had to find a place that sold them, and pick up similar ones for himself. He had coins, those his mother had saved and kept for him, that he’d taken with him after the farm burned and he’d lost his family, both mother and sister. Being able to hunt, scrounge and burrow for most anything he needed, the Kelvic had little understanding of money or its worth. Only that humans prized coins quite a lot and would rather trade their goods for those than something genuinely useful. What was reasonable then, and what was exorbitant was beyond him. But a gadgeteering toolkit, now that seemed to hold just about everything he recognized he might need. And more. But surely he’d find use for the mysterious things too, and what the shopkeeper wanted for the thing, a hundred and fifty of those coins, Brig would hand over and proudly bring it home to show to Haeli. Over the remaining days he’d work more on the place, scavenge more in the night for some prize or other, or go off down the mountain with Haeli to help her haul back the supplies she’d need. Whatever it was that needed doing next, however, he was there by her side, just waiting for her to say the word.

[Haeli]

There was an ease to life once Brig moved in. Even the sulky older raccoon he brought with him failed to disturb Haeli much. It was like she almost overnight developed some sort of need for his attention, his company, his opinions. Though it could have been a rather disturbing situation, it hadn't turned out to be at all. The initial bonding had scared her because she had no name for the experience and no knowledge that it was normal. It had happened with an unexpected strength and ferocity that had stolen her words and was so far outside of her experience that even now she had no name for what had happened between them. As time passed she'd look back and wonder but for now she ignored it until such a time as they could both understand it and grow from it. The experience hadn't seemed to hurt either of them. Nor did it keep them so close together that they had to be in the same room together. Brig had proven he could be away for days and they'd still both be fine. But that he'd come back, and that had relieved her since she'd been so worried. In less than a day or two the pair of them just became friends when he had shown up. It was something that had bloomed the day they met and had grown since his return. Haeli had never had one. She'd imagined a great deal of friends and counted the animals in the swamp as her constant companions, but they'd never had the friendship she felt with Brig. He was always there to help move something heavy, to finish a decision for her if she stood holding two objects for display undecided about which should be placed prominently. He'd wander by, pluck one from her hand, sit it where she'd contemplated putting one or the other of the two things she held to make the choice for her, and keep moving. Her laughter and thanks would drift after him. It was normally the right choice too. He moved easily from shape to shape, scampering high into the branches of a tree to hang a string of lanterns that could be lit later or scurrying up a ladder to help polish the glass windows that were incredibly necessary to keep plants alive in the winter that was to come. And they talked. About anything and everything, even if it was just the weather. The conversation wasn't forced but flowed between them. She didn't worry about him being there, and in fact when he went out at night she tended to wait up to make sure he returned safely near dawn. And the work. There was so much work to do on All Things Wild. Cleaning glass and gathering ingredients wasn't just the beginning. Haeli mixed and recombined, and spent hours in the philtering lab creating things for her herbalism. After studying the women of Lhavit, along with herbs and spices, she decided to carry cosmetics and perfumes. She also branched out into incense. Her price list was growing by the day the more she created. And although her stock wasn't extensive she began to fill the glass jars and little wooden drawers of the apothecary wall she'd had delivered. At first there was only one or two full, but now after repeated trips to the swamp and the misty peaks, she'd managed to get more of them filled. And the pond out back was proving useful too. There was no snow on the ground, not yet, though it was coming. She had giant pots delivered to the facility by the dozens and filled them with soil Brig and herself dug out of what soon would be the pond. Haeli planned to create a fish-stocked water garden out back fed by the stream and drained down by its continuation. Indoors, containers and trees of all sorts would be planted. They wouldn't be large this year, but they would grow steadily as the time passed. The first potted thing she manged to plant was a bay laural. Everyone needed bay leaves to cook with and Lhavit was no exception. Being able to offer fresh bay year round was important. Later, she'd plant oranges and other citris, for they'd thrive under the hothouse glass. But for now, she was content for herbs and spice plants, little things she could carry back from the Gyvaka clutched in an Egrets beak. She'd have to teach Brig morphing soon though. With two of them flying, it would half her trips and half his worry when she too disappeared for days flying to retrieve an ingredient or another. During those times she was gone, Haeli urged Brig beforehand to work on his workshop. She'd turned the whole place over to him, hoping he'd find some pleasure in wearing human skin and creating his nonsensicals once he'd had a chance to look around Lhavit and guess more what people would enjoy. Her first suggestion for a project came when they were both lying head to head on the stone floor tired from the days work. Her feet pointed towards the door and his towards the garden. They'd ended up like that after she'd professed being too tired to make it back to the living area of All Things and had collapsed right there. Haeli had been hot, overheated from standing over a hot fire making herbal remedies, and the cool stone beneath her felt heavenly. She had wrinkled her forehead, a little grumpy they couldn't see the sky show outside because the glass on the inside was slightly fogged from all the boiling water she had to make that day. "You know Brig, its too bad we can't capture the stars and somehow make them shine inside. I saw a woman today that had a jewel on her throat that sparkled so much it threw light everywhere when the sun hit it. I wonder if you could do the same with a candle and mirrors to make stars shine inside? You should try it. I bet everyone here would love it. They love the stars so much." Haeli said, reaching out to stroke his curly hair before letting her hand drop.

[Brig]

While the days leading into Winter were busy ones and many of the late evenings too, Brig had taken to slipping from his bed at night, or down from the high branches of his favorite tree to curl up outside Haeli’s door in the night. Whether she realized it or not, there he’d curl up till dawn; a ball of black and cinnamon fluff or in his human form wrapped in a thick blanket, comforted by the small sounds she’d make while slumbering. And even in his sleep, protective and aware. He’d slip away before she rose. But such was their growing connection, their sense of each other that it wouldn’t have surprised him if she knew he was there all along. And in his human form, he snored just a little. He worried when she was away, gathering her herbs while he was at other work or fiddling in his workshop. He worried when he ventured down the mountainside, and never stayed longer than was necessary to bring back game or wood for the fire. When she did go off though and he stayed behind, he’d spent some time in his workshop to keep himself busy and his mind occupied. He’d taken the opportunity to familiarize himself with some of the things in his new toolbox. He’d known some of their uses already, guessed at others. And still more, made his deductions by trial and error. Likely in the process, he’d inadvertently invented whole new uses for this thing or that one. He’d spent some time out in the city, watching shopkeepers or housewives out on their errands, trying to guess what grand new idea either or any might find useful. He came back home with all sorts of big ideas, and usually a fair amount of what most other humans considered to be junk. He was discerning about his scraps and treasures, but still he saw uses where others tended not to. From the metal scraps he’d brought home, he’d pounded out several bowl or cone shaped strainers of various sizes. With wooden handles fixed on, and presented them to Haeli, thinking she could use them in preparing her herbs and other concoctions. Those had proven to be a fascination of their own, and he could often be found lurking about and peering into pots. Sniffing this, and once, tasting that and coming to the quick conclusion that it wasn’t fit to be tasted at all. But it had given him other ideas for things she might use, and he’d spent the better part of a day working on a set of spoons put together like tongs might be. Hinged together at their ends with a small spring for added tension, with small holes driven through the bowl of each spoon, he thought she might use the thing to press extra moisture from the things that came out of her pots. She’d realize he had no real mind for calculations, but he got along well enough without them by instinct and a little more trial and error. ”Stars inside?” he wondered when Haeli’s musing broke the companionable silence and twisting around just a little so he could see her face, he wore a thoughtful smile. ”I could,” he considered then frowned a little while he looked back at the expanse above them and considered things. ”If I was to cut mirrored glass into small rounds…Better,” he theorized, ”to cut them into small diamond shapes and mount them across the ceiling to let them catch the light of candles or lanterns below them.” ”But maybe there’s an easier way,” the Kelvic countered to his own suggestion and sat up suddenly as if it would make plotting easier. ”If I was to make a lantern of sorts. One that would sit on a stand or table and hold a large candle. Not with a glass globe but all metal sides and top. Or even one made of clay?” he wondered. ”It might be rounded with a lid on top. You might even hang it instead from a hook or the ceiling with a chain or twine. In the sides and the lid I could cut small star shapes all the way through so the light from the candle only comes out through the holes and reflects on the walls and the ceilings. If you had more than one, there’d be walls and ceilings full of stars,” he proposed with a wide grin.

[Haeli]

She didn't know about him sleeping in the hall. Haeli was a deep sleeper and usually nothing short of a full scale invasion of howler birds from the swamp could wake her up once she got to sleep. She was also a quiet sleeper, rarely moving and almost never tossing restlessly. Had the witch known Brig was making free use of her hallway to sleep across her doorway, the door would have been left open and he would have been invited to join her in either form. Everything about Haeli was quiet. She tended to move through the building like a ghost, barely making any noise. It helped that she wore no shoes most of the time unless she was working out in the garden and it was too cold to go without footwear. It was as if Haeli saw predators on every corner and in every shadow. The girl wasn't fearful, just naturally cautious, and respectful in almost every way of the world she moved through. Her actions were deliberate and decisive so she never hesitated after she began to act on something. And she watched Brig constantly. It wasn't as if she waited for him to do something wrong or that she was afraid of him. It was more of a fascination. Her eyes often followed him in unusual ways. He'd catch her staring at his hands as he worked on something as if the movements of the joints fascinated her. And when he was in his raccoon form, she'd often lure him into her lap and spend time stroking his fur as if memorizing the patterns in his coat or stretching out his small but complex hands, looking at how they differed from her own. She was like a sponge, absorbing detail and constantly questioning the world around her. Haeli also watched the way Brig interacted with people. Her own manners were impeccable, but she just seemed incapable of initiating conversation or fitting in the way the rest of the people in the city did to one another. Brig, in fact, blended better than Haeli who often got strange looks at the market or in crowds. She stuck close to Brig too, in such cases, and rarely left the shop without him if she was going where a lot of people went. Flying back to the Gyvaka was completely different. And often, Brig would find her practicing her morphing and never knew what shape she'd be in if he left for one of his prowls and returned later. At one time or another she'd shown him just about all of them, including another human woman form that was a little older than Haeli. That one almost got him, but the bare feet and the warmth of the bond flooded his awareness and he knew his bondmate immediately despite her shape. And she in turn delighted in the things he came up to help her. Burns on her fingers from grasping hot vials were a thing of the past. Any time she needed something (and didn't know it) the tool just seemed to magically appear produced in a way it fit her small hands and made her work a lot easier. Haeli appreciated it more than she could convey to Brig and tried to let him know in any way she could. She left him special treats that she prepared, brought home things that were useless or broken but could be made into other things to add to his pile of 'investigate or use later' that was slowly growing in his workshop. And above that, she showed others what he'd made and told them that he'd be open for business too as soon as winter set in. And in the meantime, they worked on irrigation, planting, digging ditches, moving pots, cleaning, hauling, fixing up, and in general getting the place ready to open. Haeli was exhausted. But she was glad Brig liked her idea. And she was always fascinated how he improved upon it. When he sat up, she frowned, not wanting him to jump up and pace leaving her alone on the floor. So Haeli shifted so her head was in his lap cushioned on his knee. She had wanted his attention, not to distract him terribly. Over her usual threadbare shift she wore an sort of work smock and tucked into the pocket of that smock was a slim volume on Kelvics and their nature. She hadn't yet opened the book that she borrowed from the library just that day. Haeli wanted to read it with him. But she didn't want to break his concentration either. So she slipped one hand into the pocket of the smock and made sure the book was still safely there, and with the other she stroked his knee beside her head. She waited for his attention to wane or the idea to solidify in his head, and then she'd pull the book out. "I like the dome idea. Its safer that way if you are using a flame as the light source." Haeli said thoughtfully. "And that way you can sort of customize what stars you want to see reflected. You could even figure out a way to make it turn so the stars did too." She offered. Without realizing it, she'd already slipped the little book from her pocket and rested it on her stomach, eager to see what was inside.

[Brig]

Brig liked Haeli’s touch. No matter which form he was in, in fact he craved it. He knew that in large part she was studying him both by sight and touch. His movements and how he was put together. But it didn’t diminish his enjoyment of it in the least. When she invited him up into her lap in his raccoon form and pulled her fingers through fur that had grown thicker in readiness for the coming Winter, it was only a matter of seconds before a deep and contented purr rumbled up from deep in his chest. He couldn’t help it. He’d inevitably end up rolled over and cradled along the length of her thighs, sprawled belly up like an inebriated hedonist in all his contented glory. During her times of observing his coon form, she’d notice he rarely if ever picked up food with his mouth, but took and handled it with his hands before eating it. Unless it was broth, or milk or water to lap up, but he was often seen with hands into those too. He had a strong grip, both front and back and it afforded him the ability to move along branches or beams from underneath as often as on top of them. And his back feet, almost like hands themselves, could turn and grip in such a way that he was able to scamper down trees and posts nose first in contrast to other animals that needed to back down instead. Even in his human form, while surely he knew what knife and spoon were for, she’d find him as likely to use his hands instead. But more than anything, she’d notice that he watched her as much as she watched him. And craved her nearness. He was innately inquisitive in either of his forms, quick to experiment or investigate, a natural born explorer. Her other forms fascinated him, from the bird to the other woman, to the more fearsome cat or serpent or crocodile that he might have carefully considered rivals had the circumstances been different. But he belonged to all of them, the soul inside. The one that captivated him and that he found perfect and beautiful. When he’d sat up, he didn’t move far away and it was an easy thing to shift her head into his lap. Even in human form a contented huff arose from his chest and he smiled as he laid his hand in the small of her shoulder. And toyed with a strand of blonde hair that rested there. It made him happy that she liked his ideas and he fell into another lapse of silence while considering how he could make such a thing turn. ”I’ll make one, to see how it works. If you like it, I can make more and maybe others will buy them. I might be able to make it turn. Maybe on a base, or even from a special hook,” he proposed with a frown of concentration. ”My mother had a music box. She said it was hers when she was little and it had figures that turned on top. I wanted to know what made them turn and once when she was out, I took it apart to look inside,” he admitted sheepishly. Clearly there was part of the story he was leaving out. He was much younger then but for all his curiosity he’d failed to get the thing back properly together and his mother had been less than pleased once she’d discovered it and got him to admit his part. ”There was a piece on the outside that looked like metal wings. If you turned it,” he explained, ”it coiled up the bits inside and came slowly undone again. I remember what it looked like. Maybe I can make one that will turn the pot full of stars,” he decided. But she had a book that she’d slipped from her pocket and he’d been not so surreptitiously eyeing the thing. They fascinated him, bindings of paper or sometimes leather containing more slips of paper with letters inside that he could hardly begin to decipher. He’d seen precious few of them. The tinker had carried one or two, time to time and let him look inside. His mother had taken pains to teach him to write his own name. He'd learned a few letters. But he'd never learned to put them together, and he could hardly read the ones that others had. Haeli might’ve noticed the chalk markings he made all over the table in his workshop while he was fiddling with this or that. But they weren’t words or even letters. Just marks, symbols, lines and simple pictures that had poured out of his imagination and meant something to him. Notes of sorts for what he was working on. Haeli might recognize the intent, for knowing him. But for anyone not in tune with the workings of the Kelvic’s mind, they’d be as much as scribbled nonsense. ”You have a book,” he uttered quietly, curiously with gaze fixed on the thing. ”Tell me what it says?”

[Haeli]

OOCInformation taken from Founder interview! Haeli turned her head and smiled at Brig. The witch was convinced Brig was clever enough to make anything he wanted too given enough time and practice. She had witnessed enough of his tinkering to know he was full well and able to do so. "I don't know what a music box is, but if its something that turns, that sounds fascinating." Swamp life didn't leave a lot of room for envisioning things that seemed impossible. A little trapped tune in a box fit into that sort of scenario for Haeli but she said nothing. Truthfully she couldn't imagine what something called a music box would do unless it was some sort of instrument that played music. The wonders found in a city like Lhavit were numerous and never ending and surprising to someone like Haeli whose normal tools were things she made herself out of wood or things found in nature naturally. Human or kelvic engineering for that matter was a thing of wonder to her. "Yes! I do have a book. It didn't cost me anything but a promise to bring by recipes on making incense to the library." She added. She sat up slightly then shifted her position so she was facing him. Opening the book, she frowned, then switched positions again. The witch turned so her back was too him, then scooted back so she was almost in his lap. She would have used his chest for a backrest if he'd been willing, but instead she moved sideways and came to rest beside him where he could clearly see the book. If he wanted too he could draw her closer against him, splay his legs out on either side, and watch her read over her shoulder. The invitation was clearly there for his kelvic nature to read. The girl placed her fingers on the book to outline what she was reading aloud as she went, moving them across the page in case he wanted to follow. Haeli could read, but she suspected Brig could not. The marks he left in his workshop indicated a willingness to use writing tools but not an expertise with them. Haeli would correct that as soon as possible, since everyone needed to at least read a little common to get by. She let her finger rest beside the inside cover and read the title. "The Kelvics of Kalea: An In Depth Look At The Nature of Kelvics and Their Bonds." She also read the name of the author, someone called Klien Valinsti, and flipped the page to begin. Haeli glanced up at Brig, curious to see what his expression was, and began to read. "Despite popular belief, Kelvics are not Valterrian in Origin, but instead seem to slightly predate the event by just a few short years. Their history is closely guarded, but in the Kalea Region, which seems to be the closest to where they came from, more is known. A man named Marcus Kelvic, a powerful Suvan Summoner and other world explorer created them after a tragic accident in the service to his nation caused a severe physical handicap and retired him suddenly from active duty exploring other worlds and cataloging their creatures. In those days, Summoners not only pulled creatures from other worlds, but they traveled to those worlds. Marcus had a sister, his twin, who also served the Suvan Empire in this same capacity. Once Mizahar bound, Marcus started experimenting with creatures he'd collected from other worlds. One type, a mimic, showed incredible potential but unfortunately required a host to infest in order to survive on Mizahar more than a few bells. Through pure coincidence, Marcus discovered one of his kennel hounds made a incredibly good host. Binding that creature, a Vkantis, to the hound with Marcus' own blood using a form of binding magic called Talivantu, resulted in a creature that had the ability to not only hold the hounds shape but mimic Marcus' shape as well via his blood. Of Talivantu, there is little known as it seems to be one of the lost disciplines, probably thrown into obscurity either by the Suvan Alehea war or the Valterrian. But in the end, after multitude bindings, Marcus Kelvic discovered that he could not only keep the Vkantis on Mizahar's world but that in their human mimicked forms, they could reproduce quite successfully. From the original hunting hound, Marcus crafted all sorts of servants, discovering that the sex of the creature mattered in what human shape it could mimic. Not every Vkantis binding was successful, so the strongest got to reproduce and the weaker ones were either culled or sold off as oddities to fund his further research. In the beginning, historical records indicated that offspring of the Vkantis bred true and their animal shape would always be the animal shape their children took until crossbreeding and interbreeding blended their features and added a randomness to their offpspring’s outcome. A Vkantis pairing with a Vkantis resulted in another Vkantis. But when Marcus sired several children on his created Vkantis females, fewer than twenty five percent were Vkantis. Over time, Marcus Kelvic created scores of these creatures for a reason that is still unknown to this author. Rumor has it he was looking for something off world and using the Vkantis to search for it. Or, another theory states he was simply trying to perfect his new breed which eventually came to be called Kelvics. " Haeli looked back at Brig, touched him gently, and kept reading. What she read was disturbing to say the least. “Just a single generation into the breeding process, the Vkantis no longer were a separate entity but rather were integrated into their new hosts so thoroughly that they could not be separated. Infesting horses gave Marcus Kelvic loyal mounts. Infesting predators gave him a ready food supply and defense of his estate: Ironrock. Spies and infiltrating kelvics came from rats, mice, ravens, and crows. There was very few warm blooded creatures and birds Marcus didn’t work with, even to the point that rumors had him creating pleasure slaves out of docile lovely creatures to be sold to the highest bidders. The fact that historical records in the region indicate he sired several children on his Vkantis seems to support this claim and might have lead to the current institutions found in Ravok and underground in other places.” Haeli paused then, turned and looked at Brig, her cheeks bright red. “Visitors to Ironrock made fantastical claims that the entire estate was overrun with animals that were wearing fur, feathers, or bare human skin. They cooked his food, cleaned his home, grew food in his garden, and were often found in curled at his feet or resting in his lap. Each had a name and all the creatures seemed uncannily human. He even had a daughter, Nakanti, who was flanked by what visitors could only describe as a pack of wolves that trailed her every waking action.” Haeli took a break then, leaned her head against Brig’s shoulder, and twisted so she could look up at him and see what was in his eyes. Odds are he wasn’t going to care about this overly much, but in case he was upset by it, she’d was ready to offer comfort. Her hand strayed stroke one of his knees, and traced up his leg soothingly. “It sounds like they were all kinds of things to Marcus Kelvic. Friends, companions, hunters, gatherers, even mates. How do you feel about that Brig?” Haeli asked, not reading from the book any longer. She’d pause, let each of them soak up what they’d read, before she continued. “I don’t know about letting you cook for me though. I think I’ll stick to that task…” She smiled, knowing Brig ate most everything raw if he could get away with it, so his idea of cooking was limited to his love of stew which Haeli suspected his mother fixed often for them. “You are great at defense though. I bet you could give Nakanti’s wolves a run for their money. And I wouldn’t mind you share my bed. It gets cold upstairs at night with all that glass.” Her mind drifted back to the swamp and to the sailors that routinely visited to trade. Sometimes they had offered her mother coin or tradegoods to let them mate with her but Ozantha had constantly refused saying she was too young. “We can mate too, if I ever want a child or you want one. That’s nice and not something I’d have thought possible. I wouldn’t be afraid of you either. Ozantha got offered coin and things like food or gold to let the sailors mate with me. They always asked. She always refused though saying I was too young to want a child. I was twelve when they started asking. When I was fifteen, she told me I could whenever I wanted too because I was old enough and left it up to me. I never really wanted too though, not with the sailors, which she thought was abnormal. I guess Dhani mate frequently and have a nest almost all the time in some various stage of hatching. She was old though when I met her and she had already had multiple offpspring. But I think when I was old enough she thought it was weird I didn’t exactly want too. I’m not sure why. The men were… scary, unwashed, and very rough. For some reason I don’t think it would have been the best thing for me or even safe.” Haeli said, talking openly about things that no girl of seventeen probably ever would in Lhavit. But she came from a whole different world. Haeli’s world was more open, honest, free of all the social constraints the Lhavitians had. She didn’t’ know there were things a polite girl shouldn’t discuss. Haeli glanced down at the book again, turning the page. She ran her fingers over the section on bonding and how kelvics were attached to their friends. “Brig, look… bonding. There’s a whole section on the magic he wove into the Vkantis to make them want to be with people. This explains a lot. Shall I read it?” She asked, turning once more to look at him.

[Brig]

”Someone wrote a book about others like me?” Brig wondered out loud, and then huffed with contentment nonetheless when she shifted her position to settle against him. His tone was a little bemused. Brig was a simple creature with uncomplicated wants and needs, so he thought. He couldn’t quite figure that a man found his kind interesting enough, that it warranted so many words as were written across the pages in Haeli’s lap. Still, his curiosity was plain to see in the way his eyes followed her fingertips across the pages. There were the words themselves in part, he couldn’t read them and it fascinated him, the way their meanings fell so easily from her lips. He liked the sound of her voice, whatever she read. It was only a matter of time before he became absorbed in the particulars. But before he did, the Kelvic had shifted so that she could lean against his chest with his knees drawn up on either side of her, and his arms wrapped snugly around her waist. Looking over her shoulder at the pages, he gently rested his chin on her shoulder, and his cheek against hers. A thoughtful frown began to forge itself into his expression almost from the start. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, that he and those like him were made by a man who was human, much like he’d conceive and make a gadget off in his workshop. He couldn’t help but think of the things he’d tried and found wanting somehow, and tossed off in the corner as rubbish or to be refashioned into something more useful. His very nature though didn’t allow him to dwell long on things like that. What was, was, simple as that. It didn’t really matter why. If Marcus Kelvic hadn’t made others like him, then he wouldn’t be here. And he wouldn’t belong to Haeli. So it was better that he had, than if he hadn’t. Many of the terms and references were mysteries of their own, but it was the gist of it that he absorbed and now and again, commented on. ”He had a twin, like I did,” he observed and then wondered. ”What other worlds? Where are they and how did he get there?” ”I thought only gods made living things,” he said solemnly when she looked back at him as if to soothe, and asked him what he thought of it all. It wasn’t exactly outrage in his tone. But the connection the Kelvic made was plainly with those like him who’d come before him, rather than to the man who’d made them. ”Marcus Kelvic was a tinker. Except that he made things from magic instead of wood or springs and hinges. If I made living things in my workshop,” he decided by way of what was to him simple reasoning, ”I wouldn’t...cull them. And I’d let them choose.” He smiled then and rested his cheek back against hers. ”Like I choose you.” He even grinned then and laughed when she brought up cooking as a task she’d keep for herself. Protecting Haeli though, it was much more serious business. ”I’d protect you better than those wolves would. One coon is more clever than a whole pack of them. I’d like to sleep in your bed and keep you warm. It would be easier for me to protect you that way too, than sleeping outside your door. The stones are cold, when I forget to bring a blanket with me,” he told her, revealing in the process that he’d been doing just that all along. He fell silent though when the topic of mating arose. As if there was something about what she said that had left him unsure. Not about the act of mating itself or even how to go about it in a physical sense. The latter, instinct told him all he needed to know. And want, he had plenty of that to spare. He was young, just coming into his prime and if he didn’t say much, Brig thought about it a lot. Other females he saw out and about in Lhavit didn’t really interest him, but Haeli did. There was only the trying to figure if she was feeling receptive or not. He’d not been sure though how human males, or even Dhani ones showed themselves to be suitable choices for mating. He’d not spent enough time observing the males of Lhavit. How they tried to impress the females, or proved themselves to be good protectors and providers. Wild things strutted, called or displayed their colorful feathers. They showed, chased, hunted or fought either with other males or the females themselves. Sometimes they came away with the scars of both battle and mating, sometimes from only the battle. He’d postured some to see if it got a reaction, he brought home the best game he could find. And he’d even initiated a bitter rivalry, in his coon form, with the neighborhood cat. She was talking though of coins and he’d frowned and tilted his head curiously while he considered it. The connection had never occurred to him but for all his inexperience, there was a certain logic to it. Humans liked their coins, they traded them for other things like clothes and food and shelter. So it followed that the male with coins, showed himself to be a good provider and protector. So it followed again, a desirable mate. It didn’t begin to occur to him that there was anything wrong with offering coins in trade for breeding rights. It was a mating ritual unlike any he’d have thought of on his own, one that would have baffled his wilder cousins. But if it was what impressed human females and how they sized up their prospective mates…He wanted nothing more than to please and impress Haeli. ”I’d like to mate, when you’re ready. I have coins. Should I give them to you? Or to someone else?” he wondered, since she’d mentioned that her Dhani mother had once been part of the ritual. If this was how things worked with humans, now, Brig thought, he’d need to chase away other males that tried to give her coins. There was more in the book though and he nodded and settled in again, his arms wrapped round her middle while he looked over her shoulder. ”I think I’d want to be with you, without magic,” he said. Nevertheless the topic struck a real chord of interest. Maybe what was written would explain what had happened between them before down the mountain. ”Read it though,” he agreed. ”I’d like to know what it says.”

[Haeli]

She laughed leaning against him. "Yes, they did! You should see the library, Brig. They write books about everything. I bet they even write books about tinkering. I didn't look specifically, but when I go back I'll definitely ask for you. Then maybe we can practice your letters until you know enough to read such a thing." She said, trying to entice him into perhaps considering expanding his knowledge base of writing. Once he tackled his virtual illiteracy, perhaps he'd be interested in a bit more mathematics. But Haeli didn't want to push him or make her desire to see him learn human things become his own without it being his choice. So she was careful to think neutrally on the subject and leave it open for his own contemplation. After all, whether he liked it or not, Brig was a thinker. He reasoned out some of the most astonishing things and even seemed to have a chronic need to solve puzzles. It was an endless source of amusement and entertainment to her seeing him work on a project that had him stumped and so mentally worked into a frenzy that he paced his workspace and muttered to himself and tapped his head and made his illegible notes and then paced more. Going from a girl that had lived the last year of her life without any human contact other than ship trade occasionally, to someone who had a full time kelvic in their life was a big and welcome change in Haeli's mind. Brig consumed a lot of her thoughts, making her wonder where he was when she had no idea, or what he was thinking when he got quiet and looked at her with his strangely knowing eyes. She would often actively seek out his company, moving her work into his workshop when it was something she could move just so she could watch him work or simply spend time with him. They almost always had a constant conversation going that flowed from one topic to another to a third seamlessly, and sometimes like siblings, they'd argue points and tease one another just to get reactions. Their home didn't have the same rules other households did. For one thing, Haeli was blissfully ignorant of most of humanities ethics and codes. In that respect she was more of a dhani and ran their home as such. In terms of the decisions, she made them, unless Brig enforced his needs or will in a physical manner such as stepping into her way to get her attention or touching her, then she tended to back off and defer. If she brought heavy packages in from the market, the girl did not expect or want help carrying them in, but Brig would insist anyhow. If he asked, she'd say no. But if he just took the packages from her hands, she'd back down instantly, and not protest. Ozantha had done her no favors in that matter, raising the girl in her serpentine ways rather than in any sort of human manner. She focused her awareness back on the present and sighed in contentment as Brig wrapped himself around her from behind, holding her against his chest and letting the slight roughness of his face brush against her cheek. Brig could tell by how relaxed Haeli was that his attention was not unwelcome. "I think Marcus Kelvic was a lot like you Brig. In fact, there's a good chance you are distant kin if he had children by his kelvics. A tinker, yes... that's a good way to put it. And a twin who was lost to him, just like yours was too you." Haeli was amazed at how Brig put those facts together. But to his other question she had no answer. "I don't know what they mean by other worlds, Brig. That might be something you can read about in the library. I don't know anything about Summoning other than its dangerous." Haeli admitted. "You call things from other places where we normally cant go, and sometimes when they get here they aren't what we expected. Summoners can die because these things aren't easily controlled and are sometimes violent." She added. Almost as an aside, Haeli felt distracted because Brig's scent was so good. He smelled like wild places, evergreen trees, and cool crisp mountain air. His arms around her stomach made her body warm to him and she wished he'd splay out his hands and stroke her torso, all of it, as they talked. The witch was so comfortable that she turned her head slightly towards his and rubbed her cheek up against his affectionately. They were coiling only without the scales, as Ozantha had described it, and Haeli abruptly understood why the Dhani priestess had called it intimate and yielding. Was this mating? No... not yet. Close, though, Haeli thought, her heart beating a little faster. Brig had yet to do what all males were supposed to do, but other than that for all intensive purposes they were well into the mating ball. Haeli liked it, far more than she suspected she would, and as she arched her back to fit more closely against Brigs body as he wrapped around her, the bond between them conveyed her pleasure and a certain receptiveness Brig had been looking for. "I don't know, Brig. We all make things. I make living things too by planting seeds in the garden and watering them until they grow. I can even make new living things by dusting pollen from one living thing to another and then keeping the seeds to plant after they are ripe. That's how people make new varieties of apples or fruit, any kind of food really. Maybe somewhere back when mages were stronger, they did make life. Maybe they can now too and we just don't know about it. I didn't know about there being other worlds which seems strange to me. But its written in here, so it must be true." Haeli said thoughtfully. "I think sometimes the Gods are just better versions of ourselves, Brig. Well, maybe not better if you think of someone like Siku. They are just stronger, love deeper, hate with greater passion..." She speculated, liking the conversation, the company, and the feelings coursing through her. It was all very reasonable. She was raised to know there was a hierarchy to the world. There was weaker and stronger all around. Success was measured by keeping the stronger as allies close and the weaker at arms length. How could the Gods be any different? She said nothing though, too lost in enjoying Brig's company and what they were doing yet not doing, as they read through the book. She smiled over her shoulder at Brig, laughing a little, as he compared himself to wolves and found the wolves wanting. It was true enough, she decided, since wolves needed a whole pack to keep themselves safe whereas coons tended to run in singles or small family groups. "You are a fine protector. I still haven't decided what I need protecting against, but I'm glad to have you around. And you're welcome anywhere in this place Brig anytime you want to be. I've already told you I don't mind where you sleep... just don't sleep on cold stone and catch an illness from the chill." She was slightly appalled that he did that. Had she known sooner, she'd have put a stop to it for his own sake. Haeli had no problems seeing Brig as an equal. She'd grown up knowing animals that were far more dangerous than people and respecting them. Each was unique. Each had strengths and weaknesses. Brig was no different. People were no different, at least in Haeli's mind. Brig was lucky, however, that Haeli knew nothing about people, their interactions, and their motivations. A normal woman from Lhavit would most likely would have taken offense for Brigs comments on the coins and mating for them, but Haeli recognized it for what it was; misunderstanding. She did know enough to set him a little straight on that matter. Half-turning in his arms, Haeli met his eyes. "Keep your coin, Brig. It's not about that. Ozantha explained it all to me. With those sailors, it wasn't about having children. Sometimes with people it isn't, and that is alright. It can be about three things, Brig; power, pleasure, or reproduction. In Zinrah, which is where Ozantha was from, mating was about power. If you mated with a female, you proved you were more powerful or that you had a right to be somewhere. I think its the same with humans. It's also about pleasure, since its supposed to feel good in all cases besides power and sometimes even then. That is universal between species. And I know you understand the third." Haeli said, reaching out to brush one of his curls out of his eyes and to rub her chin along his. She was playful and liked touching him. Often she seemed to need too. "I'm not ready for the third reason, and we can work around it. The second one would be fine because no one minds feeling good. Even the first would be fine with you because you are stronger and you might need reassurance that you are. Males need that sometimes. None of those things would be good enough reasons to take coin for that from a stranger though, especially those sailors." Haeli added, shrugging slightly and then resettling against him. She was warm and alive in his arms and didn't seem to mind his closeness at all. "Coins... the thing with coins is simple, Brig. Sailors trade for things. They always do. They would trade their own mother for something if they wanted it. I don't think they care what they trade. It is who is getting the better deal which means the most trade for the least coins. They either want different goods for their things or they want coins for things or they give coins for things they want. Here, you take coins and buy things in the market too. You can buy matings as well that way. But its not like what you want I think. Its not warm and friendly. You feel good and its nothing else and then you walk away or only see them again when you have coin. Men and women will bring coin here, give them to me in exchange for plants and the things I've made like perfume or incense. They won't give them to me for mating." Haeli said, firm on that. "Besides, I have you for that." She added. Knowing Brig though, and ease dropping on his feelings a little like the bond allowed, Haeli also added. "So don't worry. People will give you coin too... for the things you make. Probably lots of coin for the indoor stars. That's a great idea. But just remember, you don't have to sell things if you don't want too. Ever." She said. Had she known all the things Brig had been doing to catch her eye and prove his worth to her, she'd have been horrified he thought she didn't care. She'd missed the posturing or misread it as 'look at how competent I am' because she thought he was still trying to justify to her why he should stay. Haeli just assumed he was an incredible hunter. And when he brought her things she just thought him incredibly thoughtful. The rivalry with the neighboring cat had confused her a little and she'd spent a great deal of thought trying to figure out why Brig was always fighting with it. The most she could figure out was that he somehow thought of it as a threat. She had no idea Brig just wanted her to see how good of a fighter he was. The truth was, Haeli already thought the world of him. He was her best friend, her only friend really, but the type of friend that once one had, no others were ever needed. But as she spoke, he seemed to relax, seem to think things through, and almost come to an understanding with her. She leaned an elbow against one of his legs after stroking it lightly, then opened the book again. All the talk about mating was doing strange things to her and she needed a distraction. The book provided a good one. And with that resolved, she moved to the next section in the book. "Bonds." Haeli shifted so Brig could watch the letters on the page again, and continued with her reading. "Marcus Kelvic, using the Talivantu discipline. Each Kelvic is compelled to find a suitable person to 'bond' with and serve. These bonds come in two forms. The first form is a weaker version that often occurs when a kelvic bonds from a very young age or bonds repeatedly. These individuals are best used for manual laborers, children's companions, or service individuals like mounts. They can rebond easily and are not often traumatized by being sold to new owners or by changes in their circumstances. Usually these bond with owners are weaker, conveying only basic information like hunger, thirst, or a particularly strong emotion like anger or a feeling like pain. Older kelvics who go unbonded and have a chance to develop normally like a human or animal would find that bonding later in their life, up to a year or two after their birth, equates to stronger bonds. These kelvics make excellent guards, assistants, and can sometimes even act as partners. The second stronger type of bond conveys far more information both from the kelvic and to the kelvic via their bonded individuals. Bonded individuals are called 'bondmates'. The stronger the bond, the harder it is for a kelvic to recover if a bondmate dies or is somehow separated from them. Also, the later the kelvic waits in its life to form a bond, the more picky the kelvic will become before bonding. Rumor seems to indicate when kelvics were first created by Marcus, the bonds were formed early and hurridly possibly indicating a reason for the frequent sell-offs and cullings of early creations. Later kelvics were refused bonds until they were fully mature in both their animal and human form. These kelvics, considered the best of the best, were retained at Ironrock in Marcus Kelvic's care. The early failures and sell-offs of the kelvic race is probably the reason this race was able to survive through the Valterrian due to the fact that these unsatisfactory creations were scattered throughout the region and not simply concentrated in an area thought to be thoroughly destroyed during the Valterrian. Haeli paused, took a deep breath and continued. "Bonds cannot be forced. Sometimes, especially with really young kelvics, the bonds form easily and loosely. People can pick out a puppy that is also a kelvic and be assured it will look to one of them and bond quickly, even to a cruel child or an abusive master. However, only one person can bond to a kelvic. Multiple kelvics, however, can bond to the same person. Kelvics cannot bond to kelvics. No two people can share a singular kelvic as a bondmate. And those older kelvics who have been unbonded do not easily bond with anyone. Once they do, these stronger bonds make it very hard to loose a bondmate or break a bond, though if the situation is abusive enough such things can happen. Also, the individual bonded to the kelvic will feel very close to the kelvic. Death or injury heavily affects the bondmate - either kelvic or human. Sometimes, if a kelvic looses a bondmate they will loose the will to die. Humans with strongly bonded kelvics often mourn the loss of their kelvics and fall into a deep depression or often become suicidal." Haeli finished off the section by reading more into the bonds, how they worked, what feelings they conveyed, and such factors as distance and length of time the pair had been bonded. It was a lot to know and a lot to take in. She glanced back at Brig, his chin a comforting weight on her shoulder. "We bonded, didn't we? You and I. But you bonded with me late didn't you? It means you are really smart, Brig, which I already knew. You aren't like the ones that weren't very helpful. It means you would have been one of those that Marcus Kelvic himself kept. I can see why. And I agree with you completely. I would have given those who weren't what I planned a choice in their life. People always need a choice. I didn't have one, washed up on the shore after a storm like I was. If I had a choice, I would have known my family and where I was from. I'm glad Ozantha didn't cull me either. I don't think I like that word very much. It means kill doesn't it?" She asked, suddenly leaning back against him fully and letting him hold her up for a just a simple silent moment.

[Brig]

”Do they mind you coming into the library if you can’t read?” Brig wondered quietly. He didn’t think he’d care for it much, if the library’s keepers thought any less of him for it. But he was still trying to wrap his imagination around the idea of walls, floors to ceiling lined with books like the one she held in her lap. It occurred to him that if there were so many books in just one place, then there must be a great number of humans who could read them. The thought brought a frown to his face as he pressed his cheek into just that spot where the curve of Haeli’s neck met her shoulder. It hadn’t occurred to him before to be bothered that he couldn’t read. Having spent so much time in his coon form, off in the wilds, he’d hardly thought of it as anything useful. Or even at all. But now, surrounded by humans, things were different. Humans wrote their thoughts and ideas in books. If he could read their words, he reasoned, it might make them easier to understand. But if he was capable, his mother hadn’t had the patience, or even the opportunity to teach him. By the time she’d fully grasped what the differences meant between her twins, one was already half grown and roaming the wilds while the other was still nursing at her breast. ”I’d like to,” he finally uttered. ”I’d like to learn to read, and maybe to write a little. Do you think I can?” he wondered. It was just as well that Brig was ignorant of most of human society’s rules and ways. The arrangement they had here, suited him fine. He had trouble watching her lift or carry things without trying to take them on himself. Sometimes rather than insisting outright, he’d make a nuisance of himself until she let him. But for the most part, he was more than content for her to make the decisions and him, happy to abide by them. Her needs and wishes were his after all. Not that there weren’t plenty of conundrums for him to grapple with. He was a territorial creature by nature. And the urge to warn off other males coming too close might take a few reminders, and some doing to overcome. But there wasn’t a thing she could ask him, that he wouldn’t do without a thought to the contrary. But it was hard to focus on books and talk of mages when Haeli was pressed so close against him. Wrapped in his arms with his legs draw up around her, their bodies close as could be without actually coming fully together. His own senses quickened at the rate of her pulse, felt against his cheek. And she could feel his rising desire in turn, through their connection, in more ways than just the physical. Her scent and the silkiness of her hair tickling his bare skin spoke to wants that had nothing at all to do with reading, writing, or learning about Marcus Kelvic. ”I won’t sleep on the floor anymore,” he promised. And there was hardly room for thinking about the gods. They were more mysterious to the kelvic than the writing on a bound page. It made him curious though, remembering the mark she wore. As if following his thoughts Brig’s hand found its way to her belly. His palm warming where it rested and his fingers splayed across the now familiar mark, caressing. ”Caiyha gave you this,” he breathed. ”Why? What does it mean?” He knew that it helped her communicate with wild things, much like they had when they’d first met. But much of it was still a mystery to him. ”Does it mean that you belong to her, like I belong to you?” he wondered. ”Do all of her followers have one?” He’d misunderstood things though, connecting coins with mating. But it didn’t diminish want any. That was only building with each passing moment, each touch and gesture. Playing, teasing, rubbing and rolling together was as much a part of mating for his wild cousins as the act itself. And it was no different for Brig in his human form. If he’d been in his coon form, a purr or affectionate clatter would have risen from deep in his chest. But the message was there all the same in the way he folded himself around her, the way his hands drifted and gently explored. And his lips followed suit along the curve of her neck. It was as close as they could be without coming fully together, just yet. It was good though that there’d be no other men giving her coins with the expectation of mating. If it wasn’t so, he’d need to spend an awful lot of time chasing them off. ”I’ll try to remember,” he promised. But then she was reading about bonds and he did his best to concentrate. It wasn’t easy, and only marginally successful. ”Compelled, that’s what I was.” He knew now what it was that had driven him to look for something he couldn’t name. Something he’d been missing even before losing his family. And to keep looking, even after crossing paths with other humans. ”But something told me, not yet. Until you came down the mountain,” he told her with a sense of wonder in his voice. He couldn’t imagine being separated from Haeli now that they’d bonded. He remembered the ache he’d felt the first day they’d bonded, when she left to return up the mountain. Even knowing he’d follow her, he’d hated it and felt the lonely void more than he ever had before. It had gotten better since he’d come. Knowing she’d return and being able to sense that she was safe, he could abide those times she went down the mountain or off to market without him. He could go down himself and hunt, or out to scavenge new marvels for his workshop. Even several days were manageable so long as he knew they'd be back together. But he still felt it, and he still worried. And when they were both here, he watched, he lingered nearby, he was always aware of where she was, and what she was feeling. Not just hunger, discomfort or thirst. But other things. It must be, then, that their bonding was the second kind. ”We bonded,” he agreed. ”I never had before then. I protected Laire, she was my sister. But it wasn’t a bond. Not like this. I saw other humans sometimes in the forest. But I didn’t let them see me. Or I let them think I was only a raccoon. I didn’t let any of them know. Not until you came. I didn’t know what it was, or why, but maybe I’m one of those picky ones,” he considered with a smile. It occurred to him, if it hadn’t happened then, would he have found her still when he’d eventually come up the mountain? The bond was so strong that it was difficult now for the kelvic to imagine being connected to another human in such a way. If not Haeli then, he wondered, would he have ever bonded? Or would he have kept looking without ever knowing why? It made him sad, that she’d missed never knowing her family or who they were. And he let out a comforting huff against her bared flesh. He might never have known his father but he’d had his mother and sister for a time. Still, ”If there hadn’t been a fire, I wouldn’t have left the clearing and I wouldn’t have found you. If Ozantha hadn’t found you, maybe you wouldn’t have found me. Maybe nature,” he wondered. ”Maybe Caiyha chooses the way things go, so that other things can happen?” ”I don’t like that word either,” he decided though. ”It sounds like killing, or maybe throwing away. Like a bird that has too many chicks and pushes one from the nest too soon. Or other animals that put out one of their litter for being weaker or not what it ought to be.” Choosing though. It brought something new to wonder about. ”I chose,” he said quietly and glanced at her solemnly. ”I chose you to be my mistress and my bondmate. And I chose to bond even if I didn’t know what was happening. I know now. I chose not to before by keeping away from other humans. I didn’t know why, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe that’s culling too. If it is,” he reasoned. ”then maybe it isn’t so bad.”