Eight Drabbles For Eight Magi

[Mathcat]

(One drabble for each of my main magi characters.)

At first, Skarani couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd bought the box of stones at the farmer's market earlier that day because they'd all been a distinctive shade of purple, though he had no immediate use for them. When he'd opened the box that evening to remove whatever overly-curious pygmy crystalwing was in there making rustling noises, he'd found the stones replaced by an equal number of purple-shelled tulip snails. Tulip snails were pretty to look at and good for the garden, but he would have preferred the rocks. He'd probably never find that exact shade of purple again.

***

Rykian tried to keep reminding himself that he should be honored. Few magi had even glimpsed a lycanthrope, while he'd not only spoken with one, but had made a good enough impression to be given a very special gift. Even knowing all of this, he still couldn't quite warm to the lichenthrope. He could understand why the lycanthropes honored them. He could even appreciate that the lichenthrope was much less trouble than some of the creatures he'd taken on willingly, like, say, Malice. He just couldn't get past the sickly-sweet smell of decay that followed the lichenthrope wherever it went.

***

Love Rykian though he did, Tobran did occasionally question his partner's taste in creatures. Tobran was pragmatic enough to know that many beloved Keep creatures still had a hunter's instincts, so he didn't judge a winged cat for catching the occasional non-magical bird or mouse. They weren't being cruel; they were just obeying instinct. Malice, though, was another matter. Despite knowing better, he would swear her cruelty was deliberate. At least she'd learned that he had little patience for her acts of destruction. Being able to change into a gryphon and pin her down if necessary had helped with that.

***

An Arkenian goose was a natural choice for a water-verging-on-ice magi. Val knew that. Being able to revisit the Everlight Crevasse without worrying about freezing to death ought to outweigh any hassle of raising the goose to adulthood. Val just couldn't get past the high mortality rate among eggs and hatchlings, especially eggs. Young Arkenian geese had trouble regulating their body temperature and had a tendency to overheat while still in the egg. Getting a gold goose instead of a regular one would be fine, but that was the less likely outcome, and Val really wasn't fond of roast goose.

***

There were times when Ekaira completely understood how magical creatures got their overall bad reputation. Extremely large or overly aggressive creatures were one thing. They would be dangerous even without magic. You might be shocked if one attacked, but not surprised. The delicate eel in front of her, though, scared her more than even a feral torveus dragon. Act in a way it considered threatening and you would just...vanish. No hope of rescue. No chance of survival. Nobody would ever know what had happened to you. She wondered how many seaside disappearances were people who had accidentally frightened a nomura.

***

Larathen supposed he was lucky to spot a snow vevex ray in the wild, but it was luck he could have done without. In someplace more settled, like, say, Synara City, he'd have marveled at the vevex ray for a few moments before finding somewhere warm to watch the snow fall while enjoying a mug of hot chocolate. Here in the middle of nowhere, though, he had to hope that he and Cloudy would find shelter before the blizzard hit. As he ran, he tried to convince himself that he was seeing were not the first snowflakes starting to fall.

***

Cora still knew the theory was sound. If she wanted to fix whatever had gone wrong with her teleportation spell so she could get back home, she just needed to observe creatures that could teleport naturally. She should probably have done more research before borrowing the fyrin, though. A perpetually nervous fyrin and an anxiety-prone magi just weren't a good match. By the end of the week, she'd been ready to acquire a whole herd of cheminnas to calm her enough to keep her from practically levitating whenever someone accidentally startled her. Well, lesson learned. She'd try portal penguins next.

***

Elinari hadn't expected the Keep to stand still during her years away. She'd been gone so long that it would have been surprising if the world hadn't changed in her absence. The oddest things still got to her, though. Take pygmy gemdragons and crystalwings. She'd once been an unofficial expert on these rare creatures back home, so when she'd woken up one morning to find herself nose-to-beaktip with some tiny mutant platydragon, she'd figured he was some weird one-off created as a result of all of the magical nonsense that had been sloshing around. That certainty had lasted until she'd arrived at the Keep and seen the vast flocks that matched (exceeded, if she were being honest) anything she'd known, most of which were completely new to her. Even the Artificer's Guild had gotten in on the fun, judging by some of the flock. Well, Elinari was still a magi. She ought to be delighted at the prospect of so many new creatures to learn about and no shortage of time in which to do the learning, and she was. At the same time, Elinari couldn't help wondering if there would still be a place for her at the Keep.