The Visitor

I was woken up from my sleep by a gentle tapping sound, and the distinct smell of meat wafting through the large gap at the top of the door’s wooden frame.

Last night, after a few more words, Zida seemed to notice my growing drowsiness and sent me off to bed. The entire round mass of a bed was made of downy cloth covering a surprisingly soft, cotton-like substance that, when I examined it with my hand where it leaked a bit, felt chalky. I wasn’t sure what it was, but compared to the prospect of sleeping on the laid tiles of the floor I was thrilled to have the stuff. It made the softest “nest” I’d ever seen.

I’d gone to sleep quickly, but while I did I’d practiced speaking in a hushed voice. Even if it took a while for me to adjust to hearing their normal voices, I could at least tone my voice down so that I wouldn’t keep hurting their ears in the meantime. It was a good thing to focus on to keep my mind from wandering anywhere else.

When I again heard some light knocking on the door, I noticed a small voice called out as well. I couldn’t quite make out what they said, so I called back quietly as I stretched out my arms and rose to my feet.

“Hello?”

My call was returned by the door opening inward, and in came a pale golden light surrounding a bird that was certainly a night phoenix. Unlike those I knew who stood about two heads taller than me, this one barely reached my chest.

“You’re Danny?” They asked as they moved another step or two into the room, and I nodded.

“I am. Are you... Creyna?”

“Bah!” I nearly fell back onto the bed when she flinched back in dramatic surprise, but recollected myself in time for her to come up with a response. “I don’t even get to introduce myself?! Momma’s so mean.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” she sort of scoffed, shaking her head. I noticed as she did that one of her eyes was scarred shut. Much like most birds I remembered, she and the other night phoenix had an eye on each side of their heads, though their faces were slightly more scaly- another reason I’d previously likened them to archeopteryx, along with their clawed wings, long and flared tail feathers, and the tiny sharp teeth I could see in Creyna and the other’s snouts.

I must have lingered on her closed eye for too long, as when she stopped shaking her head she briefly tilted it.

“What?”

“Nothing, I was just curious about breakfast.”

“Breakfast..?” She asked as she tilted her head once again.

“Is there a special name for the first meal after you wake up?”

“A meal’s a meal,” she responded, “we have two each moon.”

“Alright. What’re we having, then?”

“Meat and forage, if you like that. If not, we can get some other stuff. Ma wanted me to ask.” I did eat meat, but despite the grumbling in my stomach I couldn’t yet say that.

“What kinds of meat and ‘forage?’”

“Dunno, you’ll have to ask Ma, but we’ve got mushrooms today.”

“I guess I’ll ask her, then.”

“Ma also said she’d get you clothes today, if you want.” She peered over me with the comment, leading me to pat on my shirt and jeans. A tiny bit of chalk clung to my clothes, but it came off easily enough.

“I think I’d like that.”

“Maybe Loali’ll get some new clothes made, too. Hers are all worn.” Creyna’s sudden mention of her made me tilt my head, to which Creyna let out several quick chuckles. “She came to see you.”

“Ah-”

“Itelber said he’d make light glasses for you, right? I have an affinity for light magic, better than Itelber’s, so we figured I might as well give it a shot. That sound alright to you?”

“Sure,” I responded to her sort of half-heartedly, but only because I was focused on the sight of Zida cooking well-chopped bits of meat, which I still didn't understand the identity of, in a sizzling cauldron that she held between her wings. She’d already made a serving of the mushroom, mossy meat stew before I came in here, which she apparently gave to Illose and Vernae’s family before they had to head out, and once she’d confirmed that I and Loali were eating here she’d started making another.

“Danny?”

“Ah, sorry,” I turned my eyes to the items Loali laid out on the table, which included several vines of what I was sure was heralium, some small transparent beads, and a few bones of different sizes that to me resembled ribs. “That’s what these are for?”

“The melting beads and heralium, yeah. Each of those can store a decent amount of magic, and are compatible with light magic, so they should reduce how often you’ll need to recharge the light glasses when they’re done. The bones are to test if you have any of a few common affinities. It'd be nice if you could recharge the light glasses yourself, but if you don’t have a light affinity you might at least have another affinity or two you could put to use.”

“You mean like Zida?” I questioned, to which Loali briefly frowned.

“Sure, but how would you feel about learning to make magic devices?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed pretty interested in them before, right? Wouldn’t it be great if you could make them?” Her offer wasn’t unappealing to me, in fact I was very interested in magic devices, but there remained several issues with that idea.

“I’ve never used magic before, so are you sure I’d even be able to use it?”

“If you can’t you can’t, but there’s no use thinking about that until we know for sure.”

“Wouldn’t it take a while for me to learn?”

“That depends,” she said, “but regardless of how long it takes to teach you I’m certain it’d be worth it. Clear imagination is a big part of making magic devices work, and since you’ve got ideas from a whole different world you’d probably be able to make all kinds of devices I couldn’t.” I wasn’t about to miss the way her eyes shone as she spoke, but I’d have felt disingenuous if I just told her I’d try before I really understood what I was getting myself into. I wanted to keep talking about magic devices, but I wasn’t yet sure if that was really something I wanted to dedicate myself to making.

“Maybe you should give him some time to think about it, Loali,” Zida luckily commented as she laid the cauldron down in the middle of the stone-veneered wooden table. Hardly a second passed before Creyna used her bowl, which resembled obsidian and had a built-in dip on the lip, to scoop a portion of the stew out. The action created a bit of a mess as some of the greens and juice dripped from the side of the bowl onto the table, but given the smooth stone surface it’d probably be easy enough to clean.

“Fine, fine, I’ll just test his affinities.”

“Before that, eat. I went ahead and drew some of the heat back out, so it should be perfect for you two.” Saying so, Zida went ahead and handed us each bowls, and Creyna gulped down what she’d already taken in hers, only to let out a “blegh” a moment later.

“Ma did make it cold...”

“It’s not that cold, dear.”

“Thank you, Zida,” Loali called as she took a bowl for herself from those on the table, and I did the same a moment later.

“Thank you, Zida.”

“You’re both welcome.”

“While you eat, hold onto this for me,” Loali commented after she took a scoop of the stew, handing me the smallest rib bone. The moment it touched my palm something felt odd, but the sensation wasn’t uncomfortable. It was more like my hand was fuzzy.

“Loali-” Zida started to argue, but Loali was quick to respond to her concern.

“It takes a while, he might as well just hold it.”

“It’s alright, Zida.” I assured her, “I can hold it while I eat.”

“Alright...” She sighed, then prompted me with a gesture of her head to get some of the stew for myself. I didn’t want to make her wait, so I did so, but once my bowl was full I did not dig in as easily as Creyna and Loali had, which Zida noticed as she took some for herself.

“Would you prefer something else?” She asked, and after a few more moments of looking at the brownish-greenish stew I shook my head.

“No, I just need to try it. This is new to me, so it’ll take some getting used to.”

“Alright, just let me know if you need anything.” She said, and I smiled back to her.

“I will, thank you.”