by Jay Boyce
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Magic Resistance from a fellacai underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Magic Resistance from a fellacai underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Magic Resistance from a fellacai underway.
She figured she'd see if she could learn flight, and magic resistance, in general, seemed like a super helpful thing. Lost in thought, she was surprised when everyone else started to get up around her. Delia smiled and commented, "Dominic and I are headed to the tailoring class. Are you staying here?" Dominic, that was his name! She felt a little bad she'd been sitting next to him this whole time and been too preoccupied to ask.
Jade smiled at Delia and shrugged, "Yes, this is the class I'm actually supposed to be in, and I mainly came early with the intention of watching over Walter."
The two of them nodded, and it was Dominic who added cheerfully, "Good luck then. We'll probably see you later." Jade nodded and smiled, bidding them farewell. When most people had left the room save Eamonn and Randall, who'd been sitting by and watching over Walter this whole time, she joined them to look over her patient. The fellacai had taken flight when she stood and were now exploring the room after she'd silently warned them, "Stay away from the other cages. I don't want you getting eaten accidentally." She'd gotten a mental shudder in reply, and she grinned and turned her attention fully to Walter. Touching his hand, she spread her magic through his system, double checking her work. Everything was in working order, but he was still sleeping. She decided to let him be.
"You might want to get him some food to eat when he wakes up, though it's still going to be at least an hour. He'll need lots of red meat, but leafy greens will help too."
Randall nodded. "I'll take him down to the kitchens when he wakes up. Thank you again."
Jade smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "It's no problem, really." She honestly didn't mind healing people. It was wonderful to be super useful and to be able to give something back to the community that had given her so much already. Plus, it wasn't like she wasn't siphoning them in return as well… Returning to her seat, she absently pulled some food out of her bag and began to munch on it. She still needed to replenish all of her energy as well! Plus, she was siphoning five fellacai along with Randall, Walter, and Sean. Hopefully those three hadn't noticed anything. Walter was obviously too out of it to notice, and Randall seemed pretty distracted too. Sean was the most likely to notice something amiss, but with his friend's life in the balance, she figured he was probably too worried to check his status until after the damage was done.
A few students began to trickle in, but this time she smiled because she'd at least seen most of them. It appeared that this beginner class was populated mostly by first years, who all stayed at The Green Dragon. All in all though, there were only four of them, with her bringing the total to five. Only one of them seemed like he might be a second year, mostly because she didn't recognize him. She quickly finished eating, wiping the crumbs off of her hands.
She smiled when the girl walked over to her. She was one of the first people she'd seen in the common room when she first arrived in this world. She was quite pretty with dark brown hair cut in a fashionable bob and dark brown eyes. She had chubby cheeks, but they didn't detract from her cheerful appearance in the slightest. She took a seat by Jade, smiling as introduced herself, "Hi. I haven't had the chance to say anything before, but I've seen you around a bunch. I'm Chloe. It's nice to finally meet you."
Jade smiled back at the quiet, but still seemingly outgoing girl. "It's nice to meet you too, Chloe. I'm Jade."
Chloe grinned. "Oh, I know. It's kinda hard not to know who you are at The Green Dragon. You're becoming a bit of a legend there." Jade laughed softly, and the two other boys from The Green Dragon seemed drawn to the fact that they were girls, coming over and taking seats near them.
One of the guys seemed to have heard Chloe's remark because he turned his big baby blues on them and smiled. "It's true, you know, but you've got so many people hovering around you that the rest of us haven't had a chance to talk to you. I'm Ian, by the way." He was tugging absently on his ear and playing with his short brown hair as he spoke, and she figured it was a nervous habit, despite the fact that he was trying to appear confident.
"And I'm Mathis." Guy number two, or rather Mathis, seemed to be anxious not to be left out of their little group. He was a little on the chubbier side, one of the few people at Dracona she'd seen that didn't fit the ‘I work out. A lot.’ type. Granted, the majority of the people on the streets weren't as pretty as the students and teachers of Dracona. Something about the classes they took must affect their charisma or something. Either that or the nobles had figured out a way to cultivate pretty. She wouldn't be surprised. A lot of the commoners still looked fit, though. It was just the side effects of early weapon training and hard daily work, she supposed. Still, she absently wondered how long it would take him to become more defined.
She smiled and admitted, "Well, it's lovely to meet all of you. I'm a little surprised so many people have aptitude for contractual magic."
It was the second year student, who had obviously been listening in on their conversation, who responded. "Because contractual magic is so useful, almost anyone who has any tiny possibility of learning it will try. Most businesses like to have a contractual mage working with them, and it's also very useful in controlling some of the farms. A lot of us who have contractual magic will end up in one of those two jobs." Well, that was rather interesting.
Jade smiled at the boy, acknowledging his words, "Thank you for telling me that, …?" She paused at the end, leaving an obvious space for him to insert his name, which he kindly obliged.
"Frank." He ran a hand through his black hair, his hazel eyes looking at the ceiling as he continued on a dramatic sigh, "The only second year to stay in the beginner class, but there's no need to thank me, Eamonn would have told you soon enough." He laughed a little reproachfully. "Sadly, while they said I had an aptitude for contractual magic, it wasn't very strong."
Eamonn had walked over to their corner by this point, and he patted Frank on the shoulder. "But you didn't drop it, so that says something about your character. Don't worry, you'll catch up with the others soon enough."
Frank just smiled a little ruefully at Eamonn, then gestured to the ceiling, where Jade's fellacai queens were still flying around happily. It appeared they hadn't enjoyed being caged all that much. Go figure. "Did you tame the queens? I've never seen them so docile."
Eamonn smiled smugly as he looked up at the fellacai. "No, miss Jade here stuck her hand into the cage and came out bonded to the five of them somehow. It was quite fascinating to watch, since she obviously had no idea what she was doing and did it on instinct." Jade turned a bit red at this point. She hadn't realized everyone had started watching her as soon as she stuck her hand into the cage.
Oh well, there was no use crying over spilled milk. Blushing under the curious gazes of everyone, she shrugged. "They were pretty."
Chapter Nine – Bond
Everyone was staring at her blankly, and it was finally Frank who asked, "You…bonded with five queen fellacai…because they were pretty?"
Jade smiled and shrugged. "Is there a better reason?" Mentally, she called up to the five, "Come down for a moment?" She smiled when her request was met with the five beauties winging down to land on her outstretched hand. Now everyone was looking at them as she said proudly, "They're beautiful and perfect. If I was going to bond to anything, well, they seem like a good choice. Pretty, magical, creatures of grace. They just want to fly freely. Now tell me, what reasons do you think would be better to use?"
Everyone looked a bit speechless at this. It was Chloe who recovered first as she asked, "Can I hold one?"
Jade smiled at her and responded, "Sure, just hold out your hand." To the fellacai, who she really needed to name, she spoke through their bond, "One of you go to each of the others
please. Show them how wonderful you are." She had full faith in her pretty pets. The fellacai gracefully winged away from her hands. Chloe was already holding her hand out, and the golden one was the first to reach her. Each of the others was just hovering in front of one of the students and Eamonn. She spoke patiently, "If you put your hand out, they'll land."
Belatedly, the rest of them put their hands out, with Eamonn grinning like a crazy old coot and laughing softly. "To think I'd see the day when a fellacai acted so meekly! Humph! I need to research this!" She was a little worried for her fire butterfly with him, but chose to ignore it. He wasn't going to hurt her. After about a minute, the fellacai decided they'd had enough being stared at and one by one left their fingers to wing around the ceiling again.
Jade went on, "So that's why I did it. I'm still not sure how, though." She glanced curiously at Eamonn, and it seemed to bring him back to reality.
Still grinning like a mad scientist, Eamonn nodded and said, "Right! I suppose that's my cue to officially begin class. As Frank said earlier, there are two types of contractual magic. There is the bond between human and beast, which you've now seen. However, there are two kinds of beast bond. There is what Jade appears to have created, which is a mutual bond. This is where human and beast can share thoughts and eventually see and hear through each other's senses when desired. When such a bond is created, there is an exchange in the balance. What we've seen is that the intelligence of such creatures goes up significantly, and they are able to develop beyond the bounds of their normal racial limitations. In return, it is generally seen that the senses of the attached human become more keen, depending on the main sensory input of the creature."
He paused, looking away from the fellacai to some of the other creatures caged around the room. "The second bond is one of domination. The communication is a one way path from human to creature, and no exchange takes place. However, it’s helpful in keeping animals in check and is the main form of bond used in the farms on the outskirts of the city. This allows them to have control over a large amount of creatures that we use for meat, milk, and egg production, as well as other animal byproducts. The advantage of this is that there is no backlash if one of your contracted is killed." He looked back at Jade's fellacai. "This is why many people are very careful about what they choose to bond with, since it’s a monster at heart, and should someone mistake them for a wild creature, they're often killed on sight."
Jade frowned, not having thought of that. She'd have to keep them with her and contained unless she was around people who already knew they were her bonded.
Seeming to feel her apprehension, she heard a small voice in her mind, "Danger?"
She smiled and thought back to them, "Not as long as you're with me. I'll keep you safe." Well, she would do her very best. The fellacai, seeming to have picked up on her feelings still, came flying down to land on her lap. She smiled, absently stroking their velvety wings with finger light touches. They were so soft and silky!
Eamonn however, had merely continued with his lecture, "The only people able to tame and keep beasts are contractual mages like ourselves. If a person without our magic tried to keep a beast, it has been shown that nearly all of them turn savage on their caretakers." Well, that explained why she hadn't seen any cats or dogs in the city, at least. Ostensibly, pretty much anything non-human was kill on sight. She'd have to be careful with her little bonded. Eamonn continued, "That’s the basics of beast bonding. In order to create a mutual contract, the beast must sense that your intentions are to treat it well as a companion. Often, the first bond is tentatively formed when you feed a creature, thus establishing some form of trust. With domination bonds, it's important to have high mental fortitude, for your will must be strong enough to overcome the beast. If you fail to dominate whatever beast you’re attempting to bond with, then you will suffer an intense mental backlash based on the strength of the creature you tried to dominate. It also causes the creatures to become severely hostile and attack. Therefore, it’s suggested that you never attempt to bond to a creature without help in case something goes wrong."
He gestured to the corner, where Walter was still being watched over by Randall. "Walter is a prime example of this. He attempted to tame something beyond his means, and it savaged him quite badly before we were able to pull it off of him. He was helpless, having suffered from an intense mental backlash. Had Lady Jade not been able to heal him, it's quite possible he'd have died. Therefore, I want you to think very carefully before you try to bond anything. In a mutual bond, these creatures will be with you until the end of their, or your, life." Pausing, he seemed to think of something. "Also of note, is that when a contractual mage dies, all bonds are released. It has caused a few problems in the past when those in charge of the farms have died. Thus, whenever one of the overseers is sick, the creatures in their charge are penned separately and watched very closely. If the bond is released and someone tries to create a new domination bond, it’s often twice as difficult as it was the first time because they do develop some resistance to the domination."
Well, that sounded ominous. Eamonn didn't pause to give them a chance to truly process before he moved on to the next topic.
"With that said, the other side of the coin of contractual magic can be far harder and easier at the same time. As with beast bonding, contracts between humans depends a great deal on the will of the caster and participants. Human to human contracts also come in two varieties, domination and mutual. As you might expect, dominating contractual magic is mostly used on criminals to turn them into productive members of society. This is performed only by the most skilled contractual mages because any slip and you have a criminal on the loose again. Mutual contracts are much easier, and as long as both parties are willing, it's fairly easy to use the magic to bind them to their word. When this happens, the thing you have to be most careful about are the consequences."
He was staring at the fellacai on Jade's lap when he continued. "With a mutual contract, the person's natural inner guide will push them not to break it. It’s a form of control, in that any attempt to breach the contract generally incurs mental or physical pain. If the contract is breached, you have to be very careful what stipulations are put in place. The magic takes a hold of this one, and if you don't put in your own stipulations, the magic seems to take on a mind of its own to enact punishment. In the past, it was common to find oath-breakers dead by random occurrences. It has since become less of an issue once we learned to put in our own stipulations, but the magic does not like being broken. In the case of human to human agreement, thankfully, the backlash falls on the participant who broke faith instead of the mage, though the mage will feel that a bond they created was broken."
Did it make her a villain that she was thinking about using contractual magic on the king's nephew? She wanted to make sure to nip that trouble in the bud. If this was an otome game, then that right there was one of the death flags people talked about, and she wasn't all that keen on it. So would it be considered inhumane to make him promise not to try and kill or scheme against her? And if a mutual contract was something he wouldn't agree to, could she perform a domination contract with a clear conscience? Well, probably. He had tried to kill her once already. That kind of mania wasn't good for anyone. Now that she knew this was an option, she would feel much better about leaving him alive and alone if he was under contract to leave her be. She'd have to be specific and make sure the contract covered her, the royal family, and the kingdom at large. She didn't want to leave loopholes for betrayal.
Eamonn had finished his mini lecture at this point, and he looked at them with wizened eyes as he asked, "Any questions?" The others all still seemed to be taking in what he had said and considering the possibilities. Only Frank looked slightly bored, no doubt having heard all of this before. Jade was staring down at her little fellacai when she thought of something, then looked back up to Eamonn.
"Eamonn, do the bonded beasts generally mate?"
He l
ooked thoughtful at her question, before answering slowly, "The captive beasts on the farm are often mated, while bonded beasts do not. I can't tell you the exact reason for it, but my guess would be that with their increased intelligence and capacity, they don't care to mate with an inferior specimen. I could be wrong though, that's just a theory."
Jade nodded, looking thoughtfully at her little fellacai. "Can you tell us more about the fellacai? I know people have said these are the queens, but are there kings?" Her concern for her new little friends was obvious, and Eamonn smiled.
"No, there's no such thing as king fellacai. It's a matriarchal society as far as we've studied. The queens can mate with any male of their species, and they pick the strongest to breed with each year. It's a matter of choosing the best mate for their offspring."
She frowned, looking down at her little queens. She didn't want to deprive them of future awesome baby butterflies. Thinking of something else, she asked, "How are fellacai babies born? Do they already have wings?"
Eamonn looked surprised at her question. "Of course they do. Their eggs are made out of a silky substance they secrete, and the babies come out as fully developed fellacai in miniature form." Jade nodded again. So it seemed the whole caterpillar stage was skipped here, and it went right to chrysalis. That was kinda cool. She was happy to not have to deal with the super amount of legs and creepy crawly aspect of the fellacai. Tiny baby shinies? That she would happily deal with.
Still, she looked down at her little queens, and thought to them. "Do you have mates?"
Her little queens looked up at her, eyes shining with something she thought was akin to hope. "Save mates?" Jade grinned and nodded.
"Yes, I'll take them too. Bring them with us." Looking back at Eamonn, she gestured to the cage. "I apparently have a few more bonds to make." He looked confused, and she elaborated. "My queens need their mates. I'm not going to leave them all alone with stupid husbands!" Chloe started laughing first, but then everyone else quickly joined in. Even Eamonn and Randall in the corner were laughing.