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Humans Don't Make Good Familiars- Part 79
🕑 Added 2022-03-02 01:05:23 +0000 UTCLauric Isbala’s POV
“Oh crap,” the Viking said, “you’re pretty big huh?” I couldn’t communicate with the Viking, not through Loyalty at least, so I had no way to answer back. Not that I would know what to say to such a statement anyway. Was he trying to talk to me? No, he was talking to my familiar. Sentinel began to back up and slowly make his way around Loyalty, never once taking his eyes off of him… it seemed he was afraid of Loyalty. “Suma, as soon as you arrive at the exit, summon me.” He was talking to his master, planning to get to the exit quickly so as not to fail the trail. “Then don’t land, just get close to the ground before summoning me.”
“How far will you push yourself… if properly motivated?” I wondered, and came up with a plan of my own. The familiar turned and started quickly moving away from Loyalty; I ordered him to follow it from a distance. “I want to see how far you will go… Sentinel.” It ran for quite a while, but it wasn’t very fast, not compared to Loyalty at least. He had an easy time following as the familiar tried and failed to lose him on several occasions, all the while talking to its master, at least until he was summoned away. “Fine, Loyalty, proceed to the gate, forget about the Viking.” I myself took to the skies and went to the gate as well. I saw Lady Suma heading away from the gate just as I landed on a perch near one of the instructors. A moment later, Loyalty arrived and officially completed the course.
“Well Lauric,” the instructor said, “you finished sooner than expected. Well done. If your familiar needs medical attention, tend to him and send him away, then report for your evaluation at field one with the rest of the recruits who participated today. They are waiting for everyone to join them before they get started.”
“Yes sir.” I cast a single healing spell on Loyalty just incase he had any damage I didn’t know about, then sent him away. After that I flew straight to field one. I crated a perch and landed amongst a group of other recruits awaiting their evaluation. I found myself wondering how our familiars performances would be scored. Shortly after my arrival, Lady Suma and Land Vindicta approached my and grew perches of their own.
“Lauric.. why did your familiar follow Jake? Were you trying to hurt him?!” Lady Suma asked. “Having familiars hurt each other is against the rules, you know that!”
“I am aware of the rules Madam Suma. Loyalty did not injure your familiar in any way.”
“But he did follow him?” Lady Vindicta asked.
“Yes he did,” said Lady Suma.
“I admit, I had Loyalty follow your familiar closely after finding him lakeside.”
“Why?” Lady Suma wondered. I thought about how to answer, I knew why I did it, but how do I explain my reasoning?
“I wanted to find an answer to a question.”
“There is no reason to speak in riddles,” Lady Vindicta said, “just tell us why.”
“Your familiar is a Viking, at least according to the rumors. I wanted to find out what he would do and how far he would push himself.” My statement caused everyone who had been pretending to ignore our conversation to turn in shock towards us.
“That’s a lie!” Lady Suma denied. “Jake is no Viking!”
“It’s true, Jake explained that-“ Vindicta tried to say, but Suma covered her beak with a wing to silence her.
“The point is, Jake isn’t a Viking.” She said. I imagine the conversation would have continued, but the final recruit and all of the instructors of the course arrived together. The recruit grew a perch near one of her friends, and the instructors, six in total, grew theirs together in a place where everyone would be able to see.
“Alright recruits, quiet down, we are going to begin your evaluations.” Vindicta and Suma left and went to the perches they were on before I arrived. The instructors announced how each familiar and master would be scored. They would point out areas where they were impressed, and where we fell short. The goal wasn’t to pass or fail us, everyone here had already passed by completing the course before the recruit who came after them. These were the instructors of the ones who passed, only six of the original fifteen recruits to partake in the course made it. Once they announced how everything would work, they called out to the recruits whom they were evaluating; mine was instructor thirteen. His feathers were a bit lighter than mine, but he was also a fair amount larger.
“Okay Lauric, I have a few notes about your familiar Loyalty.” My instructor said after we had flown away from the group to talk. “Don’t worry, most of its good. He performed well, as did you, but there were a few instances where I feel like you could improve.”
“I look forward to any advice you may have sir.”
“Firstly, Loyalty seems to have handled each obstacle well, save for the lake and crossing Delabi River. I take it your familiar can’t swim?”
“That is correct.”
“That’s something you will need to be aware of moving forwards and in battle. A familiar’s limitations can be deadly, so you need to plan for them. I think you should try coming up with a way he can cross water.”
“I will try sir.”
“Good, now I noticed he can’t move at a consistent pace, why is that?”
“I believe Loyalty is an ambush predator sir, he can move quickly in bursts, but not prolonged events. He also has the ability to blend into his surroundings.”
“Those are useful traits, but not being able to keep up with faster allies could be a hindrance. There might also be times where you would need him to travel long distances without stopping, so be aware of that.”
“I don’t know how I would fix that sir,” I said confused.
“You can’t, but you may be able to think around it. The limitations of our familiars force us to think strategically and creatively.”
“I understand.”
“That’s all I have in regards to improving your familiar, but I also wanted to point out instances I noticed and had questions about.”
“Yes sir.” We talked a while longer. He wanted to know about why I had him do certain things rather than more traditional routes, and he also wanted to know why I had Loyalty follow the Viking. “I was simply curious about him sir. I was careful to make sure Loyalty knew not to hurt him or interfere with his attempt at taking the course.”
“Hmm, I see. Well, it’s true you didn’t interfere with the Vik- I mean, Suma’s familiar, and I suppose I can’t blame you for being curious. However, I would like to know why you didn’t pass him and finish sooner?”
“I dislike the idea of having a Viking as a familiar… no, I loathe it, but the matter at hand is that we are at war. I can tolerate it for now, so long as it benefits the kingdom”
