In The Cards

So you have studied the lore, and you think you know it. Beware! No book in the world can fully prepare you for the experience of bonding with a familiar, not even this one. First of all, there is no way of influencing the outcome or knowing what creature will seek you out. Many a wizard has been chagrined to find himself bonded for life to a garden slug, or a toad. And even the ones that seem beneficial may turn out to have a terrible personality, or annoying habits. Like keeping you awake all night, building nests in your wardrobe or rolling in horse droppings whenever they can find them.

Even so, a familiar can be a wizard's best friend. I certainly wouldn't want to be without my little companion, Sally the Skunk, for anything in the world. Especially since after I bonded with her I don't have many other friends.

Excerpt from 'On Familiars'

Now that the time had come Rini couldn't help but feel just a little bit nervous. All of those faces around the room, all of those eyes watching her. Suppose she tripped and fell on her face? She took a deep breath and hoped that her legs weren't shaking visibly.

"Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen!" she called out, surprised at the sound of her own voice. This is it, she thought. I'm actually standing here, performing for real. "Allow me but a moment of your time, and I will divert your worries, lift your spirits, gladden your hearts and lighten your purses." There was general laughter at this. Rini smiled. She had them now, and as she went on with the performance her stage-fright evaporated. She played the audience like a finely tuned instrument, and she felt ready to take on the world.

She had calculated that music would be a good way to get the audience in high spirits, and she was right. A lucky thing that her precious violin was kept in a lightly enchanted case, or it would never have survived the rough journey. She started out with cheerful tunes, common ones that the people would recognize and want to play along with, and stuck a sad one in here and there for contrast. Between songs she would talk to the audience, take requests and tell jokes. After a while she put the instrument aside and asked for the tables to be moved towards the walls. While she wasn't a fully trained acrobat yet she was good enough to make her audience go 'Oooh!' and 'Aaah!' in all the right places, especially when she did a backwards flip over four raised swords that some guards held out at her request. She thought she could see Jaheira scowl darkly at that. Much to Zaerini's surprise both Jaheira and Khalid had come to see her perform.

Or maybe just to keep tabs on me, she wryly thought. After some more playing and singing she decided to switch to sleight of hand. Her cards served admirably, and she varied herself with some other simple tricks, like extricating coins from behind people's ears or making other small items disappear and then reappear in unexpected places. All the while she felt like she was floating along, carried forward on a warm wave of approval from the audience. Well, mostly. One particularly funny joke about a Harper and a Drow Matron had the audience in stitches, except for Jaheira. The woman turned quite red in the face and looked ready to pop an artery at any time. No sense of humor, Zaerini thought. Figures.

She shrugged and filed the thought away for further reference. It was about time to wrap things up. Picking up her violin once more she fell silent and struck a pose until the audience had quieted down. Her golden eyes turned introspective and dreaming as she started to play. It was an old tune, and a sad one, written by another half-elven bard long ago. It spoke of being an outsider, of never fully belonging anywhere. As she concluded she could see tears in more than one eye, and knew that she had done well.

And who are you
To despise me so
And treat me with such scorn
For listen well, both Men and Elves,
This child of love was born

She held the final note for a moment, then bowed low to the audience. There was a moment of brief silence, and then the walls shook with thunderous applause. She stood, beaming with pride. Imoen scampered around the room, collecting the generous donations of the crowd, pausing momentarily to wink at her friend. Zaerini returned her smile, and then she met Jaheira's eyes across the room. The warrior woman had a very strange look on her face, as if she were chewing the inside of her lips. And were those tears in her eyes? Then Jaheira became aware of the bard watching her and composed herself, her face regaining its familiar scowl. She turned to Khalid and said something, and they both disappeared in the crowd. Zaerini thought about going after them, but then Imoen came up to her and slapped her heartily on the back.

"That was great, Rini!" the human girl exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Will you tell me some more Harper jokes before we go to bed? Pleeeeease?"

"Sure!" Rini said, pulling a hand through her red hair to disentangle some of the worst snarls. "I'm feeling kind of tired right now, actually. It was worth it though. How much did we make?"

"Fifty gold, or thereabouts."

"Not bad," Zaerini said. "Most of these people aren't very wealthy, so that's not bad at all. All right, lets call it a night. I want to check out those spell scrolls before we go to bed though. And then I'll tell you the joke about the Harper who found a trapped genie."

Sometime later both girls were upstairs in their room, getting ready for bed. Imoen was stretched out across the bed, lying on her stomach with her chin resting on her hands. Zaerini was curled up in one of the chairs, looking at her spell scrolls.

"Hello!" she said. "I didn't see this one before."

"What is it?"

Zaerini didn't answer immediately, being busy interpreting the mystic runes on the scroll. If they were saying what she thought they were saying this was a rare find indeed. A small drawing in the upper left corner confirmed her suspicions.

"It allows a wizard so summon a familiar," she said. There was a very wide smile on her face by now, and an eager glint in her eyes. "I can't believe that the wizard you killed hadn't used it yet. This is really lucky."

Imoen frowned. "But Rini, you're not a wizard," she said. "You can't use it. Can you?"

"Oh yes, I can. Well, I'm not skilled enough yet to actually write it into my spellbook. But I can cast it from the scroll. Isn't this great?" Not waiting for an answer Zaerini swiftly pushed the other scrolls out of the way and made sure the light was good enough for her to read all of the words on the scrolls. "G…Gorion let me practice magic, using scrolls," she explained, her voice catching a little at her mention of her foster father's name. "He said it was a good way to learn. And I've always dreamt of having a familiar. They're really marvelous. Magical animals, or other creatures, much smarter than their natural counterparts. Some of them even have special powers, and all of them can talk. They're very useful, and excellent company. And it will help me with my magic, you'll see!"

She forced herself to slow her breathing down. She was so excited she had started to hyperventilate and was feeling quite dizzy. Once she was certain her voice was steady she started reciting the spell, reading it out from the scroll. As she did she could hear strange noises echoing her voice, animal voices calling for her. Growls and hisses, barks and twitters, whines and snarls. All of them calling her name, calling it loudly. And somehow she knew that one of them would be different from the others, be right for her. Then it was there, amidst the cacophony, and she knew that it was coming for her. With a triumphant smile on her face she finished the casting, and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"Didn't it work?" Imoen said. She sounded really disappointed.

Strange, Zaerini thought. I could have sworn I did it right. She kept expecting for something, anything to happen. A flash of light. A loud noise. Something to reassure her that she hadn't made a complete and total fool of herself.

What do you mean, 'made'? a voice spoke inside her mind. It was a quiet female voice, a little haughty. And it definitely wasn't Zaerini's own. Don't gape, it continued. That isn't very dignified, and I want a proper Mistress. If you can't show some true intelligence you could at least try to fake some. Still, you smell kind of nice. I suppose you will have to do. Feed me, pet me when and where I tell you, don't bother me when I'm sleeping and we should be able to get along.

At this the half-elf felt something soft twist itself around her left ankle. She choked back a yelp and looked down. A small black cat stared at her with unblinking green eyes. The superior look on its face corresponded perfectly with its words. She could have sworn that it wasn't there a second ago.

That's because you are about as stealthy as an ogre, the cat said inside her head. There is such a thing as moving silently you know. Even if few humans are able to grasp that concept.

I'm not a human. I'm a half-elf, or can't you tell?

It shouldn't have been possible for a cat to shrug, but somehow the meaning of the flick it did with its tail translated perfectly. Whatever, is said. You all look alike to me. You may pet me now.

Zaerini didn't exactly like the animal's tone of voice, but she picked the cat up anyway. Its fur felt very soft beneath her fingers as she stroked it.

"Rini?" Imoen asked. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Zaerini said. "Apparently it is."

"What's its name?"

Zaerini realized that she had no idea. Do you have a name? She was starting to get the hang of this mindspeech thing now.

Of course I do. You didn't think I'd let somebody else name me, did you?

That's the way we do it.

I know. And why you two-legs are the rulers of the planet really puzzles me.

So what is your name?

The cat purred as Zaerini scratched behind its ear. Little more to the left… Yes. That's the spot. My name is She-who-walks-the-shadows-and-pounces-on-her-prey-to-devour-it-after-playing-cruelly-with-it.

Er…That is just a little long.

Oh, fine. If that is too complicated for your limited intellect you may call me Softpaws. And if you ever shorten that to 'Softy' you will find dead mice beneath your pillow for a month.

Zaerini laughed silently at this. The cat sounded arrogant enough, but its loud purring hinted that it was more pleased with her than it wanted to let on.

"Softpaws…," she said. "I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." She paused to think. "Either that, or the beginning of a nice fur hat."