Traveling with curious people was a hardship Lian had not prepared himself for.
Ashling chatted endlessly, asking countless questions and talking about things she believed he'd need to know for the Academy. Lian wasn't about to tell her that most of what she said was already taught to him by his mother.
A little over two hours into their journey, Lian had felt Fen tiring. He hadn't been sure what to do for his Guardian, Fen could hardly ride on Valkyrie's back with him. So he had grit his teeth and turned to Ashling, who had been chatting on as if someone had actually been listening to her.
"I wanted to ask you this before, but it did not seem like the time, where are your Guardians?" He'd asked over the woman's own words.
After he'd spoken, Ashling's eyes got wide like she had forgotten something very important, and then she grinned.
"That's right! I forgot that you don't know. You always talk so smart-like, I keep thinking you've been at this for longer than you have."
"What do you mean?" God he'd been asking that a lot lately, and being confused was one thing among many that Lian couldn't stand.
"Familiars are essentially a part of us. Each one is born on the very same day we are and live much longer than their brethren animals, they mature much slower too. They are like a limb. Vital, necessary, and useful. Sometimes though, like in case of Familiars like yours and mine, they can't travel very far with a Mage." As she spoke, Ashling undid the cords at the neck of her cloak, letting the fabric fall behind her to catch against Stormrider's back.
Lian watched suspiciously as she spoke, slightly caution of just how far Ashling would strip.
It wasn't very far.
When her cloak fell off her shoulder she'd pulled the collar of her tunic to one side, baring her collar bone to Lian as she turned a little to give him a view of the image plastered on her skin.
It was a massive paw. Not just the print, but what looked like an actual paw painted onto Ashling shoulder that seemed to continue down the front of her body. The black paw was feline shaped, the nails sharp as they seemed to cling to Ashling's skin.
"A black panther." Lian said warily.
Ashling laughed. "You got it in one, wee boy. Yes. A panther."
"Is that your Guardian?" Lian couldn't comprehend how, but he knew it was. The image was not just an image, it was a living thing, a breathing entity, Lian even saw the paw move under his gaze.
"Ai, her name is Kyla. This is what I meant when I say that a Familiar is a part of you. There are always going to be places you need to go where a Familiar can't follow. The magic of the Mark allows us to pull them into our bodies. We house them in our hearts while their image is burned into our bodies. When we are done with our travels, we call them back out. It is the first thing a Mage is taught." Ashling smiled down at Fenrir then. "I'll be bettin' my next mug of ail that your Familiar's getting pretty tired. I'm sure he hasn't gotten a chance to rest since making his trek to find you after your magic was released."
Lian looked at Fen in silent question.
"I...I have not, no. The only respite I got was when we slept at the hut before the arrival of the Mages." Fen's eyes were cast down, like he was afraid that this weakness would disappoint Lian, but Lian just felt worry.
Turning back to Ashling he said. "How do I give him a brake? How do I call him into my body."
Ashling paused, her eyes turning guarded as she looked away from him.
"There are two things." She began, her voice suddenly not as cheerful as it had been before. "First, your Familiar needs to place their paw on the Mark. After that you use the magic inside to call that part of yourself back into your body."
Lian paled slightly at the very first part, but she'd known he would. It was why she had looked away from him.
Swallowing Lian looked down at Fen again. The wolf's tongue was hanging out of his mouth, the heat no doubt getting to him. Fenrir had been born in the snowy mountains of the North. Lian wasn't sure how much traveling Fenrir had done to make it to him when he had.
Shame burned a hole in his stomach.
"Do not think badly of yourself." Fen chastised him quietly. "I was aware of what this travel would cost me. I can keep going one way or the other."
"That is not an excuse." Lian replied sharply. "If you are to be my companion, I must see you as one. To treat you like merely a tool is disgraceful."
Fen's blue eyes raised up and met Lian, and Lian's breath hitched at what he saw there. Lian realized that, a tool, was exactly how Fenrir had expected to be treated. That had been why the wolf hadn't asked for anything since they had met. Not one single thing.
"You had nothing. What right did I have to ask for more from you?" Fen said softly, his eyes lowering again as he continued to tread beside Valkyrie.
Lian frowned.
"Voniya!" He called.
The pale woman's head snapped back and she looked to him, having to still then turn her mount to really see him and Ashling.
"Yes?" Her voice was a bit far away but still as clear as it had been.
"I would like to stop for a moment." Lian said, dismounting from Valkyrie's back before Voniya could reply. The warhorse shook out her main slightly before adjusting the bit in her mouth. She swiveled her head until she bumped Lian on the shoulder. Lian couldn't help smiling at her.
"In the middle of the road? What the hell could you have to do? Need to take a piss?" Lybell's voice was snide as he spoke.
"Bell." Voniya admonished sternly.
Lybell sent him a withering glare before huffing and pointedly turning away from Lian.
"I'll scout on ahead. We are getting close to the bridge, it's a perfect place for an ambush." And with that the prissy man was off, not sparing a glance back at any of them.
Keera watched Lian with her keen eyes, but Lian was determined not to pay her any mind.
"How do I use my magic to pull him in?" Lian asked, not looked at the women around him. Instead he knelt down, his eyes meeting Fen's when the wolf got the courage to look up.
You are not a tool. You are my partner in this journey. Lian projected these thoughts into Fenrir's head, forcing his words through so that it would stick securely in the young wolf's mind. You came on to me the night my mother died, you are the only one I have left. The last of my family.
Lian hadn't realized how true that was until he said it. He had never really made friends in the village, he was much too focused on his training for others to find enjoyment in his company, but he thought that maybe the way he got on so easily with Fen could be called friendship. If not yet kinship. He wanted the same sort of connection with Fenrir that his mother seemed to have had with Morgan. Someone to rely on. Fen had come the day everything else was burned out, he would do anything to hold onto this.
"You've got to call to the magic inside your Familiar." Voniya was the one who spoke this time, dismounting her own mare so that she could stride closer.
Lian turned to her quickly, still on his knees. "Please do not come any closer." He said harshly.
Voniya stopped, she actually stopped. Then she scowled like she realized she had just followed the orders of a child before she began to stride forward again.
Valkyrie moved then.
Faster than anyone could react, Valkyrie blocked Voniya's way, restlessly stomping her hooves on the path and snorting her warnings.
"You have not only gained her favor." Keera spoke, almost as if she was uninterested in the proceedings. "She has given you kinship."
"I asked you to please not come any closer." Lian said again, calmer now that she had indeed stopped.
He did not want anyone to see the scars on his back, the scars that he was sure marred even his Familiar Mark.
Voniya looked angry, her voice sounded it too. "How am I supposed to advise you on this if I cannot come close to you." Again it was not spoken like a question. As annoying as it was, Lian was getting used to it.
"From a distance." He replied, like she was stupid.
"From a.." She sputtered, and it was the first time Lian had seen Voniya do that. Maybe it was the first time Ashling had seen it too because she started to cackle.
"Let me." Keera said, amusement at the situation finally bleeding into her tone and drawing a smirk to her pale lips. Seeing the twin's separate reactions, Lian couldn't believe he had ever thought of them as identical.
"Go on then." Lian insisted, turning his attention from the pissed off Voniya to the calmly interested Keera.
"You must call to the magic housed inside of your Familiar back into your body. He is a part of you in the same way the magic is a part of you and it will return once it is called. If your Familiar is touching the Mark that is inherently a representation of itself on your skin, then it will too sink into the Mark and become a part of your skin." Keera was matter a fact and to the point. Lian valued that. "It's soul essential carries your magic, keeping the power from overwhelming your body and your mind, so while it's body will become a mark on the surface of your skin, its soul will still house the power separately from yourself."
"Okay." He nodded before turned back to Fen.
"We're going to do this. I don't want you suffering just for the sake of it when there is a better solution." Lian told the wolf.
"I am not weak, I can-"
"I do not believe you're weak. But there is a time to stand your ground and there is a time to allow others to help you." A hard lesson his mother had taught him a very long time ago. He still wasn't sure if he had learned it well enough to teach it, but Haylen Fury sure had.
Fen lowered his head a bit before bringing it back up to touch his nose to Lian's.
"Okay then." Fenrir sounded so resigned that Lian felt a smirk tugging his lips. The wolf did not want to be thought of as weak or a burden, but it was clear by how quickly Fen had given in, that the beast was tired beyond what he can take. Lian felt glad he could recognize that.
"Okay. Come on."
Turning his back to Fenrir, Lian angled his body so that he was facing the twins who had both dismounted aswell. Valkyrie had processioned herself in such a way that did not allow Voniya to view the scene. Lian was more than grateful for this war horse who saw him a fit rider, for whatever reason.
With a small inhale, Lian lifted his arms over his head before grabbing the back of his shirt and pulled it forward. The fabric caught on some of the more jagged scars and Lian hissed at the slight pain.
Despite the sharp stab of shame he felt, he comforted himself with the knowledge that it was Fenrir he was baring his back to. Fenrir was his Guardian, the only one he would ever honestly trust to have his back and protect him. Fenrir would soon know him better than just about anyone left alive.
He started when he felt the first touch of something slightly rough and wet.
Fen! Lian mentally called, but he was ignored.
"They hurt you..." Fen almost whined. Behind him, Lian could hear the high pitched cries from Fen's throat as the wolf licked at his wounds. "You called for me, your magic flared, and I was not there. They hurt you.."
Lian wasn't sure what to say to make his Guardian feel better, so he didn't say anything. Merely allowed Fen to lap up every cut, hissing when some of the deeper ones, the ones that still burned, got their time under the wolf's careful tongue. Lian didn't know why but as Fen whined and licked at the wound like any wolf would do for another, the kinship he felt with his Guardian grew a little stronger.
Someone cared that he had gotten hurt. Lian realized, and it was almost a brand new revelation for a boy who had a lot of instructors, but never any friends. No one had ever really cared for Lian as deeply, no one but his mother and his father, but both of them were gone.
Lian may have lost them, but he still had the ability to be loved.
Lian almost swayed with the hit of such knowledge.
He allowed himself to glace at the twins and for the first time both of them shared the same curious expression. Lian doubted he'd be able to tell them apart right then.
"Come on now, Fen. It's time for you to rest." Lian insisted, halting Fen mid-lick.
"Yes. Okay." Fen answered, a little sadly. Lian found himself marveling again at how childlike the wolf seemed every once in a while. From the very beginning it felt like Fenrir knew more about all of this than Lian did. Well spoken as the wolf was, it always startled Lian to be reminded that he and Fenrir shared the same lifespan.
The tongue retreated, then Lian felt Fenrir press his pawn against the upper part at the back of his left shoulder. The same spot where the heat had pooled every time he'd used his magic so far.
Now the heat on the mark was simply the heat of Fen's paw as he pressed down gently.
"They've ruined my Mark." Fen said with a hint of anger. Lian ignored him.
For a second Lian floundered, not really knowing or understanding what had to be done to call to his magic. With weapons and martial arts, the directions were obvious. There was no feeling, no searching inside himself, it was all on the outside on the way he moved his body and controlled his weapon. How was he expected to become a Mage?
Then he actually could feel it.
It was both the same and different from his experience with the storm, except this magic was actually his. He could feel the similarities between the power inside him and the power inside Fen, and they called to each other like magnets waiting to come together. Like two lakes connected by a river that steadily flowed in both directions as once.
From his contact with Fen's paw, he could feel how they wanted to connect, and how he wanted to let them.
You are not a tool. I will not use you and let you suffer. You are my Guardian, a part of me. A friend to me, a companion. Just as I am your purpose. Lian didn't know why those words were passing through his head or why he sent them out to Fen, but it had apparently been the right thing to do.
Slowly, like a cloud moving through the sky, Lian could feel the magic pulling together, pulling Fenrir into him until the wolf seemed to pass right through him like a phantom and the heat of him settled in his chest, comfortably plastered against his heart.
Lian opened his eyes, not knowing when he'd even closed them, and quickly looked down.
The perfect image of Fen's furry face and glowing blue eyes sat on his chest.
An even smaller version of his Guardian looked as if he was inked onto Lian's chest, a realistic picture taking up the entirety of his chest. Staring out at the twins with calm eyes.
Lian shivered a bit at how odd it felt before he placed a hand against the image of Fen's face.
"Fen?" He asked softly, anxiety taking a quick jab at his gut.
"I am here. You are still not alone." Fen's voice sounded a little happier than it had since they'd left Kilden.
Lian sighed in relief and stood up, quickly pulling his shirt back on before anyone could catch sight of his scars.
"Let us go then."
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