Familiar Skills

(Six months later)

Talia is sitting alone outside on the ground under a tree holding a tiny little blue and purple egg in her hands.

[It's almost time]

'I can't believe I'm one year old already, what do you think they will be?'

[Knowing you, something calm, impatient and with a little bit of an ego that likes to tease and annoy people for fun]

'Oh wow, tell me how you really feel' Talia smiles. 'It's okay, I'm used to you already, I know you love me'

[Don't put words in my mouth Talia]

'What mouth?'

[…]

'Anyways, shouldn't it be hatching by now?' Talia asks excited.

[Patience Talia, they follow their own time, why don't you check your status to see how much you've grown while we wait?]

'Good idea, Status'

[Status:

Name: Talia Georgia Ravenheart.

Species: Human witch.

Affinity: Elemental (air).

Charm: 16

Dexterity: 2

Intelligence: 9

Luck: 10

Stamina: 3

Strength: 2

Will/Persistence: 1 or 15

Skills/Special Skills: Meditation 2, Basic Fire Magic 2, Basic Earth Magic 3, Basic Air Magic 4, Basic Water magic 2.

Innate Power(s): Undiscovered

Protection Chosen: Protection of the Mind]

'Doesn't really look like much since I'm basically a toddler, but Dexterity is out of the negative which is a relief, the rest is still unremarkable if compared to an adult, but that's to be expected. Now the Skills are looking really good, haven't passed Basic on any magic yet but I'm working hard for it, focusing on what you said about the Basic level being able to move the element, Intermediate on being able to mix, match and manipulate it, Advanced on creating it out of nothing and Master on becoming it. Air is almost on Intermediate too, so I'm excited to see what I'll be able to do with it in it. And meditation is going slowly because I suck at it, haven't gotten the hang of it yet, technically the magics are harder, but they come easier to me, so we'll see where that goes'

[Yes, you'll just need some focus and patience and it'll come to you eventually, the more you practice the better you'll get at it. Oh, I think they're ready]

The eggshell starts cracking more and more until a tiny little purple head pokes out, then as if on cue, the rest of the eggshell breaks away reveling the cute little creature.

"Hi there sweetie, you're my familiar, which means we're family, do you know what family means?" Talia asks 'Clover what is it? Some type of lizard? A Chameleon maybe, that would be so cool' The little creature tilts its head in confusion at Talia, which makes her heart melt. 'Whatever they are they're cute and already own my heart'

[Talia]

'Yeah?'

[Talia, I think that's a baby dragon]

'What, why? they're tiny and harmless' The baby dragon keeps getting more confused with Talia.

[Dragons aren't born as adults Talia and that's a baby dragon, also I think she can hear you speaking to me in your head, but not me responding to you]

'What? Oh, that's why the poor baby keeps getting so confused with me' "Hi little one, don't worry, you were just hearing my thoughts, you'll get used to it" The baby looks at her with a bit of fear. 'Clover, can she understand me?'

[A little, she gets what you mean, like, she feels your intent even without being able to understand your every word, but she incubated in your soul for a long time so she'll learn whatever you actively try to teach her really fast since she can get part of the concept from you]

'Doesn't Protection of the Mind protects me from others reading my mind? How come she can do it'

[She your familiar so the Protection extends to her]

'So no one will be able to read her mind either?'

[Exactly]

'Can she learn how to talk?' Talia smiles at the little baby.

[If you try to teach her, yes]

Talia claps excitedly. "C'mon little one I'll take you to meet my parents they'll love you so much, daddy is the tall, ghostly pale one with blue eyes and dirt blonde hair, and mommy is the one with sun-kissed skin brown eyes and black hair" She puts the baby dragon on her shoulder and walks to the front door, making sure to show her around the backyard in the way.

"MOMMY, DADDY COME LOOK!" She calls as soon as she enters the house. She sees them in the living room. "Look mommy" She puts the little dragon in her hands to show her to them.

"Talia baby what's wrong? are you okay?" Georgia goes to her and sees the little creature on her hands. "Sweetie, what's that? Where did you get that? TIM…" Tim goes to them and sees the little purple and blue dragon on his daughter's hands.

He kneels in front of her and grins. "Did your familiar found you already? It's so cute" He scratches the little dragon's head to which she purrs. "Is it some type of lizard? Do you know what it is?"

Georgia looks between the three. "Wait, what am I missing? I thought familiars were really rare and that they only go looking for witches at the peak of their power. Talia is still growing, and the little being in her hand is obviously still a baby"

Talia grins wide. "Isn't she pretty momma?" Georgia smiles back at her and says "Yes darling, the prettiest"

[You're evil, distracting them from questioning with your cuteness]

'Gotta use what I have while I can'

"I think she's a baby dragon momma" Talia tries not to smirk on the outside.

"What?" Georgia takes a step back and considers getting the little dragon away from her baby. Timothy stands up immediately and holds her before she can do so. "Calm down honey, even if it is a baby dragon, it's her familiar now, I might not be a powerful witch but I can sense that she is her familiar already, so neither of them will be able to hurt each other, it's okay" He smiles at his wife who calms down knowing there's no danger to her baby.

"Did you name her already, sweetie?" Georgia asks, getting closer to see the little dragon a bit better now that she knows there's no danger.

"Not yet" Talia thinks. 'Does she have a name already, Clover?'

[Not yet, you can name her now if you want]

'That's so hard though, what name does one even give a female dragon?' She gasps "MORGANA!!" Her parents look at her startled.

"Sounds good sweetie, did you just come up with it?" Tim asks but Talia is already distracted smiling at Morgana. "I'm Talia and you are Morgana, you're my familiar and we'll have a lot of adventures together" She scratches the baby dragon's head grinning wide as Morgana purrs.

"They look so happy together" Georgia says resting her head on her husband's shoulder while watching the babies.

"They really do, I'm glad that whatever happens, they'll have each other's backs" They watch as Talia goes back to the backyard to sit under her tree with her new familiar.

"Well, I'm gonna go make lunch wanna help?" Tim asks offering his hand to Georgia.

"Sure, we can keep an eye on her through the kitchen window in case she needs us"

…

"Say Morgana, Mooor-gaaaa-naaa" 'I've might have chosen her name too rashly' "Say Morgan, Mooorrr-gaaan" Morgana just looks at her with vacant little eyes.

[Yes Talia, taking the last a from her name will definitely make her say it now, that's the only thing wrong with your method]

'Excuse me that I never taught anyone to speak before, I think, maybe if you unblocked my memories, I might know a way to do so' Talia pets Morgana.

[Oh sure! that's really easy, you do remember your first six months here clearly, right?]

'What's with you today? I mean I enjoy our usual back and forth, but you're being way too sarcastic all of a sudden'

[Sorry, I'm just worried about the mission, it's not all that hard for your first one, but you'll still only be a little toddler, I just don't want you to get hurt]

'Awe, I knew you cared, but seriously, it's okay, we're practicing, I'm learning all I can at the moment and, now we've got Morgana with us, I'll teach her all I can and we'll do just fine' Talia demonstrates this by twirling the air around her as a shield and then moves the earth under her making her turn in place as Morgana watches everything in awe 'I would demonstrate water and fire as well but I didn't bring any beforehand'

As soon as she thinks the word fire Morgana starts blowing a little blue flame out of her little mouth, Talia takes that as her cue and starts making the flames dance around them.

'Huh, maybe she's learning faster than I thought' She scratches Morgana's had as a reward.

[I get it, I was just worried for a moment there, but you're right, just keep practicing everything, growing and help Morgana grow with you and we'll all be okay]

"Exactly, we're a team now, right Morgana?" Morgana nods.

(One year later)

"You can do it, just one more try, c'mon, I'll catch you if you fall" Morgana closes her eyes and jumps from the tree branch she's currently on, towards Talia's waiting arms, but this time, she doesn't feel them embracing her, instead she feels only the air on her beating little wings. Talia gasps "You're doing it, you're flying!!!!" Morgana opens her eyes and sees that she is actually flying. "Mommy I'm fwying" She exclaims excitedly and starts flying around Talia. "Yes you are, sweetie, you did it"

They spend some more time just enjoying the moment, then Talia sits down under her tree while Morgana keeps playing around in the air. 'I told you we got this, in a year I got all my skills leveled up and now I have so many new tricks, we're all going to be fine on the mission next year' She smiles watching Morgana play.

[You did, and you're right, you two have grown a lot, Morgana finally learned how to speak, though not much and mostly baby like]

'That's because she actually is a baby but go on' Talia interrupts

[As I was saying, her flame grew with her and now she learned how to fly, it's not much, but like you said, she's just a baby. You got all your elemental skills to the Intermediate level and now you can mix match and manipulate them at will, water being your worse one for lack of the same continuous source you've got when practicing them all, air is everywhere, earth is under your feet and Morgana produces as much fire as you need to practice, though reaching intermediate on water, air and earth really helped, it's still not as vast as your other resources]

'Yeah, I can draw water from the air, earth, plants and stuff, but it's not that much, also it dries them up and I really don't like killing the poor plants, but the experimentation was worth it, cause it got me thinking about what things are made of, it got me to draw fire from the heat of the sun, which does makes the place cold if I take too much.' She shrugs 'I'm still mixing and matching stuff but it seems promising, I can make shields with any element which is really helpful, it's just a pity my parents keep such a close eye on me, I could learn so much more exploring around and without having to hide just how much control I have of my powers' Talia sighs.

[Not much to do about it, they're good parents and you're only two, of course they keep an eye on you. But what I'm most proud of was when you finally got the hang of meditation]

'It did take a lot of effort to get that one, then one day it finally clicked, I started focusing on my breathing and the air coming in and out of my lungs and playing with it, and then on my surroundings and the elements all around me, which was how I first got water from air, then earth, then plants. It's like you said to me once, anything is possible on this world. I figure I don't need pre-made spells if I master my control, the thing to work on is figuring out all the things I can mix and match, since if I have full control to manipulate the elements my only obstacle is my creativity'

[Exactly, you don't need a fireball spell if you already know how to control fire, you just make a ball or an arrow or spear or whatever you feel like and throw it, it doesn't even need to be fire, any element you do that with will work just fine]

'See, I just wish I could create them already. I'd be unstoppable'

[Living in this little cabin in the middle of the woods with only your parents, Morgana and me might have made you think too much of yourself, you don't have any powerful people around to compare to]

Talia bites her lip thinking about it. 'Do you know what their powers are like?'

[The average on the status for an ordinary being around here would be 10 all over]

'Oh, status'

[Status:

Name: Talia Georgia Ravenheart.

Species: Human witch.

Affinity: Elemental (air).

Charm: 16

Dexterity: 3

Intelligence: 9

Luck: 11

Stamina: 3

Strength: 3

Will/Persistence: 1 or 15

Skills/Special Skills: Meditation II 2, Intermediate Fire Magic 3, Intermediate Earth Magic 3, Intermediate Air Magic 5, Intermediate Water magic 2.

Innate Power(s): Undiscovered

Protection Chosen: Protection of the Mind]

'I'm UNDER the average level for intelligence?'

[Yes, though it might improve with age]

'But I already had age'

[Exactly, that's why it's 9 and not a number fit for a two-year-old]

'… So, I raised my Luck, Dexterity and Strength all by one?'

[Yes, Dexterity from learning how to move around better, Strength by carrying Morgana everywhere, which doesn't seem much, but all the time for a while year does make a difference even if she isn't that heavy, and I honestly have no idea how you raised your Luck, you seem pretty lucky already to me, don't know where you keep getting more]

Talia shrugs, not knowing either, but also not caring since it's going on her favor.

"Talia come eat, dinner is ready" Georgia calls her.

"I'm coming mommy" She gets Morgana and goes to have dinner with her family.

"Wash your hands first" Her father says once she enters the kitchen, she nods and goes to wash her hands, dries it and takes her sit at the table.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Her mother asks.

"What's tomorrow?" She asks as she and Morgana starts eating.

Georgia looks at Tim and they both shake their heads in disbelief. "we're taking you to town with us tomorrow, I'm going to sell some of my work there while your mother picks up some stuff for the house"

"Can I really go with you this time?" She asks enthusiastically.

"Yes Talia" Her mom answers, "we've been talking about it the whole week"

"Oh" 'I really need to work on my attention span and stop getting distracted by Clover mid conversations'

[How is it my fault that you have the attention span of a goldfish?]

'I… You know what you do'

"… 9am so be ready" Her father finishes.

'Shit' She nods pretending to know what he said.

"I'm serious Talia, if we don't leave at 9 we won't have time to do everything and you won't get to explore the town with us"

Talia nods seriously. 'It's not like I won't be ready, they'll wake me, feed me and prep me themselves' She thinks. "Yes daddy" She goes back to eating her dinner thinking about all the things she'll get to see in town.