Thoth slips the card back into his back pocket. “Technically she capsized my boat. The little one,” he admits. “Not the big ship. I don’t think she could capsize the Ibis even if she had a full herd with her.”
By way of response to Tris’s request to come out on the boat, he just grins. Unfortunately, the muscles worked the most often when sailing are the stomach muscles, so Tris will need to be fully recovered before they can take the Akhet out for a spin – but having an extra crew member will be fun. Thoth has no idea if Tristan even knows how to sail, but his own experience is somewhat limited so perhaps they can learn together.
As Thoth places her onto the prince’s lap, the little creature rolls onto her back, exposing her belly, and bats at his hand. He takes this as an invitation for a belly rub and attempts to oblige but, like a kitten, the creature grasps his hand with her claws and attacks him with her teeth. The teeth aren’t sharp, but the claws are; Thoth feels a burst of pain and the creature instantly lets go. A glimmer of guilt and an apologetic feeling which definitely isn’t his probes at the edge of his mind, and the quadruped licks his hand gently. Her tongue is rough like a cat’s. Thoth wipes his hand on his jeans before scratching the back of her head, causing her to make her trademark ‘brr’ noise.
“Amphibians and reptiles have different skin types,” he replies to Tris, completely misinterpreting the question. “I have found that her skin is more akin to aquatic mammals than most amphibians, though, and she is definitely scaled – albeit, the scales are extremely small. More similar to a lizard than a snake. I don’t believe her skin type is particularly comparable with Atkiss’.” He frowns slightly at the prince’s clarification. “The heart doesn’t feel, Tris, that’s a common misconception,” he informs him. “It is the brain and the nervous system which relate to the sense of touch.”
Perhaps biology isn’t included in the prince’s education. Thoth makes a mental note to get one of the books on biological science out of the library once Tris is done Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar.
“I think she has a strong empathic magic, but it seems to be limited,” he continues, trying to prise the sheets she’s currently chewing on out of her mouth and failing. Her jaw is apparently quite strong too. “She certainly seems to be able to sense my feelings, although I haven’t yet been able to ascertain how much of that is down to animals’ natural empathy. I’ve been trying to see if my sister or my niece are able to read her feelings, but neither of them have been able to.” He scratches his chin. “Maybe it only works with certain people. Can you feel anything?”
Considering that he’s a child genius and the son of the fairy who wrote most of the laws on magic and soulology, he is surprisingly oblivious to the obvious answer. Thoth gazes expectantly into his friend’s face, completely ignorant of the fact that he has just described the age-old telepathic connection between fairy and familiar.
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