Of course Ciara had no intention of throwing the child into the dungeon or otherwise doing her any harm. Despite the snobbery of the upper class of Shaman, she didn’t think there were many at the castle who would do more than chastise the child and send her on her way. Perhaps they would force her to leave the castle, but, if she were as alone here as she seemed, the castle was, in fact, her rightful place. All of the orphans and neglected children of shaman resided in the castle, under the protection of the king, though some of the nobles were not fond of this ruling. However, having grown in a home with many such children as a part of the Mallos Generation, Ciara was grateful for the care the children received.

When the child leaned forward to whisper her secret, Ciara made her to listen attentively, and gasp when the revelation occurred. “Not a kitty?! But you have such magnificent whispers, Grimbaud,” she said, smiling at the girl. Playing along with a child was something she missed terribly, and the bottom of her heart hurt the way stretching a sore muscle does – that relieving ache that manages to feel both terrible and great all at once. She nodded at the question about magic apples, and would have spoken if it weren’t for the hand reaching for her hair. Though her face remained steadily on the child, leaving the strand within reach, Ciara did follow the hand with her eyes.

In truth, it was not her natural color, nor were her eyes the color they’d been when she was a child. The outage of magic had frozen them as she had magically kept them since returning to Shaman. Both were naturally red, but when she’d returned to her home world, Ciara had wanted a new start where people would not recognize her. Of course, Arthur had, even in her feline form, but only he had been allowed to see her without the magically colored alterations to her appearance. And now it was frozen in the colors she’d chosen to hide in, to use to bury the part of her who had lived through terrible times.

“Thank you. Yours is lovely as…” Ciara didn’t bother finishing her sentence as Nalani became the focus of attention. She also didn’t need to answer as the shameless monkey had already climbed onto the small girl and begun petting the fairy herself.

Though her teeth showed when she smiled, Nalani was clearly happy rather than making some aggressive show. “She called me pretty Cia. Why don’t you ever call me pretty?” she accused, continuing to pet Grim’s hair. “I think I want to stay with her instead.”

Ciara rolled her eyes. Nalani had made threats before but, so long as there was the aspect of familiarity within her, she’d never gone far. The monkey knew it would break her fairy’s heart to lose the last product of her womb she had left. Instead, she smiled at the large cat’s introduction and nodded thoughtfully. “It’s nice to meet such a caring familiar, Gisli. I’m Ciara.”