Caldera

____& Buddy

Cal was struck, when the girl turned around, by her incredible eyes. She’d thought Flynn’s were amazing, but this girl’s were simply breath-taking. They were brown, like most people’s eyes in the Volcano, but they had little flecks of gold and green in them. Cal had never seen multi-coloured eyes before. This Shaman was certainly a weird and wonderful place.

Buddy issued a low, gentle groan when the girl spoke, but Cal grinned from ear to ear. She resisted the near overwhelming urge to say ha! Got your tail! and instead wrapped one of her arms over his neck in a half-hug.

“Not a knot,” she reassured the lady. “My aja here just thought you were the goddess of the winter. ‘Sebauza’ means ‘god’ in the ancient language. Nice to meet ya, Whimsy.” She tapped her heart twice in the standard greeting of the Volcanic ker. “I’m Cal. This great oaf is Dark Lightning, but you can call him Buddy.”

As she’d been talking, she’d slipped her backpack off her back and unclipped the clasp. Now she pulled out the white paper bag containing the fudge and offered it to Whimsy charitably.

“Do you live around here?” She asked conversationally, gesturing around at the charming wooden cottages. Cal was still trying to sort out her own accommodation, and while she liked the look of the grove, it felt too… too much like where she’d grown up. There was very little appealing in returning to the farm life. That said, Buddy would probably appreciate being so close to nature if she did take up residence here. “We’re new to Shaman,” she added, rustling around in the paper bag for a chocolate-flavoured piece of fudge. “We’re from Xara. Not living anywhere just yet.”