Minnow
A SILENT DROP OF OCEAN

If the boy’s intention had been to make Minnow feel even stupider and more of an outsider in a land she already didn’t belong in or understand, his curt reply to her question about thoroughbreds certainly did the trick. ‘Horse’ was an odd word though everyone at the sale seemed to be using it to mean the aja around them, and throwing her requested definition in front of it didn’t explain anything at all about what it meant. She would have asked for further clarification, but the boy seemed in no mood to talk to anyone, least of all her, even though he’d asked her to come along.

Minnow turned her attention fully to the odd creature bouncing on her and smiled at it. It looked like it might have come from the Swamp if the swamp were cleaner and prone to oddities. Even when she asked about his companion, Minnow got snapped at. She supposed perhaps her wording hadn’t been very nice, but she couldn’t have known it was a she, and she certainly didn’t mean anything by her question. It was about the second familiar she had met, and the other looked like a normal prey animal at home. This didn’t.

“Yes, but what… oh nevermind,” she mumbled, giving up her questioning. It was clear this boy hadn’t actually wanted her along, and maybe this was just his way of trying to be polite. Fairies had some strange mannerisms. At least the familiar wasn’t so cross at her. “Hello, Morveren,” Minnow cooed, turning her attention to the friendlier of her new acquaintances and offering a light scratch behind a fin. “I’ve never seen anything like you before. You sort of remind me of home, you know.”

Her attention stayed with the familiar until she heard the boy speaking like the ‘horse’ again, and she started to watch him. She watched as he took the horrid contraption off her face and she listened as he continued to speak. The mare seemed much happier, or at least less sad once it was off, as Minnow knew she would. No aja, no sentient being, wanted to have things strapped to their faces to be dragged around. Even if they were being dragged by someone with good intentions. It was much nicer to move about on your own. Between keeping the familiar occupied, Minnow only had one hand to rest gently on the mare’s withers. The boy, in that time of talking to the horse and removing the bridle had become far less annoying than he had been moments before. He cared as much as she did.

His tone had also seemed to change as he started to question Minnow. She relaxed a little more, following him to wherever they were going. “I’m Minnow,” she answered, but paused to think about the second question. “I don’t think so. I don’t think any of my family came here, but I wish they had. The only other ker I’ve met here was a guard back in Xara,” she said, recalling that encounter with mixed emotions. “And part of the Alliance, I guess? Would that make her a castle guard to? We aren’t related though. She’s from the volcano.”

She figured that would be enough to satisfy the question, despite not elaborating much. Maybe there was some other ker in the castle guard. It seemed like it would be a fine arrangement for someone from the swamp. No ker was as tough or adept at survival as a swampie. She changed the subject then, her hand still on the mare.

“How’d you do that,” she asked quietly. “Talking to her like she does? And why? Do aja here not speak common?”