Minnow
A SILENT DROP OF OCEAN

Minnow nodded happily at Thoth’s answer that the horses at the sale were animals, but after a moment, the the way he answered it struck her. It wasn’t so much that she was meaning to insult the beasts, but that it was all very confusing to her.

“But familiars are also animals? They weren’t selling stolen familiars there… that doesn’t happen here does it?” she added, with extra questions to clarify as she switched the melting ice sculpture to her other hand, and placed the newly freed, wet hand back on the mare’s neck, stroking her fur gently. “You… er I guess maybe just I, can’t exactly tell the difference like you can between animals and aja at home.”

She left unstated the black market of the volcano and the thefts and trafficking that went on. She didn’t mention dragging the unbound aja from the wild. She didn’t mention the commandeering of aja for the military, and she certainly didn’t mention her own lost partner. All of those subjects were entirely too depressing to think about let alone hoist onto someone else. Not when there were more important things to attend to. Besides, the building they were approaching was steadily getting much larger than Minnow had thought it might have been. Huts in the swamp didn’t get this big or elaborate.

Her neck twisted almost to the point of pain as she tried to take it all in. Guards stood watch. There were stairs that led to the door for no reason that Minnow could discern. Stairs and ladders were for changing levels in the docks or tree houses. They were getting out of the water quicker than climbing back onto the piers and docks. An entrance from the ground shouldn’t need stairs. The inside was equally grand, but stuffy for such a large place. It made sense though. There were no cracks in the wood or roof to let the air flow. The doors stayed closed rather than being shut only before the worst storms. Her amazement as she looked around faltered. It fell completely when the woman who was stuffier than the atmosphere advanced and began to chastise the pair.

At first Minnow stayed quiet and listened, but what she heard was barbaric. Why wouldn’t horses be allowed inside? Aja had free-reign anywhere they could physically get to. Bridges and ladders could be difficult, but they weren’t actively kept out of living quarters or anywhere else. Maybe it was because the mare wasn’t a familiar, which was slightly better as an option, but not by much. Minnow hoped it would be a valid reason and opened her mouth to try to stop the criticism, but was cut off at the inhalation. What Thoth said worked, at least, but Minnow stared after the angry woman and fell behind her new friends.

With a shake of her head, she finally noticed she’d lagged and an to catch up, eying all of the hallways they passed and grumbling mentally at the stairs, which had started to make her a bit nauseous as they spun up to the next landing. She followed Thoth to his room, now completely lost and turned around in this place, but stroked the nose of the mare as he opened the door (also bizarrely closed despite no weather possibly causing problems), and then followed him in.

Inside was a larger bed than the one Minnow had been sleeping in in town. She hadn’t quite gotten used to laying in something simultaneously soft but immobile. It was like sleeping on the floor when the bunks were full, but she sank into it slightly, almost like the hammocks she’d grown up with. They kept her back and neck in a constant state or dull soreness. More interesting were all the things around the bed, none of which she could possibly have named as she wandered, marveling at everything.

“So, what herbs are you gonna use to help fix her?” Minnow asked, not seeing anything she recognized as a common antidote for scrapes. She wasn’t a healer, but she knew enough from helping with younger cousins and nieces and nephews a few remedies. She supposed, perhaps, since aja weren’t exactly healed like ker, maybe these horses were even more different. Still, Thoth seemed to know what needed to be done. “Anyway I can help?”