Ten things Bianca knows, but probably hasn't told anyone else about. I guess this is another take on "Of Artisan Stock", from another character's perspective. Namely, Bianca. I wasn't planning it, but I was just recently reminded of the fact that I think Bianca's a damn interesting character and… it'd be nice to explore.

Standard disclaimers apply. Reviews and concrit are appreciated.


Spellbook: Pages One Throught Ten.

1. Knowing The Sound of Thunder.

The first time Bianca killed someone, it hadn't been a mistake.

She was fairly sure the sorceress planned it, but to this day, Bianca doesn't know exactly how or why, and she can't work out what was so important about this particular Tiki Idol that she had to turn him into a slug in the first place. Still, you don't argue with the sorceress, particularly not if you work for her.

'Um… your highness, I think it's still moving…'

'So step on it already, fool. It's a bug, isn't it?

'But…'

'That's what you do with insects, girl. You crush them. This thing is no longer important.'

'But I…wasn't it… a moment ago, sorceress, it was a…'

'Forget what it wasNow it's a bug. So crush it already and move. We don't have time for childish sensitivity.'

Bianca did, and the creature had squelched, as if it has never been a living idol made of stone.

It didn't take her long to catch on. The sorceress usually didn't care what her apprentice chose to do with the prisoners they caught, provided she got rid of them so that they never darkened the doorway again. Usually Bianca managed to avoid destroying people. Oh, she'd change them into something alright. Usually a slug or some kind of small mammal incapable of speech or understanding. But then she'd release them into the fields and let them forget they had ever been sentient, mortal creatures. In this way, Bianca had avoided actually killing anyone with her own two hands for years. She would have been happy to keep it that way.

The sorceress caught the hummingbird doing reconnaissance in the Towers, and Bianca pulls her usual trick, transforming it into the requested obscure creature and, instead of standing on it or smashing it under a stone or something, she picks it up and carries it carefully out into the Surprise Springs, leaving it under the shade of a tree where it would be safe. Still no longer a biped or capable of cognitive speech, but safe.

Except that then the dragon showed up (she's fairly sure he's following her) and… How was she supposed to know that blasted dragonfly of his was partial to butterflies?

So the second time Bianca killed someone, it had been a mistake. And she kind of took her anger out on the dragon, if only a little bit. She already knew he wasn't worth her time and attention, and she knew what she was supposed to do to get rid of him once and for all anyway. So she did it. Or tried to. A well placed energy bomb at just the right angle…

Except that that darn cat got in the way of her shot, and…

And actually, Bianca was kind of surprised that her death-count only stood at two, after delivering a chest-blast like that to someone of that build. She could imagine how much it hurt.

Hunter continued to insist that he wasn't the least bit angry about it. Bianca wondered if all the butterflies that Sparx had gone through during Spyro's time in the Forgotten Worlds would be as forgiving.


Fic Explanation Section #1.

Granted, having to do this should probably mean that the fic isn't coherent enough in and of itself, but I think I have some interesting comments to add, so I'll do so.

The title of this ficlet, "She Knows The Sound of Thunder." Is actually a pun upon a famous science fiction story "A Sound of Thunder" by Wilbur Smith, in which a man causes a disastrous mutation of history by time-travelling back to the existence of the dinosaurs, and treading on a butterfly.