Chapter 20: Finding Your Mark 2

The familiars, Nimble Rabbit decided, were just odd.

Oh, to be fair there weren't that many odd animals as a whole. Various cats and hounds, several species of birds (though a decent number of those looked very different than the common ones around Leaning Hill. Still, they were easily recognizable as such), some snakes and other reptiles of various sizes… If anything, the only strangeness with those kinds were that they were all in one place with only minor territorial jostling or aggressiveness rather than trying to eat/flee/chase one another.

The ones that were not so ordinary in form, however, were really out there…

The floating eyeball-thing was the most obvious with how it drifted about almost at random. It didn't even seem to have a mouth or any other features aside from the one big eye, which baffled him as to how (if it actually needed to) it could eat. The six-legged lizard seemed relatively normal, though most of the other familiars were keeping a respectful distance from it. Another large lizard off to the other side… this one with only four limbs but with red scales… had its tail lit on fire without any apparent injury or discomfort. Several other creatures were worthy of note, having a surplus of limbs, or seeming to be composed of several types of animal, or displaying minor powers of various sorts.

Rabbit sighed as he watched the various creatures. He was not a well-traveled person (current situation aside), and he knew it. Most of what he even knew of other places back in creation were, at best, secondhand if not third- or fourth or greater. Of these stranger creatures he would have expected (well, at least as far as them not being out of place) to see in something like a Dynast or god's private zoo at best, or in a Fae's motley at worst. The ruling mortals of this land… and the mages were mortals; he was sure of that… kept them like they were just hunting dogs or mouser cats.

He had absolutely no idea what that might hint at, but it worried him all the same.

A student walked into the yard, calling out to one of the creatures by name. As the familiar (a modestly-sized hound with dark tan fur) approached, the young mage spotted Rabbit who just nodded towards him in acknowledgement.

In response, the young man nearly tripped over himself heading back out the entrance, the dog now at his side not helping as it stayed near its master's legs. Rabbit just shook his head; it was amusing in its own right, but he could see that kind of panic becoming tiring really fast. At least none of them so far had reacted violently, but if things went on it wouldn't be too long until he wouldn't be able to sneeze without a student running for a teacher claiming the god-blood had been about to steal their magic.

"Now just what seems to be the problem here?" he heard a familiar voice ask. Apparently Rabbit had misjudged how long it would take, as Professor Colbert walked into the yard.

"Hm… that young man seemed rather panicked, but the familiars are all in order and calm. I wonder what could have startled him like… Oh, Mr. Rabbit!" Colbert exclaimed with a smile. "I almost didn't see you there, plus kept quiet."

"Well, it's not like most plants are known for making a sound, you know?" Nimble Rabbit said, quirking a grin. "And not many people bother to see the vines on the wall, neither."

"Eh?" Colbert blinked. "Oh, ah! I see, because of your Wood-magic heritage. Hardly a completely accurate comparison, with you a person, but I see where you were going. In any case, I'm actually glad to have run across you. I had a few questions."

"Oh? What about?" asked Rabbit, pushing off from the wall. "Something wrong?"

"No, not at all. Well, that's not to say you wouldn't be able to help, but there's nothing actually wrong that needs to be fixed, and… I'm rambling again, aren't I?" the professor mumbled. "Right! May I see your hand? The one that was inscribed with the… er… runes?"

Rabbit shrugged. "All right, I suppose," he said, offering the requested hand. "What's this about then?"

Colbert nodded for a moment as he examined the decidedly non-Brimiric symbols on the back of the human-familiar's hand. "Well, as you may have guessed these are not anywhere similar to the usual markings that appear during the binding ceremony. I was quite puzzled about them, and have been trying to find anything resembling or referring to them in the archives."

"Managed not to skip any meals this time I hope?"

"Oh, definitely. This time around I made sure to have them delivered to me so I wouldn't forget!"

"All right, then," Rabbit chuckled. "So, did you find something, then?"

"Not quite. Tell me, you mentioned at the time that you recognized what they spelled?"

"Yeah. It's in Old Realm, what spirits and sorcerers use back home. Roughly reads as 'Ganadalfeer,' though that's without getting into the meaning of the pictographs themselves, nor the order they're in, and so forth."

Colbert gave Nimble Rabbit an appraising look. "And you understand them?"

"S'a good idea when you deal with them enough, though I should say that I don't know all the ins and outs. More easy to say some things than in mortal tongues, or at least it has words that cover some of the odder concepts that you get with gods and essence. Though this doesn't really have one as I can recall."

"I'll have to see if there's anything in our own runes, but that's for another day," said Colbert. "What occurred is that, while I was searching through the books I recalled that I actually had seen something similar a few times before. Not these exact… hm… pictographs, you said these were? I had some suspicions, and that would explain some trouble with translating; going from an ideographic language to an alphabetic one would be…"

"Professor," Rabbit said wearily, "if you're going to be going on like that could I at least get my hand back?"

Colbert flushed, and did so. "Sorry, a bad habit I realize, but having one item of study come into play after another can be somewhat distracting. I recalled that I had seen similar pictographs on several of the items inside the Academy's vault. If you were willing and have the time, I would like to come and see what you can make of them."

Rabbit's eyes widened. "What, seriously?"

"Oh, yes. While, like I said, the exact symbols are unfamiliar, the general style resembles-"

"No, no," the god-blooded interrupted. "You want me to go into where you keep who knows what kind of artifacts that you all feel the need to be locked up, just because you're curious?"

"Well, it's not like I expect you to handle anything dangerous of course," Colbert said. "Not that I believe we carry many items that would be… I think. And I'll be in there with you in any case."

Nimble Rabbit frowned in thought for a moment. "Well, if it might have something to do with Creation, I don't think it would hurt at all to take a glance. Plus I'm free for a few hours anyway while Miss Valliere has her classes. As interesting as the beasts here are, they don't quite seem able to hold a conversation, so I don't imagine I'd have much to do here either."

"Splendid! Oh, wait, I believe I'm teaching Miss Valliere's class just then. Perhaps after lunch?"

"You'd have to speak with the young Miss on that," Rabbit said. "She'd wanted me to meet her again around lunch; not for anything I know of, but I wouldn't want to presume."

"Ah, a fair point. I'll ask her after class before she leaves, and that will give me time to get the key from the headmaster as well." Colbert turned to head off. "Thank you for agreeing, Mr. Rabbit. If you are able to assist it would be a great leap forward in understanding some of the items kept within the vault."

"Sure, professor." Rabbit waved as the other man strode off, before huffing in thought. "Well, this is something I didn't expect. Beats just sitting around all day, mind." He turned to where the various familiars were, he looked them over again. "Erm… just so as to check, none of you do talk, do you?"

He received no response, save for a few snorts and wuffs as what few of them were looking at him turned back to whatever they had been doing before.

"Well, never hurts," Rabbit said, grinning sheepishly. He stretched, and hummed. "Still, have to find something to do in the meanwhile..." he muttered and walked off back to the main path of the Academy.

Author's Notes:

Well, that does it for the chapters I had in reserve. I should have the next written within 2-3 days or so, but otherwise there won't be quite as regular a posting schedule as for the past few weeks. I am continuing Parlor Tricks, of course, but I'm trying to apply more time to EIoEM and a few unrelated minor plot ideas I've had lurking about. Regardless, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favored, or set this to their alerts. Look forward to chapters to come.

R&R, C&C, and so forth. Thank you.