Altessa stared at the egg in Caleb's hands for a good long while before looking up at the doll.
"Don't forget the pepper." he remarked and headed back into his workshop with the materials. The doll frowned and turned his attention back to the egg.
"I don't know about this. The egg should have gone cold by now. Why is it still so warm?" he muttered and tapped on the shell. Something inside the egg shifted and Caleb nearly dropped the egg in surprise. "What the-! There's something alive in this! Master Altessa!"
"What now!" the dwarf grumbled as Caleb hurried in after him.
"This egg! There's something alive in it! I tapped the shell and something moved inside!" the doll blurted out. Altessa sniffed as he went back to work on tuning another crystal.
"It must be your imagination." he grumbled. Caleb studied the egg carefully.
"Can I try to hatch it?" he asked, "I want to see what kind of egg this is. Maybe it shouldn't be sold by those men in NeOzette."
"Do as you like, just stay out of my workshop! There's a lot of energy moving through here that could damage you!" Altessa ordered.
Caleb grabbed a mana crystal from his own personal supply and found a wooden crate full of straw from his last trip to Sybak. He put the egg in and set the mana crystal beside it, letting the warmth of the gem seep into the egg. He sat before it and watched with a smile. This was kind of exciting!
"I wonder what kind of creature it is. Maybe a big bird, or a reptile no one's seen before!" he murmured to himself and propped his cheeks on his hands, waiting. "I wonder how long it will take to hatch."
He waited and watched until it was time for dinner, and he made a quick meal of riceballs for the dwarf before returning to look after the egg. Night wore on and Altessa remained in his shop. Caleb didn't notice, nor did he go to bed himself. He stayed beside the fireplace the whole night, watching the egg and moving the crystal around to warm the egg evenly. In the morning Caleb stopped his watch to make breakfast for Altessa, lectured the dwarf on staying up so long, then returned to looking after his new charge.
As Caleb played mother hen to the strange egg, Altessa finished tuning the small mana crystal at last and turned to forging the ring that would be its setting. The new Sorcerer's Ring would be one of several items he would be handing down to the doll for use. There wasn't much time left for the dwarf to lose. Once the ring was done, Altessa would start work on refitting the Elemental Cargo for use on the water and restructuring the engine to work without the Exsphere needed to move mana through the conduits.
The days stretched on in this way, Altessa confined to his workroom and busy with repairs and remodeling, and Caleb guarding the egg in the box. Finally, just as the doll was ready to admit there was really nothing special about the egg, the shell began to crack.
"Master Altessa! It's hatching! Come quick!" the doll cried, leaping up in surprise and happiness. The dwarf hesitated at his work, then decided to indulge the doll and joined him in watching the egg crack open. The shell broke away in pieces and Caleb leaned forward excitedly to see what would emerge.
A white beak-like muzzle poked through, followed by a small head shaped like a cat's, green eyes peering out at the doll. Caleb blinked in confusion as the creature continued to squirm free of the eggshell. It was the size of a small cat and completely covered in thick white fur with red sealpoints on its ears and limbs, pale cream-colored scales that ran from the top of its neck down to the base of its tail. Its ears were small and pulled back on its head, though that looked as if it was normal for the creature. It had fine tufts of hair along its cheeks and on its head, and a long tail that curled and swayed around it. Small paws curled under its body, but Caleb could see it looked very much like an odd cat.
"It's not a bird or a reptile." Caleb murmured blankly.
"Doesn't look good to eat either. Even if you added pepper." the dwarf added. "What is that thing?"
"I don't know. But I guess I'll call it Pepper." Caleb remarked and reached into the box to lift the creature, "I don't know whether it's a male or female, so Pepper seems like a pretty generic name for it." The 'cat' made an odd sound, somewhere between a chirp and a squeak, and nuzzled Caleb's hand. "Seems nice enough. What do I feed it?" the doll asked and looked slightly panicked, "What does it eat? What foods are safe for this thing? How much do I feed it? Ah! Master Altessa! Help!"
"You're on your own for this one, Caleb!" Altessa called as he vanished back into his workroom. Caleb stood with the creature in his arms, still panicking.
"That's not fair! What am I gonna do!" he wailed and hurried into the kitchen to try to find something for his new pet. The 'cat' chirp-squeaked again and wriggled in his arms. Setting the creature down on a table, Caleb began to pull out all the different fruits and meats he had on hand. "Chicken? Apples? Carrots? Fish?" he asked himself and checked off each one on a mental checklist as presenting the foods to Pepper resulted in a sniff and a whining squawk of refusal. Cabinets were opened, storerooms emptied and a mess of food littered the table and counters as Caleb tried everything in the house. Pepper refused it all.
"Do you eat grass or leaves?" the doll questioned aloud and hurried outside to check. Pepper watched him run out, then looked up at one opened cabinet that hadn't been completely emptied. It lit up in pleasure and made a leap for the counter below it.
After grabbing a handful of grass and leaves from a short jog away, Caleb returned to the kitchen and blinked. Pepper was no longer on the table. Frantically, he searched the kitchen until he heard a squeak of annoyance and frustration. Caleb looked up at the cabinet and spotted the creature trying to mouth a large, strange fruit.
"Hey! That's Mana Fruit! What are you doing with that?" the doll exclaimed. Mana Fruit grew on the Yggdrasill Tree and was part of Martel's new idea of spreading mana throughout the land. At times, she would gather up several bushels of the fruit and send them to churches all around the world with orders to pass them on to the people. Her hope was that the fruit would either be eaten by those who would benefit most from the concentrated mana supply in the fruit or it would be buried and allowed to leech its stores into the earth. She often gave a few fruits to Caleb each time he dropped by for a visit.
The Mana Fruit was unusual-looking, a large apple-like fruit covered in soft fuzz with an iridescent quality to it. It seemed to sparkle as the colors swirled and shifted on its surface. Caleb had no idea what he was supposed to do with the fruit, but he accepted each gift thankfully and stored it safely on a shelf.
Now Pepper was attempting to swallow one whole.
"Stop that!" Caleb cried and pulled down the creature. It cried loudly and struggled as he checked the fruit for damage. "These aren't meant to be eaten, right?" He set Pepper back down and cocked his head in thought. If the creature went out of its way to go after this fruit and didn't react to anything else, then perhaps it fed off of the fruit of the Mana Tree. Shrugging, Caleb took a small knife and cut the fruit into manageable chunks. Pepper devoured the pieces happily. "I guess that's what you eat." the doll remarked with a grin, "I'll remember that."
The creature squeaked contentedly and closed its eyes as its body lit up with a soft glow. Stepping back in confusion, Caleb watched as it grew rapidly to a larger size, small nubs that had protruded from its back now forming small wings that spanned out the length of the animal. They flapped uncertainly, then folded down, the white feathers rustling a bit as they settled. Large enough to be confused with a full grown cat, but no longer easily overlooked due to the wings, Pepper yawned once, clacked happily, then curled up and fell asleep.
"It's not a cat, either." Caleb muttered and checked it off the list of possible animals in his head.
Pepper slept off the effects of the Mana Fruit for the rest of the day. For a couple of days afterwards, it consented to eating other foods, mostly fruits and vegetation. When it grew picky about its meals, Caleb gave it another Mana Fruit. It squawked loudly until it was given another. Again it transformed and became the size of a small dog. At this point, Pepper's teeth began growing in and Caleb found himself searching for a safe object for it to chew on, as everything in the house was made of stone. A clean rag tied in a knot served as a toy and Pepper enjoyed itself by gnawing on the cloth. Caleb examined it carefully one day and discovered to his pleasant surprise that Pepper was female, renaming it Peppermint on the spot. He continued to call her Pepper, as she had grown used to the name. Each time Pepper refused her normal meal of fruit cocktail, Caleb would feed her Mana Fruit, noting with a certain alarm that the number of fruits she would need to change again was growing steadily higher. He was running out of fruit.
When Pepper was the size of a rather large dog, she grew her claws, large red claws that she sharpened often on the walls of the cave until Caleb led her outside and showed her the trees. Altessa was not pleased with having to repair the damage to his house. The ring had been finished, the EC was almost done and he still had one more major project to undertake before everything was set. He didn't have time to deal with Caleb's pet.
"Pepper! Toy!" Caleb called out and tossed her new ball towards the field outside, not far from the house. He had fun carrying her around when Pepper was small, but now she was big enough to walk on her own, often trotting happily beside him everywhere he went. When Caleb made trips to Sybak or NeOzette, Pepper followed along, often drawing attention from people as they stopped to stare at the strange animal wandering the town with him. Children liked her and often pet her or gave her fruit treats that easily bought her affection. Caleb had gotten a long green sash and a large brass bell, stringing it on the sash and then tying it around Pepper's neck as a collar. She loved it, often running in the fields for the sake of hearing it ring loudly at her neck.
Pepper chased after the toy, wings flapping about crazily as if trying to lift off into the air. She snagged it in her mouth and pranced back to Caleb, clacking with quick movements of her tongue as she returned the ball.
Her next transformation was to a size somewhat smaller than Noishe, Lloyd's pet arshis. It was then that Altessa suggested that a separate pen be built to house her, as Pepper was now too big to fit comfortably within the cave. Caleb set to work building one into the cave wall, borrowing some of Altessa's tools to carve out a stall for the creature. Pepper balked at the idea of living in a room separate from Caleb, so he opened up part of the wall between her pen and his room. The resulting stall wasn't exceptionally neat, but it served its purpose. Altessa examined it himself, then gruffly admitted that Caleb needed better instruction on stonework. It would take too long to teach the doll himself, so Altessa sent him to Sybak to purchase reading material on the matter. It wouldn't equal the handiwork of a dwarf, but at least Altessa wouldn't be completely embarrassed by anything Caleb hobbled together out of stone or wood.
Pepper's next change took her to a pony-sized level, and her wings began flapping madly each time she ran around outside. Her muzzle had grown short whiskers, elongated to form a snout, and her tufts of hair had lengthened enough to frame her head cutely. Caleb watched and encouraged her as Pepper began trying to fly, but she could never seem to get off the ground. Each time she tried and failed she would walk up to Caleb, ears pulled downward in disappointment and her posture similar to a slump.
"That's okay. Practice helps anyway." Caleb assured her and gave her an apple to cheer her up.
It was then that the doll realized he had run out of Mana Fruit and Altessa was working furiously on something that looked like parts meant for himself. Confused and in need of someone to talk to, Caleb decided to go and visit his sister.
"I'll be back soon, Master Altessa!" he called out as Pepper leaped happily into the back of the Elemental Carriage, chirping and whistling excitedly. He didn't receive an answer, which was to be expected given his preoccupation, and shrugged. They set out towards the Yggdrasill Tree.
Pepper poked her head through the open window into the driver's compartment and clacked cheerfully, large paws curled under her chin as she looked out at the forest Caleb drove through. He reached out and rubbed her chin affectionately.
"Almost there, Pepper. Then you can meet my sister and have all the Mana Fruit you can eat!" he told her with a smile. Pepper clacked again eagerly, tail thumping the walls of the carriage as it swished back and forth.
The forest was thick and lush, and the shadow of the Yggdrasill Tree covered much of it. The Mana Tree's canopy could be seen from NeOzette on a clear day and some claimed they could see clouds of shimmering color spread from it out across the sky. This tree was under the protection of both the Goddess Martel and the Heroes of Union, as Lloyd Irving Aurion, the wielder of the Eternal Sword, had made a pact with Martel to keep the tree from withering away again. Martel had taken Tabatha for a vessel and, in doing so, became Caleb's older sister.
"Martel! Sis! I came by to show you a new friend of mine!" Caleb greeted cheerfully as he stepped out of the carriage. The tree seemed to shimmer as a figure formed at its base. Slender and pretty, carrying a winged staff as a symbol of her identity, Martel stepped forward to receive her guest. She smiled as Caleb hurried to the back of the carriage.
"Ah, Caleb. It's good to see you, especially under the circumstances. I've been having a dreadful time trying to find out..." she began and paused in surprise as Pepper leaped out of the carriage and bounded her way. "Ah!"
"Don't be afraid! She's really nice! Her name's Peppermint, but I just call her Pepper." Caleb explained and hurried to join them, holding out an apple for the creature. "I hatched her from an egg I got in NeOzette."
"That's what's been happening to those eggs? They're being sold to people in cities?" Martel murmured and shook her head. "Why would anyone want to buy a mana beast egg at this time? There's not enough of them to begin interacting with people yet!" Caleb blinked at her.
"A what?" he asked. Martel waved her hand towards Pepper.
"She's a mana beast, and a young one, too. She must have been stolen from her nest recently." the goddess answered, "I have been trying to find out what's been happening to the eggs."
"What's a mana beast?" Caleb repeated, still lost as Pepper bounced around the meadow joyfully, oblivious to the crumbling remains of the Tower of Salvation that served to form the clearing and the protective barrier around the Yggdrasill Tree.
"Long ago, before the Kharlan War, when the Kharlan Tree grew lush and strong, the Summon Spirits of the land and I all created a species of creature to help spread mana around the world. These were the mana beasts, creatures of magic and mana." Martel told him, "When the war began draining the world of mana, the mana beasts began to die, even as they continued trying to replenish mana to the world. The last one gave his life to the Kharlan Tree in hopes of ensuring it would survive the war." She sighed and looked perturbed, "I only recently had the Summon Spirits help me revive the mana beasts and now someone is stealing the eggs before they can hatch!"
"So Pepper is a mana beast? And there's more of them?" Caleb tried to understand what was going on. Martel nodded.
"Come with me. I'll show you. And bring Pepper, too. Her family needs to know she's safe." she told him and walked around the tree to another part of the meadow.
Behind the massive tree was what Caleb could only describe as a village of nests, each one holding several colored eggs all in a batch to keep warm. Standing over the nests were many large creatures that looked similar to Pepper, but with different colors and features that made them each unique. A good majority of the mana beasts were very large, almost three times Noishe's size. One of them could easily pick up the arshis by the scruff of its neck if it wanted to. The rest of the mana beasts were very young, dog-sized, and played happily together near the adults. Martel walked among them and the mana beasts would pause what they did to acknowledge her presence before resuming what they were doing, be it guarding children, warming eggs, or getting ready to leave the community themselves. Caleb walked after her, followed by Pepper, who looked around herself with wide eyes. She spotted the hatchlings in their group play and clacked loudly before dashing off to join them, bell ringing brightly as she did.
"Pepper!" Caleb called out in concern, then blinked as Martel's arm shot out before him, preventing him from going further. "Huh? Martel?" She only looked ahead, pointing forward with the head of her staff. Two of the adult mana beasts were walking towards the group of hatchlings, an aura of deep concern radiating from them. One was dark red and orange, intimidatingly large, with sharp eyes and a frown on its face. The other mana beast was slightly smaller, pure white and shimmering, with deeply intelligent eyes and a vaguely confused face. They stopped at the hatchlings and watched Pepper romp about with the other mana beasts. The young had been startled at first by Pepper's sudden appearance and her bell, but warmed up to her as she bounded back and forth, clacking an invitation to play. Soon, they had all joined together in a game as if she'd always been one of their playmates.
The white mana beast cooed strangely, an echo of a sound that made Caleb suddenly think of a motherly figure. The younglings paused in their play and looked up at Pepper. She flicked her ears once, but otherwise ignored the sound. The white mana beast frowned slightly, then cooed again. Once more the image of a motherly shadow bloomed in Caleb's mind, but it felt more reinforced. He shook his head.
"It's a projection. She is of the Ascension clan of the mana beasts, graced with light and psychic power and an intelligence that is unmatched by the others. The other is of the FireBlossom clan, filled with the passion and fury of fire and all its destructive strength." Martel whispered, "They are Pepper's mother and father."
Pepper shook her head and ignored the call again. This time, the red mana beast growled and stepped forward, grabbing up Pepper by the scruff of her neck and taking her back to the white mana beast. Pepper squawked and screeched, kicking her legs and struggling to get free. Caleb fought the urge to run after her as the two beasts set her down and Pepper was pinned gently under the red's massive paw. Both adults then studied her carefully before sniffing at her. Pepper continued to wail angrily.
"They are searching for a similar scent, something about her to see if she is theirs." Martel went on.
After a few sniffs, the pair of beasts pulled their heads back in surprise, then clacked happily before launching into a string of strange chirps and whistles, mixed with a variety of sounds Caleb couldn't identify. Pepper stilled and seemed to listen, confusion and impatience on her face as she glanced over at the other hatchlings randomly. When the red lifted its paw, she sat up and began squawking back, also using the sounds they had. After a few minutes of listening to her, the two mana beasts looked over at Caleb sharply. The doll blinked and stiffened as they walked towards him and Martel.
"Now what?" he whispered to his sister.
"They have told Pepper who and what she is, and how she came to be taken from her family here. And in turn, Pepper has told them all about herself and her life with you." Martel answered, "She has told them that you are her mother now." Caleb blinked and stepped back in shock.
"Me! But I can't be a mother! I only hatched and raised her! Besides, I'm a male model! I can pretend to be Daddy, but not Mommy!" he exclaimed as Martel closed her eyes, trying to maintain a patient, peaceful aura.
"The hair doesn't help, Caleb." she muttered.
The two beasts stopped before the doll and studied him carefully as well. The white beast, Pepper's mother, sniffed delicately at him, then chirped and clacked softly before nuzzling his cheek as a sign of thanks and greeting. The red sniffed at him, then gave him a stern look, grumbling in his throat.
"He wants to know what you were doing with a mana beast egg." Martel translated. Pepper trotted up and sat beside the doll, rubbing her cheek against his arm. Caleb smiled at her, then faced the red with a new courage.
"I was given an egg in NeOzette by a group of men and women who were selling many more eggs of different colors. Eggs that look just like the ones in the nests here. I took it home and discovered that something lived in the egg. So I used a mana crystal to hatch it and Pepper was born." he told the red and folded his arms over his chest, "I raised her with my supply of Mana Fruit, I gave her love, I played with her, I treated her as a friend and equal. I did all I could to ensure she was happy, healthy and knew she was loved. I do not wish to be called 'Mother' or 'Master' or anything of the sort. I want to be known as her friend, someone she could trust and count on to be there when she needs a caring person." Pepper clacked loudly and nuzzled hard enough to push Caleb over, effectively ruining any sort of dramatic impact to his words. "Pepper!" he exclaimed with a sigh before shaking his head and stroking the fur of her snout. Pepper's mother looked straight into his eyes with an intense gaze, and he felt a strange tingling sensation course through him. She then whistled softly to her mate and the tingling left Caleb. The two mana beasts looked at each other for a moment, then called out to the community in their strange language.
"They are making an announcement." Martel murmured, "'The non-human creature called Caleb has raised the one known as Peppermint from hatchling to young. He wishes to be called friend. Do the clans agree to this?'" Caleb looked out at the myriad of adults and hatchlings as they looked at him, then called back in a series of squawks and whistles. "The clans all agree. You are now friend to the mana beasts." Martel summed up the calls with a smile. "I'm glad for that. It's been over four thousand years since the mana beasts have considered anyone other than me and a few select people to be friends. This is a step in the right direction."
"I'm glad for that, but what about Pepper? She needs to learn things I can't teach her, like flying and what her powers are! I don't want to keep her confined to the ground and once she gets to be big enough..." Caleb exclaimed, then trailed uncertainly, "She'll have to come back here and join her kind..." Martel gazed evenly at him. "I was afraid of this, deep inside. I never imagined I would find others like her. I always thought she would stay with me."
The mana beasts called to Pepper, this time with a different tone of voice and she eagerly bounded towards them. Martel lifted her staff to the tree and dozens of Mana Fruit were shaken loose, floating down towards her as the hatchlings bounced her way joyfully. Pepper listened to what her parents had to say, then raced back to join the feast.
"With this feeding, the hatchlings will become young and Pepper will become large and strong enough to learn to fly." Martel told Caleb, "All mana beasts, when they are born, eat Mana Fruit to grow and develop. Once they've reached adulthood, they are able to eat other foods on their own and no longer need the Mana Fruit unless they are ill or injured." She placed a few fruits in his hands. "Feed Pepper. She trusts you most." With that, Martel began feeding the Mana Fruits to each of the hatchlings by hand, meeting each eager young creature with a smile and gentle words. Caleb blinked and held one out to Pepper, who chomped down on it happily. He fed her the rest and watched her finish munching away on the fruits.
As a group, the hatchlings all transformed, growing in size as they developed strength to their wings. Pepper was the size of a pony and flapped her wings harder, exercising them and clacking cheerfully. The adult mana beasts walked up to her and spoke softly. She cheered and scampered off with them.
"They're going to show her what she needs to know." Martel told Caleb as the other young mana beasts returned to their nests to sleep, "While that goes on, will you help me find out who is robbing the nests? These mana beasts are so few in number that they are forced to leave their nests unattended while they spread mana from the tree to the world." The two of them walked over to sit by the trunk of the Mana Tree. Martel straightened her robe as she sat on one of the roots and sighed. "Several dozen eggs have been stolen over the last few mating seasons. We feared that they were being taken by predators for food, but what you have told me is very grave news. If people are buying these eggs without realizing what they contain, then there could be any number of mana beast young suffering out there." Caleb closed his eyes and looked slightly pained.
"Martel, I don't think there are any others like Pepper out in the world. The men and women who gave me the egg were selling them as food for cooking. To be honest, I almost cooked Pepper's egg myself. I didn't because I felt her move within the egg and I wanted to see what it was that laid such a large egg." he said quietly, "If anyone else got mana beast eggs, it's a very high percentage that all of them died while in others' hands. I'm sorry, Martel." He looked up and watched sadly as the goddess looked back at him tearfully.
"I trust your words, even though I hoped you wouldn't say anything that would dash my hopes of others returning." she murmured and wiped away her tears, "I will pray for their guidance back to the tree, the source of all mana. For now, we must find a way to stop the raids and hopefully recover any eggs that weren't sold."
"I can help guard the nests!" Caleb suggested brightly, "Since I never sleep and never get tired, I can stand watch over the nests while the mana beasts are out. Pepper can help, too! Then, we'll be able to find out when and how those people are stealing the eggs!" Martel smiled at him.
"Would you do this, truly?" she asked. Caleb nodded eagerly. "All right then. I'll tell the clans about what you plan to do." she remarked and closed her eyes, sending out a mental message to the mana beasts. "There. It is done." Martel said and placed her hand delicately on Caleb's shoulder, "You are doing us a great service, and your friendship is greatly appreciated. Had you been created during Lloyd's quest, I'm sure you would have easily become the tenth Hero of Union. You have that much good intent within you." She grinned mysteriously. "In fact, at one point in time, you were the tenth companion."
"Uh, thanks." Caleb murmured in confusion at those words. He thought back to his brief time with the group on Derris-Kharlan and made the assumption that his sister meant that point of time. He nodded slowly. "I'll head home to tell Master Altessa what I'm going to be doing, then I'll come right back." the doll added. Martel shook her head.
"Allow me to deliver the message in person. I can travel much faster than you can." she remarked and vanished in a burst of green shimmering light. Caleb blinked and looked out at the mana beasts, watching with a smile as Pepper made attempts at flying, mimicking the adults' motions of wings and legs as she leaped about the clearing. Whether she was making any actual progress or not was lost on everyone, they only knew that she was greatly enjoying herself and strengthening her wings at the same time. Soon enough, she would fly. Martel returned a moment later and smiled. "He was rather startled but asked how I was doing and wished us both luck in this quest. Also, he mentioned that he appreciated the time alone, as he had a great deal of work that he needs to do." Caleb looked stung.
"That's something I wanted to talk to you about as well. Martel, I don't know what's happening with Master Altessa. He's been working an awful lot lately and he seems to be drawing away from me. Does he not like me anymore? Am I no longer useful to him?" he murmured in worry, sounding as if he was on the brink of anguish. "It's because I have a soul now, isn't it? I'm not often disobedient, but it's so hard to not have my own opinions of things now!"
"No, it isn't like that." Martel told him comfortingly, "If you like, I can use my powers to look ahead into your future and see what may happen to you. I'm sure Altessa means no harm and hasn't grown cold towards you." Caleb wrung his hands and sighed, shaking his head.
"Thank you, but I think I should face my future as it comes. I don't mean to doubt your power or refuse it, but I feel as though knowledge of the future taints it for those who will live it. That's why Lloyd refuses to use the Eternal Sword to see either past or future, and keeps his gaze on the present." he finally answered as Pepper trotted up to nuzzle him. "Hello, Pepper! Did you have fun?" he managed to say brightly. The young mana beast clacked softly and rested her head on his lap, looking very sleepy. Martel smiled.
"I'll set up camp for you. Both of you should get some rest. We have much to do if we are to stop those raiders." she murmured and left to speak with the clans for their help in building a temporary home for the two friends. She closed her eyes as she walked away, searching the future for what fate would befall her younger brother. After a moment, she opened them with a surprised look. "Dear brother, your time in service to Altessa is almost at an end! What will become of you once that time closes?" she whispered.