<Thomas. Wake up.>
The thought echoed throughout Thomas’s mind, as if it were his own, slowly peeling him into consciousness. He was lying in a pile of hay inside Faith’s home, after she had kindly let him stay. Not that he would have minded sleeping outside.
<Thomas, I hunger.> Thomas turned over onto his back. Above him was a largish drooling wolf. It was Pallo.
Thomas stretched his arms out and stood up. “Yes, yes… I know. I’ll go get your share of today’s stew.”
Pallo wagged slightly, trailing after Thomas and watching excitedly as he placed down a bowl of rabbit and potato stew in front of her. <Thank you, Thomas. I was this close to eating the cow.>
Thomas glanced over towards the cow, who was munching on the hay he’d been sleeping on. “So that’s why the poor girl looks so nervous.”
Pallo looked up from her food, staring mournfully at her leader. <…Thomas. Why are there plants in my bowl?>
“Hm? Oh, they’re just potatoes, Pallo.”
<Potatoes are plants, Thomas. Why are there plants in my bowl?>
“Because it’s better than just having a few chunks of rabbit. The little guys don’t have that much meat on them, after all.”
<Plants, Thomas. Plants.>
“If you hate them that much you can eat around them, you don’t have to eat everything in your bowl.”
<…Very well, I shall eat them.>
Thomas smiled, as he shoveled down the last few bites of his share of stew. “Oh, that reminds me. I need to make a growth potion. Can you help me check to see if we have all the ingredients when you are done-” Thomas paused, noticing that Pallo had just finished cleaning the last bits of juice out of her bowl. “-now that you’re done eating?”
Pallo wiggled her tail in response, heading over to Thomas’s bag and giving it a hearty sniff. <What do we need?>
“Let’s see… Start with some marigold…”
<Some in the left pocket, and it’s fresh.>
“Maybe some crushed locust wings…”
<We have had more than enough since that plague.>
“Just a dash of nightshade…”
<Indeed. It is a scent I would recognize anywhere.>
“And we’re definitely going to need some dried deer droppings.”
<…I might have eaten that…>
“Then could you do me a favor and go find some while I work on the rest of the potion?”
<I’ll try. I can’t search too far away from you though. I am your familiar, after all.>
A note from the
authorninja:It seems Thomas might not be as crazy as Faith thought. Though he’s certainly a bit… eccentric…