In Over Your Head

I know, I know, we should get out of our comfort zones more often but... did it really have to be this? Did we really have to wade into water this deep just to look at some cute little fish? Only knee deep, you say? Everyone’s knees? Cos my knees, legs, back, head and a …

Fire Martens

Fire martens are ferocious creatures. Mostly they keep to themselves in the tops of trees, foraging for eggs and grubs and fruits, but they also hunger for stranger things, making unsuspecting travellers into targets. Fire martens love coal, and any wooden thing that has been waxed. Crystals make for energetic moments of play until they …

The Hatter

You know all those tiny hats that familiars wear? Well, around these parts there’s one man that makes ‘em, and he’s an elf, of all things. Elves don’t have magic, see, ‘cos they got their immortality instead. So they dedicate their lives to crafts and the making of things. Still, they mostly keep to themselves …

Spring Melt

The spirit of the River Roving is such a beautiful thing... usually. But for a few weeks each year the snow of the high mountains far away melts and cascades its way down the stones, through the tundra and fields and woods, until at last is surges down to the flats, where it soaks the …

Always Walking

Lots of mages travel every year all around the world, visiting places of note and history, learning about their past and their present so they may better shape their futures. We are guides, and take travellers deep into ancient woodlands and up steep slopes in exchange for goods. Mostly we request food, or cloth, for …

Promises

Summer is brief so high in the mountains, and already the snows come. What’s more, this is the last summer we have before Sorcha goes to her apprenticeship, and I go with her, leaving these mountains to fond memories and quick holidays. They’ll always be here, of course, mountains move so slowly that our racing …

Four Paths

Master Crusoe is not as old as he looks, but all the young familiars see him as this wise and worldly creature, unfathomably deep in experience and personality. The truth is, Master Crusoe is a mild dragon who, like his mage, Master Robinson, favours the calming properties of wind and water. Most folks see dragons …

Bunny Buds

Everyone thinks the rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick is easy - and it is, once you win the trust of the Great Lop. When the spirit rabbits of the vast, mysterious Warren are called forth, they will provide any service requested, within sensible boundaries, of course. Some rabbits would be called for luck, for guidance, for their speed …

Bee Rezponzible

Hello! Over here! Izz me, little Queenie! Itzzz a lovely day, will you join me in the garden? Don’t worry, I don’t zting, iz wazpz that do that, not beezzzzz. It hurtz a bee to zting. Which is like a lot of thingzzz - you have to make a trade. Perhapzzz zometimez we need to …

Star Signs

Some familiars are discreet things, others not. Sometimes they’re born or hatched markedly different from their siblings, and for myself, those marks were my stars. Stars come and go across my pelt, so slowly as to not be noticed, making patterns, constellations, flashing silver and gold. I have no idea what it means, but my …