Chapter 22: 22: To Be or Not To Be

Danika stared at the notification blankly for a moment. In the background Terri was exclaiming over how cute and tiny she was. After a long moment, Danika tapped decline.

Justin made a tossing gesture in her direction, but nothing seemed to happen, and he cursed softly, and reported, "It resisted the bond, and subdue failed."

Danika glanced at him warily, and quickly assumed the pose to call her menus and see what had changed on her character sheet.

Quin frowned at the sparkly little creature with butterfly-like wings, who was making such a familiar gesture. He pulled his own menu up with two quick taps over to the lens, while Justin quickly repeated the familiar bonding spell's chant.

Danika discovered that she'd learned a new spell, "Bond with Familiar". She tapped its info screen up but barely had time to skim the beginning of the full page of text before two more invitations popped up. One was a repeat of the invitation to become Justin's familiar, the other was a friend request from Quin.

Danika glared at Justin and said, "Stop that!"

Justin stared at her, open mouthed, and Terri gasped again and exclaimed, "It can talk! Oh, you can talk, and you're so cute, aren't you?"

Quin smothered a laugh and said politely, "Hello. Sorry about all this."

Justin gathered his wits and quickly protested, "But it would be very advantageous for you to become my familiar. It would double your lifespan, health and energy!"

Danika rolled her eyes and hit decline again, while replying, "If it would be so great, why don't you become my familiar instead!"

Quin laughed openly this time. Danika glanced at him and hesitated over the accept button. Quin asked Justin with amusement, "Yes, why don't you become ZipZing's familiar? It would definitely get you a place on the 'unique characters of Living Jade Empire' list!"

Justin argued, "It just hatched, even if it can become a wizard, it's a 3rd tier spell, who knows how long it would take?" Almost as an afterthought he asked, "You're naming it Zip Zing? What does that stand for?"

Danika exclaimed, "It's none of your business! I already know 'Bond with Familiar', but I think you're too arrogant to make a good pet."

Justin glared at her and made a little swiping motion. Danika realized suddenly that the tossing gesture he'd made before had actually been the motion he made when casting through his menu. She'd never seen someone else's menus before, and they showed as nothing but a faint shimmering outline.

Quin and Terri were both laughing now.

Justin flicked another spell at her and Danika almost instinctively dodged. Her hand hit reject by accident as she avoided the feather made of light that darted toward her. It splashed into sparkles on the tabletop where her eggshell lay in fragments without affecting it.

Danika activated her wings, which seemed to beat more slowly than usual as she darted toward the window. Behind her Justin exclaimed, "Catch it!"

Terri made a belated movement toward her just as Danika streaked over the windowsill.

Quin spoke up quietly, "Let the novice go Justin, do you want to wear a PVP flag all week?"

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Terri gasped and squeaked, "No way!"

Justin turned and stared at his friend for a long moment. "What?" he questioned at last.

--

The village was small, not much larger than the one in the beginner's vale. The houses seemed larger and had more stone in them, and the garden walls seemed higher. Danika looked around frantically for a good hiding spot, and darted toward another open window in the plainest of the buildings.

An old woman's voice chided, "It's polite to at least knock before entering someone's house."

Danika looked around the small crowded room, searching for the voice's owner for a long moment before realizing that it had come from underneath an enormous… hat? The probable hat was a vast construction of layers of dried flowers suspended in a wicker frame, with bows and ribbons puffing out of every possible gap.

The hat's identity solidified as it tilted backward and the wide brim lifted to reveal the wrinkled face that hid within its protective shadow. A smile greeted Danika, but the old woman didn't pause the steady stirring of the pot that hung over a tiny brazier on the low table in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Danika apologized quickly.

Outside voices rang out, and Danika recognized them. She zipped farther into the room instead of retreating, but she did ask, "But would you mind if I sit on your shelf here for awhile?"

The old woman said briskly, "If you don't mind doing me a favor after you're rested, you can stay as long as you like."

Danika settled on the overstuffed shelf and squeezed herself in behind a porcelain figure of a cat with its paw raised, and a glass ball in a stone stand.

Outside, closer than before, Quin called out, "ZipZing? Please come out? Justin won't hurt you, and he knows that you're a player now."

Danika hesitated, she wasn't even entirely certain why she was running away. As she dithered, Quin called out again, from farther away, "ZipZing? Hello?"

Terri complained faintly and voluably, "I don't think it's still in the village, how fast do you think it can fly? It was really tiny and quick wasn't it? It must be so cool to play a character like that."

Danika started to edge back around the porcelain cat, when another voice spoke, as if right beside her ear. Danika jumped and knocked the porcelain cat off the edge of the shelf.

Justin said, "Ah, um Zip Zing, please return to the tower. It's not safe for a novice outside this village."

Danika didn't even listen to his words, she dove after the porcelain cat and flicked through her casting menu in record time, hitting the cat with her featherweight spell just before it hit the floor. It bounced without shattering, and the old woman chuckled and said, "You're quite agile aren't you ZipZing. I know just the task you'd be good at."

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