Thomas rubs his temple. “How about we start with the reason why we were called here. Why is the wyvern here?”

“So, uhm, long story short: Leda refused to leave the egg, so I gave her a method to take the egg with her, and then she absolutely insisted on coming to my ‘nest’, as she put it. I did make her take on a smaller form, but holding a transformation for a prolonged time is… icky. So she went out here where there’s space to take on her full form.”

He thinks for a moment. “And where were you?”

“I was out to buy some food for Leda and Tåke, -ah crap I didn’t get to buy any- as well as some other things. While out Tåke figured out how to shift into the wolfkin form she’s in right now,” I motion to her. “Which caused a bit of a, uhh, commotion. And I had to quickly buy her some clothes. I was gonna head to a convenience store after that, but was stopped by some people who wanted an interview, and then you called. Soo… Eh-yeah.”

I continue to answer Thomas questions, somewhat distracted by Leda doing something with mana. We agree that my decisions were actually quite reasonable, but I admit that fault still lies with me. He then asks me what I meant with wanting a big remote area, and I explain that I’d like to test just how powerful I am, and mention that the military guys, Thomas included, would probably like to get theirs hands on such data.

“Actually, having my own plot of land would let me do that and have my companions there. I have no idea how to go about buying some random piece of land, though.” I am slightly distracted by Leda moving her magic to the soldier, and it takes a moment to fully grasp the thought I was forming. “Oh yeah! I have this idea for improving my magic, but I suspect it could be a bit… violent. I really should look into buying some plot of land.”

On his request, I explain the idea to Thomas, who seems a bit doubting, but admits we don’t know enough about magic to say for sure. At that point Leda increases her spell beyond a light ‘cloud’ of mana, covering the two military transports with mana I can detect without relying on the mana link. The soldiers start moving and talking. Ohshit!

“｢{Reprimanding, afraid}Stop it! They’re noticing!｣” I hiss out.

I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but- “What are they noticing?”

Ah, it made me sound guilty, didn’t it? “Leda is doing some magic, but I don’t know what. Well, she stopped now.”

I wait for him to respond, but when he does not for a while, I follow his line of sight, to Leda behind me. She- he- wow, shape changing makes that tricky, is currently a he. A human he. Very much a… he.

“｢{Flat}Leda. You are supposed to cover yourself. Specifically the part in the middle front.｣”

“Ooh, ahh! Ahhraah! Kaaa! … Keh.” The perfectly generic… man gutturally… exclaims? ｢{Afraid, annoyed}Leda can be human! Leda will do ‘rules’! Leda//I will not scare humans! {Hopeful}Leda//I can share nest//live with Lars!｣

I… what do I… First: “Uhh, Leda wants to prove she… he? can live with humans. She really wants to live with me.”

Defusing the situation, ironically, starts with having Leda return to her full form. After that we share the mind bond with both Thomas and the officer, and they ask Leda a few things. In the end, they decide that as of right now, I should not leave Leda unsupervised anywhere near the city (or any other human habitation), nor take her to the city at all in her full form. As for Tåke, in wolf form we can treat her like a dog so those kinda rules apply.

I also bring up (and share) the uplifting quests, and what I’ve seen so far. Thomas decides to take it to his higher ups, noting that at least the research division would love to find out more. He makes what I think (and hope) is a joke about it being a good thing I keep breaking all these laws before they’re made. Also, he’ll find someone to help me find a plot of land to buy.

Before they leave, I get a quick update on how the military+magic thing is doing (pretty good), and he says that the tutoring part of the contract is finished. He asks me to make a formal proposal for the tests I want to conduct, though, as well as getting some large, remote area open to limited public use. And then they’re off.

…

I still don’t have that food, dammit! “｢Leda, I think it’s best if you live in your own nest for now. Mine is too small, and people are afraid of you.｣”

｢{Stubborn}Leda//I want to stay with Lars!｣

“｢{Sympathetic}I know. {Resolute}Learn to speak. Find out how long you can stay in a humanoid form. Then we can convince them.｣” I look up at the dark sky. Hmm, I should be able to do it in time. “｢For now, let’s get inside.｣”

I can not do it in time. I assumed as much when I decided to bring the girls, with some preparation, of course. Not that it would’ve made a difference since I’d need to take Leda out of the city anyway. It started with some light rain a few minutes after we went in, put it seems to be picking up now.

｢{Bored}Like this?｣

Using not only my eyes, but also the mana link, I look over Leda’s new humanoid form, this one that of a young girl. The link doesn’t seem to be dangerous as long as she controls her mana. That said, between her blazing mana and active control over it, I can hardly sense anything in her, much less control it. Tåke enjoys playing around in her new form, not that I really needed her to make it. It’s a wolfkin form, but with only the fine, inner fur. Which is amazingly soft.

Back to Leda, “｢The size is right, but it’s...｣” Uncanny valley. And as is usually the case, I can’t quite put my finger on why it’s so creepy. I think she looks fine. Is it the aspect? Her sources of learning Aspect of the Human is me and the military folks, none of which is a good template for making a little girl. “｢Use some Wyvern and give yourself some scales.｣”

｢All over?｣“Ahh o-ah?”

I wonder if human babies or at least toddlers could learn to speak as quickly as she does, if they had a similar understanding of the world and concepts… Actually, they’d need the vocal cords to support it, wouldn’t they? At least it won’t take Leda several years to be able to speak some words. We can communicate over the mind bond, but that should probably not be used on unsuspecting people.

“Hmm, ｢yeah, except the face.｣” I demonstrate by changing my own form, forming a scaled outline of my face.

“｢Okay. That’s fine.｣” There’s no way she’ll pass as a human, or at least not a ‘normal’ human. At least she does look like a kid now. Having her look like a very much grown man and possibly doing very stupid things… Now her looks reflect her mental maturity, at least from a human perspective. As for Tåke, she has started playing with her new form. Given her current state, the form of a teenager might not be ideal.

“｢Tåke, stop that.｣” I pull out my toolbox for a measuring tape.

｢{Dejected}Okay…｣

I should probably teach them about modesty… Meh. “｢Come here. You too, Leda.｣”

After a few measurements, and searching through my clothes, I found a light blue T-shirt in the back of a drawer. It fits Tåke, and that’s it for clothes that fit them. I’ve decided to get them dressed and head out for some (more) shopping. I figured I might as well let them experience some modern life if the options are to have them stay with me or stay in their own places.

Actually, would the wolves let Leda stay in or near the den? Uhh, scratch that. It might be in the forest, but I should definitely ask Thomas for permission if I want her to stay there. For now… Tåke can use one of her new dresses, and Leda can have the T-shirt. Then I’ll make her a small skirt.

After making an extremely simple skirt, I tighten up the dress a bit. “｢{Satisfied}There. Now I’ll just add a simple enchantment…｣”

“Mm-mii tuh!”

“｢{Surprised}You want to enchant your own clothes?｣”

“Je!”

“｢{Happy}Okay, I want you to…｣”

Damn, her enchantment is better than mine. Well, the silk is a better medium, and I intentionally kept it simple. We both used [Mind Magic], specifically to reduce the girls’ ‘presence’, and in Leda’s case, make her seem less threatening, since anyone with [Mana Perception] who happens to sense her… Well, she’s a beacon.

While I applied the enchantment on the T-shirt, she seem to not only have woven it into the threads of the skirt, but made it in such a way that the effect can be strengthened by supplying more mana. That should make her even easier to spot, since she’ll actively be using mana, but with that effect, I’m not sure. I knew where she was, but it took a moment to register that she was there.

Anyway, they’re dressed well enough that I can go buy some proper clothes for them without someone calling the police. It’s basically a given that Tåke will come with me, but what about Leda’s egg? Probably should’ve thought of that earlier. Oh well, either she comes with me or she’s going back to her nest.

“｢Leda, I’m going to the city with Tåke. Do you want to come? If not, you need to go back to your nest.｣”

｢{Curious}Come? {Resolute}Not leaving egg. {Uncertain, questioning}Carry egg?｣ “Eh-g. Eeeeg. Ech!”

Thought so… “｢You can carry it to your nest. If you want to come, the egg will have to- Actually, I could carry it in my magic bag.｣” I transmit the feeling I got when inside it.

“E-hah dry!” ｢I wanna try bag!｣

What? Oh, be inside the bag. That can be done. There’s nothing really breakable in the bag right now, so I grab it and let her enter.

“Wuuu, ahaha!” ｢It’s weird!｣

“｢{Worried}Are you okay?｣”

“Je!” ｢It feels funny//tickles.｣

Right… “｢Can we carry the egg in it?｣”

“Mmm. Iz fffine.” ｢Good magic. I wanna learn how!｣

I guess that settles it. But tickles? I wonder what makes it so different for her. Anyway, a family trip? Or something like it, at least. What are they to me? Technically beast companions, so I guess they could be family the same way a dog could be? Ehh, labels. Hmm, how to do this. Some shopping, some eating, and then there’s getting around…

The first problem was rain, and while we could’ve brought umbrellas, I figured magic could do the trick. My water-specific magics require motion, so I ended up with a sort of umbrella of air and heat. I also roughly planned out where to go and in what order. While doing that, I got Tåke to make a younger human puppet. It’s probably better for her to just stay in her shapeshifted form, since that won’t use any mana or tire her out. But the option is there.

Since it’s weekend, an adult’s ticket for the city’s public transit system also includes up to four children under sixteen, so I buy one on their app. I didn’t think I’d need to do that any more, but flying around draws a bit of attention, which is fine with just me, but I’d rather not have to worry about that now. For one, I don’t know how the girls would react to such things. On that note, let’s go over some rules for them.