About half an hour after the call the doorbell go off, and as expected when I check the camera it’s Hilde.

“Opening now. You remember which apartment?”

“Yeah,” she says, entering the building and disappearing off the screen.

I inform Trilli that Hilde is here, not that I needed to with them having a companion bond, but like Tåke, she’s transfixed by the episode of Pokemon. Oh well. I hear Hilde’s footsteps coming up the last set of stairs, so I open the door for her. “Hi, come in.”

She steps through the entrance, but stops when she sees me.

I let out an “Oh.” as I follow her line of sight and realize I’m only wearing underwear. “Err, how about you come in while I go put on some proper clothes.”

The start of a blush is soon covered by fur as she steps inside, shifting.

“No, that’s- I don’t mind.”

I close the door behind her before heading to my room. Usually I wouldn’t mind since she says it’s okay, but after she drew attention to it I seem to have woken up, so I’d feel easier with proper clothes. As I put on some homemade tail friendly clothes, I hear Trilli exclaim “Pokemon!” and excitedly try to explain what’s going on before Hilde has her quiet down so she can just watch.

She took my spot between the wolfkin, so I have to sit at the side instead. We were at the end of the episode, and soon the ending plays.

“Want me to play the next episode?”

““Yes!”” “Okay.”

At times like these the wolfkin I can’t help but think about how human the wolfkin are. Not in looks, of course, but if they had that too, you wouldn’t know that they weren’t normal human kids. Well, sometimes, and they look more like tweens or teenagers. But still, they’re kinda cute. Mostly the ‘small kid’ kinda cute. They can be the other kind too, especially if you also take on a similar form, but like this? It’s like they’re the kind of younger siblings you see in movies and such.

Speaking of, it’s a while since lil’ bro called me regarding magic, I hope he and his buddies haven’t gotten any too bright ideas. Mom wasn’t too happy about him trying to do chores with magic while playing games and subsequently making a mess as he failed.

As the next episode starts playing, Hilde turns to me. “What happened to your sofa?”

“I got rid of it. Never really used it, and this way I get more space. Besides, I can just use these pillows and conjure up the rest.”

“Isn’t that uncomf-”

Trilli cuts her off with a mix between a hush and a growl, and that’s that. You do not interrupt Trilli’s Pokemon watching, apparently.

I half-consciously scratch, pet, and groom Tåke, magically retrieving the comb about halfway through the episode. In the episode after that I notice Hilde keeps looking in our direction, so at the end of that I offer to do the same to her.

She seems conflicted, but ultimately accepts. At first she seems somewhat uncomfortable, but by the midpoint of that episode she’s just relaxing and enjoying the care and/or show.

I wake up some time later, apparently having dozed off. They’ve laid me down at some point, with Hilde giving the so called lap pillow. So comfortable…

I change posture slightly to get a better view of the screen and to make them aware I’m awake, making eye contact with my pillow in the process, and apparently they’re watching some BBC nature program now?

I have that nice slow and heavy, but well rested feeling when a roar startles me upright, only to realise it was Hilde’s stomach.

I smirk at her blush and slightly drooped ears, “Want something to eat?”

“Uhm, if it’s n-”

“Eat!”“I want salami!”

Lunch(?) it is. I don’t have any more of the fancy salami, but Tåke, and soon after, Trilli, gobbles down the cheap(er) brand happily while I survey what kind of food I have and can make.

“Aren’t you like, really rich? Why do you have so little food?”

“Oh, that’s a choice. I don’t need to eat much food lately, as my body draws from from the shapeshifter storage. And when I eat, I eat out, so to speak. Hunting with Leda or Tåke.”

“Yesterday was a good hunt!” the wolfkin in question chimes in.

“Seems like I don’t have anything to make a proper meal, but do you want waffles?” I hold up one of those bags of ‘just add water’ powder.

After the waffles we end up in a somewhat awkward ‘what now?’ conversation, with the ‘kids’ watching Attenborough talk about wolves in the background.

“Well I dunno, I was planning on lazing around for the rest of the day, and you invited yourself here.”

“Do you not want me here?”

I shrug. “I don’t mind, you’re pleasant to be with. Oh! You have forgiven me for that?”

She nods.

“Again, I’m sorry, I realized immediately that I shouldn’t have done it, and I’d hate for it to sour our relationship.”

“About that…”

“Uhh?”

“What… what kind of relationship do we have?”

“Friends? Like, not amazingly close besties, but…” I make a motion around us, “Close and trusting enough for this?”

“Mmm.”

She remains quiet, her forehead slightly scrunched up.

“What do you want us to be like?” she asks.

“I dunno, this is pretty nice, I guess? These kinda things tend to work out organically.”

“Oh.” she mutters, looking in my direction, but not at me.

“What, you want it to be more or something?”

I… I should probably just come out and be clear, then.

“I’m not- I don’t, uhh, I don’t really care for romantic stuff and, uh, stuff. At least, I’ve never had a reason to. Having good friends is nice, though, and beyond that…”

I wave my hand.

“I’m not against it, but I think it should happen organically? Like, if you’re interested in me, just tell me, and we can try doing more things together and see what happens, and if not, if I’m misunderstanding you here, sorry?”

Silence.

More silence.

Well, if we ignore the excited howls from the other two, at least.

She’s thinking so hard she looks angry, then finally, her eyes focus on me.

“I don’t know what to do!”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what to do!”

“Yeah, I heard that but- what do you mean?”

“I haven’t done that kinda stuff before!”

“Uhh, I’m not with you there. Could you-”

“How do you do a date?”

“I- don’t ask me! Well, I mean… my opinion is that you should basically ignore the societal expectations and just do something nice together. Something you both enjoy. What you like to do is probably not the same everyone else likes to do.”

Her shoulders slump, “Why are you just talking about me?”

“I’m not talking about you, you.”

“But-”

“I mean in general. ‘You’ as in ‘no person in particular’ or- you know what I mean!”

“Oh. What do you like doing then?”

“Uh, the stuff I usually do? Today has been nice, in the comfort and relax kinda way.”

“Can we… do this again?”

“Sure. I fly around a lot, but feel free to just message or call me any time. Ah, maybe not call if it’s night wherever I am.”

“How do I know where you are?”

“Uh, check my channel? Or the Eikeli spotting subreddit? Otherwise just assume roughly european times?”

“There’s a subreddit for that?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda funny actually. Heh, it started when some birdwatcher uploaded an image of me in the distance and asked for people to identify ‘this thing’ in R-slash-birdwatching. It might’ve been a joke, but it became a meme almost immediately. Then internet happened and someone went and made a subreddit for it. Usually you can just check the title or description of my latest vlog-s, though.”

“You’re a meme?”

“Yes, wll, I’m pretty sure I’m in a bunch of memes by now. Just google it?”

She nods at that.

“Can we, uh, do a- something, like, tomorrow or something?”

“Uhm, sure? I’m going to the Water Temple tomorrow, to check where the other side is.”

“The- oh, that place. What do you mean where the other side is?”

“Well, when you enter from underwater you go through some kinda portal. I think the other side is somewhere on earth, so I figured I’d see if I got GPS coverage there.”

“Why do you think that?”

“The companion bond feels… distant, but not the same way as when going through the portal on Iceland. I know for a fact there is no coverage there. Though, they were setting up a communications mast last time I was there.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Sure? I mean, I’ll do it in the middle of the day, don’t you have work or something?”

“No, I have no classes on tuesdays.”

“Alright. Might wanna pack a swimsuit, the waters are nice and warm.”

Soon after, it’s time for her to leave, and I bring Trilli and Tåke back to the forest.

“I want to watch more of nature-man!”

“Yeah, yeah, but you can do that in the Den. If you want I can even set up bookmarks and such.”

The next day we meet up at the Den, where most of the wolfkin are watching nature documentaries on the big screen. Apparently learning about animals is really interesting? They keep going to videos about wolves and occasionally other canids, though. Well, if they’re having fun and learning, I’m not gonna complain.

I meet up with Hilde, and with minimal chatting on the way we soon come out of the water above the Temple. Lo and behold, GPS works!

“We’re, uhh, lemme use the measurement tool… about five-hundred-and-fifty kilometers off the west coast of africa.”

“Aren’t you afraid you will drop your phone?”

“A little bit, but this is my cheap one. Well, the old cheap one, my newest phone isn’t exactly a top model, just a newer midrange.”

“Why not? Aren’t you seriously rich?”

“I am, but why waste money?” I shrug “It’s not like I need a more powerful phone, and it has a longer battery life, too.”

“But your computer-”

“My computer is powerful, yes, but the last time I upgraded it was before the Upheaval, and I expected to both program and game on it. I mean, I still do, just not as much as I would’ve expected at that point. Money well spent, I say. Especially compared to a phone costing as much or even more.”

“You’re such a computer guy.” She says, humor in her voice.

“Uh, thanks?”

“What now?”

“I don’t know, I’ve done what I came here for. What do you want? The water is nice, or I could take you sightseeing, not that there’s much to see here.”

Twenty minutes later I’ve shown her the two upper levels, and I don’t dare go to the bottom level without the couple, err, I should remember their names… Kristian and… Thea? It was ‘k-r’ and with an ‘h’, right?

｢{Excited}Aww, look, dolphins!｣

｢{Unsurprised}Did you know dolphins are known to rape, and are quite promiscuous?｣

｢{Confused}What?｣

｢Just saying, our forms are kinda similar to theirs right now, so be careful.｣

Not that I expect anything to happen, these fellas are pretty nice, and keep coming back to the Temple here. I’ve had fun playing with them. Just… That playfulness extends to the borderline sexual. That buzzing they do is weird, but not… bad. It feels good even. But, err, I could see some people having strong negative reactions to that.

She’s having fun swimming with the adolescents and younger adult, slowly shifting to be more like them. Meanwhile, I’m popular with both the oldest and the youngest ones. Not at the same time, the youngest want to play games, like tag, and they keep impressing me with their agility, and, at times, intelligence.

Not this time, though; trying to get away by swimming into the bubble around the upper temple isn’t a particularly great idea. After calming the calf down I pick him up and deposit him in one of the water entrances, and he immediately hurries over to the older female he usually hangs out with.

And then another of the young ones come through the other way. And then another. I take a deep breath. I am not amused by your shenanigans, young whippersnappers! Wow, those two words sound odd together.

As opposed to the first one, these two clearly did it intentionally, and instead of trashing around they’re eyeing me expectantly.

“What, you want to be picked up by me?”

Aaaaand the first one returned. Gee, thanks.

“You know, if I leave you here you’re gonna have a bad time, right?”

I squat next to the three of them, with the first one having landed almost on top of the brother and sister pair. Poke. Poke. Hmm, they feel nice to poke. Poke. Squishy but firm. Poke.

Ooh, she’s not happy.

The dolphins are probably the most intelligent creatures I’ve found (and communicated with), even beyond the wyverns (even Leda, when I first met her), so maybe I should teach them stuff? Hmm, it would be interesting to see if the Great Serpent would take them as a student. Heh, dolphin cultivator. Actually… that’s not a terrible idea…

On the other hand, I could teach them shapeshifting and mind mag- Okay mind magic might not be the best idea. Then again, I’m pretty sure some of the older ones are starting to learn how I do it, just by seeing how I do it…

Only one of the families in the pod have ki, but that just means we could get both dolphin magicians and cultivators? Hmm, I should team up with Thea and Kristian and see if we could combine my shapeshifting skill and the stuff they have access to and find a kiaaaoww!

“Youuu- fuck, ow!”

I slap the lil bastard, but regret it from the pain I get from the finger he bit. Okay, the other two, boom, levitated out of here.

“Now you, little… sigh.”

I should’ve paid more attention, and he didn’t even draw blood, but aah, it hurts like a stubbed toe! Geh, I guess I got a volunteer for experiments, or… No, yeah, no. The other way. He’s barred from experiments. I should definitely start with some of the calmer, older ones if I want to teach them. They seem a lot more… well, adult? Intelligent? Wise? Aside from obvious differences from how they live, their thoughts are extremely close to that of humans.

Now I’ll pick up the little bastard, and drop him here. Riiiight, here. Two meters away from an opening large enough for him to escape into the water.

“Have fun!”

And with that, I leave. The other two came back, but were smart enough to strand themselves this time, so I don’t have to worry about them. Almost as soon as I get into the water they come over and start headbutting me.

Or…

Are they trying to push me towards their playmate? I stop, turn and point. They look at my arm. Right, with no arms pointing doesn’t make much sense to them, does it… Uhm…

Wait, is that my name their calling? Or his? They use it quite often around me, but then again he’s also been around those times. Well, no matter, he brought this upon himself.

When I ignore their efforts they swim over to say something to him or something, before turning towards me, full spe- oh shit!

Oh, they went past me. To their parents. They’re making that call again, but also the other one I think might be for me. And some other sounds, but I don’t recognize those.

Is it an actual language? Well, no, but, how complex stuff can they ‘say’? They have names, but a language with only nouns can’t come far… I guess certain words imply action? And they might be able to change tone?

I want to know. In fact, I want to know so badly that I am definitely going to see if I can’t get to know the pod of dolphins and teach them some stuff. Is it a good idea? Uuuuhh, maybe? Probably not. Ethical? Uh, as a science experiment, I suspect you’d need some ‘creative incentives’ for your review board, but like… I’m just befriending them and then teaching them. If that’s bad, then I already fucked up with the wolves and wyverns.

Oh, he got free. Good for him. He swims a wiiide circle around me, but it was his own damn fault. I even moved him closer to the water!

｢Lars!｣

I turn around and do mentally acknowledge that I ‘heard’ her.

｢{Worried, slightly scared}This is really fun, but, uhm, they’re a bit too close, how to I get them to stop?｣

｢{Amused}I told you so? Nah, you can probably just magically smack them. Or just leave, they can’t really follow you out of water.｣

So that’s what we do. She sounded worried then, but now that we’re out in the air, she looks deeply unsettled.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m- I’m-I’m okay. Just… they were really clingy.”

This is not the correct time for me to point out it probably didn’t help that she went full dolphin mermaid, so…

“Well, it’s good you’re okay. Time to go home, maybe?”