"Corvus centuri?"

The Minotaur whuffs out in his deep tone, his thickly lashed cow eyes working quite impressively in looking-dare I say it?

Cute?

Which was strange enough. Being able to portray oneself as cute with the head of a bull and the body more built than a bodybuilder, AND with enough body hair to make a wig out of; that was a feat.

Blech. Greenie gags. Really Greenie? You gag now!? Your cave was something to gag at, not the poor Minotaur..

Guess I was the only one seeing it.

Greenie was actually shivering in disgust at the sight. Aw man. Had my levels of what I considered cute sunk that low?

When the MInotaur tilts his head like he was a cute child, that makes Greenie reach for his slingshot.

Greedie definitely didn't like the Minotaur acting all cute with me.

Greenie..

Yes, Master?

Let's not do that.

Yes..

He puts the slingshot back in the band of his loincloth.

The dwarf was murmuring something to the Minotaur as they kneeled next to each other, faced towards us.

Uhmm...Why were they kneeling again?

Caïssa wanted me to take care of them, in exchange for the shinies and the sword.

Oh! The sword!! I'd almost forgotten in the chaos of Caïssa's birthing.

I could see it laying in the grass next to the dwarf where he'd laid it neatly parallel to his body as he kneeled.

Since I'd made her a promise, I'd keep it. At least she hadn't specified to what extent I was to help these two…

The first problem though, was communication. It was impossible for me to learn the language immediately, and Thought Transmission didn't work with them.

Appraisal didn't give me anything. All I could see were the labels {Minotaur} and {Dwarf}. Pshh. Please, tell me something I don't know.

By now, it was obvious that this Appraisal (Special) could update itself with the information I knew.

The only other method for us to communicate was if these two- became my pet?

I mean, it worked with Greenie, so why not them?

Now, how did it go with Greenie? I tap my beak with my wing-finger, thinking back to the first days when we'd met, when I thought Greenie was going to kill me.

Greenie never hurt Master!

He interjects, sounding offended at the thought.

I know Greenie, I'm sorry, I was being...uhhh..

Racist..

I couldn't think of any other word to describe it.

Ra-raacist, Master?

I judged you according to the unreliable information I knew about your race, Greenie.

Oh....

He nods blankly, grunting while staring at the still conversing duo.

Yeah, I knew that look. Greenie didn't understand, but that was ok. I would try to explain better to him later.

Last time when Greenie became my pet, I'd just thought he should be my pet, and the system lady announced it happening.

Using my bright grey eyes to focus a smoulder on the two, I send them thoughts of becoming my pet.

A few minutes of straining had resulted in nothing. Nada. Zip.

Just a little bit more!

Grnnnnnnhh. My body wiggles and shivers a bit as I practically bore a hole at the two, making the dwarf rub his shoulders.

Ah! I could feel something coming!

This must be it!!

My body shakes a teeny bit harder!

It's here!

BE~! MY~! PET~!

I send positive vibes towards them, and

POP!

Something wet plops out of me, making my tensed muscles relax.

Ok, that didn't work.

There wasn't any white light surrounding either the Minotaur or the dwarf.

But there was a white something on Greenie's shoulder, under my talons.

I'd wanted to send a invite to be my pet and instead I got to graciously display the contents of my breakfast in a white smear over Greenie's shoulder.

Sorry..Greenie..

This was extremely embarrassing. Automatically, my wing slooowly slides up to cover my head.

...Master?

Give me a minute, Greenie.

Focus on taking deep breaths. Yep. I need to focus on that.

In as calm a tone as I could muster, I respond.

Greenie, ignore it. I'll make sure it gets cleaned off later.

Hahhh. I want to hide.

I peek out under my wing to see if the two had noticed.

They weren't giving me any sort of strange reaction.

Looking down, most of my...uhm..was hidden under my body, so it should be okay. I quickly brush it off, shaking some of the clay on my body on top to hide the evidence.

Moving on!

Master why sorry?

Greenie it's ok. You don't have to ask.

Greenie was getting even more confused as I avoided the subject.

It's fine Greenie. I'm just talking to myself.

Yes Master.

What else had I done with Greenie before I'd made him my pet?

Wracking my brain for details, the answer finally pops up.

I'd named him!

Maybe I could try naming the two!

Hmm, ok as a test, let's see-

How about John for the Minotaur, and Bob for the dwarf? They gave off John and Bob vibes.

[Pet Contract Unsuccessful. Pet Contracts are impossible for Named beings.]

They were already named?

That was fine. The names I'd thought up on the spur of the moment sucked anyways.

Maybe that explained why they were slaves instead of pets. If I were a slave owner, I'd prefer having a pet bond where I could track where my slaves were. And there was the added bonus of communicating with them using my mind if I had the skill for it.

But they were named, so making them into a pet was impossible.

Jumping up from his kneeling position, the Minotaur comes closer towards us and then, kneels again, pressing his head to the ground. Waiting for something?

A pet contract like the one I had with Greenie was't working.

What else was there??

I really missed Caïssa. Even with her cryptic words, they still gave me hints on what to do.

"Corvus centuri"

The dwarf calls out towards me, picking up the sword, and mimes cutting his palm with it. Then, he holds his palm over his open mouth, and makes smacking noises.

And he was pointing in my general direction. Well, after the Minotaur used his tail to adjust his finger somewhat.

Uhhh..

So blood drinking was our next option.

Man, at this point I didn't care all to much. I was shell-shocked with Caïssa's death and the big explosion.

Since I didn't have any better ideas...Guess we could go with the dwarf's.

We were still at the lake, so I could just reapply more clay.

Greenie, could you get some more clay please?

Greenie go Master!

He sets me down on the ground and starts jogging away again. "Kieek!! Keri!!"

Patting at the Minotaur's stump, Greenie makes him accompany him down to the lake. Aww, Greenie really had my back. This was him showing his care towards me. It was safer for the both of us if the group stayed separated. And the dwarf had already shown goodwill by splinting my wing. In the meantime, I take baby steps towards the dwarf and croak up at him.

"Crawwk!"

Patting on the ground until he finds my head, the dwarf carefully scoops me up and sets me on his shoulder. Opening his mouth, he points again, revealing a row of pearly whites under the heavy beard. So the idea was I needed to feed him my blood.

Cool. I could do that. I could care less about sharing a bit of blood at this point. With the feeling of warm blood still dripping out of my chest, it didn't matter much if the dwarf tasted a bit.

Caïssa had asked me to take care of them. I would give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Carefully peeling off the clay plaster on my wing, I lean over the dwarf's open mouth and shimmy, hissing as blood dribbles off my wing.

[Blood Contract established with High Mountain Dwarf Andvari. You have now recognized him as a member of your Unkindness.]