The next few days went by without any major interruptions. With Circe being less enthusiastic about finding a familiar, Mira spent most of the morning teaching me about witchcraft. That ended up being rather simple, all things considered. She was only covering the basics, after all. My [Brewing] level rose to two on the third day after I made another batch of healing potions with my method as well as one in the ‘traditional’ way. The quality ended up to be about the same which confirmed my approach to be definitely better.

[Apprentice Witch] also profited, though not as much as I expected. Mira guessed it had to do with her not understanding the details of my crafting process. That meant I was going to teach her about that instead. The geometrical approach required a lot of imaginativeness but with her Attributes focused on the magical, she should be able to figure it out.

The afternoons were spent in the forest, with Circe half-heartedly leading us through. I decided to show her some tricks for moving around stealthily. Even if I was rarely walking through foliage, I knew how to avoid making it rustle at every movement. Maybe she would get a Skill out of it at some point.

I usually left sometime in the afternoon to spend some time with my family, continuing their language lessons. After a full week of that, I decided it was time. I would ask Mira if my parents and sister could come over to visit.

“They are owls, like you?”, the [Witch] asked.

“Yes. A little smaller but not by too much.”

“And they are sapient?”

“Correct. They have been for a while but not when I still lived here.”

“That is quite something. Why would you want them to visit?”

“First of all, to introduce you. But the real reason is that I’m teaching them Ordugh. They have trouble forming words even in their imagination. I want to have them hear actual people speak. Right now, all their voices are just copies of my own.”

“Let them come?”, Circe said from her chair. She was hunched over, head laying on her crossed arms. Her pointed hat covered everything but a few strands of hair.

Mira chuckled.

“You will not exploit their ignorance to make them accept a [Familiar Bond]. Do you understand?”

“Yeees”, she drawled.

I lifted her hat with a tendril of darkness. She peeked out at me from underneath.

“What?”

“If you really want an avian familiar, I can find something suitable for you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“It’s not about that.”

“Is that so?”, Mira said.

“Yes. I just want to stay with Fio.”

“We are friends, right? To me, the bond seems like a marriage contract. Just more intimate. I could never accept it without us knowing each other very well. Which we don’t, at this point. We met but a week ago.”

She blinked. Her hand rose to pull down the pointed hat. She groaned as her head thumped on the wooden table.

I exchanged a look with Mira.

“I’m stupid!”, Circe suddenly shouted.

She shot out of her chair and ran around the table into her Master. The girl rubbed her face into the woman’s side while sniffling. A gentle hand patted the back of her head. I caught the floating hat with a tendril of darkness and put it down on the table.

Eventually, Circe calmed down. She stood up properly and rubbed her eyes. An attempt was made at fixing her hair. Then, she looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Fio. I didn’t think about that. I just wanted a cool familiar. And you’re super cool.”

I bobbed my head.

“You’re fine. As long as you understand.”

“Well. Now. We just have to get to know each other, right? And maybe it works out?”

I blinked. Mira chuckled.

“You just don’t give up, huh?”, I said, “There are some heavy risks even if both of us want the bond. The way I understand it, it might make you go insane.”

At her blank look, I explicated.

“I may not have the Class but I am a thaumaturge. I am warped. The difference from normal people is how badly warped my soul was before I was even born. I am very concerned I would harm you just by our souls being too close to one another.”

“So what? You don’t have any proof I can’t take it, right?”

“I don’t have any proof you can take it, either.”

“Then we can figure that out. Maybe?”

I looked at Mira.

“If our Master agrees, I can make some low-risk attempts at figuring things out.”

“What kind of attempts?”

“I have an item that does what [Telepathy] does in a more intimate way. It brings our souls a little closer. I can control it and slowly approach her. I also have a Thaumonomicon on me. We can have her read up on the basics and see what tiny amounts of warp do to her.”

“You…”

“Please, Master?”, Circe begged.

Mira sighed.

“Fine. Figure it out. Carefully!”

“Yaay!”

“As to your family, you may bring them along tomorrow. If you believe they can behave themselves.”

“I can keep them under control if not. I’ll only bring one at a time as well.”

“Good. Then, let us get back to the lessons.”

Circe nodded and sat down after wiping her eyes once more.

Mira pushed over a small blackboard to each of us. Everyone had a piece of chalk to write on it.

“Take this and solve these calculations”, she said.

I eyed the numbers. They were… simple. Three lines of addition, three lines of subtraction and two lines of multiplication. The largest number was twelve. None of the calculations had a result beyond forty. I quickly scribbled the solutions and shoved it back.

Circe looked up from her board. She had just finished the second calculation.

“What? How?”, she asked.

Mira gave me a look and went over the numbers.

“This is all correct. Interesting. Where did you learn your numbers? The dwarves?”

“… no. I’ve known maths since I hatched.”

“That seems like a stretch.”

The supposed teacher clearly did not believe me.

“It’s true. In fact, I knew before I was born.”

“Unfair”, Circe muttered as she went back to her blackboard.

“I see”, Mira said, “Well, how good are you really?”

I took back the blackboard and wiped it clean. Then I wrote down a few simple equations: 3X = 15; X² = 25; 2X = 32.

“Can you solve these?”

The woman blinked. She put a finger on her chin and went silent for a minute. Then she looked up.

“They are all five?”

I pulled my facial feathers into a smirk.

“Is that a question or an answer?”

“Yes. They are all five! You! Do you have the [Maths] Skill?”

“I did. It got altered on Breakthrough.”

“I see. What did you have to do for that, I wonder? Never mind, then. We can teach Circe together. After this, we have witchcraft. For that, at least, I still know more than you.”

“I would hope so.”

Circe looked up.

“Can you two be quiet? I’m trying to focus!”

I bobbed my head.

“If you need help, just say it”, I offered.

She scoffed and focused back on her task. By now, only the multiplications were left. Mira and I observed her as she animatedly moved her fingers to count the numbers. It seemed she had a good system going because it only took two minutes for her to solve the last calculations.

“There! I’m done!”

She pushed over her Blackboard. I quickly checked through the numbers.

“They are all correct”, Mira said, “Well done! Another two sets and we are done for today.”

Circe grumbled something unintelligible.

“Hey, Fio. Can I see your board?”, she asked.

I pushed it to her. She was silent for a few seconds.

“What am I even supposed to do here?”, she asked.

“It’s something you should learn soon. Correct?”

“Yes”, Mira answered, “but we need to cover division first. And potencies.”

“Why is there so much math, anyway?”, the girl asked.

“That is a good question”, I sent, “Mathematics are a construct of thought. They are based on logical observations and can be used to describe real circumstances. Understanding numbers lets one understand the world more easily.”

“So it’s like thaumaturgy?”

“No. Not at all”, I laughed, “Thaumaturgy is entirely based on feeling and what Truth accepts as your knowledge. Mathematics is pure logic and doesn’t require anyone else.”

“But I would never think of this stuff on my own?”, she said.

“You would not. Some people did. Discussion helps eliminate false logic but it’s not necessary. Thaumaturgy is different. Some ideas in it make no sense, really. And yet they are true. In some way or another.”

“Here you go, Circe”, Mira said and pushed back the blackboard, “Mathematics are not exactly necessary for village life. But you will need to understand the basics if you are to help out your brothers in running the village.”

“I know that. But it’s kinda boring.”

She fell silent as she focused on her task. Mira and I watched as she calculated the solutions for this and the next board. The last one even had a few higher numbers, reaching three digits.

Circe sighed contently when she was done.

“I got everything correct!”, she smiled.

“Yes, you did. Now it is time to learn how to divide.”

“Urgh. Fine. Let’s get to it!”

Between the two of us, we were able to explain how to divide numbers fairly quickly. We even got to show her how fractions work. At that point, I was fairly sure she was barely listening. It had been enough dull information for the day.

“Let us take a small break”, Mira said, “Get some fresh air, you two. I need to prepare your next lesson.”

“Come on, Fio! Let’s play!”, Circe shouted as she ran out of the house. I followed after her into the morning sun.