Marissa had given her life to save me. She knew perfectly well that her balsa wood construction wouldn’t hold up under the force of my impact, but she jumped between me and the rocks anyway.

A cynical part of my brain couldn’t help but insist that she’d just been trying to save herself, given she was my familiar, and couldn’t outlive me. But I knew exactly what she’d been trying to say to me before she was smashed to pieces. We shared the same brain after all.

“Anne! Someone needs to survive this shipwreck. Someone needs to know what happened here! Grieve all you like when I’m gone, but please keep living!”

Regardless of all my misgivings, I was still here on this island. Staring at the wreckage of the ship Baroness as I tried to figure out what to do next.

Before setting out on the expedition, I’d taken some basic wilderness survival courses. One never knew what they’d find when voyaging through the Fog to a new continent, so it paid to be prepared. I needed shelter, water, fire, and food. In that order. All of that would be vastly easier if I weren’t the only person here.

I took a moment to look at the wreck. If I could just make a spirit, maybe more than one, I’d have a much easier time surviving here. And most of my supplies for doing that would still be in the Baroness…

My mind made up, I started trudging back towards the ruins of the ship. It took a couple minutes of carefully walking along the craggy shore, but I managed to get there without incident.

The Baroness had been broken clear in half when that wave dashed her against the rocks; even worse, her remains had been tipped sideways. It would be extremely troublesome digging through the wreck for any supplies of note. Even worse, I’d be working around the corpses of all my shipmates. Including Marissa…

I barely managed to hold my tears and vomit back for the three hours I spent searching the wreck for anything useful. In the end I managed to retrieve a bucket full of assorted utility tools, a thunder pistol, a firestarting kit with a box of candles, a thankfully undamaged cask of potable water, and my box of spirit-crafting tools.

Sadly, all the blank books and writing supplies were utterly ruined. Without those, my options for Grimoires were heavily limited. I’d still be able to make a Familiar, but without proper books I just couldn’t get the information density needed to make independent Spirits that were full-fledged people.

Right, inventory taken. Time to get on with making that Familiar. Step one, I found a relatively flat section of ground. I hammered a stake into the ground, tied a string around it, and used that to draw a circle in the dirt.

Next was to inscribe the Purpose. This was going to be pretty simple, since a Familiar needed to be flexible in what they were comfortable doing. Around the edge of the ritual circle, I wrote in Mages’ Tongue “You are to be a companion for Anne Smithy. You are to assist with her physical and emotional needs, while also taking care of your own.”

Right, a vessel was also going to be necessary. Something for the Familiar to inhabit and use as a physical body. Didn’t have time to make something intricate, and just using a big stone would leave her far too inflexible. So I filled the tool bucket with seawater and put it in the circle. Plenty flexible, versatile, and low effort.

Means was a bit tricky; giving her fire wouldn’t work due to her watery composition, and I didn’t have the salt needed to give her powers of desiccation, meaning she’d wet everything she touched. That was enough of an issue to force a rethink.

After a bit, I opted to just mix the water with some locally available clay, which I shaped into a crude humanoid form. Wasn’t perfect, but her Guise would cover that up, and the earthen bonding would keep her from leaking.

Still couldn’t give her fire, but some green leaves for flora, a bit of extra mud for Earth, some more water for, well, water, and an inscription of wind for air would make Reese highly capable at a wide variety of tasks.

Only one thing left to do now. I lay down in the circle next to the crude mud sculpture that would become Reese, forcing the mental image of a muscular blonde woman to the fore as I pushed with my soul. I could feel a presence start to form, reaching out for a source of knowledge to work from. I mentally grabbed on to that presence, and offered up my own mind.

I could feel the link snap into being. To my left I heard a deep feminine voice remark, “You know, this isn’t what I thought existing was going to be like.”

Getting up, I saw that the vaguely human-shaped lump of mud had been replaced by the blonde woman I’d imagined, herself getting to her feet.

I couldn’t help but snark back, “Well, what did you think existing was going to be like?”

“I… I don’t know. I didn’t exist yet.”

Reese looked out at the shore.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“So, what now?”

I shrugged, “We’re going to be stuck on this island for the foreseeable future. Got a couple days before we drink our way through the potable water cask, but we still need shelter, along with stable supplies of food and water. Also we ought to get a campfire going; those are useful for all sorts of things.”

Reese thought for a moment, then waved her hand. The ground trembled, before reshaping itself into a squat earthen dome, with a hole in the front for entering and exiting. Then she doubled over in exhaustion.

I turned to Reese. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll live. The hut should keep the rain off, and I left a hole in the top for smoke from a fire to come out.”

I started hauling our supplies inside, as Reese sat down against one of the walls. There were four support columns surrounding the central fireplace, and from the looks of things Reese had put a smaller roof over the main roof there.

Sitting next to Reese on the floor, I noted “This is really amazing. Thank you.”

She nodded tiredly “Thanks… It’s just… this took a lot out of me.”

That rang alarm bells as I finally processed just what Reese said. She was a brand new Familiar… and she’d spent way too much energy to make this shelter all in one go. She needed food, and she needed it fast.

Reese nodded in understanding as I grabbed the thunder pistol from where I’d put it and trekked out into the wild. Didn’t take me long to find a wild goat, a mean look in his eyes as he sized me up. I shot him before he could charge, the bolt of electricity frying his nervous system.

A couple minutes spent dragging the carcass back to the hut, and I dropped it at Reese’s feet.

“Eat this. You used up way more energy than was safe, and you need to replenish it.”

Reese nodded weakly, putting one hand on the dead goat’s face. There was a faint glow as the goat’s essence reserves flowed into her, and Reese immediately looked a lot more energetic.

I didn’t have to ask, we both knew Reese was feeling a lot better after that.

After a bit, Reese asked, “So, what are we going to do with the goat carcass?”

I thought for a moment “I guess I could eat it, but it wouldn’t give me back the essence I put into making you. Honestly, we should probably skin it and use the fur for something.”

“You want to handle skinning the goat while I go get firewood?”

I nodded. “The sooner we get a fire going the better; even if fresh-cut wood is crap for burning we need to start somewhere.”

And so off Reese went, out to chop down a tree. Meanwhile I got a knife from the tool bucket and started in on skinning the goat. It was… very messy, I’ll be honest. I’d not had much practice at skinning animals before, and blood got absolutely everywhere. Fortunately I’d at least had the presence of mind to take my clothes off first, so they stayed clean at least.

When Reese got back and saw the bloody mess, she started laughing. I couldn’t help but laugh too; the situation was just absolutely ridiculous.

I asked “So, mind getting all the blood off me? Otherwise I’m going to need to take a quick dip in the ocean.”

“Sure thing, Anne.”

Over a few seconds, the goat blood gently peeled itself off my skin and the floor, collecting into a reddish ball that Reese held floating in midair. After a few moments, she sent it flying off into the distance out the door of our dwelling.

“Thanks for cleaning me up.”

“You’re welcome.”

I got back into my clothing while Reese spent a few minutes trying to get a fire going. Still, eventually a pitiful sputtering flame sizzled to life in the hearth.

Looking at the smoky fire, Reese remarked, “I really hope we don’t have so much trouble keeping the fire going as it was to start it.”

“Eh, once we get some wood that’s properly dried out, things will be a bit better in that regard. In the meantime, we’re going to need a reliable supply of food and water.”

Reese smiled.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea where to find both of those. Check my memories.”

I promptly did so, and quickly learned that Reese had discovered something rather interesting about the varieties of tree on the island. Not only were there truly massive fruits growing on several of the trees, but most of them had enough water flowing through their trunks that we could tap them for drinkable sap.

I immediately hugged Reese. She was still a little bit cold compared to a flesh-and-blood human, but the clay making her up was smooth and flexible and just firm enough to be good for hugging.

“Thank you so much Reese, thank you.”

Reese hugged me back, and I only now realized that she was still nude; we still hadn’t made clothes for her.

“You’re welcome, Anne. Everything’s going to be alright.”

A couple minutes later, I noticed the sun going down.

“So… what do we do if a wild animal gets in here? I still haven’t managed to recharge the thunder pistol.”

Reese thought. “Pretty sure I can pinch the door closed, except for some air holes? Should keep most of the critters out.”

“Please do.”

Soon enough, the only light was the dim illumination of the fire in our central hearth. We didn’t have anything we could use for a bed, so the two of us just sat up against the wall together, snuggling.

In the morning my back was in absolute agony, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out why. I’d wound up on my side overnight, and the resulting posture hadn’t been any good at all.

As I staggered to my feet and tried to straighten out my back, Reese asked “So, what’s the major project for today?”

I shrugged.

“If possible I’d like a proper bed; last night was really uncomfortable. We also need to stockpile food and firewood, just in case something happens.”

As I tossed some more green wood on the smoldering fire, Reese replied.

“Well, there’s plenty of fruit to harvest. We can also find a few more goats and turn them into jerky.”

“Sounds like a good plan. Food first, firewood second?”

“Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.”