Inside her room, she sat on the bed while Kay sat on the desk nearby.
“I should have asked. Like with the writing.”
Kay seemed a little embarrassed. It had learned enough to know when Anu was exhausted.
“Do you mind, uh, being small? No? Um, well”, Anu scratched behind her ear
“Could you stay small? For now. I feel awful about asking you to hide”
Kay made the ‘It’s cool’ gesture, or so Anu decided to interpret. Anu wasn’t sure if Kay could actually roll its eyes.
“What? Wait, here”.
Anu could interpret most one word answers by now, but, sometimes she got lost. She placed some scrap paper and drop of ink atop for Kay to use.
Kay scrawled “carry me. small.”
“Of course Kay”, Anu grinned, “aren’t contracted beasts supposed to carry their patrons. Yes, Kay, sure. ”
“no bag. horse carry”
“Uh. You mean, you ride me like a horse, you sit atop me? Like on my head”
yes
Anu held out her hands, making a circle with her fingers and thumbs
“If you can get this small.. I can”, Anu stopped talking to fish in her bag for a hair clip, “I can use one of these. I stopped using them when you gave me a ribbon.”.
Anu tied her hair back one one side, revealing one of her ears. Her hair was still a little temperamental, but at shoulder length, it grew heavy enough to mostly obey gravity.
She turned her head to show Kay, “You can sit here? It might be a little more comfortable? I made them myself so, I can always tweak it a little”
As Anu turned her head back, she saw Kay moving towards her at great speed.
“Um, Kay?” tap
“Is it comfortable there?” tap tap tap tap
Kay was drumming with all eight legs in delight.
“Let’s see”
Anu walked over to the window, it wasn’t perfect, but she could make out her reflection. With a smirk, she fetched her cloak, and returned to the window.
Kay made a fetching hair ornament. Complimenting her skin and cloak, and contrasting with her hair. Anu struck a few poses before grinning.
“Kay, I think I make quite a lovely, um. Porter”
Anu smiled as she felt a tap in agreement.
She paused. Porter. Contract. Carrying Kay was the first real reminder of who had contracted who.
“Kay. There’s one other thing I want to know, could you”, Anu offered her palm for Kay to jump on to
As she moved Kay back to the desk, she continued, “You might need to write this down”
“Why did you contract me?”
Anu had many theories.
“weak. explore. circuit. ––––.”
“Because I was weak?” yes “To explore, outside the nest?” yes
“… circuits, and something you don’t have the words for. “ yesyes
Anu watched Kay strike a pose. One leg to it’s mouth, one pointed up, spinning around on the spot.
Anu sat, jaw dropping. “Is that meant to be me?” yes
Anu looked down. Kay obviously didn’t mean dressing up, spinning around.
“Fun? You thought I would be fun? And weak enough that I couldn’t hurt you?”
Kay waggled yes enthusiastically, stopped, then a very firm no.
“help”
Anu thought back. She didn’t go to the mine with the intent of getting a weapon, or a tool, she wanted to have something to follow her to the academy. She was just as happy being on the ‘wrong’ end of a contract.
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“weaver”
“So, Kay. You offered me a contract, because you saw I needed help?”
A firm yes.
“and, you thought it would be fun”
Kay started jumping up and down
“and, … because I made, weaved that contract?”
Kay started to sketch out the contract circuit, roughly, before drawing Anu’s attention to one detail.
“Oh? I repurposed it”
A beast contract normally had a means to punish as well as reward the animal. Anu had changed things to account for her tiny mana pool. A big circuit to connect up feedback, and a very efficient circuit at transferring small amounts of mana. Anu's contract had no mechanisms for punishment.
Anu spent the rest of the evening going over some of her design choices. Kay had also been dying to ask Anu a few questions. First, about the contract, then, about some of the devices in the workshop.
The evening ended with Anu pulling out her textbook, and rushing to the table.
“Wait”
Anu was in such a rush to explain a random idea, she felt it would be good to hold for a moment and catch herself.
“Kay, maybe later, but do you want to work through this book with me?”
“I’m a little embarrassed but, I really struggled with some of the easier questions. All the hard stuff in this book is about placement but, I find that much easier.”
"Not right now. Can I go to bed?”
Anu changed out of her cloak, and into a gown. Then, after laying an extra blanket atop, she wrapped herself inside the bed.
“If you want, now you’re tiny, you can sleep on the bed too”
Kay Leaped off the desk, diving under one end of her pillow.
“Good night Kay”. Anu turned onto her side, facing away.
“and, uh. Thank you for picking me, but, “
Anu was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.
“oh, ok. Good night Kay”
…
“Kay”
“Kay are you going to sleep in my hair”
“Fine”
Anu woke up to find Kay nestled in her hair. The spider had discovered a new reason to follow her: her hair was particularly comfortable.
“Good morning Kay. Sleep well?” yes “Could you come down for a second while I get ready to leave?”
A long pause, then a yes that sounded more like “I suppose”, and eventually Kay disentangled itself. Once free, Anu washed her face, brushed her hair, and clipped one side in place.
“Kay, if you … Kay you have got to stop leaping onto my head”
Carefully reassembling her textbook, putting all the notes back between the right pages, Anu finished packing.
As she put on her cloak she remembered one other question to ask.
“Oh, and Kay”, Anu tapped the side of her head.
“Will you be alright if I put the hood up” tap
With the hood up, she hoped no-one would notice the hair ornament fidgeting
“Is this ok?”, Anu could feel Kay burrow further into her hair before answering. tap
Pulling the hood back, “but this is better, right?”
taptaptaptaptap
‘Just like the ribbon’, Anu thought. “Oh, the ribbon”.
Anu took her cloak off, and retrieved the ribbon, and a sewing kit. It would be just long enough to cover the inside of the hood, and around the collar, too. Kay joined in, joining the edges of the ribbon together, once cut, to form the pattern.
Finished, she put the cloak back on. Kay leaped up, returning to her hairclip.
Anu would have to get used to Kay’s speedy ascents.
Flipping the hood over, Anu asked, “Better?”
taptaptaptaptap
“One last question before we go”, Anu covered her mouth, and whispered under her breath “You can still hear me, Kay?” tap
“Let’s go”.
Anu left her room with a huge smile plastered over her face.
Anu took her bag, and checked out of the inn.
The innkeeper stared again. “It got smaller” “Yep”
After picking up a few extra supplies, she went back to the docks.
“The rules haven’t changed” “Um, but my spider has”
“What, it got smaller?” “Yep”
Anu pulled back her hood and pointed to Kay.
“Uh” “Does it count as a large animal if i’m carrying it like this?” “No”
“Do I need two people?” “No”
“So I can come, right?”
The captain gave Anu a look. “It isn’t going to get bigger, right?”
Anu tapped the side of her head, “Kay? You can stay this size for a while, right?” tap
“I checked. No problem.“
Seeing the Captain gawk, Anu took her confusion for a ‘confused yes’.
“When are you leaving?”
“Midday. Was going to be tomorrow but someone booked most of my ship. Direct to Verse”
“Direct? Perfect!”
The Captain Paused.
“Please. I’m going to the exams, a little early, but I have to register. Please!”
“Oh. Yes, of course. Sorry, I was just lost in thought about how your ..” “Familiar”
“Your familiar can change size”
“I had to re-summon it. I joked earlier, but it will be a month before I can do the ritual again. More convenient for carrying it, but the whole point was to keep me safe so…”
This was technically a lie. Saying she had contracted it, also, technically a lie. Anu didn't enjoy misleading people, but she didn't want to be late.
“… so, I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to go directly”
Giving Anu another look, the captain gave in.
“I am supposed to let people get to the exams. The other person is from the Academy, I’m sure they’d be ok with it. Come back at midday. No, come back just before then, and I’ll know then”
“Thank You”
Anu, with a bit of a skip in her step, meandered along the coast. Finding a more secluded spot, she took off her cloak, unpicking her earlier stitches. With Kay’s help, and using some of the headband, Anu made the lining a little more permanent.
“Kay, when we get to the city, could you make me some more fabric? Please? It’s very comfortable”
Kay was unconvinced.
“It just feels so much nicer now, all of my other clothes feel itchy, you know?”
“Can you at least think about it? Or at least, just a little bit. Please Kay”
Kay leaped back onto Anu’s head, without answering.
Anu sighed. “Fine”, mumbling “at least one of us is comfortable”
Kay tapped out the ‘I’m tired’ pattern, curling up around the hairband.
“Kay? Oh, does being small take a lot of energy?”, tap, “Oh. Sorry for asking without thinking”.
Anu’s enthusiasm for textile products could wait until later. She grabbed her cloak, fastened it, and slung her bag over her shoulder. Tucking her hair inside, she pulled the hood over her hair.
“I hope it’s comfortable, Kay. Anyway, go Nap”, She felt a very gentle tap in response.
With over an hour before midday, Anu took her time returning to the dockyard.
Finding the right berth, but with no sign of the Captain, Anu found a nearby crate to slump onto. Pulling out her textbook, she went back to the last problem she’d been stuck on.
“Given a standard ring, and only three resonators, use an extra loop to ….”
“Hello? Are you the other passenger?”