After Bookie’s declaration, Sofia Pareth and Bookie were, again, sitting in a triangle.

“Alright, so… I have a few questions, do you mind?” Sofia asked.

“I don’t mind!”

“Great… Where to start then… Hmm, I got it, for a start, if Pareth is Brother Pareth, who am I?”

Bookie’s lower jaw opened wide like this was the hardest, most shocking question of his life. After taking a few seconds to think about it, he turned to Pareth for help, which did not help any more than the other times he had tried that move. Finally, he mustered a response, “I… Huuuuu… I think Sofia is Sofia!”

Proud of his answer, he nodded to himself, and Pareth seemed to approve, reacting the same way.

“That’s it?” Sofia reacted, “And Pareth, you agree too?”

Again, Pareth nodded.

“Come on, really? I mean… I don’t know what I expected, but not nothing… Not older Sister? Cousin? Aunt? Mom? Anything?”

Bookie took the time to think about it before he shook his skull. “No. None of these work. Sofia is Sofia!” he told her again, even more confidently than the first time.

“Somehow I feel a bit disappointed…”

That passing comment left Bookie agape and speechless.

To appease him, Sofia changed the subject, “What about Orator?”

“Uncle!” The answer was instantaneous.

“Did you pick that up from me?”

Bookie shrugged. “Don’t remember. Uncle is Uncle.”

I feel like calling the lords the four uncles is something I might have said… Well… It’s better to maybe let that rest for now. I don’t want Orator to show up here and cause trouble for Everelle.

“Then… Do you have a favorite page?” Sofia asked next.

“Crowie!” Bookie directly answered, after a second of reflection, “and high priest powers!” he added.

“Right… The ones we already use the most. I agree, Crowie is the best. What do you think of the mimic?”

“Speed! But not very smart...”

“Just like the real thing. Then, what can you say about the other summons we haven’t tried yet?”

“Uhhhh…” Bookie opened his book form which was sitting on his lap, and started flipping the pages. “The Kikkik are also not very smart… But they work well together, I think. It’s better to summon Guardians and Soldiers at the same time,” he explained, then he flipped more pages. “Quartz giant is very sturdy but a bit slow. He takes too much mist…”

“And a lot of mana too,” Sofia added. “Speaking of which, do you have any control over the mana or mist costs?”

Bookie shook his skull, “No. It depends on the skeleton size, mana, and their number of magic skills. The quartz giant has giant bones so it’s expensive.”

“Pretty much as I thought. What about the fey?”

Bookie flipped the pages until he landed on the last one, the Midenicite fairy.

His fingertips glided over the page. “The fairy lady is very mad. Very very mad.”

“Mad?”

“Yes. Mad mad. Like this much,” he said, illustrating by spreading his arms.

“Why?”

“No idea,” Bookie flatly answered. “But I can tell why she costs a lot of mist.”

“Oh? Right, she is quite expensive for a small skeleton with no mana.”

“Yes, It’s because the fairy lady actually has a lot of skill!”

“Really? How is that useful with no mana, though?”

“Yes, but it’s, uh… Only skills to be stronger, like Sofia’s become not god skill. I think the fairy lady will be very strong but only in places with mana around, because her bones can’t store mana…”

“Wait- wait… ‘Become not god skill’? Are you talking about VPPV?” Sofia asked.

“Yes! You take all the god parts and become something but not god, so it’s a become not god skill, right?” Bookie explained like it was obvious.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“What is a not god, then? Do you actually know something I don’t, bookie?”

“I- I know what Sofia knows. And my skeletons?”

“You know what I know… Is that how you learned to speak?”

“I… I don’t really know,” Bookie admitted in a shameful tone.

“No matter. What about you Pareth? You’ve always been able to understand my orders so I assume you could have spoken from the start if not for your restrictions, right?”

Pareth actually took a few seconds to think before he nodded as his answer. Just the fact that he answered put a smile on Sofia's face. It was the first time that Pareth answered no matter what she said. Perhaps Bookie’s newfound voice helped lift his restrictions a bit, it was impossible to tell why exactly he was more expressive than usual, but Sofia was glad for it.

“Then, one last question for you both,” Sofia started, “after that, you can ask questions too, Bookie. There’s no reason why I should be the only one, right?”

Sofia’s tone turned more solemn. “So, my question is, are you guys happy to follow me? Are you fine with just following me forever?”

Bookie was stunned by the question, his voice came out a bit shaky, “D- does Sofia want- want us to leave?” His voice broke by the end of the sentence. Bookie could shed no tears but he started audibly crying.

“W- What?! No! Of course not!” Sofia moved and grabbed Bookie like Pareth had grabbed him before, holding him against her chest. “

“There, there, don’t cry, I’m never going to chase you away, don’t worry.

“You promise?” Bookie asked between two sobs.

“Yes, yes. I promise. This has nothing to do with wanting you to leave. I want you to stay, you know?”

“Then why?” Bookie asked meekly, not understanding why Sofia would ask such a question.

“I’m just… You never had a choice. You had to follow me even if you didn’t want to, up until now. I… I really don’t like restricting people’s freedom. You and Pareth are people. It’s only right that you get to choose what you want to do. Look at Alith and Ihuarah, they do whatever they want.”

“THEN I WANT TO STAY!” Bookie shouted.

“Alright, alright,” Sofia answered with a smile, gently caressing his skull, “I’m really happy you feel that way. Please don’t leave.”

“I will never leave Sofia!”

“Uhuh, what a lucky Sofia I am to have such a cute skeleton with me, right? Thank you for staying with me. And, well, I already know the answer, but I still have to ask, what about you, Pareth?”

Pareth crossed his arms, slightly shaking his skull. Sofia could almost imagine him rolling his eyes and replying ‘I’m not going anywhere, idiot’, if only he could. And it was really an idiotic question considering Pareth was the same skeleton who categorically refused to ever harm Sofia even when she asked and who had let himself be killed to protect her on every occasion he could.

“So it’s my turn to ask questions?” Bookie asked from within Sofia’s tight hug.

“Go ahead, Bookie. Ah, but you can usually hear my thoughts, right? Is there even anything you don’t already know?”

“Lots! I can hear, kind of, but not everything. I only hear Sofia’s thoughts… When I need to hear them.”

“When you need to?”

“Yes? But it’s my time to ask questions now!”

“Right, right, sorry. Please do.”

“Who do you like more?”

Oh Lords…

Sofia spent way too long thinking about what to answer, she did not want to make Bookie cry again. To think he would start with such an explosive question… Well, I should be honest.

“I love you both but I guess Pareth a bit more,” she said carefully, preparing to console Bookie. But his reaction was not what she expected.

“I knew it!” he said, sounding a bit peeved, “I’ll work harder to make Sofia love me more!”

It’s not a competition…

This once, Pareth did not react visibly at all, and before Sofia could even come up with anything to say, Bookie came at her with another question.

“Can I get clothes?”

“You want some? We can go find a good tailor for you in Vasperia after the trial if you want. How does that sound?”

“Really? Thank youuuu!”

“It’s nothing. I’ll get you and Pareth anything you want as long as I can afford it. My money is our money, you guys both worked really hard for it, haven’t you? Anything else that you want?”

Bookie was silent for a bit, only coming up with a weak: “I’ll think about it.”

“What about you Pareth, anything you want? Sorry I never asked until now.”

Surprisingly enough, Pareth was already ready to answer, instantly summoning his light shield. It took the form of a kite shield with a crest representing a castle.

Castle?

“Is it about Zangdar?” Sofia asked. And this time, Pareth did not answer. It could mean that he couldn’t, but it could also mean that the answer was neither yes nor no, and that he couldn’t reply with his usual head movements.

“There’s something that you want in the Zangdar castle?” Sofia tried. This time the answer was no.

“I think I understand brother Pareth,” Bookie chimed in. Sofia turned her attention to him and let him continue, “He wants a home!”

That’s all it is?

Sofia looked up at Pareth again, seeing him nod contentedly.

“I see. Thanks for the insight Bookie, you’re very helpful. Well, we’re going to check on Zangdar as soon as the trial is over. If the castle is still there, let’s make it our permanent home, alright? You can both have your own room.”

Bookie cheered while Pareth barely reacted. The truth was Pareth always knew this had already been in Sofia’s plans for a while now. But since she had asked what he wanted, he had truthfully answered.

“Anything else?” Sofia asked Bookie again.

“Huh… Or, right! I wanted to ask about the strange things Sofia does sometimes!”

“Strange things?”

“Yes! I don’t understand, like when you take bones and you sculpt them into the shape of a big boy’s p-”

Sofia’s iron grip slammed Bookie’s jaws shut.

“E- enough questions for today! We have a dungeon to…”

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