For now I just want to enjoy the moment and enjoy being outside, so I close both eye-lids and ignore my ears and nose. Only after a few seconds do I investigate the smells around me. Trees, grass, animals, animal skin, sweat, stone, metal and grease. The last makes my mouth water. My ears are next. Nothing is close to us, though I can make out the tap-tap-tap of the footsteps from the maid following us. Not too far away is the sound of shouting, metal hitting metal and grunting. It sounds a bit like the training areas back in the cavern. Since they're not shouting at me, it's fine.

Opening my eyes I let my gaze drift slowly from left to right, moving around a bit. Ara doesn't stop, so we're walking on an open area flanked by the building on the right side and some low unnatural looking bushes on the left. The unnatural part is how the branches all stop at the same length, forming an almost perfectly straight surface on the side. I wonder what kind of monster eats like that. Rather small solitary trees are placed evenly in the bush, without spreading to the field behind. All in all, it is just as unreal as the underground forest.

The building from the outside looks weathered, the stone having many grooves and cracks, ideal for climbing. Here and there are stone shapes of people or beasts carved into the stone, near the top, none of them very interesting. Where we walked out from is a long, low building and the word 'barracks' comes to my mind. It's connected to a big set of buildings further behind us where I suspect the big hall thing is.

Straight ahead is where most of the smells and noises are coming from and I orient myself in that direction. Ara finally reacts to my constant moving around by whispering at me. "Stop now!"

More or less obediently I settle comfortably on her shoulder. Being carried around isn't bad from time to time, especially on such a high place. Ara mumbles something about me being way heavier than she expected, which annoys me. I can't be too heavy, it might interfere with flying when I get my wings. I refuse to believe I will never fly.

Up ahead is what is interesting and my carrier should be quiet. All I can see for now is another one of those strangely straight bushes, but this time there are some buildings behind it. Taking another deep breath, I still smell the same things. People, sweat, animals, stone, metal and the plants around me. There is an opening in the bushes Ara is heading towards, an arch of wood with vines climbing around it. The shouting is absolutely coming from that direction and getting louder. From what I can judge, they're not shouts of fear or anger. Still I prepare to flee in case there is something dangerous past there.

Slowly I become aware of the source of these emotions. It's not me but Ara who is tense and it's affecting me. Irritated I mentally shove it aside. To my surprise it actually works. To my even greater surprise, Ara noticed what I did and is equally surprised. Unsurprisingly, she reacts by shoving back. This time it's not as intrusive as her emotions bleeding over, but more like a poke or a sound to attract my attention. There is a potentially useful tool here, but if I use it too much she's probably going to do the same.

As we reach the archway I catch a glimpse of the area past it. It's a large place, really large, and from my current spot I can't see that much of it. With a quick jump I hook a claw on the vine arch and clamber on top for a better view. I manage not to damage the structure which supports it as having it collapse is not my favorite. Beneath me Ara is cursing, she must have stumbled. Perhaps this will convince her that walking on just two limbs is unstable and stupid. Given how many of her species do so, I don't think it will help.

The space behind the archway is split up in different areas. In one it is human against human. Close to it is a place where humans throw or launch or... do something from a range to a shape further away. Further away humans are riding animals like I was riding Ara and doing things. Between there and here are some structures, looking mostly like walls with a cage-like roof. What interests me most is the place where humans and not-animals are using various tools to do what I assume is some kind of training. Below me Ara clicks her tongue, which is a nice trick, and I receive a mental poke. When I look down she taps on her shoulder. It's easy enough to know what she wants. For a moment I want to resist, but fail. With a short jump I land on her shoulder. She's ready for me and absorbs the impact of my landing well.

By now a number of the humans who had been engaging one another are looking at us. For some reason I had expected them to look at her, she is of their species after all, but a few are looking at me too. I've never looked at other species unless they were a potential danger or food and I wonder what they make of me. Some of those looking this way are doing the smiling. It's easy to identify most of them as showing their sense of superiority. There are roughly three groups of smiling people.

There are those who consider themselves superior, but do not see her as competition. These are to watch out for because they probably have a reason. Then there are ones who are inferior and afraid, they show their teeth to warn us away. Like the small imp when I was still a tiny hatchling, they can be dangerous when cornered. Then there are those who consider themselves superior or equal, but see us as competition. Ara needs to show them where she stands or they will keep challenging her. It's strangely reassuring to see how similar human interaction is to how swarmlings and demons interact, but also a bit unsettling.

After steadying herself with me once again riding her shoulder, Ara continues to the place where I saw the other creatures with the humans under the watchful gaze of a clawful of humans. I could tell the creatures there are not animals, they move with much more purpose, but none of them are entirely familiar. Back home, the only creatures counting as animals I had seen were small bugs. Only once I saw the four legged things here being ridden did it pop in my head what an animal is, but it's a bit vague. Yet another thing to think of, later. It's only a useless distraction at this place and time. 

It's the other people and their creatures who require my full attention right now. It's hard to judge, but most of them look older than Ara. The creatures also feel 'more' than I do. Stronger, smarter, faster or something. My tail starts to twitch nervously, the emotion coming from me this time. I wonder if Ara already knew what was waiting for her here. At least they don't seem to prepare to attack, instead ignoring us both or only looking at Ara with expressions varying from indifference to hostility to curiosity. I'm given the occasional glance, but nothing more, which suits me fine.

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The various other familiars, I really think they're familiars, pay little attention to Ara and instead focus on me. All this attention is only making me more nervous.

This time I try to pay attention as the humans start to speak with one another. As far as I can tell by their behavior, it's a series of introductions. Ara is acting subtly submissive without giving ground, though there are still small moves towards her to try and make her give ground. She seems very adept at avoiding to give ground without issuing any obvious challenges. Sometimes Ara is the one moving in the other person's space to assert her dominance, though she seems to be much more subtle about it than the ones who were confronting her.

In all cases, the people glance my way and then either pretend they never did or say something about me. I really want to know what they are saying, but it's still mostly unintelligible. The basic interactions are so much the same as within the swarm and once I understand this, it becomes easier to follow the language. It's not as complicated as the language of the devils, but a lot more chaotic.

Suddenly there is a loud clap. The people all look back at an old man in several layers of leather who shouts something, absolutely an order, and everyone goes back to what they were doing before. This draws the attention of the other familiars away too, for which I am very grateful. Their stares were becoming uncomfortable. Now it's just the older man facing Ara. He doesn't radiate hostility like some of the others, but neither is he well disposed towards her. Towards anything really. The long stare he gives me makes me twitch my tail and the spikes on my back. It feels more like an attack than some actual attacks I've suffered through. I lost this confrontation with him, which sits badly with me. When Ara also loses her silent confrontation and looks down I feel a bit better.

The man barks something at her and I understand it well enough, just from the intent alone. "What are you doing here?" or something along those lines. Judging by how everyone reacts to him, this is the highest ranking person here.

Ara responds to accordingly, looking him in the eye. "Sir, professor Tellbriant gave me permission to skip his classes today to summon my familiar for the other classes today. I would like to make use of the facilities here to train until that time." At this she hesitates and continues in a softer tone. "With your permission, sir."

The old man says nothing, but shifts his gaze to me. I bare my teeth in response. As the silence stretches and the stare starts to feel like a weight on my body, Ara starts to fidget.

"There was an accident shortly after I summoned him," she says quietly, not looking the man in the eye. Even I know he's not going to accept that. As the silence deepens, Ara gives in. "I killed him, by accident. It's much harder to re-summon a familiar if you're the one who killed him, so I could only manage it now. Sir." she blurts out.

By now Ara looks like a swarmling who expects her head to be bitten off. My own situation isn't much better and I try to make myself small on her shoulder. After a moment the man sighs and nods. "You can use the space in the back," he says and waves a hand in the general direction.

Ara bows and steps aside to let the man pass before heading in the indicated direction. It's the cage-like constructions I noticed earlier. As we get to them Ara passes all of them by to stop at the last one in the row. There is something in the door roughly at her eye-height which she slides open to look inside. It's very ingenious and something I should remember to look for. There is probably nothing inside as Ara opens the door and steps inside.

The inside is boring. A strange kind of stone covers the inner walls. From the top a raster of metal bars rises up and then over the top. The floor is rough sand. Ara clicks her tongue again and points at the ground. She doesn't need to tell me twice! The sand looks great and I jump down to get to it. Rubbing my flank over the rough grains scratches a lot of places I usually ignore and I close my eyes in enjoyment. Ara turns around and closes the door again. After this she takes something from her belt. I think it's the things she picked up way back in the room?

"Get up Gal, time to see what you can do."

The words register but I haven't had a chance to rub my other flank in the sand, or my belly or back. A sudden sting on my leg gets my attention instead. I look to the source and see Ara standing, holding some kind of glowing crystal in one gloved hand and her other hand, also gloved, pointed at me. She's smiling in a slightly predatory way, but I can also sense some amusement.

"First, there is a command I must give. Gal, I order you not to eat anything unless I give it to you and tell you to eat it!" She almost shouts the last bit.

I feel the same compulsion as when I was first bound with her. This time I actually manage to resist it for a while, but now I know what is at stake! With a snarl and a screech I jump at her, claws out, but she doesn't even flinch. My claws and tail fail to even harm her clothes as we both expected, though when I bite the leather covering her arm to no effect at all, there is an acrid smell for a second. I doubt it lasted long enough for her to notice. Yet another something to think about later. Slowly the magic overpowers me and the will to fight leaves me. "You!" I spit at her from the ground at her feet.

"Yes, me." She says as she looks me in the eyes. The first to look away is me.

"In case you forgot, I am the one in charge between the two of us. You're free to enjoy yourself when you can, most of the time I find you amusing. But when I give you instructions, you will follow my command." Her tone switches between playful and stern. She seems to be waiting for my response.

"Yes," I hiss and look up at her again. While her eyes show something, it's not the lust for pain like the fairy had, nor is it the anger she had when she shouted at the older woman the first time I was here.

"Good." One of her hands goes to a pouch at her waist and throws something at me. "You can eat this if you want."

Jumping to the side, it misses me and lands in the sand. It's a pink berry. Approaching it, I sniff it carefully. It does smell good and I throw a sideways glance at Ara. "Go on", she gestures, and take it in my mouth with my tongue. It's a bit tart with a hint of sweet. There is an unmistakable tingle of some kind of poison in it, but it's rather weak. Still, any is better than none. Too soon it's over. Turning towards Ara I do my best to look submissive, but the little sack on her waist is what I'm eyeing.

I can hear Ara sigh. "Well, at least that part of the old stories is true." She clicks her tongue and my eyes snap to her face. She smiles her dominance. "Much better, Gal. Now, I'm going to shoot that little sting at you and you are going to dodge. Do well and you get berries. If I think you're not trying I'll increase the pain caused by the sting. Ready?" She takes position by the door after her last words.

I scramble to the far side of the cage, much more motivated than before. Dodging and running away is one thing I'm confident in. Taking my own position a little away from the wall, I crouch low, ready to move in any direction. I have a plan and she's not going to like it, of that I'm sure.