Kalanthia, Bastet, can I speak to you both outside for a moment? I ask politely, doing my best to direct my thoughts to them. Bastet, obviously, is easy to contact at will. Kalanthia has to intentionally pick up the thoughts on her side so I hope she’s not actually asleep. When she opens her big golden eyes a moment later, I dismiss that concern.

If this is about my decision to come with you, I am not changing it.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

How did you know that was what I was coming to talk about?

It was logical. I knew that once I told the stodgy samuran, he wouldn’t waste any time in telling you. He didn’t dare argue with me, but I could tell he wasn’t pleased.

The ‘stodgy’ samuran? I ask with amusement.

You mean you haven’t noticed that he doesn’t have a humorous bone in his body?

I can’t help grinning.

Maybe, I agree. It’s true that Shrieks is competent, intelligent, an excellent leader, and a great Warrior, but if he has a sense of humour, I haven’t yet found it. Still that isn’t necessary for anything he needs to do and the stoic, humourless top Warrior definitely suits him well. But he has a point. If you come down with us, you’re likely to send multiple samurans into a mental breakdown. You’re not planning on coming to the actual meet-up, right?

I never said I wished to come to the lizard-folk event. However, you are taking my cub with you, I presume? I give a slow nod in response – Lathani’s recovery is coming on well, but I’d rather be able to continue working on it than leave her in limbo for more than a month. Then I am coming. I also wish to reconnect with certain Guardians I became familiar with when I first arrived here. That was before Lathani was born and I was required to move somewhere safer.

I hesitate. To be fair, my main concern is about her spooking the other samurans. If she doesn’t intend to follow us to the actual event, then I’m less concerned. Certainly, as I considered before, having a Tier three along would automatically make many creatures think twice about attacking us. And if she is willing to fight with us that would make the journey even safer.

Will you be travelling with the party or just in the same direction? And if we’re attacked, will you fight with us?

Yes, and yes, she answers, yawning again. Keep me supplied with meat and we shall call it even.

That isn’t as small a factor as it sounds at first – Kalanthia can eat a lot. On the other hand, if she’s eating every day, she doesn’t eat as much as she used to when only eating every three days. It’ll be an extra burden for the hunters, but having a Tier three along should more than make up for that.

Alright, you’ve convinced me, I smile at her. I know Shrieks won’t be happy to hear it, but I’ll tell him that you’re confirmed as joining the travel group.

Good. Then if that is all, I wish to continue to bathe in this Energy, she answers, clearly wanting to finish the conversation. I don’t bother her any longer, instead just leading Bastet outside – I don’t really want the following conversation to distract anyone else either.

Before I even need to say anything, the observant raptorcat matriarch has drawn some accurate conclusions. She stalks over to Trouble and cuffs him over the head sharply with a scaled paw, growling and hissing at him wordlessly.

The raptorcat grumbles at the chastisement, once more that mixture of apologetic and defiant.

“This is the third time in two days that he’s caused an issue,” I remind her with a sigh. “And each time it’s something that he knows he’s not supposed to do. It’s not like this is sudden, either: he’s been causing problems more and more frequently for the last month. I think it’s time to offer him a Bond – maybe that will calm him down, or at least enable me to control him.”

Bastet turns and comes to rub her head against my hip. I drop my hand automatically to stroke and rub behind her ears, the feather-fur soft as always.

I do not think that that will work, she confesses. It is not that he has a lack of direction, it is that he’s growing up.

“Except that Storm and Ninja aren’t going around doing these things,” I argue. “The worst they’ve done is snuck out to go hunting on their own. They don’t seem to have an incorrigible desire to get their talons and noses into everything – particularly the things that they’re not allowed to access.”

They are female, Bastet answers simply, as if that should answer everything. And maybe it does. If I try to recall, I remember a conversation long ago with Bastet where she said that male raptorcats either left the pack of their own accord when they reached maturity, or they were kicked out because they were causing too many problems. Is that what’s happening here?

I sigh.

“I’d still like to try, if I have your agreement,” I tell her earnestly. Honestly, I don’t want to lose Trouble. He’s got big and the problems he’s causing have grown with him, but to my mind he’s still the cute little gangly cub who I first met. An orphan of the pack of which he, his sisters, and Bastet were the only surviving members. He might not be cute any more, but I still remember carrying him and his sisters against my chest through hours of travel as we came down to rescue Lathani. I don’t want to just give up without even trying to convince him to stay.

Bastet hesitates.

They are old enough, she agrees slowly. You intend to offer a Bond to all of them, not just Trouble, correct?

“I do,” I answer, looking over at the other two. Stormcloud and Ninja have changed significantly too. They now resemble Bastet a lot more. The Bastet before her Evolution, of course. They stand mid-thigh on me and their coats have almost completely lost the fluffiness they had as babies. Their limbs no longer look long and gangly for their bodies, nor their heads too big for them. I truly can’t call them anything other than adults now, even if they still clearly have a little bit of growing left to do.

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Unlike Trouble, though, they’ve clearly matured, no longer engaging in the cub-like behaviour of playing but instead doing serious hunting. They’re sleek huntresses and have been going out with Bastet and Lathani frequently, Fenrir, Thorn, or Honey joining them from time to time too. It’s been a slow transition and it’s only now I’m looking back that I realise how much they have changed.

I agree that it is time, Bastet answers with equanimity, and I no longer hold any fear that they will be mistreated in your care. Instead, I know that those who choose to remain will progress far faster than they would be able to alone.

It’s a vote of confidence that I’m warmed to receive. Bastet hasn’t made any secret of how she is happy to be with me, and her faith in me has sometimes been exactly what I needed to push through obstacles I didn’t believe that I could overcome. But it’s still nice to hear, especially here where it concerns cubs who might as well have been her own biological children for all the care and dedication she’s given them.

“Thank you, my friend,” I say to her warmly. Then I look at the three raptorcats and wonder which to offer the Bond to first.

Ninja is out – she tends to follow her sister in decisions, so she would have trouble making a decision if Storm hadn’t yet made hers. So Trouble or Storm…. Looking between them, I see Storm’s steady gaze and Trouble’s furtive one and make my choice.

Stepping forwards, I crouch down in front of Storm.

“Will you Bond with me and join our pack fully?” I ask her, using Animal Empathy to make my words easier to understand. While doing that, I send her the request for a Tame Bond. I don’t see the need for Dominate. It was necessary between Bastet and I at first because she was a hostile predator who had already tried to kill me once. Storm, however, has never known me as anything other than a family member and raptorcat families don’t tend to try to kill each other. Neither has she caused the same issues Trouble has so she doesn’t need the controlling aspects. Ideally, I’m hoping that she will become a Companion like Bastet, but we have to have a Bond first.

Storm accepts the request to open the ‘trade window’. The communication aspect which was part of one of the upgrades allows us to exchange emotions, but it ends up not being necessary anyway. In her usual decisive fashion, Storm simply puts in her desire to be a pack just like her matriarch and then ‘closes’ her side of things.

I take a little longer to just explore her side of the ‘window’. Pack to her means caring for each other, hunting together, agreeing to follow the hierarchy when necessary, and generally supporting each other. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for more if I’d tried.

It’s not a vow of obedience because from what I understand, raptorcat packs don’t work like that – though Bastet is the matriarch, that’s more because of her age and experience meaning she offers good suggestions rather than because she’s the strongest. Although in our Battle of Wills it was important for me to prove myself as strong, the most important was proving that I had something to offer her and her cubs. But proving that I was able to make good decisions on behalf of the pack earned me Bastet’s loyalty, and now Storm’s.

I sense the Bond settle into my being, feeling more like a Companion Bond than a Tame, even though I know it cannot be that yet. Briefly looking at my internal matrix, I see the cord emerging from my Tame Skill but passing through Companion Bond on the way. If it doesn’t become a proper Companion Bond soon enough, I’ll eat my helmet.

“Welcome to the pack fully,” I say to Storm with a smile. She rumbles in her chest, pleasure coming across the Bond as she moves to butt her head against my cheek. She then goes over to rub against Bastet, the older raptorcat rumbling in pleasure too.

Shifting within my crouched position, I turn to Ninja and offer her the Bond next. She hesitates more than Storm did, being the more nervous and indecisive of the two. But following her sister’s example doesn’t take long, and soon I greet another member of the pack.

Next, it’s Trouble’s turn. I feel a little more nervous over this one and once more hesitate over which kind of Bond to use. My head tells me that I should be egalitarian and offer him a Tame Bond, but my heart tells me that he needs something different.

Biting my lip as the indecision wracks me, I decide to, this time, go with my heart. My instincts have been proving themselves more and more effective ever since I came to this world – maybe it’s time to follow them without questioning too much.

“Dominate,” I say quietly as soon as I manage to catch Trouble’s gaze. Immediately, we both freeze and the grey space forms around us.

There is a surprising amount of resistance between us. Nothing I can’t handle, of course – my effective Willpower of eighty-five isn’t just for show. But more than I was expecting considering how familiar we are with each other.

Pushing through, I reach the point where I can normally start to communicate with the creature I am trying to Bond with. And then I pass the point, the raptorcat on the other side of the space still silent.

“Trouble?” I ask, confused as to why he hasn’t yet reached out.

Is that all I am to you? he asks, his tone surprisingly resentful. I’m slightly surprised at how verbal he is, even in this space. Bastet wasn’t like that; would the girls have been if I’d used Dominate on them?

“Well, you have to admit that you cause a fair bit of it,” I try to joke through the awkwardness, but it falls flat. I sigh. “No, of course not. You’re part of my pack, a cub I’ve helped raise from babyhood. I’ve carried you against my chest, played with you, scolded you, fed you, surprised you, almost strangled you a few times, and saved you from death even more frequently. You’re trouble, but you’re my trouble…as long as you want to be, that is.”

He’s silent so I slowly close the distance, taking my time to give him the chance to think rather than because I can’t move faster.

Why can’t I do anything right? he moans. You and mother are angry at me all the time. I just want to explore.

“And to test boundaries, right?” I ask, giving him a pointed look. I don’t see any other reason for why he would choose to explore the exact hut that I had just told him not to go into. Or investigate the cart which he knows he’s not allowed to go near. He doesn’t answer and I have a feeling that if he could move, he’d be trying to avoid my gaze. As it is, the look in his eyes is more than sufficient admission.

Well, why would you tell me not to go somewhere or do something unless it was somewhere I wanted to go or something I wanted to do? he protests. Which…I can get it. But that’s a child’s reasoning. He’s supposed to be becoming an adult.

“Because I don’t want you to do it?” I point out. “Because it’s dangerous, or will cause problems, or someone else took a long time to collect something or make something and I don’t want it broken?”

He’s silent again for a long moment.

Are you going to Bind me? I can sense that you could at any moment. I feel it waiting for you to decide, he asks in a small voice. By this point I’m right in front of him and I wish I could stroke his head as I would in the physical world. But I worry that if I do so, the Bond will snap into place immediately, reacting to my desire to not have to say goodbye to this grown-up cub.

“I’m not going to force it,” I reassure him. “I will only Bind you if you want the Bond. Do you?”

He hesitates.

I…I love my pack. My sisters. My mother. My brothers. You. But I also wish to be free. I…there is something which calls to me. From somewhere else in the valley. I don’t know where it is, but I know that I want to go. And trying to find ways to distract myself from its pull just means you and mother get angry at me.

Is this the reason he’s been so problematic recently? Because there’s some sort of biological imperative causing him to want to leave when he also wants to stay?

“You know,” I say slowly, “leaving doesn’t mean you can’t come back later. And having a Bond doesn’t stop you from leaving, if that’s what you want. It just allows us to know that you’re still alive, and maybe communicate with you a little.” I crouch down to look him in the eyes at his level. “If something is calling you, follow that call. Find out what it is. And then come back and tell us. OK?”

I know that’s not the way raptorcat packs usually work, but if I can change the way the samurans live, surely I can do the same to the raptorcats. The samurans seem to be better off now, anyway.

Trouble is silent for a long moment before he responds. When he does, it’s not verbal, only a slight dip of his head. Smiling, my heart rejoicing inside me, I reach for his forehead.