Ma-Markus, River’s voice enters my mind as I surface once again from a period of meditation. I blink a little blearily in the sudden brightness. Looking towards the cave mouth, the cause becomes clear: it’s stopped raining and the sun’s out. I bet everything’s pretty wet, though that hasn’t stopped the cubs from already taking advantage – they seem to be playing a game of hide and seek. Or rather, hide and pounce.

“Yes?” I respond to my Bound after a moment.

May I head into the forest? I am lacking some ingredients for a number of concoctions. I hope to explore the local area to see what I can find.

“You’re done with absorbing the Energy-Heart?” I ask with a little surprise. He sends a sense of negation, even as he tilts his head to one side.

No, but I feel that it would not be wise for me to continue for now. My...the Path-walkers warn of absorbing too much Energy at one time: apparently it can cause some sort of damage? Hmm, that must be linked to what Kalanthia was saying. Though from the sounds of it, issues can happen even with ‘normal’ Cores, not just the naturally-formed Energy-Hearts.

I hesitate about allowing him to go into the forest alone, though I remind myself that he’s used to going out in a much more dangerous area than this – our own journey down proved that. Even if we don’t count the vine-strangler trees, the level of creatures that we faced were significantly above that of the ones around here, the raptorcats excepted. Then I remember that he doesn’t have to go out alone.

I might not want to go, and Bastet is currently busy looking after the cubs, but that still leaves Fenrir, and possibly Sirocco. Sending her a mental message asking her to come, I get back grumpy assent. I also get the sense that it will take more than a couple of minutes as she’s out hunting. In exchange for interrupting her, apparently I need to compensate her with some food. That reminds me of something else I wanted to discuss.

“I wanted to get your thoughts on something,” I say, intentionally pushing my meaning down the Bonds with all three Dominated Bound. I feel the attention of Fenrir and Bastet sharpen on me, the former coming over to sit near River and I, the latter remaining where she is. I then explain what I’d been thinking about the Energy-Hearts and Sirocco. “So, I wanted to know what you think. Should we respond in kind to the relationship of exchange she seems to want to engage in? Or should we include her in all things, like any of you three?”

Immediately I get the sense that it is a bit above Fenrir’s pay-grade. He’s more intelligent than Spike, but only in the sense of being more able to communicate. The idea of there being a hierarchy is certainly something he understands, and according to his world-view, those at the top getting all the choice bits where those at the bottom have to be satisfied with the meanest scraps is perfectly normal. However the idea of having some of the group being properly part of the group and others not...that’s completely foreign to him. And, to be honest, it seems like it is with Bastet too.

From the raptorcat, I get the confusion along with the sense of ‘we’re all pack. Why would one be treated differently than the others?’. When I send her a reply that carries the idea that resources given to Sirocco would be wasted if she then chose to leave, Bastet’s confusion seems to grow. For her, that’s normal. Cubs are given resources and nurtured to grow, even though the males will leave or be chased out by the time they become juveniles. Those resources aren’t ‘wasted’, they’re fed into the greater picture. I think I understand.

While the resources invested in the males wouldn’t have immediate return, not like those invested in the females who would become productive members of the pack on reaching juvenile status, there was a different outcome. Males chased out of the pack would either die or live and grow stronger. Those who survived would be the ones to have children.

Bastet had grasped something instinctively that humanity only understood logically: that survival of the fittest meant that those in competition had to be as best as they could be. Over generations, raising strong male cubs would mean the increase in strength of raptorcats as a whole. It’s an interesting perspective, and makes me reconsider my approach to the dilemma.

Out of all of my Bound, River is the only one who seems able to consider the divided nature of what I’m talking about. That’s probably because his own society seems to be divided, between those with Cores and those without, between Warriors and Path-walkers, and even between lizard-kin and non lizard-kin. He is the last to give his point of view.

My people channel resources to the most-deserving, reasoning that allowing precious materials to be taken by those who are likely to die anyway is a waste, he offers, a thoughtful feeling coming with his words. Yet...my encounter with you has turned what I thought I knew on its head. I tilt my head to one side.

“Explain?” I half-ask, half-tell as curiosity runs through me.

It is as I tried to explain before. What I said to the Honoured Path-walkers was true: you have no natural weapons. You have no scales; your skin is soft. Your teeth are blunt, as are your claws. To all intents and purposes, you were the very prey my kinfolk saw you as. Yet it was not me who won in our confrontations. You trapped me as well as any arhast spins her web. And then, you proved your superiority in our mental battle.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

If one who is so obviously prey can do all that, then should we be abandoning nine out of ten of our hatchlings to the providence of Fate before they even reach their name-day? How many marvellous minds are hiding in weak bodies? My concept of ‘waste’ seems to be faulty. It seems as though my fellow Bound are of the opinion that she should be treated as a full member of the group. I will abide by whatever you choose.

Not entirely the most helpful, but it’s interesting to see how much River’s world-view is changing. Much like mine, really, and I feel the bond of kinship I’d already sensed with him grow in strength. Well. Perhaps I should just discuss this with Sirocco herself. See whether, now we’re in a better position, she wants to change the spirit of our agreement or not.

While we wait, I check with Fenrir to see if he actually wants to go out into the forest. The response is somewhat predictable: he will follow the pack. It seems that, like with everything else among male lizogs, the strongest leads, the weaker follow.

“Sirocco,” I say the moment she wings her way over and lands on my shoulder, a sense of hunger being pushed down the Bond towards me. “I want to know what you think about how to conduct our agreement going forward.” She sends a sense of confusion to me, coloured by a tint of apprehension. Is she worried I’m about to break the Bond and betray her? Perhaps. “Nothing bad,” I assure her. “I just mean…” I sigh and try to put what I’m getting at into words. Not that she cares about the words, but they will clarify my meaning enough for her to – hopefully – understand.

“I don’t want to limit your freedom,” I tell her frankly, since that had seemed the most important thing she’d raised in our previous negotiation. “But I’d like to know if you would like to be a full part of the group, or a...contractor.” She sends me confusion, so I try to shove the sense of each option at her. In one option, benefiting fully from everything the group has to offer, but equally contributing as fully. Every member offering help when needed, without any thought of repayment, only the assurance of the same thing happening regardless of who’s in trouble. And more than that, dedication and commitment to the group, as long as her core tenets are not contravened.

On the other side, I offer a sense of being together, yet apart. Increased freedom, but reduced benefit for each side. Negotiating each interaction to ensure that things remain balanced and fair. The freedom to leave whenever, but the lack of certainty which prevents bonds from forming, or not forming as strongly if they do.

In the end, I get a sense of thoughtful consideration from Sirocco’s side of the Bond. She asks me for time, wishing to give the matter due consideration. I agree, of course, pulling out a chunk of meat for her to enjoy. I’m surprised when she turns up her nose, well, beak, at it.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, baffled. It’s salamander meat, the same thing she enjoyed eating not that long ago. Her reply answers the question for me. It’s the same reason Kalanthia suggested finding some other way to store the corpses: Sirocco’s not interested in meat with no Energy in it. Well, that explains a lot…. Fortunately, there’s an easy answer for it. “River and Fenrir are going out in the forest, that’s why I asked you to come over. I was hoping you could accompany them to help them out, if only by keeping an eye on possible dangers. I’m sure that they’d be happy to share any kills with you. Would that suit?”

The scarlet and yellow-gold bird seems to consider the question for a moment before sending me a sense of assent. Pushing away from my shoulder, she glides to the top of the nearest tree, sending me a sense of impatience.

“Well, looks like she agrees to go with you,” I remark to River. Then I look at him seriously. “Take care, OK? And if there’s any issue let me know and Bastet and I will come running.”

Very well, River tells me, a hint of something to his mental voice which I can’t quite identify. It seems positive, so I’ll take that as a win.

“Look out for River and obey him, Fenrir,” I order the lizog. He sends me a sense of submissive assent and then the two go padding down the hill. I watch them go until they disappear into the trees. I’m a little uneasy, but I think it’s probably more linked to remembering Spike’s death than any true premonition.

In the end, I just push the thoughts away and go sit on a sunny spot near the cave mouth that’s already dry. Once more taking a few minutes to rest and refresh myself, it’s not overly long before I close my eyes and drop back into Meditation. I take a bit of time to examine my work so far. I can see my progress – part of my Core is now free of cracks. I haven’t yet pulled out my new Energy-Heart, so I’m a little surprised when I see a wave of light racing towards my Core all of a sudden.

Pulling out of Meditation, I trigger my status screen. Sure enough, I’m back up to seventy-two percent in my Energy store. What was that from, I wonder to myself.

Then a thought occurs: my Bound. Since I haven’t done anything that I’d expect would earn me Energy, I draw the conclusion that it came from either general absorption of the ambient Energy, or from my Bound killing something.

Very interesting. That’s the first time this has happened today, proving that my Bound absorbing Energy from an Energy-Heart doesn’t count; killing does. Also very useful as a thought for my future development. Now I’ve got a little group of killers together, I could be gaining Energy while crafting better weapons or better living conditions. Or even doing something more exciting… But before I think too hard on that, I need to make sure that I can still cast magic without hurting myself, and therefore need to finish sorting out my Core. Hopefully that will be sufficient to fix my issue with Lay-on-hands. If not...well. Cross that bridge if I come to it.

Sinking back into myself, I reenter what I’m starting to call ‘Core space’, if only to myself. Although there’s more than just the Core here, it’s the equivalent of calling Earth’s home the ‘Solar System’: my Core is as dominant here as the sun is in the Solar System. When another flash of Energy enters my system, I use it to repair one of the cracks. To my delight, it works just as well as Energy-Hearts do. That’s excellent to know.

Remembering where the Energy had entered my Core, I trace the lines back to where they begin. It’s one of the densely woven areas, one of the three which seem particularly similar to the rest of the weave around. Diving in even closer, I realise that there are a number of lines which just...end. Except, they don’t. End, that is. Instead, they just...go somewhere, but somewhere I cannot follow.

Except when, suddenly, I do.