A/N: Preisha, Viviana's familiar^
Viviana forced herself to appear cheerful and unconcerned at breakfast the next morning.
She had waited for 8 to wake Jeanette up and find Santiago before walking down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. They chose a circular table in a corner so Viviana could hide her bag with Preisha in it beneath the table.
Yaquir was not Nazeen. Witches were not prominent at all. If anything, Yaquir's practically nonexistent magical community was ruled by fey... which Viviana would have to carefully avoid.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the fey kept to themselves. They didn't bother anyone, and in return, they asked to be left alone. In the unlikely event that Viviana met another fey, she would have to be careful. After her brief interaction with Princess Luna's decidedly inhuman boyfriend, she was not looking forward to meeting another fey again.
But then again, Princess Luna seemed to figure out instantly that she was a witch which should not have been possible. And that was part of what made the encounter so awkward. The point remained that she would rather avoid any and all fey unless she didn't have a choice.
Anyway, breakfast at the hotel at 8 was busy, but not too bad. The low hum of different conversations would cover up their own voices if Viviana, Jeanette, and Santiago didn't talk too loud. So at least Viviana did not have to worry about being secretive if Santiago or Jeanette brought up a magic subject.
Speaking of her friends, both Santiago and Jeanette looked collectively more well rested than she did. But Preisha did not.
Viviana wondered if her emotions and exhaustion were affecting her familiar. It wasn't unheard of. Due to the telepathic connections all familiars held with their respective witch or warlock, they often channeled each other's habits and emotional states. But that didn't mean that they always knew why they were feeling so strongly about something.
The hard part would be explaining the stress and sudden fear. Viviana knew she would be unable to hide her fears and problems from Preisha, if only because Preisha would overhear her thoughts at some point. And then she had to make sure Preisha didn't tell Jeanette or Santiago anything.
Her stress levels heightened just thinking about it, which of course, Preisha felt. The familiar stuck her nose out of Viviana's shoulder bag underneath the table and nudged Viviana's leg, like she had done last night.
Viviana glanced down reflexively, and met her familiar's piercing gaze.
"I can feel you panicking from here. And I know you did not sleep last night. What happened?"
Viviana quietly filled her familiar in on all that had happened while everyone else had been asleep, as well as what had happened on the plane. She ended it with, "You can't tell Tiago or Jeanie. They're worried enough. The last thing we need is to fall apart before we even make it to the safe house, and then Ilsadora."
Preisha sniffed, and quietly ate half of the croissant Viviana had dropped to her beneath the table.
"You're sure I can't even tell Tiago? That I can't tell anyone?"
"Yes, Preisha!" Viviana insisted. "I'm sure."
Preisha reluctantly agreed, but not before grumbling about how secrets were inherently destructive and detrimental to relationships.
Viviana jumped suddenly when Jeanette leaned across the table and tapped her on the arm. "We should figure out where we are going to go. There should be a way to get to the mountains quickly, and we can find that in a minute, but after that, things will be difficult."
"Well, we still have a contact in the border mountains, don't we?" Viviana asked.
Santiago shook his head. "We don't know that. No one in our family ever talks about her."
"Surely you haven't forgotten where she is!" Viviana paled. "I thought she told you where she was going."
"Not exactly." Jeanette mumbled. "She just told us to let her go, that she had to leave. And that was four years ago."
"Your cousin didn't give you any directions on how to find her?" Viviana asked, her heart plummeting. "None at all?"
Santiago held up a finger and reached into his sweatshirt pocket, pulling out what looked like a compass. But when he opened it, it was actually a chainless pocket watch.
"Just this." He said, sliding it across the table to Viviana.
Viviana picked it up and turned it over in her fingers. There were stars and Roman numerals engraved in the gold plating on the sides, and the back face of the watch was a night sky with the andromeda constellation. It glowed blue, but the magic was faint, like it was sealed away behind a glass door that was partially leaky.
Viviana dangled the watch down to Preisha, and she felt her familiar take it from her hands underneath the table. While Preisha analyzed it, Viviana used the opportunity to finish eating her fried egg sandwich and briefly scan her surroundings.
A business man was talking animatedly into his phone, a notepad open on the table as he scrawled frantic notes in blue pen. An elderly couple were chatting over waffles, and attempting to include their table mate, a teenage girl buried in her phone. The only other people directly in her sight were a family of four.
Preisha knocked the bag over and slunk toward the wall, and Viviana gaped at her.
"Preisha!" She hissed furiously. "Are you crazy? What are you doing?"
Her familiar held the watch in her paw up to the light, before setting it on the floor and smashing it with her tail.
Viviana snatched the watch away and Preisha scrambled back beneath the table into the bag before Viviana could blow a fuse. Her anger faded slightly when she saw the watch glowing more prominently now.
Preisha had activated the magic.
Viviana gave the watch back to Santiago who arched an eyebrow at her.
"Preisha." She answered his unspoken question. "She activated it. Somehow the magic was sealed."
"That makes sense." Santiago mumbled. "Izzy was always more cautious than us. It's probably slightly dangerous in some way. Or she just didn't want us finding her before she was ready."
"Of course she'd make a magic compass out of a watch filled with stars." Jeanette rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. "Her obsession with the stars makes me think she must be closer to fey than the rest of us. Why else would she leave and go live closer to them?"
Viviana decided to ignore the last statement, which was decidedly false. The mountains were the same distance from the fey as Nazeen, so Jeanette could not possibly be right.
"So we have a compass to find her. How are we supposed to get from here to the mountains? Keep in mind, it should be fast." Viviana said.
"We were afraid you'd ask that..." Jeanette trailed off, putting her phone on the table and showing Viviana. "No matter what, we'll have to rent a car, but that isn't the main problem. The snowstorms haven't completely let up yet. There are still blizzarding conditions out toward the border mountains. As a result, certain highways have been closed, because Yaquir's government doesn't want people being stupid and getting themselves killed. Unfortunately, they're stopping us from getting exactly where we want to go. We could still take the kingdom highway, but it's longer, and eventually we'd have to go around to get on a way up the mountain."
Viviana saw where Jeanette was going with this, and she groaned. "Oh no..."
"The fastest way to the mountains is through the fey forest." Santiago admitted. "The road isn't that close to Arquillon, because it's buried deep in the woods, but I have a feeling you'll be opposed anyway."
"You bet I'm opposed. There is no way we're doing that. You have no idea what the fey are like. You've never met one of them!" Viviana shuddered, thinking of Princess Luna's boyfriend, and the way he'd just seemed... unnerving. "He wasn't trying to be off-putting, and neither was I, but I think we both set each other off in some way. Besides, most fey hate us because of Queen Ilsadora. We chased her away, and now she's closer to them. They don't like that. And they really don't like her. Therefore, none of the fey will like us very much."
"I still don't understand. You're fine with waltzing into danger with Ilsadora but the second fey are mentioned you just shut down." Jeanette pouted. "It almost seems like you're making a big deal out of nothing. We found the quickest way, and we aren't even going through Arquillon. Just semi-close to it."
"Semi-close is a hell of a lot closer than I could ever want to be!"
Santiago reached across the table and set a comforting hand on Viviana's forearm. "How about this, we spend a day to just rest and think on it. Viv, I can tell you're still tired and snappy. You aren't completely yourself. You should sleep on it, and tomorrow we'll make a decision and leave. I think it's reasonable if we take a day to plan anyway. We should know exactly how we are getting to Izzy, and how we can convince her to take us to Ilsadora. That way, we aren't improvising too much."
Viviana bristled the second Santiago said "Sleep on it." All at once, she was reminded of her dreams, and Princess Isabelle. She saved herself from another spiral, but barely. Santiago's concerned expression only worsened, and she knew her reaction hadn't gone unnoticed.
Thankfully, he also didn't ask questions, unlike Jeanette, who would have insisted on finding exactly what was wrong with Viviana, so she could heal it.
Instead, Santiago stood up and motioned for Viviana and Jeanette to follow him.
"Come on." He said with a cautious glance at Viviana. "If we're going to take a day to ourselves, we should at least be talking about a plan."
***
Preisha sniffed.
Viviana, Jeanie, and Tiago, the only human boy she tolerated, had been talking in circles for a while now. Preisha had attempted to tell them this by floating in an elliptical orbit above all of their heads, but she had been quickly ignored and forgotten.
Preisha did not like being ignored. She was a legend in her own right and full of fiery passion. People were supposed to stare at her, and her witch, and recognize their accomplishments and prodigious skill. But her witch didn't like that.
Preisha landed on the edge of the hotel bed and curled up in a ball with a sigh. She understood her witch very well, but at the same time, she could not help but worry about Viviana.
Viviana Morales seemed to lack pride in who she was. Who she really was. Sure, Viviana had pride in her accomplishments, and in other people's vision of her, but that wasn't the real her. Viviana had hidden and repressed her true powers and self so frequently, Preisha wondered if Viviana was trying to get rid of them.
Preisha hated it. Her witch was powerful, and intimidating. People should know who she was, and regard her the same way they regarded Maldeena Nightblood. With respect, and a bit of fearful admiration. But Viviana wouldn't let herself be. Instead, she was just the witch with telekinesis and an early familiar.
It wasn't fair.
The other thing that wasn't fair was Viviana refused to say, or even think, about why she was so certain Queen Ilsadora would be fine. Preisha knew.
Sure, Viviana's explanation was most likely right, and Ilsadora regretted her actions, yadda yadda. No. What Viviana hadn't properly put into words was the back-up plan.
If Ilsadora wasn't who they thought she was, it still wouldn't be a problem. Viviana could take the Snow Queen down, easily, if she so chose. Preisha was certain her witch could even bring Maldeena Nightblood to her knees.
The backup plan Preisha had, was if Ilsadora tried to kill them, Viviana would use her true powers, put Ilsadora out of commission, and they'd leave. Easy peasy. And no dying.
Everybody would win! Well... except Ilsadora, and possibly Princess Isabelle...
Hmm. I should do something about that.
Preisha almost stood up to demand attention from her witch, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She popped her head up, and looked, only to find nothing there. Preisha's nose twitched.
Not again.
The taps had kept her awake for most of the night. She hadn't really been channeling Viviana. She'd taught herself not to after a few excruciating weeks when Viviana was seven.
Preisha shut her eyes and ignored the taps. But this time, something unexpected happened.
An image appeared in front of her closed eyes. It wasn't a place Preisha remembered well, but she recognized it.
Erscicos. The home of all familiars.
Suddenly, the tapping made sense. Someone was trying to call her to them, summon her, to Erscicos.
But there was a problem.
Preisha didn't know how to teleport. Somehow, she had gotten to Viviana when Viviana was only 2, and Preisha was even younger, but that didn't mean she knew how it had happened.
But the tapping was becoming insistent, and the image was more forceful in her head. She had to try something, or she'd go crazy.
Preisha kept her eyes closed as she sneakily stood up, focusing intently on the image in her head. She envisioned herself there, back home, and she stepped off the bed.
The ground vanished beneath her feet, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with a purple sky, and the fluffy grass of Erscicos. Several rabbit-like creatures, alumpos, bounded over to her, and jumped around her in circles, shouting over one another in greeting.
"Hello"
"Hi!"
"Welcome back!"
"Are you here to see Latsyr?"
"Hello, yes it's good to see you, and no, I'm not here for Latsyr." Preisha answered.
The alumpos long ears drooped, and all but one of them hopped away, their interest lost already. "Who are you here to see then?"
"I don't quite know."
The final alumpos lost concentration and interest after that. They hopped away, calling back, "Well good luck then!"
Preisha rolled her eyes. Alumpos. You didn't want one of them as a familiar. They were impossible, especially at following directions. They were free spirits, and all of them had the attention span of an insect.
They annoyed her.
She sniffed curiously at the air. Perhaps the familiar who had summoned her was nearby?
But all she could smell was the sweetness of the grass and freshness of the air... until she caught it. An underlying smell she had never discovered before, but somehow vaguely reminded her of Viviana.
This smell was important. She had to follow it.
As much as she despised it, she put her nose to the grass and tracked the scent through the waving blades. It was sweet with a touch of spice... like...
Cinnamon rolls!
Her favorite smell and food. That was why she thought of her witch. Viviana was a talented baker, and she made cinnamon rolls all the time before Elena had taken an extra shift at the clinic and school had gotten more time consuming and difficult. But this was significant.
Smells told a lot about a person, or familiar, and their powers, intentions, or relationships. An example was Santiago and Jeanette. They both smelled like jasmine, but also had their own distinct smells too. Santiago smelled like a siren... not that she'd ever tell him. It was just the salt lingering around him, a sign of his powers. Jeanette smelled like peppermint, a hint at her warm and caring nature.
The fact that this familiar smelled like cinnamon rolls meant she'd really like them. And it excited her.
She tracked the scent up and over a hill to a knotted tree, where it stopped. Preisha slowly looked up, and almost purred at what she found.
A snowy white fluffy ball was curled up in one of the tree branches. That was the source of the cinnamon rolls smell. Preisha waited for the familiar to notice her, but nothing happened.
She became worried when she realized that the fluffy ball was shaking.
Preisha climbed up the tree and sat down on the branch, carefully nudging the ball with her tail, and making sure not to channel any magic into the touch.
There was a weak squeak of acknowledgement, and a head poked out from the white fluff. Their shockingly purple eyes were glassed over and full of unspoken pain. Preisha gasped.
This wasn't any familiar. She had found a snow ermine. A polar opposite to her pyrokinesis... ha, polar, get it?
Preisha didn't bother asking if the snow ermine was ok. She could see that the fluff ball was most definitely not ok.
"Help."
Preisha almost fell out of the tree. She had not expected a deep, distinctly male, voice from such a creature. She had been certain the ermine would have a high, breathy, and soft voice to match the overall fragile and cute appearance. Instead, she was greeted with a severely weakened, but still soft and deep, velvety voice. She waited for the irrational, yet instant, rush of dislike that typically appeared when she interacted with guys.
This time, it never came.
She moved closer, curling up next to the trembling snow ermine, questioning what she was doing in the back of her head.
You hate men. For no reason, but it's a universal fact. You hate men. In literally all forms. What are you doing?
She had no idea. For some reason, every part of her demanded that she should move closer, that she listen to that soft voice, and help in any and every way she could.
Now I know how Viviana feels, I guess.
"You're the one who called me, aren't you?" Preisha asked. He gave her a nod, the trembling never ceasing. "Ok. I'm Preisha, familiar to Viviana Morales. How do I help?"
"I'm Cael."
Preisha waited for a response to her second question, the one that was an actual question, but Cael didn't answer it. He just curled further into a ball with a quiet sound of pain.
"Cael, how do I help you?" Preisha fought hard to keep the panic out of her voice. If he didn't say anything, she'd pull him out of this tree and drag him to either a dracenis, a common healer's familiar, or straight to Latsyr.
Latsyr might be busy, and quite difficult to get to, but Cael was already worrying her and he somehow seemed far more significant than almost everything in her life. Only her witch outranked him on the significance scale.
Cael looked at her with one violet iris, and whispered. "Save my Princess. Save her, or we'll both die."
Preisha couldn't think of anything to say to that. She didn't have to question him. She knew exactly what he was saying.
All familiars, whether they have met their witch or warlock, are connected to them from the moment they are born. Most witches and warlocks don't meet their familiars until at least age 18, but that doesn't mean that the familiar's don't know who they are destined to be bonded to. And a familiar's bond is strong. They feel the pain of their witch or warlock, and if their witch or warlock dies, they die with them.
The bond does not necessarily go both ways, however. Accidents happen, and a witch or warlock can survive the death of their familiar easily in the physical sense. The mental strain is another matter.
Familiars don't have a choice. They can't live without their witch or warlock.
And Cael was Princess Isabelle's familiar.
This proves that Isabelle is a witch. That means it could really be her in Viviana's dreams. And it also means Isabelle isn't related to one or both of her parents, unless they lied about their magical status. I have to tell Viviana.
Preisha pressed even closer to Cael's side, not sure if her unnaturally warm body would help to alleviate whatever pain he was in. His uncontrollable shudders decreased in intensity, but never ceased.
"I'll save her. We both will." Preisha promised him quietly, "And believe me, when both my witch and I promise something, we make sure it happens."
Cael tucked his head back down, the purple eyes disappearing back into white fluffiness, as he became completely still.