It took the warden so long to stop laughing at what I had said, that I nearly fell asleep like Benny had.

"You aren't," The warden wheezed, out of breath and red in the face from his laughing. "Going to be her mother. But, you looked so scared."

I found the humor in his words and accepted that it would have been funny to me if it had been anyone else.

"If you knew how bad I was at taking care of myself, you would understand my fear." I said as we began to walk again.

Despite being made entirely of iridescent crystal, Benny was not very heavy. I was grateful for that because minding her quills like the warden had told me to was proving to be very difficult.

"Is all of this from her shells?" I asked aloud. We had left the curtain of rain behind us long ago, but the desert of broken shells spread in every direction for quite a ways.

The warden nodded. "That's right. Like your Samsara, she's one of Hexis's more unique creations. Whenever she does too much or learns too many things, she curls up into her egg and forgets it all."

"Why?" I asked, thinking about how terrible it would be to forget everything I knew. Who would I be if everything that had happened between Anna and I suddenly disappeared? If all the games I had played with Arthur and all the stories my mother had told me were no longer in my memories, how different would I be? Even if I could recreate them, they would never be the same.

"Now that's a good question." The warden said as he led us to where the broken egg shells ended.

Like it had been designed that way, the shells gave way to tall grass in a perfect line. It was cool and soft in my feet, which felt much better than the jagged desert I had just crossed. Wind swept across it in dancing waves and as we topped the small hill that it covered, I could see the ocean spread out before me to the ends of my vision.

It was beautiful, breathtaking, and should not have made me feel the way it did.

I did not realize I was crying until the tears rolled off my face and splattered against the sleeping familiar I held in my arms. The warden had not noticed that I had stopped walking, but I could not bring myself to start moving again.

"You said that she can charm me?" I sniffled, unable to look away from the coastline.

He turned around as he spoke. "Did she stick you? Don't worry too much, it'll just make you want to hold her more."

His brows furrowed as he saw what state I was in. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," I whispered. The sea salt scent being blown in from the water, the way the grass brushed gently against my legs, it formed a hollow place inside me that felt like it would never be filled again. Too empty to say anything other than the truth, I admitted the strange thought that had come to my mind. "I wish I knew my father."

"Bruce?" The warden said, looking up at the clear sky above us.

The very next moment, a sharp sounding scream echoed from above that made every part of my body flinch.

"Stay behind me." The warden warned as he turned his back to us and spread his arms out to protect Benny and I from whatever it was that had frightened me.

The little crystal creature in my arms seemed to be completely unbothered by the sudden danger

The warden was struck and a struggle broke out in a cloud of white feathers and blood. With the muscles of his back rippling from the effort, he took our attacker in his hands and threw it away from us like he would a rock that had tumbled onto our path.

A rock would have sailed along through air and hit the ground somewhere out of sight. It would not have unfurled its wings and soared back into the air like our attacker did.

"You're not supposed to be here, Bruce!" The warden yelled up, literally shaking his fist at the sky. A trail of blood trickled down his right arm and there were half a dozen bloody scratches across his chest.

The flying beast that had decided to assault the bearded man came swooping back down and dug its talons into the ground in front of us. "Which is exactly why I am, laddy. I expected you to not expect me. Which is exactly why you should have expected me. The field mouse is fast but the white eagle sees at night."

"Can we not start with already? I've got Benny with me. Did you ever think to look before you come diving in?" The warden groaned as he took the silken belt from around his waist and touched all the places he had been scraped.

The bird that had cut him spoke in an accent that I was barely able to understand, let alone identify. Except for the deep blue lines that crossed over its chest, it was nothing but stark white feathers from its beak to its taloned feet.

I had seen birds before, big, small, magical, ethereal, outside and inside thanks to Sam

The one that paced in front of where I stood behind the warden had to be a familiar, and I had never seen anything that looked quite so dangerous.

"Stay away from her!" I shouted at the big white bird, tightening my arms around the still sleeping Benny and feeling my power come to light inside me.

Familiar or not, I would defend her until my dying breath.

"See, that's what her charm will make you sound like. It shouldn't have made you cry," The captain laughed as he rewrapped his tether around his waist, all the bloody claw marks that had been there before clean and sealed. "But give me a moment, I have to deal with this overgrown chicken."

I looked down at Benny, knowing that she was far too innocent to do something as underhanded as charming me. She did not need to resort to such manipulation because she had the quality that my mother had once said I had.

I loved the little crystal creature.

She was precious, priceless, and beyond compare.

I was not her mother, but I would pretend to be for her. If she wished to leave Silkcradle with me when it was time for me to go, Anna and I would adopt her. We would leave Lun if need be. We would do whatever it took to make her feel safe and loved.

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"Why are you here, Bruce? You're supposed to be at the meeting grounds." The warden asked aloud as he reached the white eagle, his posture guarded and ready.

Yes, I agree. Why are you here, Bruce? You should be far away from here, far away from her. I could have dropped her if the warden had not protected us. I thought at the violent familiar. If it so much as looked in Benny's direction, I would dash away over the tall grass and find somewhere to hide.

"I've come to inform you that one of our familiars will be leaving today, I am sure of it, laddy. As sure as I am that the sun will rise tomorrow." Bruce said as he continued his talon tipped pacing. Every word that came from him sounded like he had to chew on it before it would come out of his razor sharp beak.

The warden waved his hand dismissively at the bird. "You've said that everyday that we have had guests. You are supposed to be there watching in case one of them rebonds, not coming here and telling me that you think they will."

"Aye, but who would be here to make sure you haven't lost your edge? I fight not for glory, nor for wealth, nor honor, but only and alone to make sure you are still worthy of being the warden." Bruce growled, standing straight up with his chest out like a guard at attention.

The warden sighed and shook his head. "I know. I know. I know. But we've talked about this. I'm not going to suddenly fall apart because you didn't attack me for one single day."

"We can ill afford to take that risk, laddy." Bruce disagreed.

"And," The warden pushed his finger into the middle of the crossed blue lines on the white eagle's chest. "You could have hurt Benny and Ire. Cutting me up is one thing, but you know the rules, you big chicken."

Bruce moved past the warden and closed the distance between us with a single fan of his white wings.

I took a quick step back and fell to the ground, the tall grass swallowing me and the still sleeping Benny all the way to my shoulders.

"I wouldn't hurt Lady Benedict. Such would be a crime that could not be forgiven. Your duty is to protect, what's the harm in testing that?" Bruce asked, his piercing blue eyes looking at me just a little too intensely.

I curled

"As for you, lassy. The warden has told me about you," Bruce growled at me as he stalked around me in a circle. When he returned to my front, he unfurled his wings and let out another of his petrifying screams. "Would you give your life to protect those that are weaker than you?"

I did not flinch at the sharp sound. I did not scream, and I did not cry.

I raised my left palm and loosed my power in a violent burst of azure aura that struck the stark white eagle square in the cross on his chest.

The firework that exploded out of my palm would have put Rhiannon's lover Adrian's largest creation to shame. My hair whipped back from my face as I pulled Benny closer to my chest to try and protect her from what I had done.

All around us, blue dust rained down onto the grass in a shifting chorus that sounded like salt being thrown across a wooden floor.

The first thing to come in the aftermath was the loss that almost sent me to my back. The second was my afterglow. Cold, hollow, and bitter, it washed through me like an exhausted sigh, but was not bad enough to lay me low or make me cry. The third thing I noticed was the sound of the warden's good laugh.

"How's that for an answer, Bruce? You should be more careful what questions you ask a sorceress." The bearded man chuckled from where he stood in the blue remnants of my attack.

The stark white eagle that had just taken all that I could give to the chest beat his wings several times and shook its beak to throw off the dust that had settled there. Successfully preened, he turned his piercing eyes back to me and spoke in his strange accent. "Lassy, listen well. If you are truly meant to be the next warden, then I look forward to our duels."

I raised my hand back towards him, meaning to try and blow him away again.

Something like that, something that could take the brunt of my power and be completely unbothered, I couldn't let it be near Benny.

It was not a familiar, it was a monster.

I had to protect her.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," The warden said softly as he rushed over to where I sat with his hands held out in a placating gesture. "I think she stuck you."

I let him take my wrist in his hand and slowly push my arm back down to my side.

He would not hurt Benny, I knew that like I knew my mother was my mother.

"Yeah, mmhmm, she got you alright. A couple of times. Let me see her." He said, moving to take the sleeping crystal creature from my arms.

I pulled her closer to me and gave him a vicious glare.

He would not hurt her, but I knew she was safe in my arms. Why would I ever take the risk of passing her to him?

Bruce peered around the warden and snapped his beak once. "Laddy, I seem to recall a span of days long ago when you tripped and fell while you were carrying Lady Benedict. Your whole side looked like a pincushion. How long did it take for you to stop threatening all of us?"

I tried to raise my hand towards the eagle but the warden kept it pressed against the grass.

"A while," The warden chuckled as he slipped his hands around Benny and took her from me. His movement had been so measured and slow that I had not realized it was happening until she was gone. "You didn't get stuck nearly as badly as I did. You'll feel better in a few minutes once we pull them out."

Pull what out? I asked in my mind, feeling like part of myself was missing.

"These." The warden said as he reached towards me.

I felt a small pinch of pain in my chest and watched as he held up one of Benny's iridescent quills. Its tip was wet with a small amount of blood, and I was certain that the other two that were still stuck through the front of my dress would look the same.

"Oh, right. Those." I nodded.

Benny's charm already beginning to fade, I plucked the rest of her quills from my flesh and began to understand what I had just done. I covered my face with my hands and tried my best not to cry.

"I'm sorry, Master Bruce. I didn't mean to try and blow you apart. I didn't know what I was doing." I gave a weak apology through my fingers.

"Don't worry about him, familiars are made of tougher stuff than you and I." The warden laughed.

"Aye. There's not a scratch on me." Bruce agreed with the warden.

"There might not be a scratch," The warden said, a burner that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere hanging from his lips. He reached down and took a single white feather from where it lay on the ground. "But you are missing this."

"If you knew how hard it is to harm me, you'd be impressed with yourself, lassy." Bruce said at the sight of his missing feather.

Benny still slept soundly, even as the warden took the silken tether from his waist and spread it around her like a blanket.

"I'd say that I should carry her the rest of the way, but I can feel that she wants to be with you. This should keep you from getting poked again." He said as he gently handed her back to me.

I was not so sure that I would try to kill any and everything that came near her anymore, but in the aftermath of everything that had happened, it felt nice to have something to hold.

The warden stood and lit his burner before looking down at Bruce. "Before you go back to where you are supposed to be, go tell Durath that we're taking the front way in, I don't want to wait around for him to get ready."

"Aye, laddy. But don't dally, today's the day. I can feel it." Bruce agreed. With three beats of his stark white wings, he climbed into the air and was gone the very next moment.

The warden helped me up and dusted the remnants of my firework off of me.

"I don't think you learning to swim is in the cards today, you'll be going back to Lun soon. How are you with riddles?" He asked.

With the crystalline quills that had been stuck in my chest not very long before still clutched in my hand, I answered him honestly. "Bad, probably. Can I have that feather?"

Anna would love a present that came with a story.

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