Gift Of Justice #NaNoWriMo2k18

Chapter 5

Niel slowly woke up the next morning, staring at the ceiling of his room. He could hear someone moving outside, probably Akira. He rolled to the side and saw that Thora was still asleep, head under her wing. Her breathing was steady, and he realised her cold somehow cured overnight.

He thought about Akira's words, and how he had to train himself in order to prevent being attacked. Thora had summoned a deadly weapon with ease the previous night, and he wondered what the full extent of her abilities would be. He then realised, if he was actually Bonded with her, he'd be able to use magic too.

He jumped up, the creaking sounds of the frame startling Thora awake, who started screeching at him.

"Hey! Calm down, I'm sorry, I'm sorry alright?"

Thora shut her beak and turned away, eyes closed with a very soft hmph. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his clothes, slipping out of his room into the bathroom to change.

When he entered the main room, Akira was eating an apple. He was about to ask where she got it from when he noticed a small bag of them lying beside her, and he realised she had simply bought them herself. She had swapped out the soaked dress for a simple white shirt with black shorts, which didn't cover her sharp eagle like talons at all. She noticed him, fumbled in the bag and offered him an orange, but he declined.

"You bought it, you can have it. I have my own food."

"Fair."

He went to the back, brushing past Beaver who was nibbling on what looked like dried fish, and took out a small loaf of bread, which she immediately in honed on.

"Can we trade?"

He paused, then broke the loaf in two.

"Half of this for one of the fruits?"

She gave him the orange, and he handed her the bread. They sat on opposite ends of the table, whilst Thora pecked at a piece of fruit he gave her. Beaver trotted over and hopped on the table again, giving Thora the puppy eyes. Akira quickly put her hand in between them.

"Nope. not today, Mr. Cute Boy."

The otter turned around and stood right in front of her, meeting her at eye level. She stared right back for a few moments, before he gave up, dropped down from the table and went back to his corner.

"Why do you even do that?"

"That's just how he behaves. He might seem sweet now, but he's a real prick sometimes. If I don't hold him off sometimes, he'd be running his house right now."

He snorted, but after seeing the condescending look the otter gave him, he figured there might be a chance.

Thora finished the orange and started flying around the room again in boredom, swooping past Beaver a few times which cause him to swat at her. Watching her fly reminded him.

"Hey, Akira, can you and Beaver use magic?"

"Oh, yeah, we can. Been practising for a while, wanna let me show you?"

"I saw some spikes last night, was that you?"

"The net cutting was Beaver, but the spiked after that was me. He's the defender, I'm the attacker."

"You have a party system and everything?"

"I guess? I mean I kind of specialise in berserker attacks. Beaver like precision, so he helps with keeping people alive while I do the opposite."

"You... haven't actually killed someone before, have you?"

"No. I don't want to kill anyone, frankly. But if I have to, I will."