Not completely heartless, Navisya politely stopped and turned to look over her shoulder when the boy asked her to wait for him. She would have been fascinated to hear his plea for help—but instead watched the human become engulfed in a swirl of blinding lights, stinging the Symenestra's sensitive eyes and forcing her to cringe. Zlynge, of course, was put on high alert and immediately began to bark. When Navisya opened her eyes again, the boy was gone. And a small marmot-like creature came skittering up to her across the rocky beach. The idea that this was some sort of magic trick came and quickly passed when she quickly realized what the boy was. A Kelvic! It explained much, including the boy's inanity and cluelessness, and complete comfort in nudity. That was what he had meant by 'either way'. It was so damn obvious now in retrospect. Why hadn't she put it together before? Zlynge absolutely lost his mind. Navisya's slender frame was knocked staggering off to the side as the dog broke free of her grasp, his large jaws snapping at the critter. The dog's killer instinct had set in, and his large paws were kicking up rocks and dust as he furiously tried to get his teeth on the ferret. Although he was accustomed to small lizards and cliff rats, this human who had turned into a snack-sized little animal was completely new to him. He didn't know how to act, all he knew was that he wanted to catch it and kill it. The only hope for the ferret was to find some tiny place to hide where a large Akinva Deerstalker wouldn't be able to reach. "Zlynge! Stop it! Heel!" It was no use, but Navisya's shouting continued. She didn't dare come between her dog and the ferret, but she didn't want to see her dog kill a defenseless Kelvic. There was no point in its senseless death. "Zlynge! Come!" Male Kelvics were a new creature to Navisya as well. She had seen countless female ones (they made perfect surrogates), but there had never been a reason for anyone to drag a male into the caverns of Kalinor. Idly, she wondered if the creature had been someone's pet. |