Not quite human

[Excerpt from Ëlinyr's journal]

So I woke up this morning with pointed ears once again.  They're significantly less pronounced than they were when my blood was more strongly sun elf, but they are indeed pointed again.  I am wondering if something happened when the Night Market attempted to change me to human, and they weren't entirely able to remove the elf heritage from my blood. Strange, that it would manifest now and not immediately after my transformation, but I suppose it is what it is, and I must deal with it. I am still not shimmering in the sun, so there is that. I am an elf, but not a sun elf.  I still have the full range of emotions I've been experiencing since I shed my sun elf heritage, too, so I feel that the ears are the only thing that have changed.

I do hope that this recent development does not make its way back to my mother.  While she did disown me, I have no doubt that if she heard my ears were presenting as elven again she would march back into my life and cover me in shimmering makeup, and ensure I never set foot outdoors in the rain so as to not disturb the illusion that I was, in fact, a full-blooded sun elf.

Gossamer made an offer to me recently, to help discredit my mother and weaken her position in the nobility, low as it is - his idea was to spread news about my human heritage, and how my mother covered up the fact that my father was a human and attempted to get me married off to any sun elf noble she could find before my human heritage was discovered. I think I shall take him up on this offer, just in case she does find out I am appearing a little more elfish these days - if she does find out, I would be much happier were she not in a position to do anything about it.

Adventures in pet ownership

(note: this was submitted as an entry in the 2019 Kishar Story Competition, and won first place in the medium-length category! -Beth)

Day 1

As of today, I am entering into a new and exciting chapter of life: pet ownership.  Farspeaker Mando gave me the baby sand dragon that hatched from the egg I found on a recent adventure, and told me his name is Licky-Lick Junior.  (I’m given to understand that there’s a sand dragon in Farspeaker Mando’s care named Licky-Lick - I’m wondering if my new scaly ward is a direct descendant of said sand dragon, or if he simply earned the name due to a possible resemblance to the older sand dragon.)  As of right now, he is asleep, and looks rather adorable.  He’s also rather small - not much larger than a kitten.  I wonder just how large he’ll end up.  I’ve been told they can grow to the size of a large dog, but it’s possible he’ll turn out larger or smaller due to genetic variations.

I doubt he’ll always be this quiet and sleepy - I suppose I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Day 2

Junior (as I’ve taken to calling him) seems to be a little more energetic today.  He eagerly explored my room, and was very curious about Koios and Kateryn when they visited my rooms earlier today to meet him.

Thankfully, he seems to have quickly picked up on how to use the litter box, as I haven’t seen any accidental bathroom messes.  Which is good, as I really don’t want to clean those up from random places around my rooms.  I’m quite proud of him - hopefully he turns out as smart as his adoptive mother.

Day 7

Junior somehow got out of his crate and made an absolute mess of my rooms while I was teaching this afternoon.  (Thankfully, he didn’t get to my research notes, but I think I’m going to have to buy yet another red dress, as he mauled mine and it’s full of holes now.)  I think I’m going to need to get better locks for his crate, as he somehow managed to get himself loose. 

I retract what I said earlier - I’m not entirely sure I want him to turn out as smart as me.  That might be terrifying.

I will say, however, when he calms down (typically after I take him out to the gardens so he can run around until he’s exhausted), he’s downright sweet - he’s started curling up at my feet while I’m reading in the evenings, which is rather endearing.  I think this was a good idea, hatching a little pet sand dragon.

 

Day 14

oh gods, what have I gotten myself into

if this is what child-rearing is like, I am never, ever having children

Day 30

I’m getting used to having a boisterous pet sand dragon, although my gods, he needs a lot of attention and exercise.  Kateryn did say she thought I needed to get out of my rooms more, and I guess this counts, right?  I take him for two walks a day, and play with him in the evenings, and sometimes it seems like he still has energy.  I don’t know how he does it.  Keeping up with him is exhausting sometimes.

Junior got to go on his first Adventurers’ Guild trip recently, which he loved.  Seeing him run around and burrow in the sand near the Outpost was incredibly amusing, and he seems to have acquired a few new friends from the Guild.  I think I prefer having a rambunctious sand dragon over the pile of crabs Flint recently acquired. 

I’ve started to train him a little, beyond using the litter box anyhow - he understands the commands for sit and roll over, but “stay” proves to be a challenge at times.  Eventually he’ll pick up on it, I’m sure, but for now I’ll try to have extra patience with my wiggly little pet.

Day 46

He chewed up my lecture notes for tomorrow’s class.  I am trying very hard not to be terribly angry with him, as he’s young and doesn’t know better, but dammit, I needed those and now have to spend the night rewriting them and hoping I didn’t miss anything.

Junior, you are lucky you’re cute.

Day 70

I managed to find some of that plant that is casually referred to as “sand dragon-nip” - and oh, Junior’s behavior is hilarious while he’s under the effects of the plant.  Rolling around, pouncing on his toys, wiggling about happily until he falls asleep in a blissful haze - it’s all amusing.  I should see if it is possible to get some planted in the Academy’s gardens, as I don’t dare try to grow a plant in my rooms.  I doubt it’d last long after it started sprouting leaves, as Junior would probably devour it.

I suppose I should also take care to make sure he doesn’t end up partaking of any while we’re out adventuring where it grows natively - I’m not sure I want to wrangle his increasingly large self through the desert while we’re out on a mission.  (I suppose I could entrust Mukhif with his care, but then again, Mukhif is typically tasked with making sure I don’t get knocked out during an adventure, and I doubt saddling him with Junior would make that any easier…)

Day 87 (after Ëlinyr has turned human)

Oh my gods how did I not realize how emotionally rewarding it was to have a pet?!  Oh wait, I know, it’s because sun elves don’t have emotions, and I am now HUMAN, and therefore feel things.  Intensely.  I absolutely adore this little wiggly dragon, and will take such good care of him, no matter how many of my books he chews on, and no matter how many times he hides my shoes in ridiculous places because he thinks it’s a game.  (I’ll admit, it’s a rather amusing game when I’m not trying to get ready for meetings or classes.)

I just want to hug him and snuggle him all the time.  He’s so warm and smells like warm desert sun and it makes me happy.  I don’t even think he noticed that I came home from this last adventure with non-pointy ears, he was just happy to see me.  (And so was Koios, who took care of him for me, I don’t think he was prepared for just how ridiculous Junior can be.)  And I was so happy to see him. 

He’s still a ridiculous amount of work, and often reminds me that I never want to procreate - he’s more than enough for me - but oh he’s such a sweet little sand dragon, and I love him so much.

Day 99 (after Ëlinyr’s mother disowns her)

I wish I had brought Junior with me to the Guild house yesterday.  I bet he would have bit my mother.  She would have deserved it, too.

He seems to have picked up on my mood (how can one not be a little sad about being disowned, even if it was by a mother you’d hated and could never seem to please?), and has been by my side the entire day. He’s even managed to remain somewhat calm, and isn’t as energetic as he usually is.  He doesn’t even mind when I cry on him, he just snuggles closer, as if to tell me in his own little sand dragon way, that everything will be alright. 

He may frustrate the hell out of me at times, but gods, I’m happy I have this wiggly little sand dragon.