"Taaabbiittthhaaaa! Helllpppp, there is this …. thing, and it's, it's, it's looking at me!”
Tabitha leans back in her chair, lets out a weary sigh and rubs her eyes
“It's called a homunculus, Mortimer” she calls out the tent flap to him
“Humongulous?”
“Homunculus. Want me to spell it?”
“No, not really. What is it? It isn’t really a bird, is it?” he says as he slowly slides into the tent
“No, it isn't really a bird. It's a construct made out of leather, clay, bits of metal and a pint of my blood. It’s shaped like a crow for convenience sake”
Mort looks at it. It looks back. Mort looks at Tabitha, then back at it. Finally he breaks eye contact and shuts the flap
“What does it do?”
“It’s magically bound to me. I use it as an extra set of eyes. It lets me make more informed decisions when commanding troops, and it also lets me look at engineering problems from perspectives I normally wouldn’t have access to”
“Oh”
“It also serves as a spy when needed, too. Easier to break up dissenters when they don’t know I’m privy to their plans”
“Can it talk?” Mortimer asks nervously
“No, but it can understand, and we have a sort of telepathic bond. It’s pretty smart, all things considered.”
“I’m going to call it birdbrain” Mortimer says defiantly
“It has a name. It calls itself Oculus, which is apparently Celestial for eye.”
“Because it’s good at seeing?”
“No, favourite snack"
“… I’m sleeping on your floor tonight”
“...Sure. Just keep the noise down, okay?”
Mortimer wraps himself in his cape-come-blanket, and hunkers down in a corner. Tabitha shades her lightstone away from him and continues working on her ledgers.
The minutes drag into hours, with nothing but the scratching of Tabithas quill, the occasional shout from the town and the faint hooting from the forest night life
"Tabitha"
"Mortimer?"
"He's really dead you know"
"Laniss? Yeah, so you told me"
"Dead-and-buried dead"
"Yup"
"He isn't coming back"
"Nope. Rappan Athuk isn't a playground, you know. It has killed better people than you and I"
"I know, but I thought magic could always fix people. But magic can't fix Laniss. Or at least thats what Aggy tells me."
"Agatha would know, Mort."
"We'd have to find the thing that stole Laniss and ask for him back, else he's gone for ever"
Tabitha puts down her quill and abruptly turns to face him.
"Is this your *subtle* way of telling me you want to pick up and chase after Laniss? Do we really have the time, the resources or the inclination for that?"
"No, but..."
"Then what?"
"I don't know, I guess I just don't want to die like he did"
"You won't"
"But how do you know?"
"Because you're a dumb ugly oaf who barely knows his hand from his arse. You have nothing in common with Laniss, so clearly you're not going to die like he did"
Mortimer chews on this thought for a while
"Thanks Tabitha"
"For what?"
"Believing in me"
"Piss off, you egocentric wanker" she says with a smile
