I think I’ve found it.

After many hours of digging through the library, I was unable to identify any further information regarding slimes. Dissatisfied, I requested access to the restricted sections, at great risk to my health, and was denied.

Well, of course that wouldn’t stop the pursuit of knowledge. I am no coward, after all!

Once I blackmailed the guard - learning information I’d rather forget in the process - I made my way into the areas I needed and began looking.

There were many facets of history that go unknown and unnoticed. Garen is one of the most obscured figures throughout it, which I suppose makes sense. Any creature with immortality is certain to accrue enormous attention, especially when it’s one as violent as him, but it was a history book dating back to even before he appeared that gave me the critical information I needed.

Slimes are not mindless.

-Daro D’Vari, third-place beauty pageant winner

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Miro watched the small mirror gently spinning in the air above it. The reflective surface sent beams of light prettily dancing across the walls and ceiling, but after a few moments, Miro decided that it was a bit fragile to be testing with, and carefully set it down on Olivai’s table.

Daveen was still passed out, shoved in one corner. Miro hadn’t been able to find anything to restrain him with, but after earlier, it was confident Avynne could handle whatever he might try. And if she couldn’t, Miro probably could.

Avynne herself was perched on Olivai’s bed, nervously looking around the room. “This is very nice,” She remarked for the fourth time in the past half hour. Miro wasn’t sure why she was so on edge. Olivai’s room was indeed quite nice, as she’d pointed out. There wasn't anything dangerous that Miro was aware of.

Rolling beneath the bed, Miro focused on the damaged box of delicacies it’d sampled a few days prior. It’d been moved into a different place for some reason, but it was still there. Perhaps a little emptier than it’d remembered, but weight was hardly an issue. Using the new ability was as easy as bouncing, and the box floated over to Miro, settling when it wanted it to.

Miro could already think of a number of uses for it, nearly all of which were all but impossible to do ordinarily. For one, it could acquire the necessary materials for summoning, whatever those might be, and then it would be able to summon food. Not to mention, Otto seemed a lot less scary when Miro knew it could just lift him off the ground - not that it ever would. He seemed quite nice when he wasn’t being threatening.

Daveen groaned loudly, and Avynne slid off the bed, claws at the ready. Miro got ready to pick him up if it needed to, even though Avynne could probably handle him just fine.

Shaking his head, he squinted around the room, trying to process what was going on. The moment he recognized Avynne, he let out a yell and jumped to his feet, throwing one hand out. His hand began glowing, but the light weakly sputtered and then went out. He stared at the offending limb for a moment, shocked, and then at both of them.

Avynne flared her neck feathers out, making herself look larger. It was a startling effect, at least for Miro. “What were you doing with Olivai’s clothings?”

Daveen’s eyes slid sideways. “That is none of your business! And need I remind you of the consequences for assaulting an acolyte of Didoa? I’ll have your pinions snipped!”

Avynne’s eyes went wide with shock, and her arms trembled briefly. Miro didn’t know what pinions were, but based on Avynne’s reaction, it had a feeling Daveen was implying something terrible.

Upset, Miro lifted Daveen into the air. The man immediately began screaming, despite the fact Miro was only making him float. There wasn’t much Miro could do to him, after all.

Watching him bob around in the air, Miro suddenly had an idea. Concentrating, it made Daveen begin to spin.

It started out slow, with Daveen only rotating once as Miro got the hang of turning something midair, and then a little faster. In less than a minute, Daveen had stopped screaming and was instead moaning. It was a miserable sound, and Miro would have been lying if it had claimed it wasn’t enjoying it.

Avynne seemed just as glad to see the acolyte in a state of such nausea, but reluctantly gave Miro a pat. “We need to ask him things. But…” She leaned in and smiled conspiratorially, her eyes crinkling up into her feathers. “Do that again when he acts meanly.”

Miro bobbed obediently and dropped Daveen on the ground. Due to his speed, he was sent bouncing over the floor and slammed into the wall with a soft crunch. He gasped from the hit and rolled onto his back, trying to pull air into his emptied lungs.

Stomping over as threateningly as she could, Avynne grabbed him and heaved upward in an attempt to push him against the wall. He weighed almost twice as much as she did, and nearly fell over. Before she could, Miro gave her a little help and partially lifted Daveen.

Daveen wasn’t looking good. His face was an unusual shade of green Miro hadn’t seen before on a human, and he was breathing hard. “I… could have you…”

Before he finished, Avynne took one step forward and kicked him in the stomach. That seemed to be the final straw, and he retched. Hurriedly moving away, Avynne and Miro watched wide-eyed as he fell over and proceeded to vomit on the floor.

If the scent of the town had been overwhelming, this was just awful. The smell of the vomit was bitter and rancid, and it was without a doubt the worst thing Miro had ever had the immense displeasure of smelling.

Strangely enough, there was another flavor beneath the horror that was regurgitated stomach fluids. A sweet, familiar taste that made Miro look at the discarded box of delicacies Otto had given to Olivai.

So that was why it’d been lighter.

Miro could clearly recall when it’d sampled the delicacies itself. Olivai had been upset at it, and that was when it’d only eaten them on accident. Something told it that Daveen had known what they were, and eaten them anyway.

It made Miro remarkably angry at the realization. Almost without thinking about it, it picked Daveen up and began spinning him again.

Avynne patted its surface, and then harder, but Miro ignored her. Daveen continued to build speed, and even when his face went red and his eyes grew large, Miro didn’t stop spinning him. Part of Miro wanted to know how fast humans could get going without damage. Part of Miro wanted to see Daveen get damaged.

The door opened, and Olivai walked in. “Alright, I’ve searched…” She trailed off as she took in the scene before her. Avynne practically shrank in on herself, sliding back in an attempt to hide herself.

Miro could only stare at her, Daveen still spinning above it. With a sudden, panicked motion, it dropped Daveen and launched itself under the bed, its gel compressing with a shlorp to allow it to fit.

Olivai dashed in, checking Daveen over and pressing a finger against his neck. His face was flushed beet-red and his eyes were still rolled up into the back of his head, and for a second, Miro wasn’t sure he was still alive.

With a focused expression, Olivai slung her staff around from her back and held it over Daveen, and a familiar golden light enveloped him. Olivai’s eyes began to glow white as she muttered words Miro couldn’t make out, moving the staff in careful circles around Daveen’s face.

Avynne was watching Olivai more intently than the priestess was watching Daveen, observing everything about her poise, the way she was moving her staff, the words she was inaudibly whispering. Miro had never seen anybody devote so much attention to one person.

After a few moments, Daveen’s face returned to normal, and his eyes slowly fell shut. Olivai came back, the light vanishing abruptly, and leaned against the bed. She took a deep breath, blowing it out forcefully through her nose.

“What happened?” She addressed the question to Avynne without opening her eyes, beads of sweat lining her forehead.

Avynne hooked her claws on each other, suddenly nervous. Their faces looked strange from the angle Miro was at, and the lights beaming down from the ceiling didn’t help. “Miro is the one who made me float. And… he was making this man float.”

Olivai sat up, her tiredness suddenly forgotten. “What? How do you know?”

Pointing under the bed, Avynne indicated Miro. The slime slid further back beneath the bed, failing to turn invisible. Olivai leaned down and stared at it, eyes narrowed. “Miro,” She began with warning in her voice, “Is this true?”

Miro burbled quietly, trying to push itself through the wall. Olivai tilted the bed up and reached for it, pulling it out into the open. “Show me.”

Miro hesitated. She seemed serious, which was worrying, but… she still hadn’t hurt Miro. She wasn’t a threat. She was the opposite of a threat.

Turning to her bed, it thought for a moment, but the frame barely left the ground. The bed was much heavier than Daveen, and it took a surprising amount of effort. With a more forceful push, Miro lifted the bed higher up, and Olivai sucked a breath in through her teeth.

Carefully, slowly, Miro put the bed down. There was nothing more it rather would have done at that moment than to hurl itself out of the window, but it knew that it would solve no problems. So, despite its fears, it turned around to face Olivai.

Her expression was inscrutable. It was more worrying than if she had started shouting, and Miro’s surface wrinkled without its noticing.

She stared at the bed hard enough that Miro felt it should have lit on fire. “Avynne,” she began, and the Madarai jumped. “Can you please take Daveen outside and ensure he’s alright?”

Avynne turned to Daveen with an expression of intense disgust, but dragged the man outside. Right before she left, she paused and glanced at Miro. She looked tense as she closed the door, and Olivai silently locked it.

Olivai stayed facing the door. Seconds stretched into each other, and then further into a full minute. Miro was growing increasingly frantic as she remained silent, and was beginning to contemplate rolling under the bed and staying there.

“Miro, how long have you been able to do this?”

Her voice was level and controlled, and although she didn’t turn around, her voice held a strange note to it. With something to address, Miro released an uneasy burble. Olivai flinched, then sighed.

She turned around, and Miro felt as though something heavy had landed on it. Olivai’s eyes were an impossible mix of hopeless and confused and worried, the beginnings of tears showing at the corners. “Please answer honestly.”

Miro shook as violently as it could. Olivai walked over to the bed and sat on it, squeezing the frame as if to make sure it was still made of wood. Another long silence followed.

Finally, she asked, “Did you have a good reason to attack Daveen?”

Miro froze. It was a nearly impossible answer to give. On one hand, he had been in her room messing with her things. It still made Miro angry to think about. But on the other hand, had Miro’s reaction been that extreme?

It had no idea how close to death Daveen had come. A small part of Miro still wanted to roll down and throw Daveen out of the church and forget any consequences. Another part wanted to find out where Avynne stayed and hide there forever.

Unfortunately… most of Miro was in agreement that it had maybe overreacted. It stung to admit, even to itself, and for once it was glad it was incapable of speech. At least it wouldn’t have to say the words.

Even as the thought was born Miro knew it was wrong. Olivai was kind to Miro, and had been kind even when she met it in the woods. She’d even bought it food.

Steeling its nerves, Miro shook its head.

Olivai immediately buried her head in her hands, groaning loudly. “Miro… How - Why would-” She cut herself off, lying down in the bed. “Mother would know how to handle this.” She muttered, quietly enough that Miro wasn’t sure it’d actually heard it.

They listened to the silence for a long moment. Miro took the opportunity to open its mouth. It could physically taste Olivai’s distress. It was a bitter taste, with a sour punch lying underneath it.

Looking around, Miro saw the small bag of Bordi’s treats from yesterday lying on the floor by Olivai’s desk. Lifting it into the air, Miro brought it around and set it on the bed next to Olivai. It bounced up along with the snacks, making sure that the bag was between itself and Olivai as it did.

Olivai stared at the bag for a long moment. Miro removed one of the treats from the bag and very carefully ate it, keeping an eye on Olivai as it did. The sweetroll was mostly stale and there was no warmth left in it, but the taste was still there.

Reaching into the bag, Olivai pulled one out and considered it, glancing between the roll and Miro.

She took a bite, and Miro felt a little better.