Talking to the raven, whose name I didn’t even want to try to pronounce, as my mind conceptualised it as ‘the sound of the south-wind whistling through a particular gap’, was strangely boring. While he had a lot of knowledge about the local area and the unkindness he was part of but outside a narrow geographic range, he was utterly uninterested. Similarly, his grasp of magic was limited to what came easy to him, mainly wind-magic but even in that regard, Lenore was ahead of him. The only thing Lenore took note of were a few novel ideas that would allow her to navigate suddenly changing wind-currents, like those occurring between narrow gaps and cliffs, easier. It might also allow her to increase her aerial agility, if she managed to take it a step further and incorporate those ideas into her own magic and manipulate the wind into sudden gusts and eddies. It would take some time, but I could feel her fascination with the potential of those thoughts.

On the other hand, for every question the raven answered he took five minutes to preen and prune his plumage in an attempt to look attractive. At least that was the interpretation I was able to pick out of Lenore’s mind, who seemed to be both amused and embarrassed at the same time, though not to the point of closing her mind to me. That might happen if I were to tease her about her new boyfriend and his antics.

“Morgana, Sigmir, did you recover enough to take a watch?” Adra asked, when it was time to get some sleep. Even as Sigmir replied that she was recovered, I reached out with my magic, to confirm her state. While I trusted Sigmir to take care of me, just that was the problem. She would take care of me and push herself to take care of me, when necessary. And that definition of necessity was the problem, would she feel that increased comfort for me was worth pushing away some discomfort on her part? Certainly, just like I would push my Avatar when it came to helping her, to providing some comfort for her.

The information I received thanks to my magic was promising but she was not fully recovered. As I scanned her body, I noticed the traces of magic I had noticed earlier in the day, slowly and gently seeping into her flesh, healing the flesh in the process. It was akin to a band-aid keeping a wound closed and clean, only that here, the band-aid wasn’t restricted to surface wounds and stimulated the healing, quite the ingenious solution. It was vastly different from the way I healed, allowing the caster to heal a wound within moments and with far less impact on the body. At the same time, the healing was merely a band-aid and if further wounds accumulated before the magic could be absorbed, there would be problematic consequences.

While I was studying Sigmir’s body and the magic within, another stream of magic entered my perception, swiftly washing over her body before fading away. Returning my attention to the world around me, I noticed Olivia standing nearby, her hand still glowing with a strange, magical formation.

“You have healed, but you are not yet hale.” Olivia admonished Sigmir, her voice gentle but firm. “You should rest as much as possible, that way, your body will recover faster.” she added, before she focused on me and asked. “You agree, don’t you?”

From my own scan, I was aware that she was right, so I nodded, before looking into Sigmir’s eyes for a moment before shifting my position so that my mouth was next to her ear, allowing me to whisper without anyone having a chance to overhear us.

“Love, she is right. Why don’t you lay down and relax?” I suggested, a plan quickly hatching in my mind. Even with the way I had pushed my Avatar the day before, my endurance was enough to allow me to push through, especially if I used my Hallow to rest the next day.

“I’ll take the first watch.” I told the others, before moving off Sigmir’s lap and sitting next to our bedding, after creating a back-rest out of ice. That way, I was able to comfortably sit next to Sigmir’s head, my legs just the right height to act as a pillow. It was something I had seen in romantic movies and maybe, it would be something Sigmir would enjoy.

“You know that you don’t really need to keep watch?” Olivia asked, looking amused at our antics. “The shelter will keep out anyone with ill intent.”

“So you say.” I nodded, “Yet, we still keep a watch out. You said yourself, the barrier can be broken and I’d rather not have everyone be asleep, if something happens.” I explained, while giving a glance to the raven who had joined us inside the barrier. Ill intent, another of those wonderfully defined concepts, under the assumption that nobody, ever, could change their mind. What if someone had no ill-intent when crossing the barrier but, when realising that there were five sleeping people, four of whom were female, realised that they wouldn’t mind some company? Or just mundane greed, striking when presented with an opportunity? No, a watch was needed.

“Do as you like.” Olivia nodded, noticing that I wasn’t about to budge on that topic. “But please, if anyone seeks shelter and comes in peace, let them be, like that raven.” she added, getting a nod in acceptance in return. Not that I thought that normal wildlife would simply seek shelter within the shield, I was reasonably sure that it was too unnatural and magical for animals to approach.

With a few quick words between Adra, Rai and myself, we hammered out a rotation for the night and I decided to continue with my plan to give Sigmir a lap-pillow while the others bedded down to sleep.

Pushing and prodding Sigmir a little, she was quickly convinced to lay down and entrust her head to my lap, nuzzling her face into my stomach. It was a little ticklish but at the same time, it allowed me to stroke her hair and gently massage her scalp, eliciting sounds of comfort from her. It somehow reminded me of one of the animal-videos I had seen a while back, when having lunch in the real-world, of a husky getting petted by their owner, a mental image that somehow amused me. My amusement became even stronger when Ylva plodded over, plopping down next to me and putting her hand below my other hand.

The similarities in their actions made me grin to myself, considering just how the two of them had adapted to the other. When I shared that observation with Lenore, she was equally amused, even as she told me about Ylva, before we had met. It was interesting that what I had seen of Sigmir in the ten days before meeting our two spirit-companions and what Lenore was telling me about Ylva matched up. It made me wonder, how much of their current similarities came from the mental bond they shared, with thoughts and feelings likely flowing between them, just like they were flowing between Lenore and myself and how much was simply due to their personalities.

As I was considering that, I began to wonder about Lenore and myself. I had heard some folk-wisdom about spouses becoming alike and pets taking after their owners, often with amusing pictures that made a visual similarity obvious. But if merely living in close proximity could do that, just how far would it go with a bond like the one between Lenore and myself, between Ylva and Sigmir and, to a lesser extent, between Sigmir and myself? And how would those interwoven bonds interact with each other?

When I brought Lenore’s attention to that idea, I could feel her interest and a beginning fascination. Both of us were interested in the working of the mind, thanks to our mind-magic and similarly, the process of influencing a mind was an interesting one. While engaging in meta-cognition when the cognition was shared to such an extent was difficult, if not impossible, especially with the constant, subconscious stream of thoughts flowing between us, it would be an interesting mental exercise.

However, not while we were ostensibly on guard-duty, with only a thin, golden soap-bubble cast with incomprehensible magic to protect us from potential threats. And with a potential threat, if an unlikely one, sitting on a nearby rock, preening his feathers in an attempt to impress my feathery friend.

There was no way to actually speak, not with the others sleeping, but Lenore and I continued to put together the puzzle of our memories, trying to get a better understanding of our avatar-state. It was the great thing about our mental connection, the intimate closeness, the understanding without words or preconceptions getting in the way. Just another thing that made the capsules and Mundus such a magical place.