carillons
"It's like the first bird there ever was or something," says Kalavar, draping her long feathered tail over Helen's shoulder.
carillons
"No way," says Helen. "The biggest ones are the most fun! I saw a T. Rex skeleton once that was so huge it could've eaten me up in one bite!" She giggles.
carillons
"Nooooo. But it was still really cool to look at, since it wasn't alive and wasn't going to eat me."
carillons
"Big things are cool," says Helen.
Kalavar perches on her shoulder and turns into a velociraptor, chicken-sized and feathery.
Kalavar perches on her shoulder and turns into a velociraptor, chicken-sized and feathery.
carillons
Helen giggles happily.
Over the coming months, she does her very best to be a little prodigy. She studies hard at magic, and seems to pick up dagger skills almost effortlessly. She still goes off away with Kas - on a trip to three different amusement parks, where she discovers that rollercoasters are more fun than cake - but the lost time doesn't seem to slow her down much. Her seventh birthday comes and goes; she celebrates by baking a cake and sharing it with Charlie and Ranata and Kas and Shura and anyone else who wants some, and then she goes off away again.
Over the coming months, she does her very best to be a little prodigy. She studies hard at magic, and seems to pick up dagger skills almost effortlessly. She still goes off away with Kas - on a trip to three different amusement parks, where she discovers that rollercoasters are more fun than cake - but the lost time doesn't seem to slow her down much. Her seventh birthday comes and goes; she celebrates by baking a cake and sharing it with Charlie and Ranata and Kas and Shura and anyone else who wants some, and then she goes off away again.
truthwright
This time, they wander across Canada. Now that Helen is a little older, Kas is letting her be by herself more, as long as he's nearby; he takes hotel rooms near libraries so she can go down the block and have lots of books to keep her company, or sits in the outside sections of restaurants while she plays in the park across the street.
carillons
On one of the latter occasions, Helen gets bored with the park and goes back across the street to collect her spinach so he can find her more fun things to do.
He is not there.
She frowns at the empty tables.
He is not there.
She frowns at the empty tables.