"I would have translated for you if you wanted very much to know and had told me. I told you what we were saying that time you gave me a look after we visited Nataliem."

"It seems like prying to ask what your familiar says. That one directly involved me, but general conversation - I'm not going to intrude."

"Well, now the - natural boundaries of privacy are redrawn, I suppose."

He nods. "Apparently so."

"Familiars are starting to come across as the opposite of daemons, practically."

"To the extent that I can tell I think Raney has a lot in common with hers."

"Yeah?"

"Dwarf caiman named Nimmen who likes to sing. Behaves very - portably; Raney usually brings her places, but quite independent, too, and easy to bore, she starts singing if no one gives her anything to do. Although unlike Raney she has very bad table manners."

"Is your dad a spellbinder?"

"Nah, I think it's only something like - one in three, one in four? - people who bind their familiars, and most of those don't learn more than a handful of simple utility spells. Raney knows a first-aid thing for her students and one to cool things off in the summer and that's about ninety percent of what she uses most days."

"... I'm having trouble understanding why people wouldn't just - be spellbinders and do nothing with it if they don't want it after. I mean, I suppose the fear of unmaking, but - still. Magic."

"It's not for everyone. Sometimes it's people not getting along with their spirit animals, sometimes it's a lack of desire or capacity, sometimes fear of unmaking. Personally I think I would have bound Berathyme even if I didn't like her, but not everyone would. Spirit animals are easier to ignore than familiars."

"It's considered a reasonably weighty decision. I did it when I was a child and so did Edarial, but by the time most people feel ready to make weighty decisions they're old enough to have just a little trouble understanding or even waking up their spirit animals to chat. And if you can't learn the spells and don't want the familiar..." She shrugs.

"... So what you're saying is that you were both precocious."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Precocious, acquisitive, and wanted to hug my nice soft cat."

"Those, except add lonely to the mix, too. I wanted company."

"And remove the soft cat part of the mix, too, I'm assuming."

Edarial snorts. "Well. Yeah, okay. That too."

"Raney thinks more people should bind their familiars, but there's an obvious problem with collecting information on how the spirit animals feel about it."

"Just a bit. If I have time in the next eternity, I'll see if I can make a scry for it." Adarin winks.

"...Huh, do you suppose that's possible? You have the language barrier solved, but spirit animals aren't making real audible sound or really visible..."

"I wouldn't be able to do it in a weekend, or - probably not in a year. Or possible ever. But... I can always try."

"And find someone who we can warn about attempting to spy on their spirit animal so we don't accidentally listen on something that was supposed to be two layers of impossible to eavesdrop on."

"Well, the spirit animals can perceive their surroundings, so you could warn them directly if - I guess you need a language sample so you'd still have to talk to the human though."