Blossom
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 119267
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She had been sleeping on a nice throw rug, and quickly stood, but as soon as she did, she was overcome by a feeling of calm. "Hello," said a voice behind her, and she turned. There was a middle-aged man with black hair and a nice trim beard, dressed in deep purple robes. He clutched a wooden staff and his dark eyes looked kind. "Hello," he said again. "I wasn't told if you had a name, but I was thinking Blossom. My name is Clarenbald. I know your previous owner had you for a few years, and I may take some getting used to, but I mean you no harm. I will give you a nice life here, provide for you and keep you safe. In exchange I will test the occasional spell on you, but nothing that will ever hurt or overly distress you, I promise. How does that sound?" He had cast a minor enchantment on her to ease her throguh the transition, so she was quite mellow about the whole thing, but she retained enough apprehensiveness not to want to approach him just yet. Her mind was a bit confused - she knew she should be doing something, but she couldn't quite remember what. He left her for a bit, and let her sniff around the room. As she did, her mind began to clear, and she realized that she had to demonstrate to him that she was intelligent - that she was human! But how? He tried to put a collar on her, and she tensed up, but she let him, because she feared any more magical manipulation if he tired of her uncooperativeness. But he seemed a mild, decent man who cared about ethical practice, and even if he wanted to, his calming spells didn't seem to last very long. For a few days, she kept mostly to herself, weathering being called "Blossom," simply sifting through all her memories and trying to come to terms with the fact that they had been lost for... a few years or so? She wondered how Muriel was doing. She wondered how her family and kingdom were doing. She was let outside frequently, into a large enclosure, where she could eat roots and flowers and such - much better than the slop she and Muriel had mostly received from Belboz. Watching Clarenbald clean up after her was embarassing, and it was impossible to fight the instinct to wallow in the mud in the last summer heat. But over a few days, she became used to Clarenbald - though not nearly enough to trust him, simply by virtue of him being a mage. She didn't think she could ever really trust a mage again. Eventually, she decided that she had to make a very conscious effort to listen to him whenever he talked to her, and look for opportunities to demonstrate that she understood.
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6/25/2022 7:23:41 AM
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