Eldan clawed at his father's grip to no avail. "Father, please, I—"

A resounding slap rang across the ornamented corridors, followed by the sharp sting in his cheek. It's the same spot his mother hit earlier. "Any excuse you utter will earn you more hours there," his father snapped, hands tightening around Eldan's wrist. Their steps were wide and hurried, leaving Eldan to stumble along the best he could. "You should know what disobeying orders in this house entails, and unlike your mother, I'm not afraid to subject you to it."

The fear in Eldan's gut now solidified into pure terror. "Not that room. No!" He squirmed, planting his feet on the ground in an attempt to stall his fate. Tears burst out of his eyes anew, scalding their trails down his cheeks. "I'm sorry! I won't do it again. I'll be good. I'll grow plants. Please—"

The room crept closer, and his father's steps, wider. Never had the time when Eldan wished he was taller and stronger arrived faster. Nothing but blobs of color flitted in and out of his vision, his tears forming a hazy veil over it. Ragged breaths and sobs flitted across the hollow corridors. His siblings no doubt heard everything. The teasing that would come tomorrow would be atrocious.

That was, if tomorrow would even come for Eldan.

An ornate door didn't betray the horrors it contained when they arrived. But Eldan knew what lay behind those doors. He knew that once he entered, it would be a miracle if he made it out alive. His father knew that, but after Eldan's escapades, the head of the noble house of Rovalen didn't care. Not anymore.

"I never wanted it to come to this, but unless you're forced to, this error will not be corrected." His father reached for the golden handles and yanked it open. Already, the smell of rot wafted into the air, making Eldan gag. "You are not to be let out until you've controlled the blaarmire. Prove you're ready to be a Rovalen."

Eldan's blood chilled. "Father, please. I can't—"

"You WILL!" His father roared, shoving him inside the dim room. Just like Eldan's quarters, he made for a quick escape but was greeted with the cold reality when the doors slammed shut and the keys turned, locking him in.

"Let me out!" Eldan screamed, striking the wooden doors as loud as he could. "Let me—"

A flash of pink whizzed in his periphery. An uncharacteristic shriek flitted out of his lips as he ducked, arms flying over his head. His legs kicked into overdrive, sending him rolling out of the bud's way. Through the gaps between his elbows, he beheld the monster his father fed him into.

The blaarmire loomed over him, the pink, teardrop-shaped buds swaying with green, bendable stems. The entire floor rippled with webs of their root network, making it impossible to uproot. Once a colony appeared, the only way to contain them was through fire. Or by the kaviste synnavaim.

Both of which Eldan didn't have.

The pink buds hovered in the air, almost like a nimba head waiting to strike. Even the leaves rimming the buds' lips looked like teeth. Blaarmire were carnivorous plants, and like normal creatures under the elika keijuis' control, the flowers stalk their prey and strike in the most unpredictable moment. Eldan had little inherent sense to tell plants apart, but he wouldn't need a lifetime of plant knowledge in his head to understand the blaarmire get their nutrients from the prey they capture. At this point, it's a wonder nature fairies even classify this as a plant.

A silent scream flitted across the air as one of the buds unfurled to reveal a veiny gullet disappearing to the depths of its stem. Eldan's gut twinged. He dove to the right, barely preventing it from chomping his leg. The bud slammed against the wall, eliciting a light thump. As if in anger, the bud withdrew. Seconds later, another would strike. Eldan just had to figure out where and avoid it.

The strike came, and Eldan ducked. The ends of his hair almost brushed the bud's lip on his way down.

Another thing about the blaarmire was that they were surprisingly sentient. Even before the other bud could retreat, on Eldan's way to the floor, another screamed for his blood. A yelp escaped his lips as he swerved right and landed on his shoulder. It's resilient and adaptive. It studied him and predicted his moves. This wasn't a plant. This was a monster.

He rolled aside as another bud dove slid across the soil to skewer him from where he fell. With gasping breaths and tears of horror stinging his eyes, he wove out of the buds' way as they surged towards him one by one. There seemed to be an endless number of them. Eldan lost count on the fifteenth bud, and with them swishing about, he just gave up.

The number of times he had gone around the large hall was lost on him too. He stuck to the wall, minimizing the spots where the blaarmire could ambush him. It couldn't come from behind or it would smack the cold, hard surface. Perhaps, he could make it knock the doors open? That's a plan.

Pink streaks lashed towards him. He aimed to dive left but found another bud waiting for him. Right—same thing. A curse not fitting for his young age flew out of his lips. Finally, the biggest bud rushed towards him, spelling his end. He threw his arms over his head and cowered against the wall. Pain would come. Soon.

A slash of air against the hem of his trousers. No pain. Rather, a loud hiss joined the blaarmire's vicious and hungry screams. He wrenched his eyes open to beheld a white blob of fur baring her fangs at the colony of oversized pink buds.

"Krou," he blurted, staring in disbelief at the creature's arched back and bent ears. "Wh—how...?"

The krou looked back at him as if to say, why are you even asking me?. Then, she leaped straight into the nearest attacking bud with her claws extended. Wait. How did Eldan know the krou was female?

Just as the krou slashed the petals loose with her claws, the realization settled on Eldan. Oh, no. No. No. This couldn't be happening. Eldan Rovalen had gained a familiar. How could he be sure? He just knew. Like how Scholar Kedove instructed her students to feel the natural flow of magic around them and channel it as kaviste leistivais, Eldan just knew this hissing krou was a familiar.

His familiar.

Things surrounding the soul—only its owner could be sure of them, and Eldan couldn't deny everything he found out today. That's why he wasn't able to control any shred of plant life. Eldan wasn't a kaviste keiju. For some twisted reason, he was an elika keiju, and the abandoned krou was his lifetime companion, his soul-bond.

How was that possible?

A swish of white shattered his train of thought. The krou landed on all fours, the soft pads of her paws cushioning most of her weight. Her tail swayed upright, keeping the slight aggression even though the danger had passed.

Speaking of danger...

Fire and the kaviste listris weren't the only solution to a blaarmire infestation, it seemed. After the krou's attacks, a wilting pile of shredded petals and stems quivered from their roots. The krou's claws...did that? Whoa.

"Hey." He turned to the small kitten who hissed at him. Why? He's a friend. Haven't they been through stuff together? No need to snarl. "Did you know...?"

Why was he even talking? He pursed his lips and stalked closer to the krou. Her eyes shook with fear and confusion, but she didn't back off. That's a good sign. He snatched her from the ground, just like he did when he first found her. He hadn't even finished arranging his hold when she yowled and swept her claws at him. Pain exploded in the back of Eldan's hand, making him let go of her. What...?

He looked down, noting the bright red lines marring his skin. Just little scratches. Panicked mewls rang in the hall, and he looked down to find the krou trotting and trembling from head to tail. Her anxiety washed over Eldan in waves he couldn't understand fully. "I'm alright!" He tucked his hands closer to his stomach in a poor attempt to stop the bleeding. The wounds weren't that deep, were they? "It's just a scratch. No need to panic."

But despite his assurance, the krou never stopped pacing nor yowling. At this point, the whole mansion would hear her. He couldn't let that happen. He had to get her out of here before his father found out.

"I'm alright," he said again, stepping forward to comfort her. Instead, his world swayed. What's happening? He's fine, right? "I'm alright..."

His legs gave out, his head hitting the compact soil. Darkness ate at the edges of his vision, and before it devoured everything completely, he had one fleeting memory of a white krou circling him. Was she crying? He'd rather not have her do that. He's alright.

But as numbness gripped his limbs to the point it was hard to breathe, it sank in then. Maybe he wasn't fine, and the krou knew that.

Light blinded Eldan through his eyelids, chasing away the darkness. Slowly, his eyes opened, showing him the bright sunlight flitting through the gossamer curtains. His memory was in shambles, but he recognized the soft sheets covering his legs and the softness of the pillow his head rested on. He was in his room. The real question was—how did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was the blaarmire room. And then, the krou dropped in to deal with them. After that...nothing.

"Eldan! Oh, thank the gods." Gylka's voice filtered into his ears. He swiveled his head to find his guardian seated on a stool beside his bed. On the foot of his bed, his parents glowered down on him, their arms crossed over their chests.

Panic seized Eldan's heart, driving him upward. A damp cloth fell from his forehead, and pain stabbed from the side. He whimpered, clutching his throbbing rib. What in Rudik's name happened? Why did he feel as if a whole herd of serodis trampled him?

"You're awake." A foreign voice made Eldan turn to a man seated on the edge of his bed. Dressed in a simple tunic, vest, trousers, and boots, he looked like the rest of the nature fairy population in Dwanzeig. But glancing at the satchel thrown open at the man's feet, he wasn't a normal citizen.

He was a healer.

Why would they need to heal him? The memory clicked then. Oh. Because of that. Those were just scratches though. Did he seriously pass out because he saw blood? Pathetic.

His parents thought so, without a doubt. His father cleared his throat, adopting an amicable tone because an outsider was present. "How is his condition, doctor?" he asked as if he cared whether Eldan lived or died. "Please tell me the belphine was out of his system."

The healer drew closer to Eldan and pressed a hand on his forehead, his jaw, and the back of his neck. "The fever is still yet to subside, but we have stopped the bleeding and prevented the belphine from advancing."

"Advancing?" his mother interjected. "You mean it's still there?"

The healer faced Eldan's poor excuse for parents, a frown pulling at the corners of his lips as if he sensed exactly that. "Belphine is lethal, especially to young keijuis," he said. "It's not easy to 'remove' from a system unless we develop an instant cure for it. We will have to make the wound bleed even after the stitches to filter out the rest of the poison. There is also the matter of infection that's bound to come..."

"I don't care what you do," Eldan's father said. "Make sure he can stand on the day of his passage."

With that, both masters of the mansion stalked off, leaving Eldan to stew in his stupidity. How could he let himself get injured, with a poison, nonetheless, days before his passage? It's inconceivable.

He turned to Gylka who had been quiet since the exchange between his parents and the healer. "What happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse from either screaming, crying, or dying. "How long was I out?"

"Not long, but the poison was progressing so fast we thought we'd lose you," the guardian answered, her fingers twiddling each other atop her white apron. "When we heard the incessant mewling behind the doors, we had to open it despite your father's orders."

"You disobeyed him?" Eldan knitted his eyebrows and frowned. "Won't you get punished for that?"

Gylka shook her head. "Any punishment is welcome if it means we can save the Rovalens' youngest son," she said. "And I think your father realized it later when I reminded him. With the time so close to your passage, he can't afford to suddenly find you dead. It's bound to open up an investigation and, well..."

Throwing barely-legal children into a pit of blaarmire was an act worthy of the Grand Regal's attention. The Grand Monarch or the Grand Queen, if they're lucky. "And you found me unconscious?" Eldan prompted when Gylka had fallen quiet again.

"You were hardly breathing, Eldan," Gylka answered, her chest heaving with unspilled tears. Eldan understood her restraint. Her masters might find her overstepping her bounds as a guardian if she showed more affection to their child than them. "It's..."

Eldan clenched his jaw. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. It's making people worry. The krou's face flashed in Eldan's mind. Before he collapsed, she wailed and paced, letting him know how anxious she was about the accident. Then, if what Gylka said was correct, she stayed and called for help the only way she knew how. It'd be a crime for Eldan to let go of her just because he couldn't afford to be an elika keiju.

"Did you find the krou?" he asked, staring down at his hands. His right hand was covered in thick bandages. Underneath them, he could feel his skin bubbling and stinging. That couldn't be good, could it?

"It's highly unlikely for a creature like that to stay inside a kaviste keiju household," the healer answered. "But it's not impossible."

Eldan's head snapped up. "What do you mean?"

The healer stood up and packed his satchel. Glass vials clinked inside as he did. "It's not rare for one household to share different kinds of nature synnavaimis," he said, slinging his satchel on his shoulder. "You need not be afraid."

He bowed to Eldan and Gylka. "Now, if you'll excuse me," he said. "I'll come back to check on the wound and do more treatments."

Eldan watched him leave, his eyes digging into the healer's back. If what the healer's parting words were true, then, why was his father forcing him to become a kaviste keiju? Why...was it such a big deal?

He couldn't know. Rather, he didn't think he'd ever know. One thing was certain, though. Eldan had to find his familiar.