A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Eira lost a little of her momentum with Erik's demand. She looked a little sad and unsure about what to do. If she did as he asked, she would essentially be defenseless against him. Her face showed some struggle, as she simply never had to deal with this kind of distrust before.

She had always thought the harbinger would automatically be a friend, and she had come to realize it wasn't that simple.

"Trust will come, huh…" she mumbled softly. "Do you promise? Because I… want a friend I can trust, and who trusts me…"

Erik nodded slowly and seriously. "I also want that, Eira."

Yes, perhaps he wouldn't go so far if he wasn't mainly interested in her capabilities as a solid state sigil construct, but if she could also become a true friend, than all the better.

"Alright, prove it," Eira suddenly demanded. "You say you'll give me a proof of trust in return for me shutting down the sigils, then I want yours first."

"Ha!" Elora exclaimed from Erik's soul. "She learns fast."

Erik chuckled at both Elora's outburst and Eira's progress.

His chuckling caused Eira to pout at him. "Y— You don't have to laugh at me…" she mumbled in frustration.

"I wasn't laughing at you, Eira," Erik shook his head with a smile. "I was marveling at your progress."

"I'm not stupid…" Eira continued to pout. "I just had… different expectation. "

"Hehe, fair enough, Eira. I'll show you mine first," he grinned.

In the next moment, a cloud of light specks left his body and reformed into a small humanoid sitting on his shoulder and looking at Eira with a curious grin.

"Ah!" Eira exclaimed as she floated back a little, startled by Elora's sudden appearance. "You… You're a fairy! A- And you're third-rank!" She turned her attention to Erik, "No wonder you asked about lifting the omnisense shielding."

"Oh?" Elora raised an eyebrow and blinked. "Did you read about my kind in your library?"

Just as quick as she retreated, Eira came floating back again, this time with curiosity and fascination.

The minotaur shook her head while floating around Erik and inspecting Elora from every side. "No, Mistress mentioned you. I only know your magic has almost no offensive presence, and your kind focuses most of your attention on research.

I think she had a lot of dealings with fairies in the past, actually. Although I never thought I would meet one on Earth. Not yet, anyway. How did you come to be here?"

While watching the enthusiastic Eira with amusement, Erik spoke to Elora through their link. "Good thing she doesn't seem to know a lot about fairies. If she suspected me of being enslaved this might have become awkward," Erik chuckled inwardly. "I also wonder which faction of fairies Audumla had dealings with…"

"No way to know for now," Elora shrugged in response while watching the curious Eira with amusement as well. "It was certainly long before my time, anyway."

"We'll tell you our story one day, Eira," Erik then smiled slightly at the minotaur girl. "But for now, revealing Elora's existence will have to do as our show of trust."

Eira pouted in response, but nodded anyway. "F— Fine. But I'll hold you to that!" A moment of conflict still passed across Eira's face, but finally, she sighed and waved her hand.

A number of sigils they had only suspected were there before, suddenly flashed around the room before disappearing again.

"T— There," Eira mumbled cautiously and a little anxiously. "All sigils are disabled and omnisense shielding is lifted. I— I'd need at least a few minutes to be any kind of danger to you now, and you'll have plenty of warning before then."

Erik and Eira stared at each other for a moment while Elora's omnisense swept through the structure to check the truth of Eira's words.

Eira, meanwhile, poked her fingers together a little anxiously. She wanted desperately to trust Erik, but this was a very vulnerable moment for her. If it had turned out to be the wrong choice, she would soon find out.

Perhaps she wouldn't have made this choice if she hadn't already resolved to die a little earlier.

After Elora was done, she smiled mischievously. "Seems like we're good to go, Erik. All sigils are in an inactive state, and I can find no more dead spots that would imply shielding."

She immediately followed her assessment with an evil grin and turned to Erik. "I guess we can kill her now, my love!"

"No!" Eira exclaimed in horror as despair filled her face and her body flashed. When the flash was over, she was once again clad in plate armor, while wielding a hammer and large round shield.

But only when she was done and took a fighting stance did she notice that Erik just smiled wryly while shaking his head and not moving a finger. She looked at his shoulder and now noticed the fairy was snickering wildly.

"Please don't mind Elora," Erik sighed. "She can be a little mischievous. Our deal stands."

"Y— Y— You!!" Eira exclaimed in frustration and anger while pointing her hammer at Elora, even while her eyes showed immense relief. When she realized she couldn't find the right words to voice her displeasure, she stomped the air she was floating on and cried out, "Argh!" before disappearing.

Naturally, she could have disappeared when she thought Erik and Elora were attacking, but then there would be nothing to protect the door leading to her core.

Dealing damage to her humanoid form would have little effect on Eira's life or death, after all.

"Now look what you've done, you mischievous little Ember," Erik sighed and shook his head in exasperation while starting to walk towards the living space's exit. "You've gone and upset her."

At the same time as complaining to Elora, he send a message to Emily, telling her she could go back to sleep if she wanted.

"I just couldn't help it," the fairy giggled. "She's so precious!"
Your next read awaits at m v|l-e'm,p| y r

"Yes well, without her we don't know where the books we need are, so I hope you're prepared for a lot of checking and reading," Erik rolled his eyes as he moved towards the library.

"Oh please," Elora smiled confidently. "Fairies like me are made for this stuff. No one is as good as we are at absorbing massive amounts of information in a short time. I can even read multiple books at once with my omnisense."

"Oh well, you just have an answer to everything don't you?" Erik asked as a small grin showed his clear enjoyment of the situation.

"Of course I do, and that's why you love me!" the fairy smiled proudly and puffed out her chest.

"Yes, it's my unfortunate curse," Erik sighed, as he opened the door to the library while preparing himself for a long reading session.