The Fae World: Quindil: Meira: Talking to Liesel

[k_a_webb]

Like the dogs we knew something had happened and had to wait until the same news report to find out what it was. We, as a species, have much more freedom than them, so the first thing we did was go to the griffins themselves to find out why they’d chosen our world. I was lucky enough to be one of the cats there, talking to a griffin named Liesel, who was female and pregnant with her first litter. She, with her mate, were the first griffins the bipeds found, but they wouldn’t be the last – it was just that the other griffins couldn’t decide which of them would be going into captivity. That, though, is me rushing the story. Unfortunately that’s something I have a bad habit of doing, but I’ll try not to, because the story I have to tell will make much more sense if I go through it correctly.

As I said Liesel was the first female griffin to willingly go into captivity. She didn’t think it was going to be good for her babies, and they knew that because they were old enough to be spoken to through the telepathic link that mother griffins have with their babies, but they were all thinking about the long term. That’s something I understand as we cats do it all the time, although not to the extent that they did. There were only six mated pairs left, due to what had happened on their home world, so they knew they were very close to extinction, and that was something they were trying desperately to avoid. Unfortunately there were only so many options they had.

Being on a world where there was magic meant they would survive. Their babies would as well. None of the surviving griffins, luckily, were related to each other, which would, for them, have been a major problem. It’s something they did explain, but I’ve never been very good at keeping those sorts of things in my mind, so it’s not something I can pass on. Surviving was enough, at least until they found the person, or people, they were searching for, but they had no idea how long that might take or where they might be found. Finding them was the whole reason they’d decided to let themselves be found, as Liesel was certain that the person they were looking for would be in the towns and cities.

The other griffins weren’t so certain. Some did think that Liesel might be right, which was why they were willing to debate it, and in the end she thought she knew the other pairs who would join them. When that happened, and the first of their cubs were born, they would be able to begin the hunt for real. On the day I spoke to her she told me she thought it would take longer than she’d live, but that wasn’t going to stop her. Like the other griffins I met later they were so focused on finding this person, whoever he or she was, that they were happy to spend their whole lives hunting for them. Even the cubs were and it was very strange to be able to talk to creatures that weren’t yet born, especially as were so sure that they were making the right choice. All they knew was eventually the griffins would be in the hands of someone who could truly understand them.

Until then they knew they’d be exploited. Liesel’s new owner had already advertised her cubs on the Internet without knowing how many of them there would be. Those cubs knew that they’d be taken from their mother as soon as they were born, because no one knew anything about the griffins, but they did know that something new and exotic like them would make a lot of money. Each one of them was ready to do what needed to be done. I had so much trouble getting my head around that. When my kittens were born they needed us to look after them for several months. Griffin cubs didn’t seem to need any looking after.

‘We look after them when we’re together,’ Liesel said, when I commented on that. ‘On Kalinia we were safer if we didn’t stay together, once the fae arrived, so we evolved in such a way that we can guide our cubs until their born and when they’re born they know enough to be able to look after themselves. It seems to be a real advantage here as well.’ She smiled. ‘I understand that it’s different for you. The shifters were the same – their cubs always needed several months of looking after before that started being able to look after themselves, although they did mature faster than fae babies.’

‘It must be hard to let your cubs go when they’re so young.’

Liesel nodded. ‘I wish I didn’t have to, but at least I know that they are going to survive. Had I been pregnant on Kalinia the only thing that would have happened was all our deaths and that’s why we left. The fae had managed to use most of the magic within the core of the world, so we were having real difficulty doing anything more than surviving ourselves. Having cubs…’ She blinked, as though she was blinking away tears the way the bipedals did. ‘Unfortunately that choice killed my sisters and my mother. Too be honest I’m not certain why Mother decided she wanted more children, but she did. I think she might have been worried about what effect having cubs would have on my sisters and thought she was more likely to survive.’

Feeling very sorry for Liesel I wrapped my tail around hers, in a show of support, which she seemed to appreciate. ‘I’m sorry to hear of your loss, Liesel. That sounds like it was really difficult to get through. My own mother died in an accident when I was a kitten – she was hit by a car and ended up dying of her injuries. I do still have my sisters, who I make sure to see at least once a month.’

‘Other cats have told me the same sort of stories.’

‘Sadly it is one of those things that happens here. We do our best to be careful, but they don’t, a lot of the time, which makes things harder for us. To them we’re nothing more than creatures.’ I shrugged. ‘They’ll probably see you the same way.’

‘I don’t doubt they will, but the time will come when they’ll learn otherwise.’

‘Why did you decide to do this if you knew that?’

‘Being out there is safe and I do miss that. I just know that if we are to find our true breeder we actually need to do something, rather than waiting for them to come to us, because that isn’t going to happen. They hope it will, as it means we don’t have to rely on others for so much, but this, as far as I’m concerned, is our only option.’ Liesel shrugged. ‘Hedwig agrees with me, fortunately, so I don’t think it will be long until we aren’t the only griffins owned by bipedals, even though neither of us are happy about the situation we’re in.’

‘You’re so certain that this person exists…’

‘Or will exist.’

‘…that you’re willing to give up your freedom, and the freedom of your cubs, to find them?’

‘Maybe that sounds strange to you, but after everything we’ve been through, Miera, we need something to hold on to. From the moment we stepped onto this world we knew it was where we were supposed to end up, even though we didn’t know that until it happened. I always thought there was a reason we found the door we did…’ She shrugged again. ‘Now we just have to wait until we can find the true breeder, the person we’ll all be able to trust, because once that happens we’ll be in the best position we’ll have been in since the fae travelled to Kalinia.’

‘How do you suggest we deal with what’s happened to us?’

‘Miera, I do really regret that our arrival has affect you and the other animals here. We never thought that it would, but it wouldn’t have changed our decision. Surviving was the most important thing for all of us.’
I squeezed her tail. ‘Liesel, I understand. Had we been in the same position we would have done the same thing, so we’re not angry with you – it was just unexpected.’

‘As for what you should do about it… that’s up to you, really, although I do suggest that you have somewhere safe to go if you are planning on telling your bipedals what’s happened to you. I get the feeling that these people really aren’t ready for magic, because they have no idea that this world has a magical core.’

‘That’s normal?’

‘On most worlds with non-magical races it is. The bipedals here don’t have the ability to use the magic that this world hold, but we do, so we can feel it. It’s likely you will be able to feel it too in the future.’
‘Why did your arrival affect us the way it did?’

Liesel sighed. ‘My only theory is that you already had magic, although it wasn’t enough for you to be able to actually use it, and our arrival increased that, so now you can. Otherwise our arrival wouldn’t have affected you as quickly as it did, but I don’t doubt it would have done eventually.’

‘Might it also affect the bipedals?’

‘I think it’s possible. I believe, if it does, it will take at least a century, and by then I do hope we’ll have found the true breeder. If we haven’t we’ll be in a difficult position, because it is normal for magic users to be able to feel that we have magic, due to the amount we have, so we won’t be able to keep our secrets any longer.’

‘Do you have any idea how long it will take to find the true breeder?’

‘Right now all I know is that they aren’t alive yet. They feel close, but that could just be wishful thinking. Until we find whoever it is our lives are going to be difficult.’ Liesel shrugged. ‘It’s something we can deal with until we find them, that I’m certain of.’

Nodding, I studied her. She was certain she was telling me the truth, which is something I did appreciate, but I knew she had no idea how hard it was going to be for her. Back then I had no idea how hard it would be either. All I knew was that I was going to be there for her, and her cubs, as much as possible, because they were going to need some support to get through the time it took before they found the true breeder. Of course it was also so I could learn more about the fascinating creatures, understand why they did certain things, and why the cubs didn’t know the names of their parents or their own names. The griffin mother passed on everything else to her cubs, but not her name or the name of her mate and they weren’t actually named until they were born. It was a very strange system I thought could be so much easier.

‘We’ll do what we can to help you.’ I smiled at Liesel. ‘Your honesty does help, because it means I can explain to everyone else why you came here. They’ll accept that you had no other choice and I know what my species is like.’

‘I’m beginning to learn too, Miera. The one thing I have noticed is that you’re a very curious bunch and I’ve had numerous cats visiting me to ask questions.’

‘Yes, that’s us.’ I shrugged. ‘I’m sorry that you’ve had so many different cats visit you, but we have territories, so I’m the one from mine and you’ll have met the others from local territories. We’ve had a couple of requests from freedom of movement through our territory by other groups, so we’ve permitted that, because we all do want to know about you.’

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.