#free time chapter

[wildroseofarran]

The familiars eyes widened with realization. They could indeed have that!

"That's an old dish! Not old old, but old! Yes, let's! Master has never had ochazuke before. Not Master Brett, either. We should save them some. Oh, but... no meat. What to do with no meat," he mused. If he presented umeboshi to the Norwegian, he was sure to make a face.

“An old dish for two old men.” Said, of course, with sincere warmth.

The rice cooker was unearthed from its living quarters. “We can replace the salmon in Mr. Bo’s portion with tofu. There’s some marinating in the refrigerator.” He’d intended it for mapo tofu but they could always marinate more.

“I often had ochazuke for breakfast when I lived with my first master.”

[wildroseofarran]

"Olek wants salmon. And salmon skin. And salmon roe. And rice. Maybe rice." His smile reached his eyes, as it so often did, already disappearing from the room of glass to the kitchen just feet away.

"What does Sky want?"

The fox laughed. “Salmon it is. I’ll make the rice.” He put his tools away in their case and went to join the cat in the kitchen.

“Shall we turn the salmon and rice into ochazuke? We have green tea.”

[wildroseofarran]

"Some want us to fight, some make us stay home. If I had changed things, would I be with my master now? Is that fair, to abandon him to an alternative timeline? I know the ones who wanted to die are grateful for a new journey, and my mistress... she doesn't suffer. Neither of them do."

All of this talk of life and death, he was suddenly ravenous.

"Olek makes food. Does Sky want?"

Sky nodded. "We are whatever is required. That is dictated by our fate and our karma as much as the bond with our master itself."

The fox looked up from his scroll and smiled kindly at Olek. "No, they don't. Wherever they are, I believe it's somewhere better." That was all the living could hope for the dead.

"Mm." He nodded. "What are you making? I'll help."

[wildroseofarran]

"Hubris?" He understood the word, but in this context, he wasn't certain he would call insatiable curiosity hubris - then again, one only needed to glimpse at half of his masters to understand.

"Would Sky... Would you die for any of them?"

"Yes," Sky said without hesitation. "I've been fortunate. Most of my masters have been taken by time and old age. But..."

He pulled another scroll toward himself and began writing the characters of Jianghong's name by habit. "If I had been in a position to give my life for Jianghong's, I would have. Those like us don't like to speak of it, especially not to our masters, but this too is the nature of a familiar."

[wildroseofarran]

Olek took the thick paper with both hands and a smile. It would need to be encased in unbreakable glass.

He very nearly hugged the paper before remembering himself.

"Is there no mystery you ache to understand? About your master, or a stranger? Not reincarnation - unless that's it. About anything."

“Though many things make me wonder, none make me ache. If an opportunity to understand crosses my path, and if that understanding will bring no strife or harm, then I will take it.”

Sky contemplated an empty scroll. “There must always be a balance between the desire to learn and the acceptance of mystery. Hubris is a ruthless killer.”

[wildroseofarran]

"You've given Olek something to think about. Reincarnation is obvious for everyone, but our masters... their permanence remains only in my memories."

And would he look at Bo the same way, if he knew he was Ignacio Marqués? He would like to think that he would be thrilled to reunite with his least loved master, but...

"Mysteries are mysterious," he concluded, sliding up and to his feet.

The fox’s smile held infinite fondness. “Exactly as they should be. Mysteries are essential to life. One cannot and should not know everything, otherwise existence would hold no meaning.”

It occurred to him to look for a Buddhist temple nearby so he could take Brett to make merit. He had a feeling it would comfort his young master to do so.

As Olek stood, Sky pushed the scroll toward him. He’d written the kanji for ‘cat’.

[wildroseofarran]

Olek considered, hands resting in his lap. A thought tickled his chest. The realization that Sky was more optimistic than he was, and how impossible was that?

"You could find out. Couldn't you? If Master Brett is someone you once loved."

Sky hummed. “The magic to do so exists, yes. And if I wanted to, I could learn it and assuage my curiosity. But, when all’s said and done, it doesn’t really matter whether he’s Jianghong or not. He’s his own person, and the love I feel for him is only his.”

[wildroseofarran]

"Their loneliness isn't the same." As sure as the braid in Sky's hair. "Mistress Yuko was ostracized. Master Kei preferred the company of the dead. Helena loved the idea of people more than their conversation. Our masters have each other, and still... no. Not still. Master Bo doesn't need me as much as he used to."

The fox nodded. “Exactly. No two individuals, however similar they or their lived experiences may be, will ever be affected in the exactly same way.” Even if, as Sky privately suspected in this particular case, one was a reincarnation of the other.

He smiled. “I don’t believe a master ever truly stops needing their familiar, regardless of how much they grow. Our masters love each other, but there will always be something we give them that they cannot give each other, because we live in their minds beside them.”