"Let's go exploring! Or adventuring! Or we could hunt something interesting, that'd be good too!"

  Dryth did his best not to sigh at the nattering in his head. It had only been two days since he'd made the impulsive decision to make a contract with Sindri right there and then, a decision he'd made based on Sindri's impassioned pleadings more than anything else, not that he'd ever admit that to the hyperactive coatl, and he'd learned that they were two very different people over those days. Dryth preferred, though he wasn't always able, to think things through, make calculated decisions, and avoid danger whenever possible. Sindri was much more likely to jump into things on a whim, undertake the first action to solve a problem that he thought of, and relished the idea of jumping into a fight for any number of reasons. Dryth didn't dislike his new friend, he literally couldn't thanks to the telepathic and empathetic bonds connecting them that shared their thoughts and feelings to each other, but he'd already learned that they didn't immediately agree on much.

  "I have lessons, Sindri. We can't just run off and do whatever we like. And personally, I'm not really interested in doing any of those things right now."

  "Why can't we? And why do you care about these 'lessons'? What's Ewan teaching you that's better then going out and doing stuff?"

  "Because I have responsibilities and duties. I agreed to be Ewan's student and part of what comes with agreeing to that relationship is listening to him and being his student. Not taking what I want from him and running off. It's only thanks to him that we met at all! I'm not going to be an asshole to him after that."

  Sindri popped his head out from under Dryth's sleeve to give him a sheepish look. Dryth wasn't able to articulate exactly how he knew what emotion Sindri was trying to convey, Ewan had already quizzed him, only that he could likely thanks to the magical bonds they now shared. "I didn't think about that. You're right, a debt is a debt and it's important to repay those."

  "It's not exactly a debt." Dryth responded as he brought them to a stop, looking around carefully at the intersection of hallways they'd just arrived at.

  Sindri stretched out more of his length so that his head was a foot forward from the end of Dryth's arm. "Where are we trying to go again?"

  "The laboratory."

  "That's where I showed up, right?"

  "Yes, that's where we're trying to go."

  Sindri quested abut through the air, scenting with his tongue. "Left."

  "Thanks." Dryth turned that direction and started walking before resuming their previous discussion. "It's not exactly a debt, but there is an obligation. Like listening to what your parents have to tell you about the world and what kind of behavior is good or bad, but it's a relationship I had a choice about, which makes it even more of an onus on me because it's one I chose to undertake. Does that make sense?"

  "I think I get it. The only people I had to teach me about things before this were family, so there's that tie that you and Ewan don't have, but I get why you choosing it is important and why you don't want to flake on him." Sindri twisted himself to look back at Dryth, already bored by the seemingly endless hallway. "Why pick Ewan though? Why's he better than your parents at this, or anyone else?"

  Dryth snorted a short laugh in response. "My parents aren't magic. They wouldn't be able to teach me the first thing about my Class, blue cards, or making good contracts."

  "Oh. How are you magic if they aren't magic?"

  Dryth shrugged, throwing Sindri's tail up a little as he did. "I don't know. I don't know if anyone knows. A lot of mages have children that are mages, but there are a lot that have children that aren't, and there are just as many non-mage parents that have mage children. It's just a thing that happens."

  "Humans are weird." Sindri remarked, "I have magic because my parents have magic, and I have the same type they do."

  "Both your parents have light magic like you?"

  "Yup!" Sindri proudly raised his snout up into the air and a card came into being behind his head with a shimmer. A tiny ball of light appeared on his nose, glowing like a juiced up firefly, before fading. "That's Make Light, the card my parents gave me! I can use it because I can do light magic! That's rare!"

  "I know," Dryth replied with more than a little bemusement, "You've told me already."

  "Yeah, but it's important. There's not a lot of coatl that have light magic."

  "Well, what happens if a coatl with light magic has a child with a coatl who uses different magic?"

  That took Sindri off guard and he had to think about it for a moment. "Well, the child can either have light magic, or the other one, or both."

  "Then it's kinds similar to humans and having magic at all, except one of the options is that the child gets none of the magic."

  "That's still weird." Sindri said, in a tone that meant he was done with the subject because he didn't have anything to add. "But that wasn't what we were talking about! Why is Ewan a better teachers than other teachers who could teach you about your Class and magic?"

  "Because he stepped up for one. He got called in by the Association because he handles 'problem cases' that need mentoring, at least when it comes to new Contractors, and he offered to help me. But mostly because he's teaching me a bunch of stuff that the Association doesn't normally teach people, and I'm not letting that kind of information treasure trove get away."

  "Why are you a 'problem case'?"

  "Because my twist, that's what Ewan calls the bit about my Soul Card that's unique, is hard to deal with. Most people don't want to get burdened with a student that can only make contracts that bind people to him forever."

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "But that's the whole point!" Sindri protested.

  "For you, maybe it is. But most people out their think of Contractors like magical merchants that make deals to get people what they want. Nobody wants to trade a few coins for lunch and then drop dead because the person running a food stall had a heart attack."

  "So... other people want something from you, or the people like you, what did you call it, your Class? People want something different than what I want from other Contractors, so because you're different and have an extra thing with it they don't want, you get treated like a problem?"

  "Yeah, that's a good summary."

  "That sucks."

  "It does, but what am I going to do about it?"

  "Only thing there is to do! Tough it out, get big, and show the people who talked bad about that you can fly better than they can!"

  "Close enough, if I'm understanding you right."

  "What were you talking about when you said that Ewan is teaching you stuff that somebody else won't? Who is the Association?"

  "You ask a lot of questions."

  Sindri reared back, indignant, pulling Dryth's arm with him. "How am I supposed to learn anything if I don't ask about it!? You ask Ewan questions all the time! And I bet if you were the one who got suck into my home plane you'd be asking all kinds of questions!"

  That drew a hearty laugh out of Dryth. "That's a great point. I totally would be bugging you about everything."

  "So what'd you mean?" Sindri asked, mollified.

  "I meant exactly what I said I did," Dryth answered him while simultaneously following his directions through a series of rooms that all led in different directions. "Ewan's teaching me things that I don't know anyone else would teach me." Dryth was trying to navigate based on the instructions and directions Ewan had given him on making his way through the house, that was part of today's lesson it seemed, but he was struggling. Thankfully Sindri could smell and detect things Dryth couldn't and was supplementing his trailblazing quite effectively.

  "Like what?"

  "Well so far he's taught me about demons not automatically being evil and that they can be quite helpful if you have the right connections and can pay, that sapient beings can drop cards on death just like monsters but with lower chances, that people can steal out of your deck if they have the right cards for it, and he's mentioned something he called 'pure casting' which I've never heard of before."

  Sindri stopped smelling the air to double check if the lamp that Dryth wanted to pull to open the secret passage they needed to go in was the right one. "People can steal from my deck!?"

  "Apparently." Dryth shrugged, "Ewan didn't explain what cards you need to do it, but he said it was possible and he hasn't lied to me or been wrong yet."

  "That's scary."

  "Isn't it? That's why I'm sticking around to learn from him, I'd never have known it was possible if he hadn't mentioned it and you can't prepare for dangers you don't know about."

  "You're good at planning. I'm going to let you take that on as your part of our partnership."

  "You are, are you?"Dryth asked with a grin, "And what's going to be your part?"

  "Hunting! And fighting! Since you don't want to do those."

  "I'm not really interested in getting in fights, although hunting does have its uses. Eating is important." Dryth stumbled to a stop as a thought hit him. "Sindri, you know you don't have to stay with me, right? You're a free person, you can go hunt and adventure and all of that on your own if you want. You're not a pet that has to stay by my side all the time."

  The look Sindri shot him was the equivalent of someone scrunching up their nose at Dryth in disgust. "Why would I go out by myself? I came to be with you!"

  "I appreciate that, but this isn't a subordinate and superior relationship, we're going to be partners. Right now we're only doing the things I want to."

  "Sure right now we are, but that'll change. Plus, all the reasons that you're giving me to stay and learn from Ewan are good ones. What's your main goal in being his student?"

  "To learn anything and everything I can from him." Dryth answered.

  "Okay, but why? What's the goal, what are you aiming for? Learning is important but why are you learning?"

  It took Dryth a moment to think of his answer. "... To be self sufficient, I guess. I want to be able to support myself and make my way in the world without having to burden anyone."

  "That's a good reason to do things, and one I support. We're going to be partners and we should rely on each other, but being self sufficient is good. And it's not like there's nothing for me to learn here, including how to act in the human world. I don't remember all of it, but a lot of your memories pointed to scared people thinking I'm a monster and trying to kill me, and that sounds like a nightmare to deal with."

  "That's smart thinking about not being treated like a monster, and I appreciate your support. Actually, that was really insightful as a whole."

  "Thanks!" Sindri perked up cheerfully. "I took some bits from a talk my dad had with me!"

  Dryth shook his head and chuckled before he brought his head down close to Sindri's. "You do remember what we talked about regarding my memories, right?"

  "What, that your soul space is all weird and has things you don't recognize in it? Yeah, I remember. I don't really get why anyone would care but I'll trust you about it." He paused for a second as he gave Dryth a look. "You know you can speak back into my head the same way I'm talking to you, right? You don't have to whisper. Also, how am I supposed to tell anyone about your secret past life memories? I can only talk to you. And why did you bring your head down like that? It's got to hurt your neck to bend it that way, I know you humans aren't flexible like I am. You could have just brought your arm up a little bit."

  Giving Sindri a mild glare, Dryth brought his head back up, refusing to mention that bending it like that had been mildly uncomfortable. "Just because you can only talk to me right now doesn't mean we're not going to find a way for you to talk to other people too. It'd be shitty to have to use me as a translator all the time. And it's only been two days, give me some slack! I've never been able to telepathically talk to someone before."

  "Well, you should practice, it's more secret than whispering. You were right, it is this one." He added, pointing with his head at the wall sconce.

  Dryth reached up to pull it which caused a section of the wall to swing open like a door. They stepped into a dark hallway that went pitch black when the door swung shut behind them. Sindri used his card again, lighting up the passageway just enough to see the damp, cracked, and moldy flagstones that made up the ground and walls. They crept through the secret passage, both of them a bit apprehensive thanks to their surroundings, but the passage was only a hundred feet long and spilled them out in front of the door to the laboratory in short time.

  Dryth pulled himself to his feet and brushed off his pants while Sindri repositioned himself like a scarf around Dryth's neck. "I'm looking forward to when Ewan's contract that requires this ends and we can walk around normally without needing directions or to go through secret passages that sometimes aren't there."

  "You do? But it's like a small adventure every day! I've been having fun!"

  "Of course you have. Don't squeeze my neck, please."

  "That was one time!"

  "Yeah, but it was like two hours ago so I'm still thinking about it."

  "I won't do it again! You should really work on building muscle though. I like riding you, and I'm not even that big yet."

  Dryth sat down in his chair to wait for Ewan to show up and pictured the images he remembered of depictions of Quetzalcoatl the ancient feathered serpent deity from South America, who was definitely related to the coatl in some way. "How big to coatl get, anyways?"

  "Once we become adults we start growing for real and we can get really big."

  "How big is- Wait, are you an adult?"

  "Yeah, I became an adult just a little while ago, like you. I already grew a few inches between then and meeting you."

  "How big are you going to get?"

  "Depends on how long we live. My grandma ate a mountain once."

  "Damn, Sindri, how are we going to afford to feed you?"