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"Sit!" a shrill voice echoed across the crystalline landscape of Silvertear. Wedge winced slightly as the carbuncle kept on... well, doing everything except what Tataru instructed it to do.
"It's not a dog, Tataru," he reminded her gently, though his words seemed entirely unheeded. The Lalafellin woman would not be deterred, and without response she began to chase after the rambunctious familiar.
Wedge could hardly give her advice. If the carbuncle was an airship he could surely teach her how to make it sing to her every whim. But it wasn't an airship, it was... well, he wasn't really sure what it was. All of that arcanist nonsense flew well and high above his head.
A loud thud brought Wedge back to his senses, and after the cloud of crystalline dust settled he could see Tataru laying face first on the ground. The carbuncle paid her no mind and kept prancing happily in circles.
Wedge winced – nearly a full body recoil – until he saw Tataru move. With an annoyed (or maybe pained?) groan, she rolled herself onto her back, looking quite defeated. As if to add salt in the wound, the carbuncle happily trotted over and licked her face. It bounded off when she swatted angrily at the creature.
"Ugh!" she groaned louder than any Lalafell should. "I'll never tame this ill-begotten beast!"
"If Biggs 'n' I could tame magitek, you can tame a..." Wedge trailed off – he'd completely forgotten what the thing was called.
"Carbuncle," Tataru reminded him with no small amount of irritation seeping into her voice. Wedge blushed as his companion got to her feet. "I'm sorry, Wedge. I'm not cross with you, of course."
"Of course," he echoed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
Tataru groaned again before scanning the landscape. She let out a stream of curses so filthy even Wedge was aghast. "Where did the little beast run off to?"
"Ah, well..." Wedge was having trouble focusing on the real issue while his brain processed the incomprehensible horror he had just witnessed. Finally his eyes settled on the sparkling form of what appeared to be Tataru's carbuncle.
She had clearly seen it too. "How in the seven hells did it end up there?"
"Well, I mean, it's–"
"You have to rescue him."
"What–" Wedge's eyes turned upward to the carbuncle. It sat happily atop a stone outcropping beside a hulking ruin of a Garlean airship. It seems quite content in its place - entirely unwilling to move.
"Well, go fetch him!" Tataru urged, giving Wedge a shove for good measure.
Wedge looked at her in incredulity. Could she not just resummon the familiar? He knew better than to ask such a question. And so off went toward toward his imminent doom. Or so he feared.
The arch was steeper than Wedge had anticipated and nary a fulm into his journey he nearly slipped off. This would be far more difficult than he expected. With renewed determination, he gripped the stone tightly and willed himself up the incline.
Once Wedge had reached the precipice, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. When he looked up, the carbuncle seemed to be mocking him from afar. The creature tilted its head to the right, as if taunting him.
"Don't make that face at me," Wedge hissed through gritted teeth. He took a deep breath as he moved closer to to the edge of the outcropping. Not that there was an edge - one false step and he'd find himself face down ten fulms lower.
As he reached the edge of what was safe, Wedge steeled himself what was was to come. The carbuncle, on the other hand, tilted its head to the left.
"Blast you, familiar," Wedge growled as he worked himself up to make the journey to the airship wreckage. And by that, he meant to jump. And jump he did. With arms and legs splayed wildly, Wedge launched himself to what he hoped would be a safe landing. With a loud oompf he did just that. The wind was knocked fully out of him, but he landed more or less safely.
Wedge could faintly hear Tataru cheering him on as he caught his breath. In any other circumstance the realization would have spurred him to action, but in this particular case it caused him no end of irritaiton. Only for Tataru would I put up with this nonsense, he thought. And as he looked up, he could see the carbuncle just staring at him.
"Bloody fiend," he grumbled as he pushed himself to his feet. "You will go back down to Tataru now."
The carbuncle tilted its head back to the right.
"Bloody familiar!" Wedge barked. "Why won't you cooperate?!"
The carbuncle walked over toward him before curling into a ball at his feet.
"...blasted familiar."
There was a gentle chirp from the emerald lump before him and nothing more. Wedge sighed to himself, wondering what he was to do. Could he pick the creature up? Would it send them both tumbling to certain doom below? He was certainly high enough to break his neck if he were to fall.
"Well, nothing for it but to try." And so he reached down to grab the carbuncle and quickly hurled it toward Tataru below.
Tataru shrieked as the familiar approached her, but managed to catch it. Technically. As the creature entered her arms, so did she fly backwards. She landed with a thud to rival any Wedge had heard before. Oops.
Wedge wasted no time in scrambling down the rusted Garlean hulk. "Tataru!" he called, nearly out of breath. "Are you alright?"
"What in the blazes were you thinking?"
Wedge shrank down about twelve sizes, if such a thing were possible.
"...I'm sorry."
There was another moment of silence between them before Wedge realized it was appropriate to speak. "I'm sorry, is your carbuncle alright?"
Tataru nodded. "I should thank you for retrieving him."
"No, I should have–"
"Nonsense," Tataru interrupted. "The manner of your retrieval matters little, since he is in fine condition. My objection was premature."
Wedge felt a blush rise in his cheeks.
"My thanks, Wedge," she continued with her characteristic smile. "I think perhaps we should retire to the Rising Stones."
"Oh yes, of course," he nodded with a little too much enthusiasm.
Tataru stared at him a moment. "Come on, then."
Wedge blinked twice before her words registered. "Oh, of course!"
"Are you feeling well?" she asked as he approached. Wedge hoped the blush in his cheeks wasn't as apparent as it felt.
"Of course," he assured her. "The aether in the air must be getting to me."
"Oh, that makes sense," Tataru returned, although the tone of her voice suggested she didn't quite understand the comment. "Well, as long as carbuncle follows us it should be a quick trip back to Revenant's Toll."
"Gods willing," Wedge muttered, giving the carbuncle a stern look. The familiar simply chirped in response.