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Months after leaving the Banished Shadows, Neffres was finally beginning to readjust to life on the road, though traveling through Laertesia was certainly more difficult than traveling through Ophelidan. She had to be more secretive with her research while in towns and more cautious about where she slept, especially when she was out in the open air. Vince’s cooking tips were helping plenty and Evelyn’s lessons helped her avoid suspicion from any governing body. She hadn’t been involved in a fight yet, but Saz’s advice always popped back into her mind when she got anxious about the possibility. Traveling was getting easier by the day, but loneliness was beginning to tear at her mind. She’d never had an issue with being alone in her first years of travel.
Before meeting the Shadows, Neffres had planned to be completely alone until she found Miryn. However, now that she’d not only met people, but also made genuine friends, being alone wasn’t quite as simple. On top of that, she had more memories to dwell over when she was seated beneath the night sky, with only the warmth of a fire to comfort her. She’d tried talking to the stars in the sky or the flames before her, but there was no response to be heard, and she was terrible at keeping up one-sided conversations.
It was on nights like these that Neffres missed her cows. Sure, they couldn’t talk in the way that humans could, but at least their intentions could be read in one way or another. In a way, her non-human companions were better to talk to than anyone she knew back home. They didn’t pity her when she talked about Miryn and they didn’t judge her when she rambled on about her research.
The realization hit her as she glanced at the spellbook sitting by her side. She was a wizard now, and find familiar was easy enough to cast. Newfound hope and lightness spread throughout her body as she flipped through her book to find the spell. She’d need to pick up some incense, and a brass brazier in the next town she passed through, but she certainly had the money for that. The new goal gave her a much-needed boost in morale as she traveled onward the next day.
Just under a week later, Neffres sat alone beneath the stars again, components laid out before him in the old brass brazier he’d picked up. He grabbed a small twig from the ground and held it over his campfire until the wood caught. Careful as he could, he lit up his components and tossed the twig into the campfire as he focused his attention on completing the spell properly. A few moments passed before a puff of smoke erupted from the flame. Tt died as easily as it had caught.
“Fuck! No, no, no! I did it right!” Neffres exclaimed, grabbing the brazier without a thought and quickly yelping as he dropped the hot metal back onto the ground. The faint clang of the extinguished charcoal against the brass was immediately overtaken by the caw of the raven that now perched on Neffres’ head.
The half-elf stilled completely for a moment before raising his arm up next to his head. When he brought it back down, there on his forearm stood the exact raven he’d imagined, head tilting as she observed him. For a moment, they stared at each other in silence, as if trying to decode the other. Then, Neffres beamed and laughed, standing up and cheering to himself quietly as the raven flew around him, chattering happily. The duo settled back down after a couple minutes, but Neffres’ smile stuck around as he spoke to the raven.
“Okay, so! My name is Neffres and I think I’ll call you Alva, if you like that name. It means ‘friend’.” He waited for a moment and took the raven’s chirp as approval, “Alright then, Alva, let’s get you caught up.”