Shik appeared give her a curious expression, causing Jay to keep smiling and c**k her head at him. “Did I say something?” She blinked, blatantly ignoring the bird’s long, exasperated note before spreading its wings to fly ahead of them. Arbitrarily, Jay walked over to scoop up the poms war into her arms to give it a tight squeeze. She hummed happily as she buried her face into its fur and feathers. She liked minipets. They were useful and they were fluffy. Jay liked fluffy. “Ah~ I see. Did you see her here or is she…?” She tried not to think about the other options, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

She was pleased to hear Shik had at least seen her friend a couple times. “Yes! The wolf! He is a very grumpy sort in my opinion, but I’ve known him and his sister for a long time, so he is very very important to me,” she explained with a matter-of-fact nod. “I’m sure you’ll be able to talk with him soon. The reserve is sort of small, don’t you think? I’m confident you’ll meet him in no time.” Jay turned to look at Shik, her lips puckering and brows frowning as she began to contemplate what their first meeting would be like. “Maybe you two will get along.” This was based entirely on the fact they both didn’t appear to smile often. It was absolutely logical.

Unlike their owner, the minipets were calm and orderly. While the warrior favored ambling around in a winding path, even looking around and pausing and looking at distractions, they preferred to walk in a quick, straight line. The vaisel even walked between the horsewoman’s legs to remind her the group already had a particular destination in mind. She giggled.

Slowly, Jay trailed behind Shik when they finally arrived at his abode. She poked her head through the flap to look around a couple times before letting the rest of her body through the entrance. The horsewoman bent down to let the poms war gladly scurry out of her grasp, then she stood back up. She fought the urge to run her hands over the few trinkets and furniture, but fortunately Shik unknowingly distracted her with a bag. “Oh? What’s in this?” she opened the bag and poked her head inside. “Ooooh.” Jay whistled as she pulled out one of the carvings, the crane. She revealed a toothy beam as she turned the statue over to allow the warrior to examine it closely.

“So you made this? That’s super cool! It’s a real shame the others got lost or broken, but that just leaves you more room to make lots of new ones, right? I look forward to seeing them because they’re really neat and pretty and detailed and skilled and—“ The war treat hopped onto her head to cease Jay’s jabbering. “Oops.”