Monstrous Compendium Ch3 bit – Hatchling

“Yui.” Tetsutora’s expression softened. “Where did ye find the hatchling? I’ve heard a mort of rumors, and that name-!”

“It’s the name she knows, and claims as hers.” Stheno’s gaze lingered on the pillow-nest. “I will not take it from her.”

“That’s as may be, but ‘tis a mite unsettling,” Tetsutora admitted. “I’d wager half the reason the Council of Lords was wary of Beniryuu’s plan was the humans’ names. Sound straight from Riedra, they do.”

“You should know,” Stheno said dryly.

“Ha! And aye, I should. Who better?” the weretiger chuckled. “But truly. Ye have had the child’s mind checked, have ye not? Ye know the terrible fate some Inspired can lay on a soul. ‘Tis not often it takes on youkai, but if a mind seed sprouts….”

“We’ve checked,” Stheno said bluntly. Even among the youkai, not many knew the true horror rare quori-possessed Inspired could inflict on another mind; implanting a telepathic parasite that would remake its host into something as evil as the quori themselves. And humans called lycans monsters. “Yui is herself. Only a little girl.” She grimaced. “Apparently they found it more interesting to test her abilities untouched, rather than make her yet another of the Inspired’s tools.” She shuddered. “It’s not as if a medusa would be a valuable agent in demi-human lands, anyway. They’d kill her on sight.”

“Which feeds the rumors.” Tetsutora tapped nails against an unseen table. “How did such a young one survive in human lands?”

Stheno smiled, just a little. “With unexpected help.”

The shaman’s eyes narrowed into wary slits. “Why do I have this terrible feeling when ye say that?”

“Terrible? Me?” Stheno bit back a snicker. “It’s not my fault if the Karrnathi wizards tend to ignore odd twists of fortune when they cast their divinations. Who would ever expect a werewolf to come through the change sane? Much less with their own heart.”

“Now I know ye did something.” Tetsutora leaned back in her chair. “I’ll not ask for details, mind… but ’twould this have aught to do with why the Brelish patrols out of Orcbone have been a mite touchy these past months?”

“Oh, it might,” Stheno said, with a great deal of satisfaction. “It very much might. Let’s just say, the wizards had associates in Breland – interesting, how the crowns tend to ignore the dragonmarked Houses at play – and our wolf swordsman might have been Brelish, before he took refuge with us?” She narrowed her eyes, reflexively looking away before her gaze could impact Tetsutora’s. “A Brelish swordsman who went missing with a young recruit from Orcbone in the first place, five years ago. Deaths without bodies, blamed on us. And now the live wolf is here, with his own small pack. I do so enjoy the irony.”