Caleybrae Ch 4

In the world as we know it, there are no such colors as true black or white. Shadows are composed of a mixture of colors, greys and complementaries and shades, but no blacks. As any painter of skill can tell you, if you put true black or true white in your painting, the observer's eye is immediately drawn to it.

Which clearly tells you that Tic and Tac would be terrible ninjas.

Looking at Tic and Tac causes some part of your eye to melt, for Tic is true white, and Tac is true black, each with matching sets of tiny, defunct wings. As ferrets, they have markings, which is the same neutral shade of grey for each on their backs and masks. They had a strangely cartoony look to them, which was really grating to any mortal gaze expecting normalcy.*

*Ferretlings were created when a certain god, who usually kept his abode spotless, had forgotten to sweep under his couch. One thing led to another, and the first ferretlings—kin to, but more importantly, hunters of dust bunnies—were born. **

** You must think it's ridiculous that almost everything in this world has so called "divine origins". Well, so do the mortals. They've even come up with myths and "scientific theories" to prove otherwise, but the hard truth is that nearly everything of any import has its roots in either the intentional or careless actions of some god or another. And it’s usually the latter.

To the gods, the mortal world is an unfortunate hitch in their plans, and whether it continues indefinitely or explodes one day in apocalyptic fury is beyond their caring. Their only plans are eat, drink, revel, diet, meet with Aunt Hilda, please the wife…y’know, that sort of thing.

But anyways, back to our ferretlings.

Even with all of the above, one of their strangest features is surely their eyes. That eyes are windows to the soul is clearly a metaphor, for everyone but Tic and Tac. For Tic and Tac, their eyes are windows indeed, but, rather than their soul, they reflect whatever is behind them. When looking into their eyes, it gives an eerily 2D effect. And before my reader lynches the author that I said "soul" rather than "souls," I must state that all ferretlings are made in bonded pairs, and share a single soul.*** So hush.

***This was at first a manufacturing error, but the gods kept it, knowing that if all else failed, the humans at least would give spiritual and metaphorical significance where there was none.

Much to Aedan's headache and Oran's delight, the sharing of a single soul meant that Tic and Tac could finish each other's sentences, and in fact communicate only half a conversation out loud and still understand each other.

"Because then, there would be a cheeseburger on the plate."

"Right, right. But cheeseburgers don't get pickles."

"Yeah they do! They do! I know they do because I've had it!"

"No no, cheeseburgers don't have lettuce."

Tic arched his back and war-danced in the air, which is a kind of flailing hopping that some mistake for a seizure, but is in fact a sign of ultimate excitement. Tac responded in kind and they rolled together in the air, before breaking apart and chasing each other in circles around Oran's head.

"What are you guys talking about?" Aedan asked, almost afraid to know.

"Politics," Tac said, and then pounced Tic again, bounding after him.

Oran smiled amiably at Aedan. "I sure wish politics was that easy. Don't you, mate?"

"Um. I'm not sure I want our Prime Minister pouncing on the foreign ambassador and chomping on his ear."

"Sure would be interesting, though!"

Aedan gave Oran a sideways glance, still completely unnerved by his arrival. The bird-boy had swept down upon him in the night, startling him awake, and proclaimed that he would make dinner. Tic and Tac had been perched on his shoulder grinning like carnival masks. That had been the first he'd ever seen of the ferretlings, and it was very much a shock.

He seemed nice enough...but he was certainly strange to look at. He seemed to be part bird. Crow, to be exact. His arms seemed to be part wings, and his feet were all bird. It unnerved him. Somehow he managed pale skin to contrast the black feathers. Currently he was cooking breakfast, a scrumptious pancake and berry concoction.

"So...why are you here, again?" Aedan shifted his weight uncomfortably on the ground.

"I have been looking for you, Eethan."

"Aedan," he corrected softly. "It's an ay-sound."

"Oh. Sorry! Yes, Aethan. You can hear my friends here. I was just curious why." He flipped the fruit-pancakes over the stove and smiled. He really was a nice guy.

"I don't know."

"Oh, born with it? Cause I was born with mortal eyes." He nodded sympathetically.

"Really? No, wait, no. No I wasn't born with it. I woke up with it a couple days ago."

"Oh." He frowned slightly. "No clue why?"

He hesitated. Should he tell him? He finally shrugged mutely, leaving Oran to interpret it. And, he interpreted it surprisingly correctly as "I don't feel like telling you right now."

"That's alright," he said out loud. "Pancakes are up, with plenty of butter and syrup!"

Tic poked his head over the rock and hopped. "Oh good! I'm starving!"

"Me too," Tac acknowledged.