Natasha the Halve

Once we made it to our place, I sat down at the table and took out the booklet about Corvitex.

Owning an animal is a serious responsibility, after all.

Lapia sat next to me while Yolin and Alyssa went to the bedroom.

A headache began forming after reading the first three pages.

'The Corvitex, referred to as the “Talking Raven” when first discovered by Deezvir Tawx during the Second Age of E'er, is an E'eral beast indigenous to the North of Patuk. There are at least twenty six raven subspecies with little variation in appearance, and is one of five that have the capacity for complex speech. The Corvitex is the smallest species of raven in Galeia, which helps to differentiate them from the rest at a glance, or a chat.

Although the Corvitex can be seen flying around all over Galeia, they lay their eggs exclusively in Patuk near the Blazing Fields of Ushur and take advantage of the high temperatures during summer for protection from predators.

These interesting animals have a cognitive development of seven out of ten in the Dronov's scale of mental capacity. This means they cannot tell a lie. We advice any owners to train their Corvitex to avoid answering questions from strangers if secrecy is needed.

The Nuraga Feeding Trials before the end of the Second Age of E'er have placed Corvitex as carnivores that can eat any and all kind of meat and bones.

Interestingly enough, Corvitex see bones as a currency of sorts when doing or receiving favours. They can try to trick people so they get free bones, too.

During long travels they can hunt or scavenge depending on the location. This makes them a mostly independent animal if their levels are sufficient for the task.

It's not uncommon to see a Corvitex accompanying a Halve. Her Excellence Nilenna owns a rave consisting of eighty four Corvitex which she uses for various purposes like delivering letters and aiding her in combat, for instance. Kezh Mazino owned a rave of sixteen Corvitex which he used to deliver letters(…).'

-Crucial Corvitex Care Codex, Adalon Somik, Archivist. 1632, Yiama's Era, Fifth Age of E'er. 72^nd revision of the original publication by Deezvir Tawx, 72.312, Danuva's Era, Second Age of E'er.

I stored the book and rubbed my temples.

It felt like reading a thick encyclopedia article. Still highly informative, though. I still had the Uger meat from Mountroad's dungeon to feed Pyotr so that was nice.

I turned to Lapia who was reading a book of her own and had at some point started playing with my hair. “Did you know Corvitex can learn languages easier than people?” I shared some of my new knowledge.

The Elf nodded with and impressed face. “I did not. That's pretty cool,” she replied while reading.

I reached out for her long ear and used a finger to make it bounce up and down.

Lapia slapped my hand away and grunted. “Stop that,” she warned me.

I stopped and chuckled, “I like your ears.”

She arched an eyebrow. “They're just ears,” she pointed out the obvious, not looking away from the book.

“I think they're cute,” I insisted and brushed her hair. “You're cute, Lala.”

The Wizard blushed and slowly nodded. “Thank you,” she muttered. “Will you let me read?”

I giggled at her reaction and hummed. “What are you reading?” I probed.

She shrugged and replied, “A few notations I've made so far.”

“About?” I inquired in interest.

“You.” Still looking at the book.

“Me?” I was a bit confused.

“That's right,” she muttered and flipped a page.

I thought for a second and reached absolute enlightenment. If the moment was a scene in a movie, Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim would play on the background for sure. “Ah... your research?”

“Correct.” Lapia nodded.

I hummed again and leaned back on the chair. “How is it going?”

She took a deep breath and wobbled her head a few times. “Pretty good I'd say. Three dungeon delves gave me a lot of data.” Her eyebrows scrunched up a bit and sighed. “I'm a little stuck on the specifics about Bond E'er Transmission and if a Halve makes leveling more efficient due to your affinity with it.”

“Ah,” I uttered in understanding. Or an attempt at it. The general concept wasn't hard to grasp, but the specifics escaped me. “What's the next step?”

Lapia chuckled. “I'll ask Yolin who is an experienced Chaser with more than a century and a half of leveling up. I want to have some concrete numbers before getting her feedback on it, though. My own experience is lacking in that regard.”

“How is it lacking if you don't mind me asking?” I pinched her cheek.

She smiled and took my hand, then locked our fingers. “Well, I went from 300 to 800 in a week and I was working in an office before meeting you so my perspective on level gains is quite incomplete for what I'm going for.”

“I see,” I muttered with a nod. “I won't annoy you, then.”

“You're not annoying,” she corrected me with a sigh.

I chuckled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then looked around the apartment.

Pokora was looking in our direction from the living room and wearing an amused smile.

I stood up and walked towards her, then sat on the sofa in front of her, across a low table.

“Ah,” the Archer uttered, raising an eyebrow and twirling an invisible mustache. Then continued in an exaggerated German accent, “Miss Novak. I've been expecting you.”

“Dr. Pez'che,” I challenged her skit in an attempt at an English accent. “I had a hard time finding you after the Africa fiasco.” I checked my nails as if to belittle her presence and continued. “Your goons are quite lacking, I must add.”

“Stop playing silly games, Miss Novak,” Pokora continued in a warning tone. “Where is...” she stopped and squinted at me, probably thinking thinking what to go with. “The Staff of Ra? My men have searched far and wide, Miss Novak. After you went through the pyramids the staff is nowhere to be found.”

Oh, okay. We're going with archaeologists? I thought she was a mad scientist, I thought. So I went through the pyramids already? That narrows it down quite a bit. “You can't trick me with such cheap tricks, Dr. Pez'che. I know your right hand... man has the staff. He took it from the Emperor's Tomb.”

“Pharaoh, Miss Novak,” she corrected me with an exceedingly smug tone. “I know you didn't finish your courses at university in order to chase ancient treasures, but please use the proper words. Hohohohoho,” she laughed like a rich lady from an anime... for some reason. “Besides, Armando got lost in a weed cave,” she sighed in lament. “Even though I warned him 'Zis is ein cave full of blüntsmoken'. He served me well even if he was an undergraduate.”

I covered my mouth and held back a laugh.

“Yeah,” she began with a smile, abandoning the German accent. “I win.”

I took a deep breath but ended up laughing in the end. “Anyway,” I chuckled, then retrieved the Galeian Armory cards I bought and put them on the table.

Pokora eyed the leather boxed and raised her eyebrows. “What are those?”

“Cards,” I replied and opened the deck box. I pushed another deck box towards her. “Wanna play?”

“Sure.” She shrugged and took the box.

We read the rule books that came with the decks then played a few matches.

The deck I opened was focused on dragons and extending the match. Interestingly enough, dragons gained one point of power every turn.

Pokora's deck was focused on military might, where units gained power every time she played one.

Both of us won a match each.

“Pretty fun,” Pokora pointed out after her win.

I nodded and produced the pack boxes. “Let's see what lady luck has in store.”

“How much money did you spend?” she asked a little surprised.

I shrugged. “Fifty gold coins.”

“You're going to run out of money if you keep spending like that,” she warned me.

I looked up at her and smiled. “I have over eleven trillion gold coins,” I informed her.

“Fuck off,” she chuckled. “No way you have THAT much money.”

I sighed, “Oh ye of little faith.”

She groaned and rubbed her temples. “Why so much?”

“Probably reparations?” I wondered. “Hell wasn't kind.”

“That sounds more like a reward than reparations,” she pointed out. “Still, that's a disgusting amount of money.”

“It is,” I replied with a nod and pushed two boxes in her direction. “Let me know if a Halve shows up.”

“Okay.” She took a box and opened it. “Why did you buy these, by the way?”

“Well,” I chuckled. “Nilenna mentioned in a letter this card game is really popular with Royalty and Nobility. We'll be meeting some in a few days so I bought these just in case. Plus, it can be a fun hobby.”

“Fair,” she agreed and got to opening the cards.

I had good luck with dragon units, but most where expensive and had abilities that required at least two other dragons in play to activate. One of the more interesting ones could breathe poison and deal one point of damage to enemy units for five turns, even those that were played after the effect took place, but it required two dragons with five points of power in the battlefield.

Another one was a Storm Dragon who summoned a lightning storm every time the enemy attacked, dealing two damage to every attacker. It was unable to block units by itself but it was still pretty good.

I got a few useful monster units while Pokora got a lot of useful 'people' units.

The beings ruling the cosmos smiled on me, however, when I opened the last pack.

A golden person with a gentle smile stared at me from the card.

“Oh,” I uttered and inspected the Halve card. “Fucking finally.”

The item had a drawing of a female golden Halve with a pixie cut resting her hands on her wide hips. She wore a Witch-like, black dress and a similarly themed hat that leaned towards the back. Her face was really detailed and her eyes had the same horizontal line as my own. She was quite beautiful in a motherly way that made me a little wary. A piece of rock floated behind her in the distance. On top of the drawing it read: Anna Morgh, Halven Wizard. On the top left corner, a golden circle held the number ten. On the top right corner, a blue sphere held the number five. Right beneath the drawing, a small box held the following text: 'Lifting the people, literally. When Anna Morgh comes into play, lift your Country (It can only be attacked by units capable of flight). If you have at least four units capable of flight with a total of twenty power, summon Anna Morgh from your deck or your hand for free. Anna Morgh was born in the south-east of Makah. Her exact birthday is unknown'.

“Let's fucking goooo!” I cheered and laughed.

Pokora looked up from her pile of cards and smiled. “A Halve?”

I nodded. “Anna Morgh. Quite the coincidence.”

The Elf chuckled and shook her head. “What a name, right?”

I tilted my head in confusion, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. “What do you mean?”

Pokora raised her eyebrows. “Anna Morgh... Morganna?” she supplied. “A powerful Wizard Halve has a very similar name to a powerful enchantress from Arthurian legends. That's really setting my conspiracy theorist alarm off.”

I leaned back on the sofa and gave it a thought. “While that could be, to split a name into two is a bit of a stretch. Not improbable, though. I don't have my patronymic name anymore, after all.”

“Oh?” Pokora looked at me with interest in her eyes. “What was it?”

“Nikolayevna,” I replied.

Her face slowly morphed into a stupid grin.

“Don't you dare,” I warned her, familiar with the reaction.

“Just once?” she pleaded while trying not to smile. “I swear I won't mention it again.”

I sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”

“No Nut November is pretty hard with you, I bet,” she cackled.

“Fuck off,” I groaned and shook my head. “Now it's Nonstop Nut Natasha,” I laughed, choosing to laugh at it instead of getting angry.

Pokora burst in laughter and I joined her.