Chapter 298: Grub

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you would know.”

“My friend, I can assure you that green grubs that glow like starlight are not a common sight in my grove. I would go so far as to say that I doubt anyone from my grove has ever come across a creature such as this, else I would have heard it mentioned.”

Tegwyn held the grub carefully in the palm of his hand, examining the small creature with studious intensity. The grub, still emitting its ethereal light, looked almost like a jewel. The only sign that it was a living entity and not some trinket carved from precious stones was the occasional twitch and flex of its body. Tegwyn ran one finger down the length of the grub, the wonder obvious in his eyes.

“Where did you come across such a thing?” Tegwyn asked, not taking his eyes off of the glowing creature.

“Villthyrial gave it to me while I was visiting Destarious.”

The Dryad stilled as his gaze lifted to Jay sitting across from him.

“I do not yet know you well enough to understand your sense of humor.”

“I’m not joking,” Jay shook her head, expression as grave as a tombstone.

“Yeah, if I were joking it would be me making the joke,” Syd added from where she sat off to one side while cleaning a piece of her armor.

Tegwyn’s eyes darted back and forth between Jay and Syd, likely looking for some sign that this was a prank being played. Finding no evidence of such, he slowly settled back in his seat while giving Jay a serious and considering look.

“You accomplished much during your private meeting in the woods.”

“A fair amount, yes,” Jay nodded. Then, after a short pause, she clarified. “Eir is an Oracle. We used the time to reach out to Destarious.”

An unreadable expression flickered across the Dryad’s face. He considered Jay for a moment longer before leaning forward and speaking softly.

“I take it that this is information that you, Eir, and the rest of your companions does not wish to be divulged to the public at large.”

“No, we don’t,” Jay confirmed. “No one outside of Fortune’s Favored knows her class.”

Tegwyn looked around the interior of the wagon-tent that Jadis had invited the Dryad into. The rest of her companions were gathered inside except for Kerr, who was patrolling the camp and keeping an eye out for anyone who might be trying to listen in on their private conversation. All the other women were sitting or standing along the outer edge of the tent tarps, discussing various topics. They weren’t shouting or anything overt, but they weren’t being quiet either. The constant stream of chatter acted as an additional barrier to anyone who might be trying to eavesdrop on Jadis and Tegwyn’s quiet discussion.

“Then I swear to you now that the information you have trusted me with shall never pass my lips outside of your or Eir’s presence,” Tegwyn spoke seriously, not a hint of his usually playful demeanor about him. “I swear it by my roots.”

“Thank you,” Jay nodded. “Also, and this is kind of beside the point, but I want you to consider this as sort of an acceptance of your proposition earlier. If you want to join Fortune’s Favored, you are welcome to.”

Tegwyn smiled then, a twinkle shining in his eye.

“Excellent! I had been considering immediately setting sail for distant shores once we got to this city on the coast I’ve heard tell of, but I find the prospect of having good company at hand rather than strange sailors much more to my liking.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Jay grinned at the man. Then, motioning with a nod of her head, she redirected the conversation back to the grub. “So. What do you think about the little green glowworm?”

“Even before the revelation of its origin, I can tell that it holds great magical power,” Tegwyn mused. “The magic is practically overflowing from this small creature. Again, I have never seen anything quite like this before, so my experience is limited.”

“Can you talk to it?” Jay asked, head tilted to one side.

Tegwyn leaned back, giving her a strange look.

“Jadis. This is a grub.”

“I know that,” Jay quickly said while shrugging. “But you’re a Dryad. You all talk to animals and shit like that, don’t you? Can’t you, I don’t know, say ‘hello’ to this little guy and figure out what going on with it?”

Letting out a bark of exasperated laughter, Tegwyn shook his head while rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“My friend. I am a Dryad, yes, but we do not speak with animals. We can communicate with them, as in we can understand their intentions and make our own will known to them, but animals have no true language. An elk does not know what books or shoes are and has no words for them. Further, the simpler the animal the less understanding they have. Insects are… extremely lacking. Few of them have more than the ideas of ‘eat’ and ‘fight’ and ‘breed’. The information one can gain from a grub is generally limited to whether or not they are hungry.”

“Well, what about a magic grub?” Jay pointed to the glowing creature. “I mean, that thing clearly isn’t a normal insect. Magic beasts are usually more intelligent than regular beasts, right? Doesn’t it stand to reason that this little bug might have more intelligence to it?”

“A sound idea,” Tegwyn made a face. “In theory, at least. However, the only thing that this grub is communicating to me right now is that it is generally comfortable where it is and is growing a little hungry. Again, it’s not like talking to a person, you understand. I can’t ask a grub questions. It doesn’t have the ability to understand what a question is.”

 “Alright, got it. No Dryad magic to make this easier,” Jay sighed as she leaned back. “How about this. Based on the knowledge that your patron god, Villthyrial, gave me this weird glowing bug, what do you think he intended for me to do with it? Because I have got to tell you Teg, I don’t have a clue.”

The Dryad glanced up at Jay, eyeing her with a smirk. He silently mouthed the word “Teg” at her, which she responded to with a shrug. Shaking his horned head, he huffed out a breath and resumed his focus on the grub.

“Well, considering both the gift and its source, I would say there are two possibilities that are most likely. The first being, our Father may intend for you to eat it.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Of course,” Tegwyn motioned to the grub. “There are tales and parables of long past encounters between Heroes of old and Villthyrial giving gifts that when eaten bestowed great power. Now, to be fair, those gifts were usually described as fruit of some kind, or as in the tale of the Verdant Knight and the Glowering Roc, it was a small stone that the hero had to swallow. In any case, Villthyrial’s blessings often come in the form of a bounty meant to be consumed.”

Jay eyed the wriggling worm with a newfound sense of distaste.

“I don’t really want to eat this thing,” she muttered sourly.

“Even if it would grant you great power if you did so? In that same tale, the Verdant Knight gained the ability to turn his skin to stone at will, becoming a nigh unstoppable juggernaut. It was that power that allowed him to defeat the ancient Roc that threatened his kingdom.”

Jadis wasn’t too sure about the whole “turning her skin to stone” thing, but she couldn’t deny the appeal of being granted some magical power from a god. She really didn’t want to eat a grub, especially since she doubted she would be allowed to cook it first. Somehow, pan frying the magical worm seemed like it would take all the magic out of it. Still, based off of the vibes Villthyrial gave her during their short encounter, she didn’t think he was trying to trick her or anything. This grub was definitely supposed to be a reward. Maybe his gift would give her some crazy ability that would be extremely useful to her. It was worth consideration, at least.

“What’s the other possibility?”

“Rather than eating, the intention may be for you to care for the grub,” Tegwyn advised as he carefully passed the worm back to Jay. “This is, after all, the nascent form of something that has yet to come. Whatever this grub may one day transform into could be the true gift Villthyrial meant for you to have.”

That… made more sense to Jadis. A lot more sense, the more she thought about it. If Villthyrial had wanted her to eat his gift, was there any reason why he wouldn’t wrap it in a more palatable shape? A strawberry or something like it would go over with her a lot better than a worm.

“Of course, you may still end up having to eat whatever this grub grows into.”

“Seriously?” Jay gave Tegwyn a disgusted look.

“What? It’s a grub. Probably it will grow into a moth or a beetle of some kind. Those can make fine meals.”

“Okay, well, putting aside eating the damn bug for now,” Jay rolled her eyes, “how do I care for it?”

“It has a similar appearance to the grubs of certain types of tree beetles I know of. I will prepare you a mix of earth and roots to put inside a container for the creature. Some honey won’t go amiss, either. With your permission, I’ll keep a careful eye on the grub to make sure that it stays well.”

Jay nodded in appreciation.

“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that.”

Tegwyn stood to go then, but before he could walk away Jay rose and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look up at her questioningly.

“One last question, actually. When it comes to ‘communicating’ with animals, like my new goats, are there any tips you can give me? I mean, from what you said it sounds like it isn’t all that straight forward.”

“It is and it isn’t,” Tegwyn shrugged. “There are skills and spells that can make it easier, and we Dryads have an innate understanding that those not of our kin do not possess. Those factors aside, the main thing I would advise you to remember should you wish to communicate better with your goats is that they are not Nephilim.”

“…I know they aren’t Nephilim,” Jay replied dryly.

“Yes, you know that intellectually, but you likely aren’t thinking about the differences between a sentient mortal such as yourself and a beast such as a stone crusher goat. From my observations of you, I would say that you are generally quite good at reading people. You understand body language well and can interpret facial expressions and tone with great accuracy. It’s part of what makes you so easy to talk to and why others enjoy your company. You understand them, and they understand you because you know how to make yourself understood in the same way.

“However, when it comes to an animal like a goat, there are differences in how they think and understand the world around them that would invalidate your experience. For example, that lovely grin you so often shine towards others is charmingly roguish, much like my own. It puts most people at ease and makes them feel friendly towards you. Grinning at a goat does not do the same. A goat sees another animal that is baring its sharp teeth at it, not unlike a snarling wolf or bear. A grin is a threat to a goat, not a sign of friendliness. That is the sort of thinking that will serve you when trying to interact with an animal on their terms.”

Jadis nodded along to Tegwyn’s words. His advice was useful, though she had no plans on applying it to the four goats in her possession. No, her mind was focused on Alex, her strange little demon, currently curled up inside of a crate in the wagon.

She had been using body language to express herself to Alex and communicate basic concepts, which had shown some success. But looking at it from the perspective of Tegwyn’s guidance, she was probably going about it all wrong. She’d been trying to get Alex to understand her, when really, she needed to focus on understanding Alex. The demon wasn’t a human. Yes, she’d confirmed that Alex was sentient, there was no doubt left in her mind on that front. But she still wasn’t a human, or rather, a mortal being in the same sense as Jadis or her companions were. Even if Jadis had shown up on Oros unable to understand a single word out of Aila’s mouth, she and Aila still would have been able to communicate with each other decently well. They had a lot of things in common, after all, despite their many differences. They both had the same general body shapes. They both ate the same things, drank the same things, had childhoods that followed similar developmental cycles. Fuck, they both breathed air, didn’t they? The same could not be said for Alex on any of those points. She was a truly alien form of life.

That, Jadis realized, was going to be the key to truly communicating with Alex. The demon had been doing all the work so far, moving and acting and even speaking in ways that were intentionally easy for Jadis to understand. Now it was Jadis’ turn. To connect with Alex, she needed to learn how to speak Demon.

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