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In retrospect, there was only one truly untoward thing that happened that afternoon, and it occurred just a few minutes after Myshtal apologized. The other three at the table were discussing some trip they had made together in the recent past when I felt something brush against my ankle.
For a second, I thought it was Nylerin playing footsies. It had become blatantly obvious very early on that Vicra was infatuated with Myshtal, and I picked up on strong romantic undercurrents almost every time he looked at her. To the extent that this could be viewed as a double date, she was with him while Nylerin was paired with me. That was seemingly why she had been flirting with me throughout lunch, giving me sly winks every now and then from across the table, as well as making a few double entendres during the course of the meal. At the moment, however, I wasn’t sensing the same coquettish buzz from her that I typically picked up whenever she batted an eye in my direction. Confused, I casually glanced under the table, and got one of the worst surprises of my life.
There, nuzzling up to my leg, was something that looked like a cross between a tarantula and a penguin – a furry, eight-legged monstrosity with four eyes and a beak.
My reactions all went on autopilot. I immediately teleported about ten feet away. My vanishing and reappearing so surprised everyone else at the table that all conversation came to an immediate halt, and Myshtal let out a slight gasp. I then telekinetically grabbed the creature that had been under the table and slammed it into the trunk of the tree we’d been sitting under, causing it let out a painful squeal. I then flung it out into the lake.
“Maja!” Nylerin suddenly screamed. A second later she had leaped away from the table and was running towards the lake like there was a man-eating grizzly chasing her.
“What the…?” I muttered as Nylerin went plunging into the water.
By this time, Myshtal and Vicra had stood up as well and had come over to join me in watching Nylerin’s antics, which I still hadn’t figured out.
“Thanks,” Myshtal said, giving me a smile.
“For what?” I asked, clearly confused.
“I hate that gnuglebbin,” she replied, obviously referring to the thing I had tossed into the lake. “But Nylerin insists on taking it everywhere. Maybe next time she’ll leave it at home.”
I blinked, as the truth suddenly became clear. “That thing’s a pet?”
It was,” Vicra said, also without a great deal of sympathy. “Unless by some miracle you didn’t kill it.”
