Maverick and Lok had just left. With nothing else to do, Clovus took out some pieces of wood and began carving.

 

Maaru was sitting in her corner as usual, though she was staring at Clovus work instead of carving herself. They had been working on this puppet for half a week now; it seemed that the pieces Clovus was carving now were the last.

 

Finishing up the last piece Clovus smiled to himself, he held the piece examining it closely. As he turned the piece around, he caught Maaru looking at him from the corner of his eye. He quickly grabbed a paper and wrote, “Sorry, were you talking to me? I was so focused, I kind of blocked everything out.” With an embarrassed expression, he began to rub the back of his neck. 

 

“Oh no, I was only watching you work.”

 

Clovus tilted his head.

 

“Excuse my forwardness. It amazes me how fast you were able to pick up carving and how precise your carvings are, especially at your level.”

 

Clovus blushed, instead of answering he held out his hand holding the last piece of the puppet.

 

Maaru stood up from her seat and walked over to Clovus. She took the last piece and gave it a close inspection. After inspecting the piece she looked back at Clovus with pleased eyes. 

 

“It’s perfect. You have amazed me this past week Clovus. I was already impressed with the abilities you have gained through your Grimoire, but you picked up on carving puppets like it was nothing.”

 

Maaru asked if Clovus could take out all of the puppet pieces from his storage ring. She began to arrange the pieces in their exact order. As she put the pieces together she told Clovus to remember where everything goes, he will have to put them back again once he threads all the pieces together. 

 

Once Maaru was finished, Clovus pulled a roll of brown thread out from his storage ring and began to thread all of the puppet pieces together. It took less than ten minutes for Clovus to thread the pieces. Before Clovus finished, Maaru took out a medium-sized gemstone of brown and green color. 

 

“Okay, let us finish this up. Tie off the end of your thread. Summon your Grimoire and produce a thread of essence after.”

 

Clovus did as he was told and produced a thread of essence. He looked up at Maaru when he was done. 

 

Maaru gazed at him in astonishment, "He summoned that thread in an instant! Most Ghrims aren't able to do that until at least a couple of weeks. Even though he has had his Grimoire for about a week, he hasn't been able to practice up until recently." She shook off her amazement and told Clovus, “We are going to complete it fully now.”

 

She handed the brown and green gemstone to Clovus. He took the gemstone and looked down at the puppet. It was a two meter-sized turtle. The majority of the turtle's body had the color of dark cherry -- besides the serrated edges of the turtle’s shell -- that was made of black oak.

 

“Take this gemstone and instill your thread of essence into the carving on the bottom of the shell.”

 

Clovus continued to do as she asked and instilled his thread into the carvings. Maaru had added some carvings to various pieces of the puppet as soon as Clovus finished them.

 

“Place the gemstone onto the carving, faceted side out, and keep your essence running through the carving until you will feel the need to stop.”

 

Clovus placed the gemstone into the divot on the bottom side of the turtle shell and watched as the gemstone adhered onto the carving filled with essence. A minute hadn’t passed before the turtle came “alive.”

 

As soon as the puppet came alive, Clovus’s Grimoire flipped to a new page and flashed in grey light. 

 

Maaru’s usual wooden expression changed into complete shock. “A-Another one?!!”

 

The grey light faded away and the blank page was now filled with writing. 

 

4. {Whispers of Past Craftsmen}

{While crafting -- regardless of method -- the Ghrim may hear the suggestions of deceased famous craftsmen.}

{Methods of Crafting}

• Wood-Carving
• Puppetry

 

***

 

“Congratulations on creating your first puppet, as well as gaining another ability.”

 

That was what Maaru had said before leaving the room. She wanted to go report this to Maverick herself instead of calling for them. 

 

Clovus agreed with her and awaited their return. Instead of the three of them returning, a jaguar puppet came to the door in place of them. Clovus let the puppet in and the jaguar dropped a scroll from its mouth onto the floor. The jaguar sauntered off to the corner that Maaru usually sat and laid down.

 

Clovus picked up the scroll and it read:

 

“First, Maverick and Lok congratulate you on your new ability. But, we decided that we should leave you alone until your examination date. You have gained a lot of new abilities since becoming a Ghrim, we want you to have some alone time to yourself to consolidate your abilities and become comfortable with them. I have left one of my puppets to look after you. You are free to stay in the infirmary until the date of examination or you can go back home if you want. The puppet will follow you anywhere regardless. See you until then unless you need anything, there is an emergency gemstone under the jaguar’s chin, press on it if you need any help.”

 

Clovus looked over the note and rolled it back up. He looked at the jaguar and smiled, it was acting like a house cat, all curled up and sleeping in the corner. He got up from the bed and began to pack his stuff. He had decided that he wanted to stay at home since they felt that it was safe enough. He stored all of his belongings into his storage ring and turned to Pama, who had been laying next to his bed the entire time. 

 

Come on Pama, let’s go home.

 

Pama flapped his ears in excitement. Clovus strode over to the jaguar and tapped its head, it stirred and stood-up to follow him.

 

Clovus exited the infirmary room and passed by the nurse station, there were some doctors there as well. Clovus wrote his thanks to them and said goodbye. They wished him well and they turned towards the exit. After they exited the infirmary building, Clovus got on top of Pama’s large back and patted his neck.

 

Let’s go.

 

Pama started to trot home without any further encouragement. The jaguar was easily keeping pace behind them. 

 

They came up to the house after a while and Clovus noticed four more jaguar puppets in front of their house door. 

 

It seems that Maaru included more security just in case. 

 

Clovus felt relieved, he already felt safe with the one jaguar puppet but the more the merrier. As Clovus and Pama reached the front door, a small sparrow landed on the handle of the door. Upon closer inspection Clovus realized that it was also a puppet. He got off of Pama’s back and took the puppet into his hands. Another note was attached to one of its feet.

 

“Upon activating the small gemstone on the head, it will act as a conduit and summon one of my stronger puppets to help you in an emergency.”

 

Even more emergency items…

 

Clovus was happy that Maaru was giving him space but wasn’t slacking when it came to security. Clovus looked up at the sky before placing the sparrow on his shoulder and heading inside.

 

It’s already getting dark outside, finishing up the turtle puppet took longer than I thought. I’ll just train in the living room with the puppets. But first, let’s make some dinner.

 

After entering the house, Clovus and Pama continued into the kitchen while the jaguar puppet stayed in the foyer, laying down. Clovus went to the large chest on top of the kitchen counter. He opened it, reaching in he took some meat out along with some vegetables. The chest was outfitted with ice gemstones and formulas, allowing food to stay cool without spoiling. He pulled out a step-stool and got on to start the stove, also outfitted with gemstones and formulas to create a flame, and placed a pan atop it. As the pan heated up, he quickly cut the vegetables and meat. He threw everything into the pot and let it cook together, he added some water after awhile with some herbs and spices, turning it into a stew. Lowering the heat and covering the pot, he let the stew simmer for awhile. He lit a long incense stick to keep track of the time. 

 

He cleaned up the dirty knives and cutting board, and fed the vegetable scraps to Pama. Clovus took a look out the window and noticed that there was still some light out. 

 

Okay Pama, let’s go grab your food before it’s completely dark.

 

They hurried to the backdoor and into the garden. Clovus grabbed two wicker baskets and hung one on either side of Pama’s horns. He also grabbed a hand sickle to harvest the vegetables. They went around the garden pulling and cutting various vegetables until both of the baskets were completely full. 

 

They brought the vegetables to the water pump and washed the dirt off of them. They cleaned themselves up and went back into the house, putting the two baskets on top of the counter. Clovus looked at the incense and saw that there was still some time left before the stew was done. He took out both of his new puppets from his storage ring and summoned his grimoire as well, easily producing a thread of essence. 

 

Might as well practice until dinner is done.

 

He decided to practice with the turtle puppet since he had already been practicing with the snake for some time now. He put the snake puppet back into his storage ring. Maaru had been teaching him a few different ways to fight with puppets. Using the animal characteristics of the puppets design, the puppet as a weapon, or the puppets hidden abilities.

 

Maaru and Clovus had both agreed on the design of the turtle. They had chosen a turtle so that Clovus could use the puppet as an active shield. Clovus pulled his thread of essence and made the turtle puppet fly to be right in front of him. It was suspended in the air, held up by the thread of essence. The size of the puppet already covered ⅔ of Clovus’s body, but with his will, the turtle’s wooden pieces expanded to where it was now covering his entire body.

 

This should be able to protect me from most attacks. 

 

Keeping up the size of the turtle spent a little more essence than controlling it normally but Clovus wanted to test out how long he could keep this going. He pulled the puppet around him so that he got used to the weight. The more comfortable he got, the faster he was able to pull the puppet. After about 15 minutes, he stopped with sweat starting to form on his forehead. 

 

Hmm. It seems like this is my limit. In its normal size, I might be able to control it for about ten more minutes. Okay, let’s just stop for today.

 

He went to grab a towel and wipe the sweat off of his face. Pama was laying down as Clovus was practicing but got up as he saw Clovus head into the kitchen. Clovus looked at the incense and saw that it was about to go out. He walked over to the stove and stepped-up to lift the lid of the pot. The stew was simmering perfectly. He grabbed a wooden ladle and stirred the stew around, lifting the ladle to his lips to taste it. After he added some spices and turned the stove off. Clovus grabbed the baskets full of vegetables and placed them onto Pama’s large bowl that was on the floor.

 

We’re gonna have to get you a bigger bowl soon Pama. 

 

Pama sat in front of his bowl watching Clovus prep his dinner, it was really just him mixing the vegetables together. Clovus finished Pama’s dinner and went to grab his dinner. He went to one of the cabinets grabbing a bowl and headed towards the stove. He scooped some stew into his bowl and went to grab bread from the bread box. After he sat at the dinner table and looked towards Pama.

 

Dig in!

 

They began eating at the same time. Clovus was tearing pieces of his bread and dipping them into the stew.

 

It’s not too bad. The bread is hard but that’s because no one was here for a while.

 

The two of them ate everything and Clovus cleaned the kitchen up. 

 

Pama, I think it’s time for bed. I’m getting really tired.

 

Clovus rubbed Pama’s head, whose eyes looked sleepy as well, and headed towards their room. He quickly changed and got atop his bed. Pama made a move to join him but the bed creaked as Pama placed one hoof up. Clovus quickly placed his hand up stopping Pama.

 

Wait Pama! I’ll just come down to join you instead. I think the bed will break if you come up here.

 

Pama looked at Clovus with sorry eyes and watched as Clovus brought his pillow and blanket to the floor. Pama curled up and Clovus curled up alongside him.

 

Goodnight Pama. I wonder what Kandor has planned for tonight.