Akamir blinked slowly.
"All right," he muttered. "That's… definitely weird."
Inara slowly opened her eyes as a faint smile formed on her lips. "I told you it would be."
"But," he said, tilting his head, "not laughable. Just strange. Is this magic?"
Inara knelt and stretched out her hand.
A little hedgehog toddled over and nudged against her fingers.
"I don't know what it is exactly," she said.
"It started when I was a child. Animals… just come to me. They're not scared. I don't call them, not really. They just know."
"That's not normal," Akamir said, his eyes narrowing slightly with curiosity. "Do you control them?"
"No. That's the thing. I can't. They come if they want to. Leave if they want to." She looked at him.
"But they never hurt me. Even wolves. Even the wildest ones."
One of the rabbits hopped near Akamir and sniffed at his boot before darting back toward Inara's feet.
"So," he said slowly, "you're like some kind of forest princess."
"I am a princess."
