"You control them..." Raizen whispered.
"NO WAY! I just ask nicely!" Elin corrected. "They answer. Sometimes they tell me no."
He could not tell if she was joking. She probably wasn't.
They crossed close enough to the river that mist brushed his face. The water here was dark but clean, smooth, carrying faint reflections of lichen and colorful light.
Raizen noticed small shapes moving just below the surface.
Tiny fish, glowing along their fins. Some had wings where fins should be. One darted up, broke the surface briefly, skipped on the water surface for a bit, then went back under.
"Ukai hunted in the upper forest" Elin said, tone casual. "Beasts, sometimes normal animals, Nyxes when they come too close. You saw a little of that. You saw one of their mistakes."
Her gaze tracked the river as they walked.
"Down here" she went on, "they can't hunt."
"Because you say so?" Raizen asked.
"Because I made it that way."
"What do you mean?"
