James was trotting along merrily, tail swishing back and forth. Behind him waddled Darling, keeping up rather well despite the horse's fast pace. She looked annoyed, but followed anyway with a great heaving sigh. The trials and tribulations of a familiar.

He slowed to a halt as he saw the bird-like beast, with wings and a weird neck-head, with a mouth that unzipped like a Hellswan.

Darling walked forward to stand beside James, inspecting the beast before honking loudly, bending her head to preen her feathers.

"Hello?", James asked, head cocked, "Um... who are you? Are you palace staff?"

Oh dear, was this path off limits?

Darling walked forward, craning her neck to look up at Isolde, absolutely fearless. She honked again and ruffled her feathers, miffed that there was someone in their way.

James shook his head, "No, I'm just a visitor. I'm James and this is Darling, do you have a name?"

Darling honked at Isolde again and flapped her wings, their head and throat opening, mouth extending way past where her mouth should have been, nearly to her chest, much like Isolde's own maw. She hissed and flapped her wings menacingly (though compared to a 7 foot behemoth like Isolde, it was just funny).

"Darling, don't hiss at people," James scolded lightly, "Unless they're jerks."

The swan craned her head and squinted at James, tempted to bite him, before walking over to the edge of the path and nibbling at some berries on a bush instead.

"Sorry...", James said, "I just recently made her my familiar, we're getting used to it still."

Oh Darling did not like that. She whipped her head around, absolutely offended, and ran at Isolde, nipping and biting at their leg before a silent command from James made her back off, her feathers ruffled and hissing up an angry storm.

"Darling, calm," James said, "They didn't mean it, settle down."

The swan looked about ready to bite him next, hissing at him too before turning around and sulking.

"She's a lesser that I used magic on," he explained, "We're now mentally linked. I know where she is at all times and vice versa, and I can see through her eyes, talk through her mouth, even transfer my consciousness into her if I wish. Though uh... all my attempts thus far have been unfortunately unsuccessful."

He looked back at his unruly familiar and winced, "We're still working out our relationship... she can't talk or understand much, but she's very uh... emotionally adept. Which means she can tell intent and such, but it also means she gets aggressive over the slightest negative emotion."

That might be his fault, he was very empathetic and often wore his heart on his sleeve.

"She only makes those sounds. She's not like you and me, and can't speak or comprehend complicated thoughts or even emotions. She can't understand that you're not intending to be aggressive, for example. She hears you hissing and sees it as a sign that you are going to attack so she reacts," he explained, "She's upset because I told her off. I'm trying to teach her to be polite to those who haven't proven themselves to be enemies, but it's like... hm. It's like telling a bird not to fly. Even if you intend to allow them later and you need that bird still, the bird will still wish to fly anyway."

James tucked a wing under his chin in thought, "I believe permanently, unless I wish for it to be broken. But it's temporary anger, and she's easily distracted. She does hold grudges, though."

Darling, it seemed, had indeed been distracted by a beetle on the ground, and snapped it up, swallowing it down and chasing after another.

"It'll be a long road to companionship, but I do hope that someday she'll see me as an ally," he hummed.

He turned to look at the massive swan-like beast, head tilted, "You look like her, though. Your mouth even opens like her's does."

James flared his tail out behind him, feathers draping on the ground when he wasn't moving, "But we share wings, feathers, and our tails are very similar. What are you, if I may ask? Just a being, or do you happen to know where you come from?"