#this was entirely inspired by my wikipedia-dive into cormorant symbolism

[ollie-ollie-oxenfreee]

The temptation to write a daemon AU for the Masquerade series grows stronger with every passing day, so here’s a rambly ficlet:

When Baru was young, her soul took the form of a cormorant. She learned her numbers by counting the creature’s sleek dark feathers, tallying up totals on her stubby fingers. One-two-three-four-five primary feathers, softening the sharp crescent of the outstretched wing. One-two-three-four-five stars in father Salm’s favorite constellation, blazing bright in the eastern sky. 

One-two-three-four-five red-sailed ships anchored in Iriad harbor. 

The creature that accompanied the Imperial Accountant through the streets of Treatymont was not a cormorant. She had changed her shape many times throughout their childhood - a scruffy black kitten, purring like a thunderstorm in cousin Lao’s arms; a cape petrel, keeping careful watch as she crept out the dormitory window to meet Aminata; an asp, coiled around Baru’s arm like a warrior’s vambrace as she stared down the civil service exam. 

The newly minted Imperial Accountant’s daemon took the form of a crow. Oil-slick black, beady-eyed and canny, perched at the young woman’s shoulder with claws dug into the rich blue fabric of her overcoat. A carrion creature, living off scraps, peck-peck-pecking at the paws of the true predators. Watching and waiting for just the right moment to swoop in and strike. 

It would come. In time it would come. The numbers would align, and she would strike the match that would set them all ablaze.