Compiled and commented by Albert Weaver
"They don't talk back with words. But they answer, if you're listening."
- Field journal margin, unknown caster, Wild Years
In the Breeze Years, I met a boy on the outskirts of Porto who never once raised his voice. His dog, a lean brown mutt with a chewed ear, followed every step like they shared a single thought. "I don't command him," the boy told me. "I just ask. He says yes."
Green Casters call it bond. You don't bend a creature's will. You meet it where it lives. You offer your mana like a handshake - and hope it's accepted.
Some use it to speak to pets. To soothe frightened horses. To ask owls to keep watch. I've seen a falcon swoop down on a whispered request, then perch on its caster's shoulder like a friend greeting another.
***
[Excerpt – Rescue Report, Central Alps, Breeze Years]
"Team located under avalanche with help of bonded marmots. Caster D.M. claims they 'heard the distress call in the soil.' Animals led crew to survivors. 3 lives saved."
Note: marmots fed fresh fruit, appeared relaxed, returned to warren after.
***
Of course, not every use is so pure.
[Audio Transcript – Debriefing, Black Grove Intelligence Agency]
CLASSIFIED – "WITNESS REDWING"
AGENT: "We used pigeons. Crows when we could. Lower mana cost, smarter wings. The trick was riding their senses - seeing what they see without steering. Spying without touching."
INTERVIEWER: "You bonded with a crow?"
AGENT: "Not really. He accepted it out of pure curiosity."
***
Spies and scouts aren't the only ones. Some use insects. A few claim they've walked as spiders. Flies. Even mice. Low mana, short range, no glory - but near-invisible.
It's not possession. It's empathy so deep, your awareness can thread through another heartbeat.
Albert scribbled beside one transcript:
"You can't fool a creature into trusting you. Not for long."
And mistreat one? The bond breaks. No exception. Some Casters have collapsed mid-mission when the severance hits - like a friend walking out of your mind mid-sentence.
***
In the real world, it's often simple: a caster speaks to cattle and they stop panicking during a storm. A bonded cat returns with warning before a quake. A hawk guards a child walking home.
Some say this magic is useless. "You can't control wild things," they argue.
Exactly, say the Green Casters.
You don't control them. You join them.
Albert once watched a caster and a black vulture sit in silence for hours on a rooftop in Quito. No movement. No orders. Just two old creatures, sharing the wind.
He wrote:
"We always wondered what animals would say, if they could speak. Turns out, they were speaking all along. We just had to shut up and listen."