Book 3. Chapter 50
“No, it was a bit longer than that,” said Brin. “And the nose is still wrong. It’s not a monkey nose, it’s like a really long human nose.”
For the last half-hour Hogg had been painting an image of Aberfa’s familiar in the air with hard light under Brin’s instruction. He had to admit that Hogg had an incredible amount of talent at this. He would’ve been the weak point running of his own regular memories, but luckily [Memories in Glass] preserved the sight of the creature perfectly, and now it was really starting to take shape. He stared at it more closely, trying to find a flaw.
They were walking far enough ahead of the caravan to be out of sight. The hills had become more steep and regular and the road was constantly winding around them rather than forcing travelers to go up and over. It was kind of annoying to be doubling the distance they needed to walk and he dreamed of the interstate from back home that would just plow through any random hills or mountains in their way. It was working in their favor, though, by giving Brin and Hogg a bit of privacy without needing to do more complicated illusions.
“I think that’s it,” said Brin. “That’s the familiar.”
“Are you sure? Look at the toes again,” said Hogg.
“The toes are fine. Three on each foot, like I said.”
Hogg poked at his conjuration of hard light and added another two more toes to each foot anyway. “It’s weird. Those are definitely five fingers on the hands. So why three toes?”
“Why are we so hung up on the toes?” Brin asked.
“It’s just weird, is all,” said Hogg. He shook his head. “Maybe it's deformed.”