A mane full of decorations is not to Brawn’s personal taste, but when his mage has a three-year-old who likes to play dress-up, he finds himself being festooned in trinkets and adornments. Some might get alarmed to imagine a small child playing with a great big lion, but familiars are not pets, nor are they wild. They are something entirely different, an extension of their mage, and voice and body for the magical world that the mage works with, and they are smart and sensitive.

Brawn is very aware of his size and strength, and is as gentle as can be. He must be, surely, to sit for so long while small hands pull and grasp at his glorious mane. When the child grows up, they’ll have the best friend and fiercest bodyguard imaginable.