[At her retort, he merely raises his eyebrows in an unamused fashion. Cuteness isn't going to keep pirates in check, nor human traffickers behind bars. When she looks back to the book, Khamu'wo mistakenly assumes she's actually going to do some studying, but before he can even return to his own task—working on a complex formulae for a possible new incantation—she belts him with more inane questions.

Internally, he prays to Thaliak for the strength...]

Seeing as they are aetherial beings, they feed primarily upon that. Through our grimoire's channeling, and the ink in which we inscribe our incantations, we feed a bit of our aether to them in exchange for their servitude.

[A beat as he still processes the idea that someone would think to use a carbuncle for a ratter. In some ways, that isn't inaccurate, particularly when dealing with the Qiqirn, but...]

Perhaps a small feline would be better suited to ratting, than that of an aetherial being such as a carbuncle.

[He closes his book, looking her over with no small thread of skepticism.]

Pray excuse my fordwardness, but are you truly sure this is a discipline you wish to pursue?