Hearling

Hearlings are a species of mnemivorous lesser fairy. Adult hearlings stand 40-50 centimeters tall when measured from the top of the head, or 60-90 centimeters tall when measured from the tips of their ears. The majority of the hearling’s internal volume is occupied by one large eye, which averages 15-20 centimeters in diameter.

Unlike most mnemivores, hearlings are not predators: they primarily feed by forming symbiotic relationships with humans and other social animals in order to scavenge psychic energy from their friends’ traumatic emotional memories. Hearlings also have an underdeveloped mouth below their eye, which they use to drink water and graze on grass for their mundane nutritional needs, but they cannot survive on physical food alone.

Hearlings are harmless (and often therapeutic) to humans. However, fearlings, a rare copycat species, pose a significant threat. The fearling resembles a hearling when seen at a distance, but it can be distinguished by its unmoving false eye, which conceals its two smaller true eyes at the 2-o-clock and 10-o-clock positions of its false sclera. When approached by a creature that appears to be a hearling, always check for eye movement. If you encounter a fearling, remain calm. Move at least 10 meters away from the fearling as soon as possible. Do not allow your mind to linger on the name or face of anyone you know. Before travelling in areas fearlings are known to inhabit, fill a page of your journal with the names and likenesses of anyone you are travelling with. Refer to this page if you meet anyone you believe to be a stranger.

Hearlings are social creatures, with a close family structure and a simple spoken language. Their mechanism of reproduction is currently unknown, but adult hearlings have been observed guiding humans to their nests to allow young to feed. Hearlings form families of one to three adults, and typically raise at most two offspring at any one time. Their nests are most often built on the ground beneath pre-existing structures like caves or the hollows of trees due to hearlings’ limited dexterity.

Hearlings are a protected species in almost all jurisdictions, and their diet makes what little meat they have very bitter. Some cultures have invented niche culinary uses for hearling eye, but the risk of contracting foodborne illness or parasites is very high, so attempting to prepare such a meal in the field is inadvisable.