Dauntless

The first iteration of the esu'imi (which for a while was going by the working title of "owlbear". It is in no way any relation to any that may already exist.) The moustache things are supposed to look a bit like the bristles on the beak of an owl.

The esu'imi is like a "ciire" (or form) of the esu'vei (since obviously gorilla-phoenices can't just walk around all burny-like without rousing suspicion). Technically, esu'imi is just a name that Viveka gives the creature that is protecting her, since she doesn't know what it is, but it fits, since it looks a bit like an Imi and it IS acting as her guardian.

As a sidenote, this creature DOES have some weird, unnatural powers, and is "intelligent", since it's supposed to be a little ambiguous as to whether it's ACTUALLY channelling the esu'vei or if that's just Viveka imagining it. It never speaks, you never know if it's male or female, and most of the time it's just a quiet, patient "animal", but there's occasions where you know it's obviously a sentient intelligence by the way it behaves.