Shawn could hear the call of birds, which brought him back to the waking world. Red and purple rays of light were just barely visible at the tops of the massive titan trees, a more intense purple ahan he was aced to.

  He groaned softly–his wings felt stiff, and fortunately, Cire had moved back to her cot earlier in the night. But, the injuries seemed to already be healing.

  And, he also o find a bathroom. He thought he’d seen a washroom earlier. He cautiously stretched his wings, feeling joints popping and creaking with mueeded relief.

  He nearly stumbled taking his first step, and steadied himself, taking a deep breath and trying to rex. He o focus on the most basic of things: walking and keeping banbsp;Weight on your tiptoes. Or cw tips. This is going to take some getting used to.

  Didn’t Telga say that the Kin became the first Aveeran, among other species? I seem to remember things, but…a lot of it is hazy. Half-remembered dreams.

  He nearly jumped from the shod steadied himself again. Sorry, I fot you were there.

  Don’t be. I’ll, uh…try not to pay attention, when you…you know.

  He stared bnkly into space as Halsey implied something uling. Just what exactly do you sense? What are the limitations?

  I appear to be tied to your immediate senses. Sight, touch, sound, and other senses uo Aveeran physiology. Though, I am just an observer. I might be able to notice things you don’t know, nize some things. We’ll have to test this ter.

  I ihat your knowledge as an engineer lends itself to experimentatioive reasoning, and various stific methods, correct?

  Let’s start by going to the washroom, Halsey. He took the slow motions that he remembered fria’s quick lesson. He found his stride after a few test steps, and opehe doorway to the private room.

  There wasn’t mu here. A rge bucket of water resent, a sink that was set in a frame, a mirror, a few basic toiletries, and an opening by a three-legged chair that told him ohing:

  Indoor plumbing did here. He sighed softly and rubbed the crest of his beak. It was simir enough to his stimming when he was w through a problem. This gets worse and worse. o self, Halsey, we o utilize the small river nearby to get civil works a jump start. I’m sure I could e up with something.

  I’ll add it to my list. I’ve got about a thousaries for improvement since I’ve been skimming what thoughts I could in your head. How oh do yahis thing? There seems to be an excessive number of memories and clusters of knowledge dealing with procreation. More time should have bee studying calculus, material sce, and–

  He physically waved his hand, and grunted. Hey, my brain, my rules. Please don’t go roaming. I have some bad stuff stored ihat I don't feel like reliving. Also, don’t judge my taste in eroque.

  This sounds like a topic of fasation, truly.

  He couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.

  A few mier, he grabbed the bar soap and the wash basin, and ed his hands. They o get a hot water source at some point, but this would suffice for now. The presence of soap indicated they uood the need for liness and its use as a highly effective antibacterial method. But the tech seemed all over the pow that he thought about it. He took a sniff of the soap out of curiosity, and was surprised: vender st.

  Well, at least this is some sign of modern hygieniow, onto the steps. Not dying, figuring out these powers, and maybe, find a way to bee less feathery.

  I'm pretty sure that st one is a futile hope. Look on the bright side, you have wings!

  He gnced over his shoulder, where he ma ohout knog the limb into the wall. It's a small be, Halsey. I should be way more bothered by this, except I'm not. I mean I am still a humanoid. Mostly. Damn it, the pinky finger, how am I going to use a keybain? He ched and rexed his haly.

  I doubt yrip strength suffered.

  There was a lot of ground to cover for the day, and the more time he spent digging out of this bad situation, the less time he had to worry about a mental breakdown from the st day and ge. He g the small framed mirror on the wall, and gnced down at himself.

  Did he dare to look at the refle? I could just avoid it.

  Your curiosity is going to get the better of you. I want to see what you look like, too! I’m not omnist, you know!

  But are you, though? He thought with a raised eyebrow. Though, the muscuture didn’t quite transte as well as he thought it might. He rubbed at his beak in ption for a sed. Alright, the hell with it. If Regia is willing to hit o ’t be that bad.

  Was she, though?

  Dunno. sidering how we met? Maybe. That said, I have about eighty other priorities first. He took a deep breath and peered into the mirror.

  It wasn’t as bad as he thought. He knew he was taller, now, probably closer to two meters than his oy timeters. He still had the same gcial blue eyes, but they were shaped differently, now–like a bird of prey’s eyes. His eyes also took up a slightly rger proportion of the face. When he blinked slowly, he felt a third membrane slide into pething he hadn’t noticed before. It was simir to the nictitating membrane of a cat.

  He also felt the shape of his beak with his fingers–slightly hooked, like an eagle, and colored a dull yellow. It didn’t protrude as far as it might on a bird of prey, and he hi open slightly to see his tongue was narrower, and slightly lohe inside of the beak was serrated, presumably to grip and crush food.

  Meal time was going to be iing, to put it mildly. He didn’t even know what he was supposed to eat, or capable of eating. Likely, a diet of meat, and possible pnt matter. He patted his beak after a moment, testing how remarkably hard it was–and it made a slightly hollow sound. He ground it tightly, trying to look intimidating, and watched his expression in the mirror. It surprised him that the muscuture and small facial features were not all that dissimir to a human–to who he was, before.

  He looked down, taking a quick breath. No. I’m alright. This could have been worse. I could have died right there, on the spot. I’m not human, but I didn’t lose my humanity. No oaking that from me.

  He gazed upwards and he rge, feathery ‘crest’ of green and white feathers that ated his head. Almost like a blue jay, even. The feathers formed a pattern on his face, like the markings on a tabby cat or a Bengal tiger. He tried to smile and noticed the beak wasn’t as rigid as he thought. Halsey, do you know Aveerahetics?

  A little. Maybe. I’ve been thinking about that one. You would be…quite the catch, as they say. Easy on the eyes.

  I won't let that notioo my head. He examined a fioothed b oand; after a moment of hesitation, he brushed a few errahers bato position. He emptied the small basin into a wastewater bucket, afterward. Alright then. We o figure out what we’re up against–

  The growl of his stomach got his attention, and he rubbed uneasily at his torso. Then agai’s see if anyone else is up, first.

  It turned out that the veteran bcksmith had camped out in the apothecary, along with the mottled brown and white head healer, gng at him with curiosity behind a pair of spectacles that rested on the bridge of his beak. “Well, you’re up early. Especially after an mild round of Etteria burnout. How do you feel?”

  “I feel…okay, doc.” he rubbed at one wing errantly, unsure of what to say. Telga was also at the table, quietly talking to Varrick, with a globule of light illuminating the area dimly above their heads. Ohat didn't appear to be geed by her. “So, I think we all agree that my uh…circumstances… should stay on a o-know basis, doctor…”

  “Chakra,” the brown and white feathered avian announced, peering at him intensely. Shawn he low-profile gsses with a bck frame tucked onto his ear crests. “You are i shape for being blown out of orbit. But you must take a day or two of low-key activities. And not using your abilities further, if you help it.”

  “I agree. More research is required to uand just what the Etteria did to you,” Telga murmured, gng his way. “I’ve been ying out what happened ouras sanctuary with Varrick. We’ll address the town leadership in a little while. Pull up a seat.”

  “Uh…okay.” he sat on the pin, but well-carved wooden chair, a his cws click audibly against the wood pnk floor. Small slots on the back of the chair had some thin padding. He gnced back at his wings and wondered–

  Oh. They have that relief, so I rest my wings on something. It didn’t take him long to figure out, a down stiffly. His feathered tail rotruding, and sitting on it was unfortable. The chair, too, had a small relief to aodate that; he felt his tail feathers just barely touch the ground.

  I have a tail, and it’s still the thing that bothers me the least. He saw Chakra holding a bowl of what looked–and smelled–like oatmeal, o Telga.

  The head healer noticed his gaze, and handed him a still-steaming bowl of the grains, and a simple wooden spoon. “I presume this is edible for me?” Shawn asked.

  “It’s not as fancy as what they have in Valtiria Prime, but…it's a homely meal, in a pinch,” he offered with a smile. Shawn gnced down and did look like oatmeal, and Charka had added something like brown sugar on top.

  Unfortunately, it was a bit of trial and error to eat using the spoon, and he grunted as he had to wipe a gob of oatmeal with a cloth from his beak. “Five my manners. This is um…gonna take a bit to get used to.”

  He finally mao get a bite in, and it slid down his throat effortlessly. Well, I’ll be damned, it is oatmeal. Mom, thank you for maki this every day to save money and make me not hate it, he thought with surprise. In the meantime, he listeo the discussioween Telga and Varrick.

  What he did know, was that these two had known each other a while. The way they talked without hesitation with each other, how Telga’s ingrained dread, etched on her face ever since she saw that wraith of her brother appear, had faded a little since. Varrick had a slight at, almost Scottish, but Telga’s at was , even slightly British. They spoke about her spending the st month holed up on the orbital ptform, and how bad the situation was.

  “We don’t have that fallbaow, Varrick,” Telga cluded. “Revarik was willing to sacrifice heavy hitters to get to me, casualties be damned. I’m hopihinks erished.”

  “You ’t out-reason crazy, Telga.” Like Regia and Garrett, Varrick didn’t call her by her full title–something he’d noticed from earlier. “We told you, this son of a bitch only be dealt with one way: by killing him. I know he’s family, but that didn’t mean a thing to him when he ordered your death. I am not letting you take any more risks like that again.” He stared intensely at Telga, and she refused to blink.

  “Varrick, we’re in an untenable position. Unventional as are required to win this, now. A assured, If killing him is the only way…” she sched her face, and stared right back at him, “Then that’s what we’ll have to do. For the sake of everyone in Valtiria, and beyond.”

  This seemed to satisfy the smith, who nodded in response. “Who else did we lose? We finally got in touch with the sed atform–they made it one piece ground-side and are inf our terparts in Belgradi. They got away , and burheir teleport pad so it couldn’t be traced."

  Telga wrung her hands gently. “I don’t know. Garrett told me the third ptform never activated…” She hung her head low, her wings drooped in tandem, and dug her cwed hand deep into the wooden table. “I had power. I wasted it on a futile hope.”

  “You still have power. People have faith in you, Telga.” Varrick turned his attention to Shawilted in curiosity. “Dunno you got pulled into this mess, though. What’s your story, Shawn?”

  “Long story made short? Life is filled with fateful enters. I’ve got someoo find on this p, and I will. No jacked-up god is getting in my way,” he decred adamantly. Varrick looked mildly surprised.

  “And you pn on doing that, how?”

  “The way I know best: study, pn, design, and put the biggest piece of ordinance I build, squarely between the eyes of our shared adversary.” he took another bite of oatmeal like it was routine. “Easy, really.”

  “Is he full of shit?” Varrick directed to Telga. She let out a slight whistle that he didn’t know how to interpret, until she spoke a sed ter.

  “Probably not. He slew several of Revarik’s men before we escaped. I’m more curious about your powers, I was not able to properly observe them.”

  “First, I o know what we have on hand, the y of the nd, and more importantly, are you guys ready to endure some hardship?” He set the bowl down and g the two of them. Chakra was still busy on a small stove, and loading in a wood cord. “Because there is going to be some pain ahead.”

  “To do what?” Telga asked.

  “To give us a fighting ce against your brother, in a fight we set on our terms,” he answered. “Get me up to speed.”

  “Me, too.” All heads turo Cire, looking more determined–and still a slight mess, sidering the hand-me-down garments were a little oversized. But, they were fitted for a human. “Shawn and I have skills. If we’re sheltering here, I’m not gonna be deadweight. I’ll help with whatever I .”

  “The’s take a tour of town,” Varrick replied. “It’s a det pce to start.”

  “Good. It’ll be an opportunity to stretch my legs. And wings," Shawn affirmed.

  AnnouShans. Pns that involve turning this town into a bastion of advaebsp;

  If you guys want to keep supp my efforts, please, chey patreon, where I tio provide advanced chapters past public release. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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