The Elemental Luna

Silencer

"They're adopted?!" Hazel exclaimed in shock. 

The owlets shifted slightly under her touch, still sleeping. Hazel was in her human form, with her spirit fox cub beside her, the physical manifestation of her animal self.

  "Yes," Willow sighed. "I found them injured and alone under a big beech tree. They were in their shifter forms, spotted owlets to be exact. They got infected by the virus when they were both young. 4-5 years old in human years. Olivia and Owen are biological siblings. From the information I gathered, their parents were also spotted owl shifters who died due to their injuries when a wildcat shade attacked them while they were hunting for mice to feed Olivia and Owen, who was back at the nest." she said.

"When their parents failed to return, Owen attempted to fly out of the nest in search of them. Unfortunately, his wings were not fully developed, and he fell from the nest, shattering many of his wing bones. Worried for her brother, Olivia went after him and also fell, suffering the same fate by injuring her wings as well. Later, as they struggled to make their way back to the nest, the same wildcat that had been tracking their parents attacked, clawing at their wings until they were nothing but meat and bones." 

"I found them, a few days later when I was searching for food, they were malnourished and almost died. Both of them were so still, that I could only know that they were alive by the twitches of Olivia's talons. Owen was seriously injured, so I hunted some prey and force-fed them. After a month, they were alive and kicking as baby squirrels."

"Did they know that you aren't their real mother?" Hazel asked curiously, with the fox spirit curled below the snoozy owlets. 

"Yes. However, even though they know their parents are dead, they still long for their real family," replied Willow somberly.

"Poor little ones," Hazel cooed sadly.

Suddenly, the owlets stirred. The fox spirit cub quickly got up beneath them, winding its body around Hazel's legs. "Mama, we're hungry!" the owlets chirped. 

Willow sighed as she flapped her powerful wings, soaring higher above the treetops to begin her hunt.

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Hazel's POV

" Do you guys want to play a game while waiting?" she asked. " Yes! Let's play hide and seek!"  Owen chirped. " Shift back into your human forms, I haven't seen them yet!"  Hazel said.

Within moments, there was a young girl and boy running around the camp while their owlet spirits soared high above the ground, ocasionally landing on tall, gnarled branches. 

"Okay, so this is how we are going to play hide and seek,"  Hazel instructed. "First, we will choose a seeker, then the others who weren't chosen will hide but INSIDE camp. No going outside understand?" she asked. "Our spirits will help the human form to hide, as well as distract the seeker from finding the person." Hazel concluded. 

"Got that?" she barked, " Now choose the seeker. " she said.

"I wanna be the seeker!" cried Olivia excitedly, her grey eyes sparkling. 

"Alright, do you see that big ash tree over there? Go under it and count to 100." she ordered.

"Come on guys, we need to hide and quick!" giggled Owen as he dashed towards an opening in a hollow yew tree and hid, his owl spirit resting on the spindly branches ahead watching for his sister's human and owl form. Hazel sighed contentedly, Finally they aren't so loud and noisy. I hope Willow's having a good time alone while I play with her pesky owlets. She thought.

Hazel was in a dark, gloomy cave, secretly hoping that Olivia, wouldn't find her so fast. The small cave was situtuated beside the brook where Artemis had originally camped when she first shifted.

"4,3,2,1 andd 0!" Olivia cried cheekily. It was time to hunt! She quickly shifed into her owl form, bones cracking and feathers spouting from her shoulder blades. Olivia suddenly became an adorable yet cute brown-grey owlet. Opening her mind-link, she could feel the thrum of the sibling bond that was made when she and Owen were born. The sibling bond allowed her to locate her brother, or at least the area that he was in. 

Soaring above camp, she  saw a flash of pale beige, was it a rabbit? Apparently not, it was her brother! In human form! He had decided to change his hiding spot last minute! Hooting with glee, she quickly dove down from the sky, gently clawing her brother's shoulder and sturbbornly sat on it.

"Found you!" she said through the link, which was open throughout the whole game. 

"Now we need to find Hazel." Owen mused. Olivia shifted back into human form, feathers retreated from her shoulder blades and skin emerging from soft fuzzy fur. Finding Hazel would be harder, as she did not have access to the pack mind-link yet, nor did she have a sibling bond with the witty fox cub shifter.

"Where do you think she would hide?" Olivia asked, scratching her head. 

"Somewhere really good, like a rabbit hole in her fox form, like how she did when Huntress and Artemis fought remember? Like in the stories? Maybe she hid in an abandoned badger set, or a cave. Hazel wouldn't hide in a hole or climb a tree, so maybe she hid in a cave? There is a cave beside the brook anyway, so we should check that out first." Owen said.

The owlets trampled over to the cave, sniffing the air for her scent, and at last, they found sandy  footprints, small but definitely Hazel's. 

" HAZEL! come on out, we know you are here!" Owen hollered excitedly. There was no denying it, they had found her. Hazel jumped down from a shelf of rockin fox form, grinning from ear to ear. 

"You guys were good!" she praised, beaming. 

"Now, we just need to wait for your mama to come back with prey alright?" she asked.

Just at that moment, Willow came swooping down from the treetops, a rabbit in her claws and mice swinging by their tails in her beak. "FOOD IS SERVED!" she called. Artemis and Huntress came out of the forest, apparently, they went hunting too! Without informing the rest. The two shifters dragged a stag- a male deer between them. It was certainly a feast.

"Before we share prey," Artemis declared, " I wish to invite Willow to choose her shifter name as it is a custom for this pack to have both human and shifter names. Human names are those that they were born with, while shifter names are those which they will choose to have to officially become part of the pack. Of course, some may not choose to change their names, so Willow, Owen and Olivia, I present the choice to you, do you want to have a shifter name? "

" Not to be rude or anything, Miss, but I don't want a new name. It's too difficult to change and it might be hard to remember." Owen said, trembling. Olivia agreed, nodding.

" I wish to have a shifter name." Willow declared. 

" Will the name Silencer do? As barred owl shifters are the most silent and stealthy at night." she proposed.

They nodded their approval as the name was tested for the first time amongst their newest member, Silencer the barred owl shifter.