Feathers

Coffee

It was too fresh a trail, he decided. She might hear or sense him behind her and go someplace to throw him off. Besides, he was homesick for his little nephew. Nothing in Deepfell wanted anything to do with Bain, but at least Strix would be happy to see him.

He waited until a boar had returned before he eased backward and stood, putting his rope away and strapping his bag to his back. He realized that his heart was pounding from the fear and nervousness he had felt in such a small amount of time. He took a few running steps and then leapt, beating his wings hard to clear the squealing aggressive pigs. He made his way up to the canopy only pulling his wings in to burst through the leaves. Once he was high above the tree tops, Deepfell rolling out before him like choppy green water, he was finally able to stretch and replay the scene in his mind of the girl and the grizzly bear.

It was clear she enjoyed making others the butt of her jokes. Perhaps he could use her mischievousness against her one day to lure her into a trap. Berries leading the way into a cave or snare. A tied up creature in need of help. Some shiny trinket to catch her eye perhaps?

Now that he knew she visited that particular grove, he could begin to map out her general paths and since she had been the only female they had seen so far, it would be easiest to close in on her instead of wasting energy searching all of Deepfell. Then they could whittle away the chances of her catching them off guard and put the odds in their favor for a change. They would have to be cunning and very careful. How would they do it? The idea made the corner of his mouth pull up.

The hunt had finally begun.

Link waited nervously where Leda had sat, so afraid of him. The cut rope was dark and soggy with dew and it looked so ugly next to the green spades that sparkled under their precious gems. He touched the end of one leaf and watched all the little drops slide to the center, adding to each other before they raced to his finger. He put it in his mouth. He thought it tasted like the wind.

A pack of wolves ran by like moving earth, nearly silent, but they did not see him. As an hour ticked by and then another, Link could not help but to nod off. He was not to meet Leda for a while yet and since he was not concerned with checking traps, he thought it might be alright to take a quick nap.

Link was strolling down a wide dirt road, the trees thick on either side of him, a merchant's trail. There was no one behind him, nor in front of him and he could hear nothing. The only thing he could see was a small white object far down the road and as he moved closer it grew until it was as large as his splayed hand. It was a large egg with no mother guarding it or foraging nearby. He was worried that it would be crushed sitting in the road and so he picked it up, confused at how weightless it proved to be.

As soon as he lifted it, water began to rise up from under the road, expanding to form a clear and circular pool at his feet. Still holding the egg, he bent over to peer into it. His reflection was not of his own face, but a wolf's! He stood back up and could see his two hands in front of him, even the boots on his feet, but upon hazarding another glance, he saw again that he was a wolf.

Link set the egg down and reached up to his face, feeling the fur and long nose. He firmly grabbed both ears, triangular and thin, and tore the wolfskin from his head, casting the mask into the dirt. The water now showed him his true self, the reflection he was used to seeing staring back at him in mirrors and even the shine of metal as he worked over his projects.

He picked up the egg again, this time hearing a faint rattling from within as he moved it. He held it to his ear and shook it, confirming that there was something loose inside the empty vessel.

He knelt and cracked the shell open, but the only thing that fell out was ash.

"It's gone," he said.

Link spotted something out of the corner of his eye and quickly looked up. A Feral stood before him, wearing a white dress, a silver cuff on her left wrist, her dark hair nearly reaching her waist and set free.