[Flashback] Birds of a Feather (Lucy)

[Oluse]

509 Spring, 20

The twelve year old Denvali child, standing at well under five feet tall roamed aimlessly along the boarder of the city. His faded and fraying clothing, once rich with color and finally woven, blended well enough into the blooming landscape. His colors were a sea grey blue, comprising his bottom half, and an earthy orange ocher, adorning his chest. They were hand-me-downs torn and resewn more times than a bird had feathers, and still they clung fast to the boy, fit to perfection due to a masterful hemming job.

He had already been searching the slightly graded hillside south of the settlement for several bells now, sifting through for leaves and roots that could prove useful to his family. His mind wondered back to the days when he would stand along side his siblings, all learning the value and use of common Denvali herbs, as well as their common derivatives. This was before his mother and father established the clinic at home, and started treating patients out of their own living room. Before they were too busy to come out and teach Oluse themselves. And, his siblings had all grown out of the task several years before, leaving only Oluse to do the simple but necessary job. He knew he didn't need help and instruction anymore, but still. He longed for some company, even if they were quiet, or only spoke of plants.

With a heavy sigh he pushed a clump of lush long grass, lining a large boulder, aside. He peeked into the damp shadows at the base, and without surprise spotted the darkly colored mushrooms. Though they could dangerously constrict the throat if consumed by an unknowing, and unfortunate laymen, Oluse knew of over twelve common uses for the fungus, and it's cousins. The first of these uses being a very effective treatment for rashes, when combined with another herb that wouldn't be found till late Summer. The wait didn't bother him, he had grown used to the cycle of plant life in Denval. He often wished he could see something new. Something that made time meaningful. He wanted for adventure, and exploration, to discover beyond the confined of the city. To have something to be excited about for once.

[Lucy]

A girl was walking out of the city, slowly passing from houses, stores and inns trough necessary blank area between nature and hand-made parts of world. She was really annoyed by this form, she would usually just fly above this road in few seconds while she had to walk with all human restrictions. She was not allowed to morph in the middle of the city or to leave something open, so she can fly out of the house, so she had to do it in the safe cover of forest. Galio and Luna left to play with some Denvali kid that especially annoyed Lucy. He was so arrogant! Still, many Denvali kids annoyed her from time to time because they were constantly putting others in danger for stupid reasons. But that was different. As she approached to forest she saw a boy, a bit older then her in human form picking some herbs or mushrooms. As every normal child she became curious about what is he doing, but she didn't want to bother him, so she didn't ask. Still, she was probably too obviously staring at him. The boy was short, or at least not much taller then Lucy and black haired. Stop doing that!, she told herself. You are not interested, remember? So, she started pretending she doesn't notice the boy. The silence was killing her. She just wanted to reach the wilderness so she can enjoy flying or hunting.

[Oluse]

Oluse, having cultivated the full patch of shrooms straightened up, flexing his back slightly in a stretch and yawn. The sun was wonderful on his skin, but sometimes he wished he could just lay in it instead of being worked like some slave for his family. He decided a short break was indeed in order. He swung himself up on the boulder in front of him, placing his satchel on his shoulder, slung securely around his neck by a thick leather strap.

Looking around the flowering hillside he spotted a young girl. She was pretty, and dressed normally enough. But, he couldn't recognize her, and this confused him. Denval only had a population of seven hundred people, and at least a quarter of those had been to his parents clinic, which happened to be about three feet from his bedroom. Another half frequented the market which he was sent to often. This didn't leave a lot of room for strangers. If nothing else he would have thought he'd recognize the girl from the Academy.

Though his mind was curious, he diverted his eyes. No need to draw attention to himself, or make the girl feel uncomfortable. He decided it was for the best to let her pick her flowers or what would she by herself. Girls at that age were good at entertaining themselves. This passive attitude, however, dissolved quite quickly when he revisited the area with his eyes a minute later. The girl was not picking flowers, or entertaining herself. No, the girl was heading directly for the forest. Oluse jumped up immediately. He wasn't even allowed to go in the forest, it certainly wasn't a place for a little girl!

Quickly he followed after her, as she approached the treeline. He thought about yelling after her, but didn't want to come off as pushy, he just wanted to quietly and calmly take her back down to town. Just as she passed the first trees of the forest Oluse base within several paces of her. "Hey, hold on." He voice was still high, but to the young girl no doubt held some level of authority.

"It's dangerous in the forest." He explained, attempting to close the final few steps toward the girl.

[Lucy]

Lucy immediately noticed a boy being nervous and running after her. He shout out to wait, which gave her sense she should run, but then she heard him saying it's dangerous. Dangerous? What does that even mean? She was going to the forest almost every day, it was as home to her. She couldn't live without wilderness. She couldn't help laughing when he said that, but she tried to surpass it, so she made it sound like cough, hoping he won't notice. She turned around. "Dangerous?", she asked, confused. "What is dangerous? Don't tell me you've never been in wilderness! Heh, well, I bet it's dangerous for you, weakling!" The boy was pretty shocked, or upset about hearing he going in the forest, which reminded her she should be nice to humans. At least nicer then she is. At first she felt sorry, but then her spite overcame it. She didn't do anything wrong! He is the one who started it! Forest is dangerous? Please! She spoke to him in Common, even nor he spoke in Denvali. She wasn't friend with many kids here, and she usually spoke Common to them so they answered the same. She had a basic understanding of Denvali, but she couldn't speak it. "Sorry.", she murmured. "I didn't mean to insult you." But what was said was said, she felt it in the air around them, her apology haven't changed boy's feelings about it. Well, it's fine, she meant it, he must be weak if he can't go into forest. But he doesn't have to know what she means, does he? She shyly told him her name and asked for his. She spotted him in town few times, but he barely played with other kids, he was usually in hast. Few times she wandered what was he doing all the time.

[Oluse]

His eyebrow raises as she responded swiftly with attitude. He wasn't expecting that, and wondered if something had happened to her, if maybe she was trying to run away from home. But, then he also noticed her speaking in the common dialect, and thought perhaps she was a child of a transient family. Families didn't travel to Danval often, but it did happen from time to time, and it would certainly explain why she didn't know the forest was dangerous.

He looked her in the eye, as he was always taught to do when speaking with people, and especially when giving introduction. "Lucy is a very pretty name. My name is Oluse Fortis-Saro." The introduction was in common, he wanted to show he was excepting of outsiders. Though even when trying to speak straight common his dialect dominated his tongue. He also decided to give his full name, he had to show support for his father. "My parents run a healing clinic out of our home. They are very skilled." He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but realizing his audience decided not to bore her further. He would save the drawn out introduction that would make his father proud for the girls parents once they found them. Not to mentioned the longer his introduction the longer it would take to get away from the forest, which was much too close for his own comfort.

"It's fine, Lucy, I'm not insulted." It was true, of course, he wasn't. Oluse had somehow failed to inherit or learn the Denvali trait of being quick to anger. "You seem a bit upset. Did something happen that put you in a bad mood?" He was concerned for the girls well being, and his face showed it. If she made a habit of recklessly running off into the woods whenever she got upset she wasn't going to live to see puberty! At least not around Denval.

[Lucy]

She was happy for boy being nice to her, so her spite disappeared quickly. And he talked in Common, so she could easily talk to him. She liked the way he acted, suddenly she understood that he did exactly the thing she always thought humans forget: to be careful. He wanted to stop her from being hurt. He obviously didn't notice her animal eyes or moves sometimes. Denvali kids never payed attention on those, because there was usually no Klevics around here, and she was grateful for that. "Oluse is nice name too. I never heard it before, but it sounds nice. And effective. Oluse... Clinic? Really? So is your home the one with the clinic sign close to the market? I barely see you around in the city...", she had to admit. Upset? Well, yeah, she wanted to go to the wilderness, she haven't felt wind in her wings for such a long time. She decided to tell him about that. But how to formulate that? She could only hope he will understand, it's up to him. "Well, not really, I'm just being impatient. I haven't been fl... Oh, yeah, I'm a Klevic. Do you know about us? It's rare here, in Denval... But it's still probably the best city for a Klevic to live in.", she added with a smile.

[Oluse]

"Yes, that's my house, I'm usually busy studying." He flashed his fingers, which were stained a dark yellow, specially around the cuticles and nails, as if that supported his claim.

On the topic of Klevik Oluse blinked a few moments, his mind catching up with the girls words. He knew of Klevik of course but he had never expected to speak with one, and his idea of this girl was nothing like the epic tales he had heard about.

"You can turn into an animal?" Like most humans Oluse didn't quite understand the nature of Klevik, and didn't understand that they were not human. This wasn't a bad thing, Oluse found it easier to sympathize with the girl thinking she was like him, just wish a cool ability.

[Lucy]

She seen boy was confused and amazed at the same. She smiled at his reaction, and because he just made explanation easier to her. She just hoped she won't be asked to prove, she must hide first. Maybe he could go with her and see it himself? "Well, I would probably say I can turn into human. Everybody thinks it's great ability to become animal, but we are actually animals. We feel like animals even in human form, we constantly use animal senses and act like animals would, just with this form and ability to speak... And silly instinct to protect humans... That's why I'm a little upset, I want to... I'm an eagle Klevic, you see. I feel a little claustrophobic in the city all the time with all these peoples and buildings, you know. I haven't been in eagle form for few days and now I'm dying to fly and act like an animal for a while. I'm sick of pretending to be normal human by now, but flying or hunting usually calms me. I wonder if you understand that..."

[Oluse]

He felt a little strange speaking to the girl about things like this. He wasn't sure what exactly, just that it seemed very personal. He felt a little naughty being out here with her like this, so close to the forbidden forest. She seemed open about it, however, and he wanted to be polite. Not to mention we was genuinely intrigued.

"I think I understand." He thought of how his work had been recently, how small Denval had begin to seem to him, and how lonely his studies had become. "Sometimes I want to stop being human too." His eyes wondered off the girl for a moment, as the weight of his own words hit him.

"I would never choose to be a human if I could fly. But..." His face scrunched slightly noting flaws in his own statement. "No, no. I would be sad to not be able to talk to people. Don't you like being able to come into the city and talk to people, without the kids throwing rocks at you like they do the other birds?" He was aware of the game the local kids played, but less aware of the fact mentioning it might offend Lucy.

He had temporarily been distracted from his mission to retrieve the girl from the forest, overcome with curiosity and personal reflection, something he had taken far too much of an interest in within the past few months for his own comfort.

[Lucy]

Lucy was aware that he understood her feelings, but yet it's not the same as understanding how is it being Klevic. His next question just approved her thoughts. She hated that stupid game. She saw few hurt birds and she tried to heal every single one with her low... actually without any medical skill. She couldn't just watch them like that, she have seen they're begging for help in their eyes. "No. Not really. I think I would like not to be in the city at all...", she knew her answer was kind of rude, but it's pretty honest. It was nice in the city sometimes, she loved Denval, but she was not sure that's the kind of life for her. She likes humans, even nor she hates them form time to time, but not like that. "But yeah, I like that I'm able to talk to peoples."