Completed Birds of Air and Stone

[Itt]

13th of Winter 518 A.V.
Noble District
20th Bell

It had been a few days since Itt thought extensively about his home. Although his conversation with himself didn't remove the boiling sensation of sickness in his gut, it did allow him space in his head to think of other things. For the past few days, he had been charting the basics of the city's layout on his map that he had been given, understanding that he was not going to return home for a long while. In light of this fact, he needed to understand this place he had found himself in. He needed to know where common places were so he could easily find them. Taking too long to deliver a message a few blocks away has already cost him quite a bit of mizas.

So that was what Itt had decided to do that night. He was going to continue tracing the roads on his paper the best he could. Have something resembling the city at the very least. However, due to the prolonged session of debate and frustration that tossed his emotions around like a salad bowl yesterday, as well as the extra running around he had to do due to failing to properly deliver messages, he had slept most of the day today.

In that sleep, he dreamed deeply of the trees and the birds, flying beside them. He even flew alongside a woman with gorgeous, translucent wings and a furry, flippered tail. He's never seen anything like it in his life, and he was very fond of the woman because of her beauty and grace. As a result, while Itt charted the streets of the noble district that he had found himself in, he was also even more attentive to the birds in the area than normal.

Itt was walking beside the canal that separated the noble district from the merchant's ring, creating as straight of a line as he could with a charcoal piece that he has already accidentally snapped multiple times. It was half the size it started out as, but it worked for his purposes.

The Kelvic was going down the street in this manner, his face glued to his parchment and to the canal when a shadow overhead made the page illegible for but a moment. Itt looked up to see what caused the casting darkness, finding a silhouette like a black hole in the starry blanket of the night, shaped like pair of wings glided above him. The bird landed on the road a few yards away from him, it's black headRavokian Black Duck and feathers making it rather hard to see in the moon's light. But the reflections the water provided helped significantly, its ripples providing stark beams of dancing light to bounce along the duck's contours.

Itt froze, knowing from past experiences with birds that if he moved when he was too close that it would startle them and cause them to fly away. So with curiosity and a quiet fear, he wondered why the bird landed so close to him in the first place, and also what kind it was. He's seen ducks before, but not one that was almost all black.

The solitary duck waddled a few feet ways down the canal's side, quacking, and then hopping into the water, floating on the surface. The sloth grinned, taking a few steps to keep up, watching its webbed feet paddle. It quacked again. Itt tried to quack too. It was anything but a quack, though he tried anyway. The duck didn't bother looking at him, just quacking along, occasionally dunking its head in the water and shaking its feathers upon resurfacing.

Itt giggled, forgetting about his previous fear of scaring the creature as excitement overtook him. He crouched down low and walked on his hands and feet, trying his best to not disturb the pebbles on the ground that could give him away by falling in the water or crunching loudly. But given that he was no predator whose main job was to do this sort of thing, Itt obviously knocked some of the dirt and stones into the canal, each one making a plunk.

The sloth winced, freezing again as the duck turned it's head back around and looked at him. Though his golden-eyed gaze only settled for that moment, the duck continuing on and looking ahead.

What? I-It wasn't scared?

Itt gawked, his wince spreading into a full-blown grin. It wasn't scared of him!

With this new knowledge, he sped up his pace some until he was half crawling beside it. The duck did look at him for another few ticks, but aside from paddling another foot or so towards the center of the canal, it didn't care. It tried to soak up as much as he could about the duck, from its black back and white belly to its stripped beak. And it's feathers! The water just rolled right off of them! It was like it couldn't get wet!

Itt quacked again, trying to get it to sound more like an actual call rather than him saying the word quack. The duck quacked, but Itt wasn't sure if it was in response to him or if he was just quacking to quack. Itt would like to think that it was in response. He probably just said hi.

Hey little buddy. "Quack." The duck quacked too.

The Kelvic smiled fondly.

A splash sprung up right next to the duck as a stone dove into the water. The duck splashed as it rose out of the water with its wings, flying up and away. Itt watched it go, his mouth hanging open.

"Quit encouraging them!" A man from across the canal said, tightening his jacket around his shoulders. "The gulls are hard enough to deal with as it is." He muttered under his visible puff of breath, turning back to the street, continuing his path.

Itt frowned. He wasn't sure what the man was saying, but he didn't think it was very nice to scare the bird like that. He knew that he scared birds sometimes, but never on purpose. He would never throw a rock at one. Poor duck. Must have been terrified. Itt stood up and wiped the dirt off his knees, looking up towards where the duck had flown away.

But then something caught his eyes. Something perching on the roof of a building a few blocks over.

WHAT is THAT?

[Itt]

The silhouette appeared to be a very large, grey bird with a huge beak that touched the perch it was resting on. Itt had never seen a bird like it before. It was just sitting there, it's feet tucked neatly under its body. It's dark grey feathers blended in almost perfectly to the stone of the building. Had he not been so attentive to birds that night, he never would have even seen it in the first place.

Itt stared at for some time, eyes trying to adjust to the dim light enough to somehow see more of this magnificent bird. It was the largest he's ever seen, and he's seen some pretty big birds in Syliras. Some of the hawks people brought through the road were enormous, but this was at least twice as big as any hawk he'd ever seen. And its beak was so huge! It was long and pointed, not hooked at all like a hawk. It was more slender than a crow's, and it was nearly the length of its entire body. Well, maybe not the legs, he didn't know what its legs looked like. They could be long legs to match their long face. Or it could be stubby tiny legs like the duck.

But one thing was for sure. This bird was most definitely sleeping. Itt couldn't really recall seeing many birds actually asleep, but he was certain this bird was. It hadn't moved for at least an entire bell. Not even to adjust itself, or even when the duck from early flew by and sat beside it. Birds seemed to be very different here than back at home. He wouldn't have been able to even get within yards of a bird without it taking off, and the birds at home didn't like anything by them. These birds didn't seem to care in the slightest! How interesting!

"Move along now, sir."

Itt had to peel his eyes away from the bird and look behind him towards the man. He was wearing different clothes than most people he's seen, and he had a sword on his belt. He looked a bit like a Syliras knight bit without a horse or silvery armour. Itt understood 'move' and walked to the alley beside him, getting out of the way of the man. He went to the other side, looking back at the bird. Thankfully it was still there.

The city guard raised an eyebrow and followed him. watching him watch the statue for a few ticks. He glanced his way in the direction Itt was looking, not finding anything of interest. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to move along."

Itt looked over again, his eyebrows crinkling. Again? Where was this guy going? Wasn't he going down the canal? Itt took a few steps back, hoping that that was enough room for this guy to get to where he wanted.

The guard shook his head," Go." He pointed down the road, figuring he was retarded, or really drunk. Either way, it was clear he couldn't understand basic Common.

Itt looked down the way the stranger pointed, not seeing anything. Oooh, he wanted him to leave! Duh, that made much more sense. Itt smiled, happy he puzzled it together and headed down the road. He wasn't sure where the man wanted him to go exactly, but he kept walking, occasionally glancing back to see if the bird was still there, until the guard was out of sight.

He was pretty far from the bird now, but he could still see it's outlining, and he stared for a moment more at its curved neck and body.

He needed to know more about this bird.

Itt glanced around, making sure there were no guards who were going to tell him to go as he ducked into an ally and went back into the district.

[Itt]

Okay, how was he going to do this? He needed to get up to the bird, but it was pretty high. Maybe he could climb on top of the buildings? That would get him halfway there at least. It was worth a try.

Itt looked up towards the roofs as he paced the alleyway, not entirely sure how to scale its walls. He was used to climbing trees with clear grappling points but this was a flat surface with a window sill or two. Could he even hold onto those? He wasn't sure, but he had to try. He didn't see any trees nearby that would reach the roofs at all, considering that everything here was the size of shrubbery, and there were few of them in the first place.

The first window sill was rather high up. It didn't seem impossible to Itt at first but after a few failed jumps and one with a running start, the Kelvic soon realized that maybe he wasn't good enough at jumping to reach it. Or maybe it was too high for anyone to reach at all. But perhaps there was another way. Itt looked around, not finding anything like a ladder in this alleyway. Just a trash bin and some trash.

Hey, maybe that could work.

Itt grabbed the cylindrical can and dragged it over below the window as quiet as he could. The trash was heavy, as it was nearly full, so it made some noise as the metal mesh can was brought over, but not a lot since he did it slowly. Putting a foot up on one side of its rim, Itt placed a hand on the wall and the other on the other side of the can, attempting to stabilize it as he lifted his other foot. It took several attempts of almost falling over to get it, but he got both feet secured eventually. With a wobble and a panicking heart, Itt slowly, as if in his sloth form, reached for the window sill.

He tried to grab on the best he could, but not being able to grab all the way around it like a branch was throwing him off.

In the middle of him fidgetting to try and get the right grip, he leaned too far one way and the can fell over with a clatter. With his booster knocked over, Itt dangled several feet above the ground, letting out a sharp gasp of surprise. To Itt's astonishment, he didn't just fall down immediately, since his grip on the bricks was enough to hold him up. But his fingers were white from his weight pulling them into the brick, and he struggled to move anywhere.

First, he tried pulling himself up by his arms but didn't get any higher than a few more inches. Then he tried shifting into his sloth form, hoping that he would have better grip strength there. While he did have better strength, he also couldn't really much else. So in another flash of light that he dearly hoped no one saw, he went back to human to find another solution.

Maybe he could bring his leg up?

Itt tried to pull his foot up onto the ledge with him, so that way he could reach with a free hand up to the next sill. It took several attempts at brute force trials of lifting his leg before he decided to swing it up, eventually getting his heel hooked onto the wide window sill. With the extra strength, he was, in fact, able to free a hand and raise it up, grabbing the next step to his climbing journey.

Pulling himself to stand on the sill, Itt was lucky that the curtains were drawn and the person who worked in the building wasn't there.

Within a few more ticks, Itt grabbed the gutter and pulled himself to the rooftop, laying down on the tiles, panting gently. Sheeesh that was harder than it looked! Climbing windows was hard!

The Kelvic wasn't able to stay long, however, because he heard familiar, jangling footsteps coming near. He lifted his head, seeing the outline of a city guard coming towards the alley to investigate the noises and light. Itt panicked, quickly crawling over to the other side of the room, hiding behind the roof's angles.

The guard came over to the alley and walked in, kicking some of the spilled trash with his foot. A quack brought him to look down the other side, and he saw a duck waddling away. "Hmmm." He looked at the trash one more time, his eyes following up the wall and towards the roof, scuff marks scarring the wall. He narrowed his eyes, walking cautiously out of the alley, watching the roof.

Itt had been listening intently, his heartbeat making up most of the sounds he heard. But when the guard exited the alley (which tended to sound sharper due to the walls bouncing the noises) the sounds of feet became broader and lingered towards his left. He shifted to the right, effectively staying on the opposite side of the room as the man.

The guard looked around the building for a few chimes, but with a disgruntled glare, he continued down the road.

Itt sighed with relief. No one saw him. Good.

[Caspian]

When Caspian embarks on his vespertine, solitary expeditions through the city, it’s seldom that he has any final destination manifestly in mind.

Of reasons to do so, though, those are often, and many, not least of which that his sister Taalviel has returned to roost - as someone of her ilk might - in his apartment again, with no end in sight. Whether he would prefer he not have to see her during the whole of his waking hours as opposed to the current situation, which carries strong suggestions of forever and interminable, he’s yet to decide. The first scenario bears the creeping ease of the unknown, while the second -

What’s the saying - keep your friends close and your enemies closer and your sisters who you hardly know but have some unshakable sense of covenant with within spitting distance?

(Okay, “hardly know” is downplaying it, severely, but he means it from the sense in that she’s got this thing where she’s infernally immutable inside and out and he’s quite sure there’s nothing about it to be done.)

Even without the impetus to escape, it’s still not a bad night for a walk. He rather likes it, the relative stillness compared to the day, and the unexpected scenes of revelry he sometimes stumbles into. Besides, he looks quite good tonight, his daily feathered stressors aside - he’s got his blue damasked jacket on with the silver filigree, and his knee-high leather boots so recently polished, and he’s starting to like the way his hair’s growing out, how it lets him punctuate his conversations with a little swoosh and sweep. Quite good - good enough for a drink, maybe one he doesn’t have to drop mizas for himself?

He glances around. His wandering’s taken him into the fringes of the Noble District, and it’s here that he catches sight of something even more compelling to him than the shine of his shoes beneath the lamplights.

It’s someone resolutely chasing... a duck?

Not such an odd thing to see in, say, Sunberth. You’d chase rubbles and wisps if it meant it might be the only thing keeping you alive through the next morning. This isn’t Sunberth, though, just the ebony mildew and gilded murk called Ravok, and here, it’s an interesting sight indeed.

Irritations with his sister for the moment attenuated, Caspian watches that strange someone find something new to take their fancy. They’re diverted, for the moment - but when they just as resolutely duck (hah) out of sight of the guard, their impeder, Caspian in his whims follows suit.

In the course of watching Itt’s laborious trek up to the roof, it crosses Caspian’s mind that, perhaps, he ought to help. Itt’s just so steady, though, carrying on unfalteringly towards whatever it is has captured his attention. As Caspian waits for that same guard to pass, and miss Itt entirely, he wonders if the now-clearly-Kelvic is perhaps trying to steal something. Caspian knows a great deal about that sort of thing, and naturally he hasn’t a qualm about it. Only one way to find out, he supposes?

And that one way is up.

With a gentleman’s gander that the coast is clear - and a little more deftness than Itt had managed - Caspian clambers up the most proximate next building in parallel, and once at the top, lunges easily across to the next roof where Itt has taken refuge.

[Itt]

Itt decided to pause in his victory for a moment to try and calm down his thumping heart. He wasn't used to this kind of sneaking around. Back in Syliras he had to hide away from carnivores so he wouldn't get eaten, but he's never really had to hide from a human before. If that man were one of those big hairy dogs then he would have been found immediately. They could smell Itt just as easily as Itt could smell them. But this guy didn't see to know he was there at all except for the loud noises. This sneaking around was... kinda cool, actually. He felt like he accomplished something.

But he also felt a bit dirty. He didn't really know why, maybe it was because of the actual dirt he had culminated on his skin and clothes, but the guy did tell him to go and then he didn't go and now he was climbing on buildings that he never saw anyone else do- wait, what if he was the first person to climb on a building? What if he was the first person to ever be up on this roof? To see the view the birds had of the street below? He was kinda like a bird, wasn't he?

Yeah! He was like a bird! And he was coming for that big one! Big grey bird here he comes!

Itt grinned to himself and was about to stand up, getting half way there when he glanced to his side seeing a man standing beside him. Itt eeked, or yelped, or gasped, or made some sort of squeak as his body jolted from the surprise. He fell over and slipped on the tiles some, causing even more panic to rush through him as he dug his fingers and feet into the roofing.

How in the world did he get there?! How long was he sanding there?! Was he there the whole time!? Man, he really wanted to be like the birds and be the only one up here! Stupid man, taking his idea!

Itt couldn't think of what to do. His first instinct was to freeze, as that is what sloth's do best, but this really wasn't the best time for freezing. So his next instinct was to run, but the guy wasn't dressed like the other guys, so he must not be a guard. His next instinct was to fight, but Itt really wasn't a fighter, and although he had some nasty claws on him, shifting in front of the man would give away that he was a Kelvic and also, the man would have to wait for him to climb up his leg so he could properly slice his through. Or hack his eyes. One of the two.

By process of elimination, Itt went with his final thought: to talk to the man. If Itt had learned anything about language here, it was that everyone always greeted each other before talking. So, with only a slightly shaken voice, Itt mimicked a friendly hand wave and said,"Hello?"

[Caspian]

Instinct kicks in when the aspiring mountaineer nearly startles himself from his hard-won perch, and Caspian lurches forward, imagining a plummeting towards the worst - but this strange-someone rights themselves soon enough, and he’s retracting his proffered hand as immediately as he’d offered it.

Thank god, too. Historically speaking, Caspian can stand to live with a lot of things, quality of sleep more or less intact, but this might have done a number on him, if he had frightened this innocuous-looking stranger right to his death. (The implications of the hypothetical aren’t so flattering to consider either - imagine trying to explain to the inevitably arresting judicial authority that someone took one look at him and then died?)

The greeting he receives is far more cordial than he anticipates, and subsequently he’s more convinced that any accidental murder this evening would have been undeserved, not have sat very well with him at all.

“Hello,” he replies easily enough, glancing across the length of the roof. If this one’s a thief, he’s not entirely sure what may be up here to pilfer. “I apologize for knocking myself in uninvited, but - if you don’t mind my asking, what in the world are you up to?” Concerned still that Itt’s recently displayed nerves might get the best of him - and that subsequently Caspian might have to face a series of consequences he hasn’t the energy to extricate himself from, he hurries to add, hopefully comfortingly, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m here simply as a matter of curiosity. Whatever it is you may be after, I assure you I’ve no reason to stand in your way. I mean, barring the usual extremes, such as, I don’t know, genocide, or mass arson. Even then, on the arson, I don’t think I’d really - no, wait, let’s not go down that path. It’s just - you don’t usually see this sort of - whatever it is you’ve been doing - in this part of town.”

And, in further gesture of conveying that he wants nothing more than a reason to continue staying out of doors - and away from his sister - Caspian lowers himself to sit cross-legged upon the roof, propping up his chin in his hands.

[Itt]

Despite what Itt would have thought, this new found stranger didn't appear to mean him any harm. He had previously imagined, should a guard find him lurking about up here in the dark, they would have thrown him immediately off the roof, and if he was so lucky, directly into the canal. Itt knew a thing or two about falling from great heights and he definitely preferred falling from his sloth form. It was more sturdily built for that type of thing, even if it still hurt like something that hurt really really bad.

But when Itt found himself still sitting upon the roof with the best birds eye view he could manage at this point, he found himself confused. You know, the usual. Not only was he concerned about what this man was doing here, talking to him, but he was also concerned about the man telling him something important. Maybe this was another city guard but he roamed the rooftops instead, hence the change of clothes? Maybe he's explaining why he was about to be thrown off the roof? Either way, Itt didn't like not understanding the words or the man one bit.

In a frantic attempt to to absorb as much information he could, he tried to remember all the words he had said as well as all the movements he made. he said Hello back, good, he understood that. He's glancing around— why is he glancing around? Is he trying to find a good place to throw him?! Oh wait, he's saying something! He's emphasizing the word 'world' quite a bit, so this is definitely about the world. Okay, okay, he's saying...

Gibberish.

It's all gibberish! What was he going to do?! He can't understand a word and now the guy was going to think he's stupid and doing something bad and he was going to get thrown off the roof and not into the water and probably on his head and he's never going to be able to see the giant grey bird that's probably dead oh no the bird is probably dead isn't it?! That's why it isn't moving! Oh no, the poor bird! He was just sitting down to rest and then he just died!

Itt's face by the time Caspian had taken to sitting was red like a bell pepper. The adrenaline lining his nerves and the sudden awareness of the situation had all come crashing onto his cheeks, making them burst with heat and vibrant colour. He even puffed them out, curling his lips to try not to cry, and his eyes were squinting, but his eyebrows still were arched sharply from his lack of answers.

Nothing made sense to Itt, the only words sticking to his gooey brain being "what" and "world". So in the only attempt he could to try and show he understood what he clearly did not understand was to say the follow through a cracking voice:

"Mizahar?"

Maybe this guy was from another world? Who would ask such a question?

[Caspian]

There were a number of scenarios Caspian had been prepared for. Bred in him, first and foremost, is a bracing for the worst, which tonight might realistically have entailed his being cast off the roof immediately after his arrival. From the trepidation he’s witnessing, however, the prospects of violence seem fairly unlikely.

(”Unlikely?” Taalviel would have scoffed, were she here, and then proceeded to remind him how soft he’s gotten about this kind of thing. Soft or simply civilized? he’s already snarking back, but she’s not actually here right now, and it will defeat the purpose of having gone on this walk if he’s only going to hold on to her likeness this vividly, so never mind it, because they will inevitably fall to fighting about this whenever he returns. Whenever he decides to return -)

At the pronouncement of their humble atlas, however, a starkly more abbreviated communication in comparison to how he’s rattled off - this does give him reason to pause. Not every day that you meet someone who can’t tell you to mind your own business in easy Common, is it?

It’s not every day Caspian meets someone smaller than him either.

“Yes,” he says as he peers at Itt through the growing gloom, but there isn’t too much more to discern yet, aside from the both of them growing more quizzical with each other in tandem. “...Mizahar.”

If not larceny - is the less than loquacious stranger here to perhaps meet someone instead?

The prospect of being outnumbered is a dangerous one. But they seem to be alone, at least for now, and he hadn’t spotted anyone on the way up...

“Sorry.” He shakes his head, berating himself, and wonders if he should in fact berate himself even harder for feeling this much at ease. “I have a penchant for talking with strangers. There’s something still so novel about it to me - it just isn’t something you do, where I’m from, and I suspect I may be trying to make up for lost time. But! I should have started with this - I’m Caspian.” Not wanting to muddle things further, he slows himself for this last part, pointing at himself. “What’s your name?”

The only thing to be done is stick to Common, and hope for the best - all else he knows is Vani, but he doesn’t dare, and a smattering of Shiber, but he feels fairly safe assuming that neither will have much more of an impact here, and might only complicate matters further. ...come to think of it, neither Vani nor Shiber have ever done him any material good.

[Itt]

For a brief moment in their conversation, Itt had completely lost all focus on the current reality of things. All his worries and all his fright from this past season of being away from home, for the first time no less, was starting to crush him like someone crushes herbs and spices in a mortar and pestle. The adrenaline of the situation wasn't doing good by him and didn't really make him physically faster but more so mentally, and it was too fast for him.

He hadn't been home in so long and he missed the tree and outpost he lived by. He missed not having to talk to people day in and day out, always feeling stupid for not understanding. He missed just being able to sit and sleep and watch people go by without them even knowing he was there. He missed watching the birds and just trying to touch them in hopes he might sprout feathers of his own. He missed when the grey bird wasn't dead.

Like a pair of dice rolling along a table, the cubes of his mind tumbled along until they finally fell back to reality, his eyes, which had completely thrown the world out of focus for a moment, returned focus to the man. The stranger pointed to himself and then said "Caspian". He's never heard that word before. But he did know that gesture.

His name was," Caspian." He repeated. When Caspian pointed at him, Itt nodded again, "What the petch is that." His name was significantly longer than Caspian's, but hopefully, that wasn't too big of a deal.

[Caspian]

Chattering is a relatively new thing for Caspian - but more than new, and methodically learned. When he thinks back to the first half of his childhood in Avanthal - that is, when he can stand to, and when it comes to him unbidden and of reasons abstractly wrought, as it does now - speaking aloud, and rabbling and rousing, are not the first attributes that conjure themselves in his mind. The scenes are snowy. Yes, the given. Silvery and stark, sable and stalwart, and he the most self-consciously slipshod among them. Silence, though? In Snowsong Hold, seldom sought. But speaking -

Speaking was a different matter, and he can’t remember doing very much of it.

In Sunberth it had been worse - in Sunberth, staying silent was for good reason. The less he said, the less he seemed to infuriate his stepfather Taaldros, though of course the sorry excuse for a fisticuffed braggart found plenty reason to be angry anyway. So it was silence for survival - until Caspian learned that if he said the right thing at the right time and with the right lilt, it fairly effectively brought him closer to whatever it was he wanted, and in many cases, didn’t want.

(That’s what he’s got over his sister - she’s striking in her human form, but in the interpersonal, she simply can’t be bothered to do more than sear you with a stare.)

Ravok is another story. Ravok is where Caspian can wear silks, and smiles, and ruby and blue, and for the most part no one stares. No one outwardly tries to rob him for what he’s got on, and if that’s the marker of a better life - it’s not perfect, but this is what he wants, this place that still seems so separate and simply more than that last sorry heap.

But - fond and at times arguably protective as he may have become of running his mouth, he’s not entirely without sense. If there’s anything he strives to be good at, it’s reading a room, and this room is on top of a roof and still seems a little bewildered at his having barged in. Chattering makes some people feel at ease, but this doesn’t seem to be the case here.

The stranger repeats Caspian’s name, and says - his own, Caspian’s guessing. So they’ve gotten this far, at least. Caspian nods, tries to repeat Itt’s name as well. Stumbles a little, and grins in apology. Quizzically creases his countenance in the hopes that Itt will introduce himself again.

At this point, Caspian’s taken stock of the entirety of their surroundings. The buildings less proximal but still within sight seem to hold nothing of interest. Up here, it’s just him, Itt, the pipe and tobacco in his pocket he’s got a sudden urge to light, and...

Hmm. A fairly standard-looking statue not far off makes three. (Four if you count the pipe. Five for the tobacco. Six for the striker and/or flint and - he’s distressed enough.)

“You know,” he says, nonchalantly and softer, not wanting to spook Itt further, “my sister’s a bird.” One, sadly, more stoic than that stone.