21st Day of Spring, 512AV
[left]Jeremy disliked the other children. His peers, he found, tended to be bullies and other pig-headed individuals. Fortunately, with each passing season, Jeremy developed at thrice the speed of the other boys and girls. Soon enough, he would have no children to play with.
And he could not wait for that day.
There were two other Kelvic children in their horrid little group; both were girls, one Leopard Kelvic and the other girl was a Grey Parrot. Jeremy had been incredibly hopeful upon meeting the latter (another feathery friend!) but he quickly learnt that the girl was, unfortunately, just as unpleasant as the rest.
The other children blamed Jeremy for being difficult, being boring, being stupid... Being just about anything other than like
them. His parents were no real support, either; they merely pointed out the few societal things Jeremy did have in common with the children.
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"They're like us, Jerry, normal folk."
"Yes. Even Sophia, and her father is an old drunk. But they're nice kids, just give them a chance. They're from families are like ours."The young Kelvic knew what that phrase meant:
their families are poor, too. They won't look down on you for being what you are, like rich children would.
The boys and girls Jeremy was forced to spend time with did not treat him quite like a servant - that much was true. They did make demands, though;
go get some big stones for us to throw at that old man or
don't say anything or we'll break your legs. They made the most of his lanky size, as well. Should the group of miscreants get in trouble (which was a painfully frequent occurrence), it was Jeremy who was spotted first. Whilst he would be receiving a verbal bollocking from some redfaced shopkeeper, his so-called friends would scatter, laughing and joking at 'poor ol' Jerry'.
The entire sorry circle of events, from genius idea (usually suggested by Matthew Blecker, the huge boy who lead the group and had a brain the size of a walnut) to Jeremy being 'caught red-handed' (when he actually had had very little to do with the scheme), would repeat at itself least four times a season.
Perhaps it was the fact that he was growing so rapidly, or (Jeremy hoped to the Gods that this was the actual reason) he was just leaps and bounds
intellectually ahead of them, but Jeremy came to despise that pock-faced groups of kids. He found himself physically unable to carry a conversation with any of them without sneering or wanting to vomit. But each morning, his parents would practically throw him out of their home, all too wary that if they allowed him to avoid the company of other children, he would grow even more socially awkward. And because all of the horrid children lived in the same darkened, shit-stained area of Sunberth as his own family did, Jeremy found it hard to escape from them.
Of course, he could take his Gyrfalcon form and simply... fly away for the day. Indeed, this is exactly what Jeremy did whenever he was able to, but soon enough spotty Matthew Blecker and his cronies realised that this was how Jeremy managed to evade their delightful company. Their dislike of him mirrored his own hatred, but Jeremy served a purpose; he was their source of entertainment, as well as their scapegoat. Without him, Matthew Blecker had nobody to practise his spit aiming at, and the ugly boy's great bulk made him the next easiest thing for adults to see, and thus to blame.
They would usually meet Jeremy outside his family cottage, and the whole group of horrid children would run Jeremy down if he tried to escape. It seemed it was their first game of the day;
hunt the falcon!So it was a rare occasion when Jeremy found himself hovering over the stinking city of Sunberth. What a sorry sight it was indeed! The heat of the summer carried an airwave of sweat and shit up to the falcon, but luckily for Jeremy his poor avian sense of smell
*See reference:) was some protection against the stench.
With a slight tilt of his wings, Jeremy allowed the breeze to carry him eastwards, towards the edges of the city of Sunberth and where countless people came and went each day. He enjoyed watching merchants and other travellers exit and enter the city, envious of the former and feeling smug over the latter.
The falcon wheeled above, his golden eyes catching the sight of a merchant's carriage led by two horses. A silver-haired figure sat at the front, every so often tugging on the reins or tapping the horses' flanks to move and stop his wares with the ebb and flow of the human traffic. From the heavy overthrow that sheltered his goods, Jeremy guessed the merchant had come to sell to foodstuffs - cheese, perhaps? His father liked cheese.
Jeremy dropped two or three feet in the sky, closing and opening his wings to catch the air until he could see more details about the people below him. Most were like the grey-haired fellow: merchants, or tradesman. A few, however, went against this assumption and Jeremy liked to imagine what their plans in Sunberth were. The woman in the dark hooded cape, for example, had come to the city to bake the most delicious cakes Sunberth had ever seen. The young boy standing next to her was actually no child at all, but a wizard in disguise. He and his baker mistress had eloped together, but his last spell had backfired and now he was stuck as a kid. Jeremy imagined him throwing fireballs at Matthew Blecker and burning the podgy boy into a pile of ash and globules of fat.
It had been at least two bells since Jeremy had taken flight, and the Kelvic felt a tug of curiosity. What were Matthew Blecker and crew up to now? Even them, as stupid as they were, should have realised that Jeremy had eluded them this morning. Jeremy had had to leave his bed as soon as his father rose to go to work (Syna herself had barely stirred), but even as he felt a relentless exhaustion creep down his wings, Jeremy still felt incredibly smug. It was rare for him to avoid the other children, as most of their parents were cooks, barmaids - workers who had to get up early enough to prepare food and drink for early morning customers. The children would all wake with their parents, and so it was quite normal that on most days when Jeremy skulked out of the Sunset Quarter, some ugly kid would be there waiting for him. He fully believed that Matthew Blecker would one day head a huge organisation of spies -- but until then, he was just a bully.
What was Blecker doing now?
I shouldn't...But he would.
Curiosity got the better of Jeremy, and he twisted his agile body back towards the city centre. It would be nearly impossible for him to spot a single person within the sprawling city, with the thousands of people inside and the endless streets and dead-ends. Rather (un)fortunately, however, the group of children he was looking for were incredibly predictable (their little group fluctuated in numbers almost every day, it seemed, but Matthew Blecker was always on top, and Jeremy at the bottom). As much as he detested them, Jeremy knew the children incredibly well. He enjoyed pretending that he was a wildlife observer, one who specialised in the Behaviours and Habitat of the Wild and Dangerous Matthew Blecker.
And here we see the Blecker, asserting his dominance in the rest of the herd by spitting on the rival males...It was a hot day; sweaty Blecker would be avoiding the sunlight as much as possible. At the same time, however, the boy would also be incredibly annoyed at having been outwitted by Jeremy, so he'd want to release some frustration. The Wild and Dangerous Blecker usually did this by picking on the weaker kids. When that didn't mean Jeremy, it would mean Timothy Swatching; a child so pasty that even Jeremy was sure he glowed at night. The boy had apparently nearly died seven times, and his near-death experiences had left him ashen and weak. But whereas Jeremy was tall and gangly and pathetic, Timothy Swatching was short and narrow and pathetic. The girls delighted in looking after him, mothering the boy with tight hugs and baby voices. They wouldn't let Matthew Blecker touch Timothy as long as Jeremy was present ('
NO Matthew! He's a bay-bay! Kick Jeremy, he's big enough to fend for himself, he's just chicken!').
And Timothy, the smug little freak, would smile haughtily to Jeremy whilst the girls played with his hair and kissed his forehead. He utterly refused to converse with Jeremy, wouldn't even give the Kelvic a tick of time despite the two of them sharing a lowly position in the strange pecking order of their group.
So Jeremy was rather disheartened when he saw Timothy Swatching sitting happily, no bruises in sight, with the rest of the children. He had located them in the Riverside Isle Park, one of Blecker's favourite hangouts. The fat boy enjoyed pushing Jeremy into the icy water in winter, and laughing when Jeremy’s skin turned blue and his teeth chattered.
The group that Jeremy discovered, however, was only half of Blecker's crew, and the ringleader himself was nowhere to be seen. Jeremy took shelter in a nearby tree, well hidden amongst the lush leaves (though none of the remaining children would ever think to look for him). Timothy Swatchling was sat next to Rachel Odstone, a girl who was far too aware of her prettiness and growing breasts. The girl was playing with Timothy's straw coloured hair and every so often she would nuzzle his neck and delight everyone with her airy laughter. The Kelvic watched through golden, jealous-filled eyes. None of the girls touched him affectionately, and if their skin ever did brush his own they'd instantly look disgusted, as if they had trodden in dog shit.
Feeling disgruntled, Jeremy turned his attention away from the boys and girls, and instead scanned the rest of the park. A panicked
squwark caught his attention, and Jeremy looked towards the water. The sound of hideous laughter - Blecker's, without a doubt - and water splashing was enough for Jeremy to leave his post and flutter in the direction of the suspicious noises.
What he saw truly appalled the Falcon.
Blecker, accompanied by about six other children, one of whom was the Leopard Kelvic, stood in the shallows of the water, armed with a handful of rocks. Every so often the fat boy would launch a rock into the water, and turn to his audience to signal that they should clap and laugh in appreciation.
The act seemed innocent enough, until one realised what exactly Matthew Blecker was using as targets: ducklings and other young waterfowl.
A duck hen swam back and forth, honking fearfully each time a rock dolloped into the water near her brood, and with great sadness Jeremy saw the floating, yellow shape of a dead duckling. One of Matthew Blecker's other targets was a cygnet, guarded by one parent whilst the other hissed and spat towards the fat boy. As Jeremy watched, he saw the adult bird dare to get within three feet of the bully, who reacted by throwing a stone directly at the Cob's wing. It was thrown with such force that the rock pelted the side of the white swan, and a worrying
crack was met with great laughter from Blecker.
"That must be ten points! I've broken its wing!"Matthew Blecker's celebration aroused uncomfortable cheers and nervous laughs from his friends. The spotty boy huffed in frustration.
"What's wrong with you? This is fun, they're only dumb birds. They don't have a point other than shitting on shoes and squawking all day long."A tall boy that Jeremy knew was named Robert shuffled towards Matthew, taking one of the stones before throwing it limply into the water, not even trying to aim at the scared waterfowl.
"You throw like a girl, RobDog," What a suitably idiotic nickname for an idiotic boy "don't waste them, it took us ages to find all those eggs."Fury erupted within of Jeremy. It was terrible enough that Matthew Blecker was humoured by causing pain and death amongst animals, but to then steal eggs and use them as artillery! The boy had no respect for anything other than himself and his own entertainment, least of all the natural world. It enraged Jeremy: despite having lived in a city for the entirety of his short life, the Kelvic had always found Caiyha's kingdom, and all living things residing within it, worthy of great respect. As a Falcon, he liked to think he obeyed natural laws; he hunted, yes, but only to his need. In the harsh winter, should his parents not be able to afford meat, he would hunt rabbits or voles to provide for his family. But he had never, would never, harm or kill for fun. It was barbaric, unnatural.
Without thinking, in that flash of rage and righteousness, Jeremy dived down, talons forward and spread.
Matthew Blecker glanced up just in time to see Jeremy inches away from his face, before the Kelvic descended upon the fat boy and pecked and scratched. A yowl echoed in Jeremy's ears, though he barely paid attention to it. He was focused, deaf and blind in the frustration and rage that had built up within him over the past seasons. Blecker's hands instantly went up to his face, dropping the three remaining eggs to the ground. All three cracked, and the Leopard Kelvic had to rush a hand to her mouth to stop herself vomiting when a half-formed duck foetus spilled out of one.
"It's Jeremy!" The girl screamed between gags.
He pulled away from Matthew Blecker, beating his wings desperately to avoid the thug's frantic punches. Despite the Falcon's intense anger, the damage to Blecker's face was somewhat disappointing; two pairs of three skinny pink lines ran down his forehead and cheeks, and Jeremy had managed to bite the tip of his piggy nose, but other than that the Kelvic's attack had left the boy largely unscathed.
Matthew Blecker stooped down, this time picking up an actual rock and preparing himself to lunge it at the hovering bird. In response, Jeremy tucked in his wings and dived from the sky.
He landed, talons first, on the crown of Blecker's head, tensing his bird feet to keep his balance on this rounded surface. He pecked and pulled, not entirely sure what part of Matthew's face his beak landed on, but tugging all the same. When he looked up, Jeremy saw the other children - Leopard Kelvic included - staring at him in horror. He instantly stopped; those looks were familiar to him, but never before had Jeremy been on the receiving end of such revulsion.
The Falcon swished and flew up and away from the park, leaving a bawling Blecker with blood dripping down his face.
Panic clutched at the Falcon, and he desperately flew east, away from the centre of Sunberth. He needed to escape, to avoid the consequences of what he had just done in that moment of fury. They would kill him, without a doubt. And if the other children didn't, their parents - or even his own - surely would.
What have I done?His desperate flying had bought him to Downe Acres, though the Falcon still did not stop until he reached the expansive woods attached to the farm. He came here to hunt sometimes, as well as to simply stretch his wings and keep away from the hotness of a busy city. It was usually peaceful, completely empty save for him and the wild.
This time, Jeremy had company.
A woman stood about ten feet away from the tree he was perched within. She was waving at him. For a tick, Jeremy simply stared at her, a cold dread creeping up his spine. She was smiling, but guilt racked through his mind and soiled the stranger's friendly gestures.
She knows!As if to answer his own paranoia, the woman spoke out to him.
"I mean no harm, Kelvic. Come and join me down here."He edged nervously away from the trunk of his tree, torn between insatiable curiosity and fear.
The woman extended a hand, reaching up to Jeremy as if to help a child down from a high step.
"That's right, come down. But please do so in your other form."The Falcon froze. His human self, so gangly and tall, could not escape from a threat as easy as his bird form, nor could it defend or offend as effectively. It was one thing to approach this stranger, but to do so in the body of a weak human male made Jeremy even more wary.
He could not refuse this woman, though, so Jeremy edged closer, until he fluttered down onto the ground beneath his tree. In a swirl of silvery lights that surrounded him and quickly dispersed, Jeremy grew taller, longer, until he stood at his full human form. He would appear to the woman as a young lad, around ten or eleven years, but with the height of a boy much older. He was not ugly, but the sharp features of his face created a harsh appearance that made him come across as permanently frowning. Nevertheless, the woman smiled as their eyes met for the first time.
She was pretty, with an earthy appearance that seemed to blend into the forest around them. Her hair was dark, though Jeremy lacked the correct word to perfectly describe its strange brownish-green tint, and her smile was welcoming. He stood awkwardly, aware of his youthful nakedness in front of this stranger. His golden eyes were downcast - the habit of a self-conscious young lad.
"Do you know who I am, Jeremy?"His head snapped up, alarmed, at the sound of his name. He observed this woman carefully, and with shock he realised her appearance altered ever so slightly as she slowly approached him. In the dappled light of the forest, her hair darkened or lightened depending on where she stood, and each delicate step gave the brown earth a new breath of green life.
"No." The child's voice muttered in response, cowering away from this strange woman.
Caiyha chuckled warmly, and extended a hand once more. She seemed intent on making friends, but anxiety still pulled at Jeremy's nerves. It was not that he did not trust strangers, but a childhood of being teased and bullied had made Jeremy careful.
"Are you sure, Jeremy? Perhaps you should look upon my face once again." He did so, but yet again Jeremy's face remained blank, confused. He did not recognise the woman, but it was her changing appearance that truly baffled him. He glanced away quickly.
"How sad." She pouted, and Jeremy flinched at her disappointed tone of voice.
"But do not fear me, Jeremy Casing. I was being honest when I said I would not harm you. You may call me Caiyha."Another shock.
"Oh." It was the only sound Jeremy could muster is his newly startled state.
The Goddess of Flora and Fauna... here! Now he gazed at her, in a wondrous way only a child can manage.
But why?"I know what you did earlier, Jeremy." Her voice was serious, and Jeremy instantly lowered his gaze once again.
Oh... that's why. Of course. He'd be stupid to think a deity would ever visit him for anything other than to scold him.
But when Caiyha spoke again, she did not punish the child. Her words yet again were firm but kind, spoken in a direct manner and accompanied by a smile
"You punished one of your peers for his actions, taking the responsibility of defending the natural world into your own hands. Why?"The young boy shuffled his feet and looked down at them bashfully. There had been no logic to his actions, purely anger and frustration with the bully who had caused him so much grief over the past seasons. But Jeremy had grown use to it; Matthew Blecker grew bored easily, so the punches and spit-aiming practises never lasted long. But something within Jeremy had ignited when he saw the fat boy show so much joy at harming other living things. He had celebrated after breaking a swan's wing, and had killed a young duckling -- Matthew Blecker deserved every scratch Jeremy had managed to give him.
"He was wrong." Now Jeremy's golden eyes matched the Goddess' in a flash of newfound confidence. She was the Goddess of Flora and Fauna, how could she be angry with Jeremy for defending her own creations?
"He needed to be stopped. They needed saving. He was just doing it for fun."Caiyha remained cool and calm, even in the lad's flicker of defensiveness. She gave a single nod, recognition that the Kelvic was at least partly correct in his grandiose statement.
"And yet you, in your other form, hunt and kill. How are you any different?"Jeremy's mouth hung open in abhorrence at being compared to someone like Matthew Blecker.
"Because my family need to eat!" His voice cracked with frustration and desperation,
"it's completely different! I kill to help my family survive. He was doing it for barbaric fun, just for the sake of it.""I see." The woman gave another taut nod and smile, and began to walk again, this time in a wide circle around Jeremy.
"Cities are challenging places to maintain, did you know that?" Her fingertips brushed the bark of a tree, and Jeremy swore he could hear the great oak sigh wistfully at her touch. He shook his head.
"There are always far too many people who give nature no thought. They damage, pollute, kill, harm, every day, without a second thought." She rounded upon the young lad, who frowned in response to her statement.
"Do you think you could take on that responsibility? You are young, and will live a short life, but that's not to say it will be a meaningless one."Jeremy cowered at her voice, all traces of his earlier confidence having been fizzled away and replaced with yet more confusion and apprehension. Why did she have to talk so grandly? Wouldn't a simple sentence suffice? His head was spinning.
"Your kind - the Kelvics - are unnatural, despite your animal forms. You bond with humans and aim to do their bidding, so should I present you with my gift, you will need to make a vow to always put it first, before your bondmate. Do you think you could do that?""I don't know." It was an automatic answer, more because Jeremy had very little clue as to what she was talking about.
"I think so..?" The word 'gift' was always a good thing, though. He liked the sound of that.
Caiyha smiled at the child's confusion.
"You understand this gift will make it harder for others to understand you? It will of course not stop you finding a bondmate, nor will it hinder your search for one, but it may make it more challenging. It takes a very specific individual to become a Witch, and an even more specific kind to bond with one."Witch?
The Goddess reached towards him, and Jeremy stepped back to avoid her hand, but he was too slow. She snatched out and grabbed his wrist, tracing a delicate finger up and down the boy's skinny forearm. He writhed and twisted, but Caiyha whispered gently:
"Stay still. And look at me."Gold eyes met brown (Jeremy could have sworn her eyes were green a moment ago), and when the woman released her grip, the Kelvic glanced back down to his arm. Where a single birthmark had been before, there was now a great expansive scene that reached up into his elbow joint. Midway towards his wrist were a mixture of grey and brown squares, which Jeremy quickly realised were buildings. They were various sizes and shapes, and formed a ring around the circumference of his arm. The buildings stacked upon one another, creating a messy and clustered appearance. Every so often, there was a gap in between two structures, and in this place was a tree or bush full of bright green leaves. The top of each building appeared to be full of pigeons, crows, sparrows, all squabbling and cawing amongst themselves. Something moved near his wrist, and with wide eyes Jeremy saw a thin trickle of water - it was actually
moving! - running down his arm, right above where he would have seen his skinny veins. The stream eventually curved around his wrist, pooling in a rough circle shape at the back of his hand. Murky shadows that looked remarkably like fish circled within the pond, and a swan and little yellow duckling (
'Quite fitting, don't you think?) paddled happily together.
The Kelvic stared down at his arm in a mixture of amazement and dismay. He understood now, completely and wholly, what had just happened. But there were still questions, and he looked up desperately to the Goddess for answers.
But she was gone.
![[Verified by Crosspatch]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Crosspatch]")
