Root wasn't any different. As far as I could tell, she'd not gained any weight or lost a single feather.
Holding the young owl, I smiled as I stared out the circular window to the distant couple. Lellip was sitting with Branches near the large tree, having lunch together. I was very jealous that I couldn't join them, since the two were acting rather… interesting.
They weren't acting like as if they'd just t, or even just recently got together… they instead were acting as if they'd already been a pair for most of their lives. It was… startling, in a way, to see them so comfortable and natural with one another. It made feel even more acutely aware of my relationship with Vim and how I acted with him, compared to them I was a little girl experiencing her first romance… which I an…
"Maybe I am…?" I asked Root, who glanced at with her huge eyes but said nothing. She smiled though after I held her gaze for a mont, and her wings opened up a bit as if to flap happily.
I happily giggled at the big winged girl, who weighed nothing even though she looked as if she should thanks to her wings. She was sohow more adorable than even the new couple I was spying on.
Swaying a little, I lifted the small owl up as to let her unfurl her wings even more. They flapped ever so slightly, almost as if they weren't flapping at all but instead only moving because of the movent. She giggled as she reached out towards , rather the braids in my hair, and I lifted her up higher as if to help her soar in the sky.
"Flying is so fun, isn't it?" I asked Root as I stepped back and away from the window, to the center of the room where there was no furniture so I could spin and walk around a bit for her.
Root made noises at that sounded happy but I couldn't tell if she was agreeing with or complaining. Still I held her up over my head, moving around while lifting her up and down. Her wings flapped a bit more, and her giggling increased.
"Who's coming? Who is it?" I grinned as I turned to face the door, as to let Root watch Sap walk into the room.
Sap smiled at us as Root reached out to her older sister upon noticing her. I let Sap take her, a tad begrudgingly, and stepped back a bit to enjoy the sight of the way Sap's wings opened and stretched forward a bit as to cover her and Root, as if to protectively shield them from the whole world.
"Have you flown with her as you did yet?" I asked Sap.
"No. She's hardy, far better off than I had been when a kid but she's still young. My parents wouldn't dare risk it until later, but I will eventually be the one to teach her how to fly and stuff," Sap said.
Right… she was the only one with wings now, after all…
"I'm jealous…" I said with a sigh. All I had was my ears and tail, and although my ears helped hear well… supposedly far better than most if not nearly all people, it was actually growing to be sothing a tad annoying. I was hearing a bit too well lately, enough so it bothered .
"You enjoyed a nice easy flight during a nice sumr morning, genuinely one of the best tis to fly ever. Trust it's not always that nice," Sap said with a chuckle.
"Ah, but even the storms and cold you describe sound fun! I don't mind the cold at all you know, I used to sleep in snow while naked all the ti," I said. She's told about occasions where she's nearly died, even falling and breaking arms or legs, because of bad winds and weather. But even though she spoke of such things as if they were life-threatening, I could still see and hear her excitent as she spoke of them. Which ant it was probably a wonderful rush to experience such monts…
"That's just silly…"
I turned to watch Crown walk into the room. I smiled happily at not just seeing her, but hearing her voice. Sap and I had arrived late afternoon yesterday, but this was only the third ti I'd heard her speak. She slowly headed over to the only couch in the room; a very long red cushioned one that was honestly a bit too stiff for my personal preference.
The middle sister of the owl family let out a soft sigh as she laid down on the couch, face first originally… and then rolled over to her side as to stare at us who stood in the center of the room.
"Don't like the cold, Crown?" I asked her, hoping to keep her talking. Yesterday when we had t, she had greeted and shook my hand but had quickly retreated and disappeared as I got engrossed in conversation with the rest of the parliant.
Crown only shook her head as she half-closed her eyes and breathed out a heavy sigh once more, as if about to fall asleep there and then.
She was a pretty woman, with really long blonde hair, but she looked… worn down. She actually didn't look too much like Sap or Lilly. She was a tad taller than I was, but so skinny that she might even be half my weight… especially since all of these owls seed to weigh far less than they looked from the get-go.
Just comparing her to her family mbers proved how underweight she was. So of her joints and bones could be so clearly seen from under her thin clothes that it actually made worry for her health.
If soone told she was deathly ill, I'd believe them. She looked that weak and skinny.
Although a part of couldn't understand the whole… not eating or doing anything thing that ca with such depression, as Vim called it, I at the sa ti did relate to her. The people I've lost over the years had made feel the sa way much as her, though I don't think I had ever gotten as skinny…
Honestly I wasn't even sure if her condition was entirely because of this man she supposedly had loved passing away. No one's really been able to confirm it yet, it seed most just assud her current state was because of his early death… Though it seed no one even really knew how the man had died, which was odd to … at least until I considered who and what family we were talking about.
Lilly and the rest were the kind of people to give distance. To step back and let soone deal with their own issues… they even showed this in the way they lived. The family usually didn't gather and live together like this, usually they all lived separately. They were just that kind of family.
"Does it ever snow a lot here?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going. Crown had not answered vocally, and didn't seem to have any intention to continue it herself.
"Yes, but only sotis. The great tree blocks a lot of it, sotis," Sap said as Root started trying to crawl over her shoulder, as to grab at her older sister's wings.
For a small mont I worried over the way Sap just letting Root crawl all over her, even to the point of grabbing onto her left wing. Sap didn't seem concerned at all as Root clung to one of the thicker parts of the top of her wing, even though it looked as if at any mont she could take a tumble and fall backwards to the ground. Sap's wing shifted and opened a bit, and as it did it made Root's grip shift a little and beco a bit more unsure.
I drew a bit closer, just in case, but it seed my worry was unwarranted. Sap still had a hold on Root's foot, and the young owl kept hold of Sap's wing without issue.
"Do you really sleep in the snow naked…?"
I turned to the couch, and did my best to not let my utter glee of Crown speaking up on her own show too much on my face, or in my ears or tail. "Yeah! If you pack it right and lay in it, all curled up, it's actually not that bad!" I said, happy to tell her all about it.
Crown's eyes, though not as large as her more non-human family mbers, were still a bit noticeably bigger than usual… and they narrowed at as she blew so of her long blonde hair out of her face. "Do you have a bunch of fur all over you or sothing?" she asked, as if that was the only way she could reason as to why I'd do such a thing willingly.
"She doesn't. What little she has is near her tail, and it's not much," Sap said.
My ears fluttered a little as I wryly frowned at her. How'd she even know that…? Had I ever gotten naked in front of her before?
"So she's just hardy, like you are then," Crown said simply.
"Hardly, sister. Even I'd not sleep in snow while naked," Sap said, and had a tone as she spoke that told she found it as odd as the rest did.
"Why's it so odd to everyone…?" I groaned. Everyone always teased about it.
"You like warm baths though, don't you?" Sap then asked.
I nodded happily. "I do yes," I said. In fact I was looking forward to later tonight, I had not bathed last night and had just wiped down since by the ti greetings and stuff had gotten over it was too late to bathe. But tonight I'd be able to take a bath, a proper one, and I was looking forward to it. I was still debating if I wanted to take it alone though, since although they had a set of nice baths here they weren't really that big… going back to the nature of this family, who were all a bit distant with one another, they didn't have a bath big enough to really share it while using it. Not comfortably at least.
"So maybe she just likes extres," Crown noted.
Sap nodded. "She was giggling happily as I carried her here, like a kid," Sap said.
"Who wouldn't like flying…? It's amazing!" I argued.
"Lots of people. Particularly everyone who doesn't have wings," Crown said.
I smirked at that, and was about to say sothing until I heard soone walk down the hall. The owl's ho was very well built, likely one of the nicest built hos I've ever been in… but they had these thin rugs that made footsteps just a tad more noticeable than not. I watched Windle step around the doorway, and though he nodded gently at us he didn't enter the room.
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"Sap, dear… would you co aid your mother?"
"Hm? Sure," Sap didn't hesitate to agree and reached up to grab the little owl who was still grabbing at her wing. She lifted Root off her, who let out a slightly angry gurgle noise, and then she stepped over to and handed the bundle of wings.
I nodded, accepting what was likely the most precious responsibility in the world right now. "I don't have wings, but I have a tail you know," I said as I brought my tail around and wagged it in front of her. Root imdiately stopped fussing and put her whole attention on my tail and went to grabbing at it. I twitched it around, keeping it out of her grip but close enough her little fingers brushed against it every so often as to keep her occupied.
She was a strong little girl, but I'd long since gotten used to her strength. I no longer worried over her breaking sothing, because even if she did it'd not be too damaging for . Though I was still a tad cautious about letting her gnaw or chew on my fingers, or anything else, since her teeth were so sharp.
"A tail's much better. Can you use it to pick things up, Renn?"
I turned my attention from the precious little owl, to another precious owl who needed likely as much care and attention. "To a degree, yes. The problem with my tail is half the ti I'm not paying attention to it, so it moves on its own… and so if I pick sothing up with it, or do sothing with it, I can break stuff or myself so I simply don't do it," I said.
"Ah… that makes sense. Their wings sotis flutter without them aning to, as well. Sap broke hers a few tis because of strange twitches when she was young, banging them into walls and stuff on accident," Crown said.
I frowned at that. I'd seen their wings shift and do that so-called flutter thing… but had yet to see them move so violently as to cause such damage, yet. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it? We're all supposed to be so much sturdier than humans… yet I feel as if we're more fragile than they are half the ti," I said.
Crown slowly shifted, and rolled onto her back. I studied the way she took in a deep breath, and then sighed it out. Like the rest of the won in her family, she didn't have much a chest which seed only further impacted by her lack of weight. "It's actually a point of contention amongst our scholars. The current widely accepted belief is that we, in human bodies, are not ant to have extra parts. So those who do have them are more likely to hurt them, because on an instinctual level we're not supposed to have them. It's like people who have extra toes stub them more often," Crown said.
Oh…? I perked up a bit as I studied the tired looking owl. She had just proved what everyone had said of her, that she was soone who enjoyed scholarship.
"You're saying the reason we hurt ourselves so much is because our parts our unnatural. Our extra ones, at least," I said.
Crown frowned at the ceiling. "Rather than unnatural, just sothing we're not supposed to have. Many of the theologist would get upset if you said it that way, since it'd imply our creators made us mistakenly. As if in error," Crown said.
Oh my, she sounded kind of like Witch used to! I stepped over to the couch she was lying upon, and with a wry grin I placed Root down onto Crown's stomach. The tired looking owl sighed, but did so with a smile as she reached up to grab at Root's small hands in greeting.
I knelt down in front of the couch, not just to keep myself close to Root… but to stay engaged with the owl who was suddenly talkative.
"If Vim was here he'd scoff at us and say everyone is natural, or sothing," I said happily.
Crown smiled at that. "A lot of people speak ill of him in the church, since he so obviously shows disdain and blasphes so often… but I've personally always felt very comfortable around Vim. He's always been super nice to , even if he is only so because of my mother I've always appreciated it."
"Are you religious then, Crown?" I asked. She was kind of talking as if she was.
"I want to be…" she said, ever so softly.
Oh…? I blinked at that, and the tone she had used. That had sounded… sad. Which was so disheartening to hear since this was such a happy mont. Root was giggling happily on her stomach, the whole owl family was fine and healthy… Lellip and Branches were now an official mated pair, and I was even here visiting! This shouldn't be a mont where soone sounded so sad!
"I'm still not sure myself, either," I said.
Crown turned her head to look at , causing so of her long hair to cover half her face. "You…?"
I nodded. "Yeah?" Why was that so surprising? Oh… "You think it's odd because of who my mate is," I said, smirking at the thought.
"Well… yeah?"
Smirking at that, I nodded proudly. "Not even Vim can make that decision for . Not that he'd ever try, that is." Vim was actually more likely to support than try to convince otherwise, being the way he was.
"Hm… makes wonder the implications behind that," Crown said softly.
"All it really ans is that Vim loves so much he's willing to overlook anything and everything," I said.
She snickered at that, which made my ears twitch. What a cute sound! "I see…! Makes sense though, I've always wondered why Vim gave mother so much leeway," she said.
"Hm?" What'd she an by that?
Crown noticed my confusion and shifted a little. She sat up a bit, causing Root to fall backward onto her wings and Crown's legs. The girl was fine though, and in fact started to giggle happily as she tried to roll back up off her wings.
"I was born not too long before the wars and cultist exterminations. So… unlike so of my siblings, I rember mom being a bit scary," she said softly.
Oh…? "I see…?" I wasn't sure what to say to that. How'd we go from giggling and talking about Vim's love for to this?
Crown though didn't stop this topic, she raised a small finger… both to point upward at the ceiling and to twirl it in front of Root who she had helped back up and off her back. "Basically I rember them being a bit scary. When I was younger, I was… honestly a tad scared of him. Especially since he and mom would co back all bloody and stuff sotis," she said.
"Mhm…" I still was a tad unsure how the conversation had gone in this direction, but I knew better than to stop or change it. Maybe I'd learn more about Crown, and what was really bothering her, if I just listened. "He can be scary sotis," I said gently.
She smiled at that and nodded. "Sotis. But I learned fast that he was not sothing to fear. He visited a lot after I moved out on my own. As I think he did for many of us… I know he likely only did it to keep an eye on us, since likely either my parents asked him to or out of respect to them, but I'm still glad he did. I enjoyed his visits," she said.
Ah. I see… this wasn't really her talking about religion, Vim and her mother being scary or anything like it. This was actually her way of just… talking. Of her situation. Of herself.
"So people don't like it when he visits more than he needs to… did it bother you? Or rather, if he did visit because he felt you were special since your mother is his friend… does that bother you?" I asked.
Crown frowned and shook her head gently. "No… not at all. I know what you're saying though, I've heard people bring up such things before. Both ways, too. So people complain when he shows up too much, and others complain he don't show up nearly enough. I think people are just picky and unable to see past their own lives very well," she said.
"Hm," I nodded gently, not really wanting to comnt too deeply about that.
Root made an odd noise as her wings unfurled a little, to the point I had to lean back a bit lest I get hit by one, and then she went to trying to stick her sister's finger in her mouth.
"She's strong," Crown said softly as I watched her actually have to focus as to keep her finger out of her youngest sister's mouth.
I wonder to what degree Crown's struggle at keeping her finger in control was from her being less non-human than her sister and her general weakness from being unhealthy at the mont.
"Even I worry when she wants to chew on stuff. Do all children do that?" I asked.
Crown nodded. "Most do when they're teething… which is why it's odd for her to be doing it, her first set are already grown. Odds are they're sharp so poke her lips and gums and it bothers her, so she instinctively wants to dull them by gnawing on stuff. At least, that's my assumption," Crown said.
Huh… that was actually a very good point. It made perfect sense. "My teeth are sharper too, I've been told… but I don't rember chewing on stuff." Or people. Especially since no one had ever really played with , even at Root's age.
"Haha… I've always wondered if my children would be born with traits too. It used to worry , the idea of having a baby that's like … but just enough like the others to make it so she needs to be nursed, yet has the sharp teeth too," Crown said.
My tail squird beneath as I glanced at Crown who had a soft smile on her face. It at least didn't look sad anymore. "Have none of you needed to be nursed?" ia sked.
She shook her head and frowned. "Don't think so? But no one's had children yet. I an, my generation. Each generation is always a step away from one's source, as they say… and not to ntion I… well…"
Crown got a bit quiet, and I felt bad as I realized I'd just unknowingly directed the conversation into a place that hurt.
"You loved him that much…?" I asked softly, since I knew what she was saying and could tell she was struggling to say it aloud. She was basically saying she had expected her children to be more human, since she had loved a human and not one of us.
The daughter Lilly worried so much over slowly shook her head. "No… I actually didn't. But… I had always thought I'd end up with one, a human I an," she said softly.
Oh…? "You hadn't…?" I asked with a bit of shock. Was she lying? Or was she just so distraught she was ignoring the obvious?
"Mhm… I know everyone thinks I'm depressed over his death, but… well…"
The hairs on my ears and tail stood up, as I realized she was about to tell sothing very important… but then soone shouted at us from down the hall and down the nearby stairs.
"Co have lunch!" Lilly yelled at us.
Root imdiately noticed her mother's voice, and her wings unfolded far more than before as she cooed and made happy noises. She turned around a bit, obviously expecting Lilly to walk into the room but she hadn't. She had simply called for us.
Crown sighed as she lifted Root and held her out to . I stood, taking the child who was growing more excited as she realized we were about to take her to Lilly.
"I'll tell you later. Let's go eat, yesterday I took my ti and she almost threatened to feed herself because of it," Crown said as she went to get up off the couch.
I chuckled at that as I nodded. "Yes, better not to risk it." Lilly would not hesitate to force feed Crown if she genuinely thought it was needed. She wasn't like Vim in that sense, she'd not just sit back and let one of her children outright harm themselves.
Before leaving the room I glanced again at the window nearby. Off in the distance near the big tree, Lilly's son and Lellip were still sitting there. They were sitting a bit closer than before, and looked as if they were reading a large book together.
"I'm happy for him. I think she'll save him," Crown then said, noticing I had lingered a bit to study them.
"Huh?" I turned a bit, and Root glanced around at us… as if about to ask, rather angrily, why we hadn't taken her to her mother yet.
"He was a rcenary for a long ti. Kept trying to die, we think. With her, and children if they can have so, he'll stop having such stupid ideas," she said simply.
Gosh…! Lilly hadn't said anything about that at all! I had known she had worried over him, in her own way, but hadn't gone so far as to say it was that bad…!
"Plus she's cute. Though she slls a little odd…" Crown then added with a frown as she turned away and left the room.
Taking in a deep breath, I sighed it out ever so softly as I glanced at Root in my arms… who gave a look as if she agreed with Crown. "What? You saying I stink too?" I asked the little owlet.
"Guah!" she reached out to grab one of my braids, and I took the sound as confirmation she did.
Which was fine, since I'd use that as an excuse to sneak off into the bath after lunch.
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