FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Once both were rested, they flew back to where Kin had dropped his tools.

The ground firm with strange new patterns by now, and only a few metal colored spots remind them of what had happened here before they went for the castle.

Zaiya flies close circles down the steep hill towards his tools, much like raves do, when they spy a morsel on the ground in mid flight and stop to dive for it.

"There is one thing. " She motions towards it, her superior eyesight making it easy to spot all the scattered things of his little box. And now, that she doesn't burn them anymore, she is a great help.

"There, there.. and behind the tree." She actually enjoys waddling for the tools and carefully trying to pick them up with her beak, while Kin holds the box and puts all the tools she gives him on their spot inside."

"Alright, all there, wow. I would have never found all the stuff again on my own."

She stretches her wings proudly, then gets them into the air again. "You know... about my tails."

She watches him closely and grins happily, as his face turns red once more as she planned.

"They are very sensitive, and someone handling them can be a great pleasure for us. IF that someone is our chosen, bonded partner. If its anyone else, its very irritating, and nearly always ends in a scratch, bite or worse. Provided that person can get close enough to us to actually touch them. It must be like when I used you as a perch. May be I should learn how to get back into my small form to..?"

And here he was just about to switch back to his normal color. She grins, satisfied with the effect and gives them a push with her wings towards the village.

“May be... you should. We could enter houses then."

She mulls over the idea in her head. She might have a plan to do that, without loosing all her power first.

She flies over the village and to their nest.

Kin waves at people on the aqueduct that are searching for cracks as they fly by.

He wonders if he should tell someone about the official visit he got, but decides against it. He doesn't want to build antipathy towards the capital and the king in the village. And if more guards should show up, the villagers would be confused instead of possibly telling them to get lost.

“Zaiya? What do you think of taking a longer trip, for a few days somewhere? Explore...? “

She tilts her head “Explore the ground?" She stares at him, unsure. “With my human?"

Even though, she has been down here for nearly a year, she still did not forget how the 'exploring' ended when she was searching for a human and got found by a sorceress. In the end, though, she found a human. A good one too. “That could be interesting, but what about the village?"

Kin grins “I already talked to Akira and a few others, it wouldn't be a problem. They would miss us, but we will be back in a bit."

“It sounds exciting. May be rest, then you prepare in the village for a few days before we leave?"

He nods slowly “That sounds perfect."

That's exactly what they do the next few days.

Four days later, they decide to leave and fly down to the village to tell them. Most of them know already, since Kin was talking about it whenever he was down there for his work.

The first houses are being taken down right now to be rebuild with stones. A caravan brought the first load earlier and the whole city is helping to unload them. The blocks are pretty heavy, but two people can easily handle one.

Zaiya lands in Akira's yard to let Kin get off and put on some cloths. The smith always stores some right inside the back door for him. Then she hops on his roof and watches the villagers work, most of them wave to greet her, once they notice the large bird.

The phoenix jumps down on the main street and waddles towards them, slowly, then waits at a healthy distance for her human. Even though her aura is no longer a problem, she doesn't know how the horses would react and she still might jump scare some of the villagers, when she suddenly appears in front of them. So she just keeps watching, similar to what Gavin, the other phoenix around, does all the time from above the clouds.

He is right, it is interesting to see the humans bustle around and using their hands to do all the little things, she cant. But hey, for these, she has her own human. She grins at herself. May be they should build something at their nest? She could help carry things, like the rocks on the wagon, and he could make something of them.

She looks down, when someone tugs at her wing. "Hello, little one, shouldn't a strong kid like yourself help them?"

The kid is around ten summers old, dark brown, scruffy hair. He wears a more robust version of the linen clothes, but they still have rips and holes everywhere from the boy playing.

It is Harry, the kid of Lauren and Keith, two of the few dedicated village guards they have. They still help with other tasks whenever they can and probably are unloading the stones right now.

"Nah, I helped with the smaller things earlier but mom and dad say my arms are too small for these now." Zaiya smiles genuinely and looks back at her carpenter, who heard it – now with clothes.

"I will take care of the horses, " He nods smiling as he knows what she wants to do near instantly. He goes straight to the villagers, then to the horses that the villagers didn't bother to untie from the wagon for the process of unloading. Zaiya lies down "Lets work together then."

It is rare, that the phoenix lets anyone else ride on her back, but especially with the kids in town, she sometimes makes exceptions. She is rewarded with the gleaming, happy eyes of the kid as he climbs up on her feathers to sit where he always sees Kin. Then she gets to her feet and waddles over.

Kin meanwhile talked to the villagers, who all step aside to give her some room.

They are happy about the little break, after unloading wagons full of large and small blocks of stone. This one is the last.

Zaiya is very careful, to not accidentally drop Harry. Her worry is ill-founded, though, as he holds on tightly to a bunch of her feathers with each hands.

Then she gently starts picking up a block with her beak and puts it on the pile next to the wagon.

The horses snort nervously, unsure what that giant predator like creature behind them is up to, but Kin and a few of the villagers calm them down.

For little Harry, its a blast, of course, and soon, the other kids that tried to avoid work are returning to watch and complain that they want to help too, now.

But Zaiya is always strict when she does something like that. Everyone gets their turn, but no one interrupts another kids turn.

And somehow, she keeps track well enough of who she has played with already.

The unloading is difficult work for her, not because of the weight of the blocks, but because she doesn't want to drop any, breaking or hurting someone with them. And most of all: She still has to focus on tuning her aura down to not burn anyone.

When the last block is unloaded, she steps backwards away from the wagon awkwardly.

Harry slides down, before she can even lie down. "All done!" He proclaims happily, not even noticing the stern look Zaiya shoots him for ignoring her 'no jumping off rule'.

The villagers, especially the parents, smile at the show and beam at her for making Harry's day – and for showing the other kids, that avoiding work might leave them out of good things too.

When the wagons are back on their road to the capital, she waddles after them, away from the piles or stone blocks. "Should we leave now?"

Kin nods "I talked to Akira. He says as long as we come back in one peace, I can take a few days off for traveling. "

Akira doubles as their governor, but would verbally smack anyone who would say so.

"Im da village smith, not some deskjockey pushing around paper and signing useless things. We dunt need that here." practical as always.

The phoenix lies down, her head still high as she looks around the village and waits for her carpenter to get on her back.

He waves at them goodbye before he rubs her neck lovingly and climbs on her back.

She turns back, rubbing her beak against his side "Are you ready?"

He nods "Are you sure, we will be fine without supplies?"

She nods "all you need is water and a little bit of food every few days. I am more worried about your clothes. But we will try to get back with them intact, ok? It will be more comfortable at night without them for both of us, though. Warmer for you and more relaxed resting for me when I don't have to focus on my aura. I don't think, I could keep it down reliably during sleep."

He pats her head "First, we need to find a safe place to rest. Protected from possible rain and other nuisances like predators."

She snorts "As if any predator could get near us. "

"Fair enough. Lets go then."

With that, she takes wing and carries them above the aqueduct.

After the event with the group of guards and her statement to the king, there was no other official message from the capital. More and more people came to see her, thought.

It is flattering to her, but also unnerving. They knew from the start, that if they stayed at the village, sooner or later, her existence would be known. If it gets too bad, they could still leave later, and the villagers help greatly with 'when and whom' they tell where to go. Usually, they just shrug their shoulders and play dump.

Zaiya flies at a decent height over the aqueduct and without her fire aura, she isn't gathering much attention from the other villages. Just a bird...

Not that she cared much about what they think.

Kin just sits on her back, leaning on her neck and scratching her head. Both of them could stay like that all day long and just be happy. Even though, the wind chills the carpenter much more without her aura. And the thin linen clothes don't help much against the biting wind.

It would make it easier, when they decided to visit any village or may be a city, later.

First, they wanted to see the mighty dam, that feeds not just their aqueduct, but also a second one for the second biggest city in the kingdom, Horizont.

In the evening, they can see it on the horizon, in front of the huge mountain that is Tacoma Peak.

If both of them thought, the aqueduct was the best what humans could build. Both now find out, that they were completely wrong, once they get closer to the dam. It is massive. A giant wall of stone and metal.

It takes them more then an hour more at their lazy flight speed to finally reach the bottom of the dam.

"Kin. I .. really don't feel well being here. I can feel a LOT of water behind that."

Her carpenter agrees "Me neither. May be look at it from the top. There is supposed to be a city on top of the dam! We could buy a few snacks there."

She chirps and is quick to get them both airborne again and flies sideways along the dam. It must be hundreds of meters long.

"I really cant imagine how they make this thing hold." He grows quiet for a few moments before he asks “Zaiya?" She turns her head at his strange tone in his voice.

"Yes, kin?"

"Why did you decide to bond with me back there.. at the altar."

She stays silent for a few moments, gliding only.

"I saw you in the village, when I was trying to burn it down. I... looked into you right there. I saw your fascination. You were.. completely enthralled. I was curious about you. Everyone else ran away, and you, silly human, just stood there and watched me, while I burned everyone and everything around."

She takes another break, looking around. They were about at half of the dams height now. And FAR above the aqueduct already.

"I thought, I saw some.. interest in you and was hoping for you to be a possible mate. I think, I would have tried to fight the strings anyway, especially when I realized, that it might be my fault, that you were still standing there instead of fleeing. For trying to look into you.“

He smiles "No, you are right. I would have stayed there anyway. You were a.. fantastic, breathtaking sight. I didn't even realize the destruction you brought."

She sighs. "And then you saved me, protected me from the water, just because you thought I needed it. Then, outside, you still did AFTER that Kerrin told you who I was. And after I hurt you. Badly. You didn't realize how serious it was, but the cut was very deep. And all because I panicked."

He tugs her head feathers to calm her down a little again. "Or, because I held your legs instead of letting you go."

She shakes her head "No, that was nothing. Not even the cage. And after all that, you still went to help me. I was thinking during the whole time you carried me. Then you did everything to keep me warm in the cave. You know about my talons and still held me close to share your warmth. All of these were points for me to give another human a chance and nothing really spoke against it. So... here we are now."

She elegantly swoops up the last bit and lands gently on the railing on top of the dam. It is large and strong enough to easily hold her without breaking as everything on the dam seems to be created to hold out against over dimensional forces.

The picture that opens for them is again: Breathtaking.

In front of them lies a city. A bustling small city, wooden and stone houses, a market place. Even a large area at the sides with cows and pig pens. Breathtaking. A few people point their fingers at the large eagle like creature, that landed on the railing. A duo of town guards starts making their way towards them. They don't seem aggressive, even less so, once they notice Kin on top of the bird.

The large barrier lake shimmers behind the town, mirroring the mountains that stand watch over both of them are just magnificent against the gray evening sky.

Even Zaiya, who had seen a lot in her life, leans back more and more to take in all of the scene, she gets pulled out of it harshly, when kin is about to topple off her back, accidentally ripping out one of her neck feathers. As she feels one of his legs slip over her wings, she simply gives in to gravity and drops backwards of the dam.

That gives Kin a few moments to get back his bearing, put his leg over her wing and cling to her neck again, before she twists in midair and angling her wings to fly away from the building at first, to avoid any possible gust of wind that could smash them against the dam, then back up to the top of the building.

"Sorry. " She mutters to him, embarrassed.

He is still shaking from the sudden fear of falling before he can answer "This was... insane. Not the falling. The view."

She nods quietly, even though he doesn't mention it, she still nearly dropped her human.

"I would have caught you. I swear."

She coos softly as he reaches for her head feathers again "I know. Don't worry. Can I gift the feather to the first person that talks to us?"

It is a soft down, but still with a small aura of light and warmth around it.

"Of course."

"Now stop sulking. You even prevented me from falling!"

She nods quietly, then lands on the railing again, but quickly hops down on the ground behind it.

The guards that were moving towards them take a surprised step backwards.

"Here, a gift for you. " He reaches down to give the feather to the guard that is about to speak to them.

He looks at it for a moment, wondering where the glowing light comes from, before he speaks again.

"Hello Sir, um, thank you for this. Nice bird you have there. I'm Ethan, the captain of the guard. And this is Amaya, the city on the dam. Please make sure your bird doesn't hurt or scare any people."

He grins at them, seeing an opportunity. "Don't worry, good people. She is well educated and house trained." She turns her head to stare at him, baffled for a second, before she answers playfully and very amused "Riiiight. That's why we are living in my nest, instead of your house. So you can be house trained too."

Her carpenter frowns and mumbles "I cant win, can I?" Earning a confused look of the two guards and a loving nip on his nose from Zaiya.

"Are you alright, friend?"

"Yes yes, sure. Just a tiny discussion with...never mind" As he sees the look on their face.

"Look, its really no problem. We have a lot of different visitors here. gryphons from the mountains even come here to fish in the lake on a daily basis."

"Or to drown.." His partner throws in.

"Oh come on, Pan, it was a young one, and an accident. " He turns back to Zaiya and Kin. "The poor guy just misjudged the resistance of the water and dropped in. With wet feathers, its pretty hard for a bird to get out. Especially if they have a giant cat attached to them."

Zaiya shivers and seems to shrink slightly at the thought.

"It was quiet the fight to get the bird out, but he is fine now. Kinda loves us and visits the barracks often. He even wants to enlist to help us against the stupid bandits, that keep pestering us and the people coming up here to trade. He would be a great help."

His partner nods "Ya, but for now. He is back up there. We will see. Anyway, that's just one example. You know, this is the largest trade spot in all the 4 Kingdoms. We lie exactly on the edge of all of them."

They were slowly walking towards the market area, while talking, Kin still on Zaiyas back.

"So its no problem if my phoenix stays around?" Zaiya shoots him a devastating gaze and he quickly tries to correct his mistake.

"I mean, her name, because of the color of her feathers."

The guards didn't seem to notice, but a merchant nearby seems to have taken an interested in them.

"Phoenix? A nice name, you look like you traveled quiet a while. You don't come from the south, by chance? I am selling all kinds of snacks and supplies, what can I interest you in? I have the best honey of all 4 Kingdoms. Or how about some .."

Kin smiles and slides of Zaiyas back, who still watches the bustling marketplace with great interest.

"Honey is great. If you got some bread for me, ill take two cups!"

"Two? Of course. " The merchant hands over the first cup, and then watches with awe, as Kin tugs on Zaiyas neck, to get her attention.

She bends down and opens her beak and the carpenter drops the honey right onto her tongue. It must look like someone puts their head into a Tigers maw, from the look on the merchants face, which amuses Zaiya greatly.

"This tastes good, really good. " Then she stares into his eyes, and evil grin on her face as she lowers her gaze. "It even tastes better then you. "

"ZAIYA!"

The merchant takes a step back at his outburst. “What?"

Kin frowns “Uh.. nothing. Sorry, forget about it."

She giggles in his head as he turns around, his face red to the ear tips.

The merchant watches him curiously "You are matching your face color to your birds feathers."

He clenches his teeth, as Zaiya laughs quietly. "You had to say that, did you?"

Then the merchant smiles innocently "I heard stories about an artisan, who owned a flaming bird down to the south. You wouldn't be that person, would you? Woodworker or something was his name?"

Kin blinks "I um... If I had a flaming bird instead of her here, I would probably not be be welcome. With all the fire and and heat. "

His ears starts to feel warmer already, while the bird looks around innocently. Her eyes show him, that she clearly enjoys every moment of the conversation. As usual. He doesn't mind, he actually enjoys her playful stabs, since they never get to a personal and hurtful level. And she always makes sure, he knows when to stop the fun and that she got his back at any time.

While her carpenter talks to the merchant, she is using the time to look around the area some more.

The western side of the dam ends against the mountains, or rather, a small mountain path, that seems to lead up and around them.

On the eastern side, it leads into a lush green area with a few fruit trees and what seems like a small growing area north of the path. The path itself seems to be the only way to get to the city (beside the mountain path) and leads to the east.

Behind the meadow to the east, she can see a sparse forest, where a few people move around some wagons. Her head is focused on them for a few moments while she still enjoys the taste of honey until a loud screeching sound can be heard from above. Instantly all heads move up.

"Kin, come here." Zaiya also stares up and hisses dangerously. She takes a step forward and pulls him in with her wing, covering him and pressing him against her.

"Whats wrong? Zaiya? " But she just stares up at the gryphon, that flies in circles and slowly descents towards the city.

At first, it seems like he aimed for the group of guards nearby, where also the two were, that welcomed Zaiya and Kin, but when he sees the phoenix, he takes a sharp left and lands near them. With still some distance, from where he stares at them for a few moments.

The phoenix hisses at him, dangerously. Luckily, her aura stays low as ever. Then the gryphon kneels and bows its head.

Zaiya looks surprised, as do the guards, but she still stares at the new bird dangerously. The group of guards slowly make their way over to them, one they didn't talk to yet touches her wing to soothe her

"That's just..." Her head lashing around and her hissing at him quickly makes him take off his hand from her wing. "Sorry. Didn't know your bird doesn't like to be touched. That just Vedh. He fell into the water a few weeks ago, ever since we pulled him out, he visits us pretty often."

At that, Zaiyas head turns back to the gryphon, slightly less hostile, but nonetheless defensive.

Her human pokes her chest "Whats wrong? He doesn't look hostile?"

She looks down and nibbles on his left ear, or tries to, then goes back to his hair.

"He is a gryphon. They have the ability to cancel magic. Including our bond and all my blessings on you."

"Oh." Kin only responds and turns to Vedh, who slowly approaches.

"Hello, everyone." The gryphon greets slightly intimidated. Then holds for a moment staring at the phoenix. She seems to talk to him. "Why would I do anything with... your... human?" He looks around, then his gaze stops at Kin. "I promise."

Its a bit strange for everyone, only hearing one side of the conversation, but Zaiya is still in defense mode and doesn't think or care about that.

"Ok, ok! No one does anything to anyone, ok? Everyone stay calm." Kin tugs Zaiyas head down to him, but she still focuses the gryphon.

He had light brown feathers and fur on his body. Right behind his wings, the feathers turn to fur. His wings are more of a brownish gray. The few feathers on his tail got a nice tint of white to them. He seemed to be calm, if not for the nervous swishing of his tail. He bows his head again.

"I mean no harm."

One of the guards step forward "Of course you don't, we know that." But the gryphon ignores him and still stares at Zaiya.

An endless awkward moment until Zaiya finally relaxes and preens Kins hair as if nothing had happened.

The gryphon nudges the guard "Is everything fine? How are my papers going?"

The guard just sighs at him "The lieutenant STILL didn't sign 'em. But we are on it. Gives us a few days. She was away and just returned this morning. We also added a larger room to the barracks, where you can build the nest you were talking about. THAT was less problematic then actually getting you into the guard. Darn bureaucracy."

Kin reaches up to Zaiyas head and she stops and coos "What are you afraid off? Do they really just walk around and cancel other people spells? Hard to imagine."

She stares at him, then the gryphon "No, but they could."

Now the carpenter giggles "So you are afraid someone might steal your human, just because they can? Why would anyone feel this... suicidal?"

She huffs "I don't know, but better safe then sorry."

The gryphon walks over to them, slowly, non threatening but Zaiya hisses at him anyway.

"I mean no harm. I... " He stares at Zaiya, then Kin, who still looks confused. "... I just wanted to check on my application for the guards here. You .. have a lot of power in you, why the hostility? I am no threat to you."

Zaiya snaps into his direction "I know that. But you could be for my human."

The gryphon blinks "So could be just about anyone here. " He motions around them.

Nearly everyone around here carries a weapon openly. Daggers, swords, hammers, axes – one even has a giant war axe, similar to Akiras hammer in size.

"They cant see and cancel my blessings on him, though." At that, she pushes Kin a bit closer against her again.

"I.. wouldn't know how to either. I can see your power, but I don't know who or what you are, nor do I have the ability you are so afraid of."

She hisses at him again, everyone around watches silently and baffled. At least, she lets the people around them hear her, this time.

"I am not afraid! I am..." Kin tugs her head down again. "Zaiya, you are .. kinda embarrassing yourself. Even if he could do, what you claim he can, I would still stay with you."

That calms her down visibly and she goes quiet, while Vedh tilts his head at them curiously.

Zaiya lowers her head then "I'm sorry, I just, I want to. I... " Kin pulls her head against his chest "It is ok, just trust me. You said you wouldn't leave me, like your kind often does after the egg, and I wont leave you."

The bird closes her eyes. She did it again, embarrassed them in front of a lot of people because of deeply anchored fears from her past. Kin was right. She has to trust him and just be careful and protect him from dangers that are there, not every possible one. And since sickness shouldn't be any trouble for them now, they would be fine, right?

"I keep telling you to enjoy our time together, may be I should think more about enjoying it too, instead of thinking about preventing possible dangers to it."

He comforts her a little more, while most people turn back to their daily tasks. The two guards that greeted them earlier approach once more.

"Are you two ok? It's obvious, that your bird isn't some ordinary, oversized bird of prey. We just wanted to make sure you know, that either is fine to this city. You don't have to hide or anything. Everyone with non-hostile intentions is welcome here." He waves at Vedh "She, Zaiya was it?, is as welcome as he is. And so are you. That..."

Zaiya had turned her head to the people near the woods again, scanning their actions. "What are those round things in their wagons over there?"

Now all look at her for a moment, then to the east. Kin tilts his head against her, trying to make sense of it, but he can only see some people moving there, but not what is happening unlike the phoenix with her superior eyes.

There are may be twenty people there. All wear ragged cloths, similar to the ones the villagers at home wear, but far less looked after as if they didn't care about clean. They have three horse drawn wagons with them. Two of them had been turned around by now with the round metal thing pointing at the city, while the third one is making its way towards the city.

"Oh no, not them again. It is only been two days. We simply don't have anything they could safely take yet. They are.. the bandits I was talking about. They have those strange metal things, which shoot large balls of metal. They showed them to us, then.."

He points towards the mountain, where a nice large chunk of rock has been broken out. "That was one of the metal balls. They used that to demonstrate it. If they hit the dam with that a couple of times and it breaks, the whole southern area will drown. But it is too early, they usually only come once a month for their 'tribute'."

Zaiya might have found a way to channel her embarrassment and tries to turn towards them.

"No. Wait. We cant just.. interfere. No matter how powerful you are. I would like to help, but think about your village. What if it gets flooded by all the water." She shivers a bit, but it obviously didn't change her mind. They all start walking away from the dam to meet the wagon.

The guards look interested. "What do you mean, friend?" This time Zaiya answers "I.. " she glances down at Kin, "We would like to stop them."

"Friend. There are too many. And they have strange magic weapons, that shoot little balls of metal. No armor can protect you from these. And the large things on the wagons are even worse." He motions to the mountain again.

Zaiya thinks for a moment, then continues confidently "It will not stop me."

They stare at each other for a while, the guard visibly nervous as she looks through his eyes as she did so many times with Kin. Then she nods at them.

The gryphon sits down, as the only one around believing her, due to the amount of magical power he can sense in her. “She is far more powerful then it seems, Ethan."

"Can you make sure, they wont destroy the dam? If you can promise that, we would be in your debt, if you could get rid of them." She turns her head back at the wagons, the third one nearly there by now. "I can." Her confidence is back, overconfidence even. Her voice also shows a good part of rage, similar to when she was at the Kings castle. Kin smiles “If you are sure, then lets do it?"

At that she turns and rubs her head against his cheek "Thank you."

"Hoi, good people! We have come to get some food and water for the poor people over there. I'm sure you can spare some, right? We can trade in metal for some, if... "

There is only one person on the wagon. He is wearing a light green coat with shoulder long, white hair. He looks cheerful, but considering the stance of the guards and people nearby, it's probably not a friendly cheerfulness.

The guard steps towards the wagon, waving a greeting anyway. "Sorry sir, our storage bins are still empty from supporting you two days ago. You will have to find food elsewhere this time."

A hint of mock sadness enters the bandits voice "That's sad. But sir, I can see, there is a lot of food over there on the market. What about that?"

The guard shakes his head, his partner meanwhile went back to the other guards to talk to them. The gryphon stands back, just watching for now.

"If you don't let these people here eat, you wont find anything here next time."

"AH naaaay. You will be fine. I am sure of it. Now please.. the wagon?"

Kin, still sitting on Zaiya shouts at him "Didn't you hear him? They got nothing left..."

The bandit turns to him "Oh? And who are you? Traveler? May be, you could give your chicken, to feed those poor souls over there."

"Hm. You wouldn't like that, I promise."

Zaiya blinks still slightly amused "Did you both just call me a chicken? I wonder what their faces would look like, if their 'chicken' is warmer then the fire they are trying to use...".

Kin motions at Vedh to get his distance and the gryphon quickly jumps over to the guards, talking to them.

They slowly retreat towards the village.

"What kind of bird is that? May be.. selling it would be more profitable then cooking it. "

The bandit sounds serious. "Are you sure you don't want to just... leave? "

Then Zaiya screeches.

Everyone around quickly covers their ears from the unexpected noise.

"We are sure... now you better follow your wagon and leave."

The horses, startled from her screeching, are running back along the path towards the forest.

"What the hell? Wa.." He tries to back off, as Zaiya slowly waddles towards him, staring at him.

He doesn't move. He CAN'T move. The poor bandit is scared to death and his voice shakes "Demon.. DEMON! ITS TRYING TO EAT MY SOUL!"

A moment later, all hell breaks loose. Loud banging sounds appear from the edge of the forest and tiny things hit the ground all around them. Some hit Zaiya and where they do, liquid fire seems to bleed from the holes that appear instantly. No arrow or knife flies through the air.

She doesn't seem to feel pain or is hindered by it, as she turns towards the forest and screeches again, spreading her wings. When one more goes through her left wing, and another hits her torso, her aura erupts around her, at standard strength. It is still enough enough to burn the whimpering bandit beside her and instantly incinerate Kins cloths... again. Luckily, their distance to the town is large enough to not set crates and stands on fire. But the grass around them quickly catches fire.

There is a moment of silence, as both sides gasp. Then an even louder sound comes from one of the round metal things on the other wagons.

She somehow manages to see it and folds her left wing forward to catch it 'back handed'. Kin actually lets out a scream of fear, when her wing gets bent completely against her chest, looking like a piece of paper being folded neatly on one edge. The metal ball only partly turns to slag, its simply too big to melt fully in not even the second within the aura before it hits her.

Then, after an endless moment for him, her wings snaps back to its original position, unbroken beside a few feathers, and the lump of heated metal gets thrown into the lake behind them.

She screeches again, angry now, as the second metal thing fires its heavy load, hitting her right in the chest.

It takes away her balance, and she tumbles backwards, nearly loosing her human.

"Kin, this is too dangerous. You have to leave. RUN. " She stares at the gryphon "YOU, BIRD, watch my human, make sure no harm comes to him!"

The gryphon looks just as perplexed as her carpenter does.

"GO!" She gets back to her feet and watches the bandits work on the metal things, probably making them ready to fire again.

A lot of the people on the dam stare at them, the mountain, then them again"

That bird just.. took two of those balls like nothing happened."

"We have to help!"

"Lets go, lets get the bastards!"

But Zaiya stares at them for a moment, while waiting for Kin to finally get moving, which he hesitantly does. "Don't get hurt, please. Ok? "

She just smiles confidently and pushes him off her back with her beak, before turning to the townspeople "STAY BACK!", they stop, confused, as Kin starts running towards the gryphon, who came closer, but stops as soon as he gets close to the burnt area on the ground.

The bandits finally wake from their surprise and start shooting their boomsticks again.

Her eyes grow wide, when she realizes, that they weren't shooting at her anymore, but her human.

That gets her moving – towards the bandits now, wings spread wide.

"Trust in me my love, I will protect you. I promise!"

She gives another ear piercing screech, just as Kin gets picked up by the gryphon's beak and placed on his back, so he could pounce and carry him away, tail feathers aflame as Zaiyas pushes her aura to full strength.

The same instant, the green beside the path to town is no more. Not even fire remains within several human heights in width around her.

The little projectiles that are very close to her get incinerated, seemingly like the stone at the ritual she did with him with nothing remaining. The projectiles further away from her turn to slag and drop to the ground quickly after.

Then another large metal ball flies towards her, but she misses it and it flies towards the town.

The guards scatter and the gryphon flies a large curve to avoid it, even though he was never in danger of getting hit by it.

One of the guards, though, lifts his shield and moves to intercept the molten projectile. It slams into him with its still hard core, penetrating the shield partly and cutting itself deep into his shield arm.

While the other guards scream when the molten metal splatters onto them. He gets pushed back a bit, but doesn't fall despite the strength of the impact.

Ethan, the guard captain, doesn't give any sound other then a groan, as he unbuckles the shield and it drops to the ground, ripping the metal shard from his lower arm. He sits down immediately then. The wound looks horrible, but due to the heat, its not bleeding too much. It does go deep into the bone, but lucky for him, it didn't completely cut it off. The shield took most of the force behind the projectile. He rather would not imagine, what would have been, if the metal ball wasn't shot from the forest AND molten down to a quarter of its size before it hit him.

Two of the guards immediately run off, shouting for medical attention for him.

Meanwhile, the raging phoenix catches the second metal ball they fired at her with her talons in midair and just drops it. She lets out another screech of rage. Then she is over the fleeing bandits. Only the ones that started running seconds ago can even make it far enough to not burn to ash.

She doesn't stop, as both wagons and the bandits around them are gone and chases them into the forest, each tree, not more then a short darting flame into the sky, before it disappears into the wind, that her wings bring with them.

Only few fires burn around the black swath she cut through the green meadow that was here only moments ago.

It seems everyone in town is now standing at the edge of the city, hold their breath and watch at the devastation wide eyed. The first quick minded people start picking up buckets to head out for the few still burning spots outside the city.

Kin was about to pull her back from her rage, but when the gryphon does the sharp turn, he has to focus on his balance, after that, he is shocked at seeing the guard nearly loose his arm. When he looks back to where Zaiya is, she already reached the forest.

He grits his teeth and reaches for the phoenix tethers with his mind. He tugs Zaiyas wings up, then her head and then, gently, the three feathers on her head before letting go on all of them.

The effect was immediate. The rampant screeching stops and the flaming ball of fire over the burned wasteland disappears.

It takes a few minutes without the phoenix appearing from the area she just disappeared in to get Kin thinking. "Vedh, please fly to her, could you?"

"I.. don't know. I just lost my tail feathers to the fire around. I.. don't want to loose my wings too."

"Then let me down, please? "

But Vedh flies slightly higher after that "No, she told me to watch over you, human. I will not anger her by denying this simple task."

Kin shouts nervously now "CREATOR, BIRD! She might be hurt! Please...", he actually pulls the feathers on his neck now. "Please. Just fly there, she is my mate.", he begs with clenched teeth. The gryphon stares at him for only a second, then he does as he is asked and angles his wings to get them where the phoenix was. He has actually some trouble maneuvering now, without his tail feathers, so he flies slower, less elegant until they grow back.

Zaiya is resting in the middle of what was a forest moments ago. She looks around at the destruction she had caused again with a great sadness.

"I did it again. I lost myself to the fire. I am becoming too dangerous."

She shivers, her aura tuned down to near nothing again. It surprises her, that this actually has an effect on her, but right now, she only sees the wasteland around her.

"May be that is the reason, why some phoenixes leave their human to fly back above the clouds."

They find her pretty quickly, even without her aura on. The phoenix lies in the middle of what must have been a campsite in the forest. Shadows on the burned ground mark tents and other larger objects that stood here not too long ago.

She looks like the falcon did from above. Small, cowering and vulnerable. In need of help, even though, as they get closer, they notice that she still is her normal size. The impression of the vulnerable bird doesn't change. Her head is turning around in a trance like movement, taking in the view around her with a few drops of liquid fire falling from her eyes.

Before Vedh can get to the ground and land, Kin already dropped down from his back. "Careful human!" His answer is a quiet cry as the carpenter stumbles to the ground, then limps towards the phoenix with a sprained ankle. She only turns towards him when he is close to let him embrace her head. "Kin, I think, I am becoming too dangerous for the ground."

He tugs her feathers "No, we just need to find a way for you to handle that. Something you can think on to quench your anger, when it comes up. An anchor. Or a more focused and responsible human."

She rubs her head lightly up and down against his chest, while the gryphon takes a few steps back and sits on his haunches.

"And you still had enough control to move away from the town before you let go. That should count for a lot."

"But then, I burned down the whole forest, everything in it. And I couldn't..."

He tugs a few feathers on her neck "And my clothes. Again.", They both know, that he doesn't care one bit about those. That it is only a ruse to distract her from what just happened.

It helps, she pulls back and smiles weakly. "What if I loose control like this at my village?"

He bops her beak "Then you would move away from the village far enough before you go for it. And the plains, and the forest with the altar. Just think about something that calms you down."

She tilts her head "Like my human? Using my strings?"

Kin smiles at her "For example. Or may be other things. And if everything fails, I'm still here stop you and to comfort you after. But first we have to get back to town. " Then he whispers to her "And your new friend here did a great job ignoring my pleas of bringing me into the danger zone."

That finally pulls her out of her self pity and her head straightens up, fixed on the gryphon.

Vedh seems to shrink a little under her firm gaze.

"You did well, gryphon. You have my gratitude, for keeping my human out of harms way."

That seems to surprise the gryphon and he bows his head "Of course, my lady. It is a guards duty to protect."

Kin giggles at him "You really want to watch over this town, do you? " He pokes Zaiya with his elbow "Just like you with our village." He nods reluctantly, while the phoenix smiles and nods, before talking to him again.

"You will be a fine guardian. I... We will visit again, and then, I want to see you on duty. Officially."

The carpenter giggles. "I think, that depends on the humans." He ruffles the feathers on her neck. “ Lets go back.", but then he stares at the markings on the ground, wondering what these were.

She waits patiently for a moment for him to get back on her back, when he doesn't, she nudges him. "I burned your cloths again. May I suggest you hide behind my neck again, master?" Kin grumbles, being pulled from his own thoughts, but of course: She is right. And he is glad, that some of her playfulness is back, even if it feels forced.

So all of them walk back towards the town, when the people had already put out any minor fires, that survived long enough to be a danger to the town. Now they are spreading out over the burned meadow to snuff out any possible fires there.

Ethan and two other guards walk towards them. His arm wrapped in thick bandages and tied to his chest. He looks thoughtful.

"So, you return." Is all he says as he stares at them. Another guard comes running with a set of linen cloths like Kin wore before.

Zaiya seems to shrink in his gaze. Another very uncomfortable moment for her human, as it disturbs him greatly, when the firebird seems to loose her confidence like that.

He quickly puts on the cloths, while she blocks the view of the people. "Thank you.", but immediately gets interrupted by the guard captain.

"No, we have to thank you. Even though, the collateral damage is.. huge. If they had taken a wagon full of food again today, the people would have starved. And..." His gaze roams over the burned meadow. All the possible harvest from the fields and fruit trees: Gone. In the forest: No trees remain. Behind the rather small forest, only a rocky desert spans between more mountains. The only way to Zyrra, the elven Kingdom to the east. It is completely surrounded by mountains, with very few paths like this one out of them. It is a lush, green oasis surrounded by earthen solitude.

"We attacked them twice in the forest, and we were beaten badly both times. Their magical boomsticks were just too devastating. But your bird. I mean " He turns to the phoenix " you didn't seem to be bothered by them. My people are scared of your power, and what it might do to our village, but you also saved us. And the trade caravans. I know the elves were only keeping their trade caravans up reluctantly – and they will be more then happy to help regrow the forest with their magic now, that there is no more danger in them. Since its the only path up to our town. The bandits charged huge sums from anyone traveling to us. And then took most of what arrived at our town for tribute. Since we are at the edge of all four kingdoms, no one feels responsible. You did a good thing today, even thought it was a very oversized act. " He stops, missing words that didn't sound too offensive. He obviously noticed her state of mind and tried to thank and comfort her, while not playing down the destruction she brought.

It helps a little more. The feathers on her head rising a bit more. But she coos again, when Kin tugs them gently. A good sign.

"So, we are still welcome in Amaya?"

Ethan laughs "Of course, you had us tricked for quiet a while. We thought you were one of Eagleholms Hawk riders from the north. Except for a more ceremonial light armor and visible weapons, you both looked very similar. " He smiles "I have never seen a hawk loose its balance and fall backwards, though."

Zaiya blushes and hides her head under her wing, embarrassed by the memory.

They had turned around to go back to the village, and nearly arrived by now. Peoples heads turn to them, a few shout their thanks at them, but far more cant hide their anxiety about the fiery inferno that just happened around the 'hawk'.

"You know, Ethan, the bird you got here got the right mindset. You should take him in."

Ethan laughs "I would in an instant, if the lieutenant would finally sign the stupid papers."

"Cant he pose as a trial guard or so, until its official?"

That gets the guard captain thinking. "I have the right to appoint guards for a time. Its just a few forms more, for the payment and reasons. That is a great idea."

The gryphons hackles rise and he stares at them, obviously happy about the information.

"Why didn't I think of that. You would have been a great help with the bandits already."

He facepalms, then winces from the sudden movement to his arm.

"Alright, Vedh, I hereby appoint you civilian deputy in the Amaya guard until further notice. Which will be the papers for you to become a full guard. "

The gryphon stands still for a moment, head held high. "Thank you, sir!"

Kin smiles and nods, then rubs Zaiyas neck "Should we go? "

"Wait, you aren't going to rest here? The night is close..."

Zaiya tilts her head, but kin shakes his head "No, thank you. We went on a road trip, so, we should sleep on the road! It was what we wanted." He hugs her neck. She stares at him in the scary-soul-eater-way, once he lets go.

"You didn't want to take the risk of fires in town." She states indifferently. Then adds "And you want me for yourself. Greedy human. My greedy human."

The guards didn't hear that and just stare at them as Kin nods, guilty at both.

"Alright, people, lets help cleaning up a bit, it has been a long day and I want some rest as soon as possible. And you two, remember, you are always welcome here."

Zaiya nods, then waits for Kin to get ready before hopping on the railing, then dropping forward down the dam. They enjoy the CONTROLLED fall far more then the backwards one last time before she turns westwards, flying towards the disappearing sun.