Neverwinter Forest Ah, Play the Wind of Traveling Wings

The nightly realm was the one in which owls ruled, carrying out the duties they must complete in order to thrive. Those owls must have never told Keyx that, though, because there he was, still out during the day. With the great deal of coverage the thick forest provided, though, perhaps it as not entirely a bad thing that he was still out. Out and collecting anything he could find. Twigs, colored leaves, pebbles and rocks, bark, other feathers and furs. Some would think he was making a very strange nest to reside in, but that was not the case. Far from it, actually. In truth, the young barn owl was collecting things for another one of his projects. The projects often looked like a tornado just threw a bunch of stuff together in a random sequence, but he didn't see them that way. To him, they were works of art worth sharing with the entire world, and that was what he often ended up doing. After created one of his art pieces, he would just leave them wherever they were made in the hopes of having everyone who went passed see them. Most of the time they ended up getting picked apart by other animals, but he never stuck around long enough to see that happen.

Keyx quickly finished collecting all the items he needed and began piecing them together, making sure each item had it's own, special place in the messy clump of things. The pebbles were arranged in a circle with the twigs set up to meet one another in the center. During his travels, he'd seen a few campfires and fire pits, which was what he aimed to base his piece off of. While he had no flames to make it really shine, he did have a few reddened leaves than he laid within it. The rest of the stuff was lined around the bottom, and he even plucked a few feathers from his breast in order to leave his signature mark with his artwork. Hoping backwards, he examined the piece, deeming it one of his best as he always did, then retreated up into a tree. Keyx was proud of his creation, more so than usual, and decided to sick around for a bit to see the faces of those who get to lay their eyes on it first.

Fallko gazed fondly at the egg that just fit in her small nest. It was a beautiful, shiny thing, and the young 'mother' made sure it was always warm, and the nest was always supplied with the best materials. Looking at today, she noticed something was off. Peering closely at the nest, she detected a tiny sign of movement. So she promptly ate it.

As she flew through the trees, searching for a meal for the hungry mother herself, she noticed something odd near the forest floor. Alighting on a branch, she peered at it, vaguely confused. Was it a nest? No, it couldn't be. Whatever it was, it did have some soft looking feathers included in it. Well it would be featherless soon.

The tiny falcon darted downward and clutched the wad of feathers in her beak. They were the perfect addition to her nest.

The young owl had closed his eyes for only a moment, wanting to give them a break from any harsh light that slipped through the thick trees, but the sound of wings pulled them open soon after. What he was met with was a little bird stealing from his work of art. Who does that? Just goes around stealing anything they wanted form whoever they felt like taking it from. It was not very kind, or appropriate given that the creator of the piece was still there and watching. His head turned, eyes narrowing in on the bird's beak, only to see that it held feathers. His feathers, the feathers he'd plucked from his very own breast. The nerve that bird had to have! Swiftly, and silently, the barn owl spread out his wings and took flight, only to then head down towards the little bird.

“Hey!” Keyx screeched, as his voice often got higher in pitch when shouting. “Put those down, put those down right now!” The larger bird landed by the smaller with as much ease and grace as any would, his head lowering and wings raising a big beside him as he tried to make himself appear even larger. “Don't steal my art!”

The girl wilted for a moment, then quickly puffed up all her feathers in order to look larger. "NO NO NO" she yelled at the big owl "Need for eggchick!" She hopped up and down excitedly, feathers still clutched in her beak. She had not quite yet mastered the language that the birds spoke in this land, so motioned wildly back the way she came. "Eggchick need feathers!"

Sure, the 'mother' could have used her own feathers, but in her mind they were way to small for such a big egg. So she began to edge backward nervously, then quickly spun and alighted on a different branch higher then the owl. If she tried to fly away now, the owl's size and strength meant that he could catch her quickly.

The way the smaller bird spoke was seen as being “broken” in the owl's mind. It wasn't quite right, but was enough for him to get the gist of it. From what he could understand, the smaller bird must have an egg somewhere, and that was what she needed the feathers for. His immediate thought was one wondering why she wouldn't just use her own, but maybe there was something special about his feathers than could help the egg progress. Owl feathers are known to be soft, especially those plucked from one's breast as his had been. He was sure it could help in these cold months, and definitely didn't want to cause the death of another bird. Keyx managed to follow after the smaller bird, his body no longer “puffed” to appear larger.

While the boy still wasn't too keen towards the idea of giving his feathers away to a thief, there was nothing else he could do. The life of another bird was at stake, even if said bird was of the kind most members of his Parliament looked down on. “Show me your 'eggchick'?” With his beak, he started to motion towards his breast feathers, preening them and pulling a few loose ones out as he did so. “I can give you more without you stealing this time,” he told the other bird, speaking through the soft feathers between his beak.

Fallko bobbed her head excitedly. "Yes, owl is kind. Fallko thank owl" she said in her normal clipped way of speaking English. One day, she would learn to speak better, but that would be a while. She gathered all of the feathers in her beak, giving her face a very fluffy appearance. "Comph" she mumbled around the feathers, then with a huge downstroke was in the air. She flew swiftly through the trees, until she arrived at her little nest.

Fallko carefully placed the feathers around her egg, then settled down on it, making sure half of it was still visible. "See? Eggchick" she murmured softly. "Mein kleine ei" she murmured again in the language she was more familiar with.

The young barn owl was not fond of the way is feathers were being treated. He could put the fact that they were stolen to the side, as they were to be used to keep an egg warm, but the she spoke around them as if they were nothing seemed wrong to him. He was very proud of his feathers, and believed they deserved to be treated nicely, unless they were given away for another reason. Most barn owls like him were chucked from the nest after hatching because they were different, but his parents had kept him. They hadn't thrown him away to die, and had seen is feathers as a blessing, rather than the curse so many others did. He'd appreciated that, and had always kept them in the best of conditions because of that. Despite that, he kept his beak shut and took off after the smaller girl, large wings carrying him silently through the air.

When they reached the nest that held the egg, Keyx landed carefully close to it, and watched as the mother went about placing his feathers around it before sitting atop it. The egg looked much too large for someone like her, but if she wasn't the mother, then why was she looking after it? No one willingly abandoned their egg, so what was wrong with this one? He figured it must be dead inside, never to hatch, but that didn't help him to understand why the girl was keeping it warm. "Is it alive?" he questioned, easily catching her voice again soon after. The language was easy to recognize, as he'd read about it and heard it before, but he didn't understand it. "German, yes?" Keyx's head tilted a bit too much as he set his dark eyes on her small frame.