The Sunspire truth at first light

For @Wraen but AW!

the sun had begun to set, and the ensuing cascade of deep tones across the sky were a thing of wonder. streaks of gold crested the mountain range at first, with a blush just beginning on the fringe; the clouds caught the majority of the glow and their heavy curves became a repeating pattern across the whole of the sky. 

on the terrestrial side, atop one of the many cliffsides of the mountain pack's claim, a creature stirs. the irregular blanket of thickly growing forest was home to many things — and it is no surprise that thirdeye is one of them. he peers from his vantage point within the abandoned hollow of a great old tree, fluffs his feathers, and leans towards the edge with a sleepy glance at the blackness of his surroundings.

It was one of the many late evenings, when Wraen returned to Sunspire from longer hunting trips on either side of the mountain ranges. She kept her word to the leaders and steered clear from Moonspear, but that was just a small piece of the vast wilderness that was at her disposal. Though their food shortage troubles had been temporarily solved (with the move of their neighbours), she did not let herself be lulled into a false belief that everything would still turn out alright.

Therefore the intensive hunting and scouting and inevitable exhaustion that came with hard work. She would have passed the tree, where the barn owl had found a residence, without taking any notice, had not something made her to lift her muzzle and look up. Her gaze met a round, pale face with enormous, saucer-like eyes - the sight of a ghost that made Wraen stop in her tracks and stare at the feathered beast in wonder.

often he would preen, eat, and be on his way to patrol the air. visits to various listening-posts or watchstations occurred throughout the evening, and always he would keep record of what he'd seen or what he'd learned. the command would need the intel, and he was the prestigious thirdeye after all — they would be in need of his knowledge.

it was rare, though, to wake before a living creature. it was a terrestrial; he blinked sleepily, slowly, one eye at a time, and his dished face tilted. the creature was bigger than the echet yet not so large as to be a beastly thing, such as the giants of winter-sleep. 

thirdeye reacted next with a clicking, a thoughtful sound, as he considered what to do next. the tktk-tk-tktk-tk, of his chattering beak was very faint, but he could hear nothing else among the trees, and wondered what this ground-thing would do.

ooc: I was visiting my friends in the countryside this weekend and saw a barn owl going for a hunt in the evening. Amazing birds.

When the ghost like thing did not attack Wraen or try to scare her, she calmed immediately and sat down, her gaze still fixed on the odd creature. It gave out quiet clicking sounds, giving her an impression that the animal was just as surprised to see her as she was him (or her). She traced the facial features and form of it's body with her eyes, realizing that her initial fear was silly if not stupid. Because this was obviously a bird and of a kind that she had met before. Not with the same colors and not so close up, but caught sight of it hunting soundlessly in the evenings, where her family pack had lived. 

Wraen usually did not think that any other animal apart from her own kind was capable of thinking and, yet life had taught her so far that though this was true for most of prey species (because they never lived long enough to start a conversation with her), some stood out with a remarkable intellect. Goats, crows, even that angry weasel she had encountered had shown more ability of logical thought than she had given them credit for. And for some reason this visitor of the night seemed to be intelligent too. 

"What has brought you to the mountain?" she asked. "Never saw you or your likes here before."

Since the bird did not say anything (and why should it, in the first place), Wraen returned to her sleeping quarters and did not think about the meeting ever since.