Blackfoot Forest The simorgh sleeps on velvet tongues

Cold rain fell from daybreak to nightfall, relentless. Pied retreated into her log at day's end, watching the rainfall for a while before the rhythmic susurrations sent her adrift. She dreamed of a mythical creature, a colossal winged beast with the body of a peacock and the head of a wolf. She introduced herself as Saēna. As Pied walked closer to the legendary simorgh—somehow, she simply knew the name for the creature—she unfurled one of her great wings, which shone with a copper luster. She revealed a small pup suckling at a teat obscured by her feathers. "This is your daughter," she said to Pied, smiling warmly. "Call her Saēna, in my honor." Then, abruptly, the simorgh shifted, manifesting herself as a great white bear.

Pied started awake, her head lifting and bumping softly against the log. She blinked sleepily at the dark night. The rain had stopped for the moment and the forest dripped noisily. Stretching her legs forward, Pied pressed her paws into the wet earth just beyond the lip of the log, then tugged herself out of her narrow shelter. Upon emerging, she moved to brace her body against the damp log, then lifted her left hind leg to scratch at a bothersome itch behind one of her gray ears. When she resumed all fours, she then padded into the woods.

She pondered the dream, which was fresh in her mind but already starting to fade. She smiled warmly at the remembered vision of her newborn daughter, Saēna. Pied felt a small twinge as she wondered whether she'd ever have the chance to bear young. Her mind then drifted to the recollection of who she could only assume was Atka. The youthful Agwe'en had never dreamt of her before, yet she recognized her from Jinx's long speech at the meeting several weeks back. She took it as a sign that she was on the right path.

Mag suddenly appeared on the forest floor ahead of her, bouncing along on a carpet of slick, wet leaves. Pied approached the magpie, who did not take flight. Eventually, she stood over her and gazed down at the bird. Up close, Pied could definitely make out a faint, glowing aura around the spectral bird. Mag returned her gaze, then continued to hop seemingly randomly along the path, as if amusing herself puddle-jumping. The Agwe'en smiled down at her, almost entranced by the ghost's lifelike movements.

Then something grabbed her attention and she looked up, even as a fox cried out in the distance. Standing about five feet further up the path was Brooklyn Starbuck, her father. Pied's breath caught in her throat, then she exhaled slowly. "Hello, papa," she murmured quietly, almost mournfully. Even though she'd seen him a few times since he'd left herself and her mother with Flightless Falcons, it never failed to make Pied feel wretched, knowing irrefutably that he'd taken his own life, partly because of her.