Raven's Watch oh the wind is blowing, it hurts your skin

the ravens stare down at him as he snuffles around the base of the cliff. they are suspicious. this is understandable! hopefully it will not be for long.

he can remember this. lavender likes…dryer weather…and there is water nearby, he can smell it. this is unfortunate. also, it is dark so it is difficult to see – also unfortunate. this is okay, though. he has a good nose, after all, and a friend to help. if he can’t find what he needs now – he can come back in the morning.

he is going to try though! raising his head, he yips for vrána, who spirals back down out of the air to land on his shoulder like a scrap of torn cloth.

“hello! i know what we are looking for.” caw looks around. “blood is the best, but it is hard. you tell me if you can find it.” he waits for the dip of vrána’s head before continuing. “good! and then there is the lavender, mugwort, oak. no nightshade until we know them. just to be safe.”

so absorbed in this conversation is caw – and paying so little attention to anything that is not the ravens – that he does not notice anything until vrána stops watching him and starts watching someone else instead.

he does not even have the chance to question it.

caw flips around like a startled deer in headlights at the voice, but being the way he is, he immediately starts towards them, yipping curiously. he has been told at least a dozen times not to do this, but there is no fun in that! and there are no parents here to scold him! there is only vrána. she has given up.

and he has to get close to see! it is a little hard in this light. this is sad because she is very pretty, her fur all black and white just like his. her eyes are not red like his, though. caw has to squint to see, but one looks to be purple, the other snowy white. and she has a bird! it is not a raven or crow, but his tail wiggles as he sees it anyways.

“hello!” wait. that is not right. “hello!” he tries again, this time in heavily accented english. “caw is name.” he gestures with his nose to his crow. “this vrána!” introductions thus made, he peeks over her shoulder as best he can, staring after the little bird perched on her back. “you have owl?”