Moonspear ^___________________________^

The shadows lengthened as twilight laid claim to the wilderness. Treepie reached the lake on the far side of Bramblepoint and stopped to get a drink before she resumed her homeward trek. She crouched beside the water, dipping her snout down to lap at it. When she finished and straightened, she noisily licked the excess from her chops, though she went very silent and still as a strange noise permeated the evening air.

She tilted her head as she glimpsed movement in the darkling sky. Bats, she told herself, though there was only one shape darting and weaving in the darkness. Her yellow eyes tracked it as it came closer, circling overhead before diving toward the lake. That same strange sound vibrated in the air, causing Pie’s ears to sit upright. In her wonder at the peculiar sound, she lost track of the silhouette.

Shrugging to herself, Tiuttuk angled her snout westward and began walking again, aiming toward Moonspear’s outline just past the Altar of Twilight. She halted just pass the latter landmark when she heard that noise again, yellow eyes searching the sky. She gasped and recoiled when something fluttered very close to her face, then screamed a beat later when she felt something scurry across her foot.

She caught a glimpse of a mouse disappearing into the grass, then gazed upward again as her pulse beat in her throat. She saw the shadow flit toward her this time, Pie’s ears flying back as she felt the wind of wing beats pass directly over her head. She jerked her head to follow the bat—no, it was a bird—as it banked hard and finally landed on the rocky outcropping off to her left.

Cautiously, Tiuttuk ventured forward with a squint. It was the queerest bird she’d ever seen, though it was hard to make out too many details in the gathering dusk. Treepie stared at it, wondering how it made that noise. And why had it dropped a rodent on her? It must be a bird of prey of some kind, though that’s where knowledge and mystery collided in her head.

After staring at one another for a while, Pie said, Ummm, I have to get home, and felt a little foolish for speaking to the bird.

It couldn’t understand her, could it? She hesitated, just in case it acknowledged her, though it only turned its head and looked toward Moonspear. Chalking that up as coincidence, Treepie forced her feet to move. Her yellow eyes remained fixed on the avian until the outcropping began falling away behind her.

Finally facing forward, Tiuttuk soon crossed the borders of her village. She didn’t see or hear any further signs of the strange bird as she climbed up to her old ulaq without thinking. Of course, it was full of dirt and stones. Lips pursed, the Regent idly looked around and found her eyes drawn toward the shadowy profile of the den @Pala shared with Ludo and @Ignace.

Drawing in a breath, she walked quietly toward it, uncertain whether it was past the boys’ bedtime.