DISCOVER

*Pied* · (This post was last modified: January 24, 2014, 02:52 PM by Pied.)

Even as Hawkeye muttered the word ghost, Aether began to fade, then disappeared altogether. Although accustomed to spectral visitors to some degree, Pied gaped at the spot where he'd been standing a moment ago, feeling... well, she wasn't sure what to feel. Peregrine hadn't mentioned his father's death but it was pretty indisputable, considering the evidence. Pied felt a jolt of grief, though she reminded herself that Aether had lived a long, full and prosperous life, which took the edge off her pain.

"My grandfather must have passed away. He was alive when I left Flightless Falcons. I'm... not sure if this happened before or after Tyrannus—it must've happened before," Pied thought aloud, switching directions mid-sentence. Her lips pursed and she frowned, her heart going out to her myriad relatives here and back home who would be aggrieved by the DiSarinno patriarch's loss.

"I wonder why he'd appear to me here," the piebald yearling mused aloud. "It's almost as if he was summoned when I said his name." Pied paused, then whispered, sotto voce, "Grandpa Aether?"

And there he was, walking toward her again with a smile and a twinkle in his frosty blue eyes. Pied could clearly see the supernatural shimmer surrounding his lanky black body as he came closer. She gazed at him fondly and he did the same as he stopped just short of nose-sniffing distance from her and stood there, not particularly imposing but still regal, even in death.

"What're you doing here, grandpa?" Pied asked, momentarily oblivious to Hawkeye's presence or the fact that this was the first time she'd ever interacted with a ghost in the presence of a living witness. "Do you... have a message or anything?" she wondered. Maybe Aether wanted to impart some wisdom on his sons, especially after everything that had happened with Tyrannus.

Yet Aether did not speak, simply looked at her almost wistfully now. Pied's brow furrowed and, finally, she remembered Hawkeye, blinked curiously at her friend and said, "He isn't saying anything."