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OOC: please read the profile and look at the rules. If I see you're not following the rules, I will ignore your posts.

Beriadanwen slipped the soft leather boots from her feet, slipping them into her pack. The sun was just above the mountains in the distance and this spot was cool still from the night. A fine dew settled in the grass and along the moist moss. The rocks were dark with the dampness and the trees seemed to give a happy sigh of the first morning's drink.

There was a fine breeze, tickling at the hunter's skin. She slipped her pack off, taking off the leather cuff from her wrist. She set it aside, a sharp whistle coming from between her lips as she stepped from her things.

A moment passed before the hawk landed, a call in return. She nodded, her blonde locks moving freely. She closed her eyes as the bird took flight, listening to the whooshing sound of wings lifting. Turning in a circle, Beriadanwen felt the soft moss between her toes.

The dampness of the early morn, the coolness of the breeze, the lazy heat of the slowly waking sun. This was her favourite time of the day. It made a great hunting time, but instead she made it her own, enjoying the gifts her forest home gave her.

She didn't expect that she might not be alone, her mind elsewhere.

Auburn hair the same shade as the tree bark, brown eyes the color of nutrient-rich dirt, the wood elf was difficult to see as she perched on the limb of an old tree. The leaves would hide her from unfriendly eyes, though that wasn't what had awakened her from her sleep.

The screech of a hawk coming in for a landing had startled her. Her heart beating quickly, she moved slowly to the edge of the branch, stretching out lengthwise to peer down.

There were no tree-bridges out here in the mountain; and so she wasn't too worried about running into another elf at this height. But neither had she considered that the Elven Hunters she ran from could be using hawks or other creatures to spy on her.

She peered down from her tree limb, observing the floor twenty feet below and whoever might be traversing it. Her hand trembled, though not from the fear of heights, but rather from the bow she caught sight of. Her blood ran cold. Had a hunter found her? Was a hunter tracking her even now? She gripped her dagger tightly, knowing it would be no use against a bow.

[ OOC note: To avoid confusion, I'm labeling Avary's speech as green and Connery's as brown. I hope that will keep everything a little clearer! ]

Morning was the most lovely time to be up and about. The unusual pair of birds flew high in the chilly sky, their breaths visibly for only a fraction of a second as their wings steadied their flight and ruffled in the wind. A parrot and a hawk, playfully climbing, diving and twirling around each other as if they had not a care in the world. And truthfully, they didn't. Most of the time at least.

A sharp whistle alerted both, though Connery was particularly alerted at the cry of another hawk. To the trees, now, he Mindspoke to Avary. He felt her touch of concern and reassured her.

Danger? she asked before descending and landing gracefully on a branch, followed by Connery. He inched close to her and gave her a nuzzle with his beak.

Another hawk. Stay close. It wouldn't be the first time Avary had been attacked by another predatory bird, even though both she and him were larger than their feral cousins. Connery kept his eyes open and saw the elf first. Avary's voice sounded alarmed in his head. Con... I think we should leave.

She shook her head and shrunk into herself at his firm denial. No, we're too easy to spot now. Just stay still.

Beriadanwen shed her bow and quiver closer to where she chose to rest, falling back into a soft patch of moss. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her.

At first everything was calm and she felt wonderful, but a creeping sensation gave her the impression she was not alone. There was no one sign, but instead a feeling. Her eyes didn't open, and she lay still, feeling the earth under her. A familiar feeling, a friend when she had no one else.

She made no call to the hawk, instead opened her ears. She had no magic in her blood, but she could listen.

The swell of her bosom and the sound of her own breath was the first thing she focused on. It cut out all sound for a moment. She then let out a breath, as if casting a net of her senses out, trying to see if she could tell the direction of the one intruding on her morning dance.

Beriadanwen felt not danger in the moment, only curiosity.

Myna flinched as a burst of movement from several yards away--two birds hastening to land--catching her attention. And with the distraction, she lost her grip on the tree limb.

Grasping for limbs or anything to save her, she reached for the power that lurked within her. A vine, not far away, stretched towards her, and she reached back--halting her descent just a few feet from the ground, before the vine snapped.

A flare of pain, more from the vine's severed connection than her striking the ground, made her yelp. Before she scrambled to her feet, the vine forgotten in her hand still.

It was mildly amusing to Connery how the elf lost her grip and tumbled down. Avary emitted a startled squawk and flapped her wings, ready to dive and held back only by Connery's sharp mental reprimand. Damnit Ave! This isn't any of our concern!

She restlessly hopped on the branch. What if she's hurt? We can't just... sit here! Clearly sensing her distress, Con's feathers ruffled. A little lower, but not too much. We don't know who she is, and I'm certain there's somebody else too. And that hawk.

He had barely told her that and she was diving down, her wings flaring out to slow her as her talons gripped a branch about twelve feet above the forest floor. Con followed, unhappy with the situation and looking around for the other hawk, just in case.

The sound brought a panic to Beriadanwen. She made a sharp call, her hawk returning. She extended her arm without a second though, the leather that protected her gone for the moment. Her head was turned though, towards where the crash had been.

Quick as a flash she scooped her bow and quiver up, a pain forcing her to turn towards her arm. Claws dug into tender flesh and it burned. It hurt. It wasn't her concern. She kept her arm up, tears stinging her eyes as she crept closer.

"Who is there?" She spoke clearly in the common tongue of this land, no accent to discern her as anything but human. She held her head high, as though she weren't frightened or in pain. Blood dripped down her arm, falling in a soft pitter-patter to the damp ground.

Myna scrambled to her feet and backpedaled until her back came to rest against the tree trunk. It's rough pattern scratched her through her worn shirt.

"I-I don't mean any harm!" She placed her hands against the solid wood of the trunk, and that was when she felt the strange presence of something also on the tree. Birds, yet not normal birds.

Before she had a chance to investigate further, her gaze was drawn to the hawk that perched on the woman's arm. A trail of red dripping down her arm.

"Please don't kill me." And then her pocket twitched. A tiny little creature sensing Myna's distress peering out of her pocket was none other than a flying squirrel, its grey furry head chittering in alarm as it caught sight of the hawk and burrowed back down.

There was that hawk! Connery was ready to take flight again, but this time Avary chided him. You idiot, stay put! I don't think they mean any harm. The woman with the bow seemed like the kind who would have taken out an enemy if it was her intention. Uneasy, Con stayed put but glared at the hawk.

Avary moved restlessly from side to side on the branch, pondering whether or not to speak up. She was a parrot after all, and while she wasn't fluent in speaking coherently in this form, she could mimic spoken words. Her parrot voice was loud and clear as she chirped out loud, much to Connery's dismay. "Don't kill! Don't kill!"

Beriadanwen eyed the woman, looking at the sugar glider. At first her hawk took a moment to look at the small morsel as well, but then turned towards the other voice.

The woman gave a slight upwards jerk of her arm, the hawk taking flight to investigate. He circled, his eyes looking for the source of the voice. Practically telepathic with the woman, the bird only searched. There was no need to attack, only to know.

She turned back to the stranger, "Who are you? What are you doing out here alone?" She said it with no sense of irony to the fact that she rarely travelled with another person.

"I'm just a traveler, like yourself." Myna pleaded, her brown eyes huge with fear. She wasn't your typical elf, that was for sure. She didn't have the cocky attitude or the self-assuredness that most elves possessed. Then again, she wasn't quite an adult either.

She flinched at the mimicry, and located the two birds on the branch. One a parrot looked rather out of place perched next to a bird of prey.

"My name's Myna." She added hesitantly. "What are you doing out here? And why do you have a hawk?" She could see now the marks that the hawk's talons had left on the other woman's wrist. They looked painful.

Connery's head circled with the motions of the hawk as it flew up into the air. He was prepared to fight until death to save his love, although likely all he had to do was shift to his other form to win that battle. Ave on the other hand was intently watching the conversation below them. Apparently her assumptions were correct.

See? They're just careful. They don't want to fight each other. But Con wasn't paying them any attention at all. He was flapping his wings and making himself look even bigger than he already was, trying to impose his superiority onto the other hawk and warn him off.

"Beriadanwen." She spoke the name with a slight Elvin lilt, "The hawk is my companion." She ignored the second question. It was important to her at all. Her eyes flicked to the hawk in the air, "He's a friend, someone to rely on when I have no one else."

The bird watched the pair. While he didn't act afraid, he did change his place, moving away from the larger predator. He called down to the human, his companion, bringing her eyes to the strange birds.

She gripped her bow a little tighter. The green one was strange to her, new and beautiful. She lifted her arm, giving another short call, waiting for the pain of the talons in her flesh.

Myna relaxed a little at the name. She didn't recognize it, which meant that she wasn't from her clan or sent to hunt her down.

Her eyes flickered now to the hawk, interested in spite of herself. "A friend? How did you get him?"

But she remembered too the birds in the tree and she frowned as she looked up at them. "Is he anything like those two? They don't seem...normal." Normal in a natural, the way nature intended sense.

He was satisfied to see the hawk return to its friend, but he remained on edge. So I see. Do you think we can trust them? They would just as well be on their way again, if they felt like it. But he knew Ave. She sent warm feelings of amusement his way. You never trust anybody, love.

As soon as the hawk settled upon his friend's arm, Avary glided down closer, settling on a branch barely six feet above the ground and chirped, tilting her head. Unable to leave her by herself in this situation, she was soon joined by the suspicious hawk, keeping a close eye on the other. Maybe we ought to stay down for the night... He actually looked at her with disbelief. Are you serious? That meant changing back to their true form.

Beriadanwen looked at the Hawk, "I caught him and trained him. I learned from a man I once knew. He gave me all the tools and training and let me out on the world to find a companion of my own." she stroked a finger across the predator's head, petting the soft feathers.

She eyed the strange birds, shaking her head, "No, not like those. I've never seen quite a colourful bird myself." She stepped back, so she could better watch both the girl and the birds, "Where do you hail from, Myna? What is the small one in your pocket doing there?"

Myna looked at the birds, intrigued in spite of herself. The parrot she knew about, the hawk she was wary of, if nothing else than because it posed a threat to her traveling companion.

She turned back to Beriadanwen, and swallowed hard. "I'm from the Redwood clan, and this little guy is my companion: his name's Chi. He's a flying squirrel I raised when his tree was knocked down by some humans." Granted those trees had been well beyond the clan's borders, but, well, Beriadanwen didn't need to know that.

Both of them listened in on the conversation, memorizing the names so they knew how to address them later on. It will do us some good to talk to these people, you know. Warm feelings flooded him. He mentally sighed. Fine. I'll go first. If they do decide we're bad people, leave immediately.

Connery flew to the other side of the tree they sat at and landed on a fallen tree, turning to face both women and Ave. The ring that fit snugly around his left leg - matching Avary's, if one bothered to look and compare - glowed faintly. He was emitting a faint glow and his body shifted in moments. It happened fast, possibly looked surreal, but when the glow died down a young man was sitting on the tree instead of a bird. Well. He was also bird, but man as well.

He lifted one foot up onto the bark and rested his arm on his knee, looking far too casual for the situation. He was primarily white on his chest and legs with various shades of brown on his abdomen, arms and feet. Feathers sprouted from his arms and a long tail protruded from just above his grey pants. If all that wasn't eye catching enough, his face was visibly marred by two large scars jutting down diagonally from one side to the other.

"She's a Quaker Parrot, if you must know." He voice was a little gruff and clearly masculine.

Beriadanwen bristled. Of course an elf would refer to humans like that. Imagined or not, she still heard the tone of voice, that all elves seemed to take when speaking of anything that wasn't like them. It was the same tone that she herself had used when referring to the graceful creatures.

when she saw Avary and Connery she entertained the idea of going for her bow. It was so foolish of her to leave her things strewn out like she had. She looked at her Hawk, speaking in a bastardization of Elvish, "Gauntlets." She gave a sharp whistle and the book took off from her arm, looking for the leather glove she'd dropped earlier.

Myna didn't see what she had said to make Beriadanwen angry, but she flinched and pulled away--before she was distracted by the bird. It was changing and she watched in awe.

Before looking at the Quaker Parrot. "Oh." But curiosity was her biggest downfall. "What are you? How can you do that? Can the Quaker parrot do that as well?" 'That' being the trick of shape-shifting.

The flying squirrel stuck his head out of the pocket again to look at Connery.