Cheep!?
Chapter 48
Niko awoke feeling shockingly well rested, albeit groggy, and pleasantly surprised by his lack of a hangover given how much alcohol he'd had the night prior.
‘It is morning, right?’ He turned his gaze upwards, expecting a sun overhead, only to realize he was inside a building. A moment of heart-racing shock surged through his veins before he caught himself. ‘Right, that happened, everything’s fine. We’re in that mansion or whatever it is,’ he forced a few slow breaths out, before he realized that something felt… off.
Niko lifted his head, sending one of his siblings tumbling off of him slightly. Yak grumpily squawked before he began to sit up, turning his head around while blinking owlishly at the world. He squinted against the light in the room. “Yak not feel too good.”
Snorting, his elder brother, Niko, twisted around to examine himself before stopping abruptly. He had found that Skye was embedded firmly into his side, keeping him from moving nearly as much as he wanted to.
‘The peck? Why are you– ohhh, I remember. You were drunk and must have gotten cold, so you snuggled up next to the nearest source of warmth. That’d make sense.’ He nodded his understanding before planting a foot against her back, ‘Still not that close though, so! Wakey wakey!’
The elf started awake with a yelp as Niko shoved her away with just the right amount of force to project her, but not enough to hurt. She arced into the nearby tall grass, cushioned, as she came up in a roll before staggering a bit with a hand to her forehead followed by a groan of misery.
Niko realized then she’d have one pecking hell of a hangover from yesterday, and almost regretted being quite so forceful. Almost.
“Ugh, wha-Niko? Ohhh, my hea–” she froze as her eyes opened wide, staring at him in disbelief. Niko clucked questioningly, as Yak turned his own head to follow the elf’s gaze. He, too, paused on Niko for a few seconds before his eyes widened.
“Brother got bigger!” Yak screeched out excitedly, rousing his other siblings who relayed varying degrees of scathing bird curses at him in turn, the likes of which warned of plucked tail feathers in his future.
“You–you lost so many feathers!? Are you okay? Are you sick?” Skye paled slightly, shifting on one foot to the other, “Oh, crap, is it stress? I heard birds can go bald with stress.”
Niko’s confusion was at a precipice when he looked down at himself, noting with growing horror that his earlier kick and his currently rousing siblings were dislodging feathers away from his body. They fell away like a sheet, and Niko, beside himself in terror, screeched while rising to his full height.
And immediately realized that the ground felt just a little bit further away than usual.
“Oh peck, oh peck, ohhhh feathering peck,” Niko chittered with clear panic in his tone, “I don’t want to be a bald bird!”
His siblings, utterly immune to his panic, laughed heavily at him even as more feathers fell away from his body still.
“Oi! You lot! I’m gonna peck your feathers out and see how you like it!” Niko threatened, though when he moved and felt more feathers fall off, he locked his muscles in sheer dread.
Finally, Talon took pity on him, “Niko, you’re molting, not going bald. You’ve already got more feathers coming in.”
Niko’s head snapped to her as a longer feather on his head fell away. With a pitiful squeak, little louder than a door creaking, he asked, “M-molting? I’m molting?”
They cackled so loudly that a still-very-hungover Skye groaned and held her hands to her head. Apparently his siblings weren’t quite that smashed from last night and thus didn’t get any awful hangovers themselves.
“You’ve never molted before? We’ve molted already. What about when you grew into this not-flying bird thing?” Owl chirruped with deep amusement.
“I was asleep for the whole thing,” Niko said distractedly, before looking down at the pile of feathers. “Am I really supposed to shed all of this?”
“Err, well… no, usually only a few at a time.” Owl blinked, “But, looks like yours are.”
“We can help pluck them!” Gabby cheered, “Ready? I’m so ready!”
Niko, alarmed, shrieked at her, “Peck no! What? Why would I want you to pluck my feathers!?”
Talon, with a cool patience that Niko immediately noted was incongruous with her poised position to take flight in order to assault him, said, “It’s to help the new ones grow in better! You’ve got pretty feathers, so it’d be a shame if they grew in crooked.”
“Skye, heeeeeelp!” Niko crowed shamelessly as his siblings took flight and began to veritably maul him. They chittered with laughter, and Skye simply stood dumbstruck, uncertain as to what was going on. For some reason, she felt that, perhaps, she’d been asked for help.
Niko watched as she shook her head, a hand still pressed to her forehead, “I’m going to go clean up.”
“Noooo! I’m sorry for kicking you! Help meeee!” Niko cried out as she left.
Owl snorted, “She can’t even understand you anyway, right? Dane’s better.”
“So nice,” Pecky plucked a loose tail feather, ignoring how Niko yelped, “He’s got such warm paws, too!”
“Hands, Pecky, they’re called hands.” Talon corrected as she warningly slapped Niko in the head with a wing as he made a move to flap his own flightless wings in a vain attempt to ward his siblings off, “You stay still.”
Niko sat patiently whilst emitting half-panicked warbles after his scolding from Talon, though not before he got another wing-slap for an attempt to not-so-subtly yeet himself to safety. As he surrendered to their ministrations, though, he did calm down considerably, in fact, it almost felt nice to be fussed over like this.
Until the itching all over his skin began in force, like hundreds of shafts of pine needles were burrowing up and outwards from his skin. He groaned low, shuddering as he looked back at his once wonderful coat of feathers.
It was then that Dane and Eustace walked out of the doors that led to the dormitories. They took one look at the scene, shared a commensurate look of concern, and then promptly walked straight to the washroom without sparing another glance at him. Then he heard them laugh, long and hard.
Niko looked at his nearly naked form, and shuddered, “Ohhh this is awful!” He sniffled, then saw feather shafts begin to grow out from his body at a very visible rate. “Ohhhh, it’s soooo creepy!”
Essence trickled throughout his body, moving to his pores in a way that he realized he could feel much more clearly than he could before. In any other circumstance he’d have pursued that with interest, but right now it was aggravating in ways he couldn’t even begin to fathom. His siblings hopped off of him, their mission complete, giving him space to move. Before he could process anything, he was rubbing himself up against the rock, itching his body desperately before he realized it was doing less than nothing.
“Hnnnghh! Why!? WHY IS THIS SO AWFUL!?” He shrilly clamored at his siblings.
Yak shouted, “It’ll be over soon!”
Niko wanted to call him a pecking liar when it wasn’t over soon enough. It was what he imagined being covered in angry ants would feel like. Every inch of skin, even right past his beak, itched. After what felt like hours, but in reality was only ten minutes, Niko lay exhausted on his stomach with his head almost flopped in the river. He’d tried to reach the water, but between the itching and the worry that he’d somehow damage his feathers, Niko could only lay there and suffer in silence.
He flexed his skin, feeling new feathers rise with his efforts, and he slowly began to take stock of everything that had changed. Niko looked into the water, trying to find a calm enough part to really see himself, but abandoned that attempt when he noted that there weren’t really any calm enough parts in the indoor creek. He missed his riverbend just a little bit then, but he pushed that down, glad that he was at least with his family here; even if they’d just reveled in seeing his terror at his first real molt. Technically speaking, he’d molted when he was a chick as well, but he barely remembered how that had felt, and in the first place there had definitely been a lot less to lose at that point.
Niko lifted his head to look at his new feathers as they had come in so far and he had to admit, they looked good. His neck and back, and upper chest had sapphire blue feathers that shimmered in the light, looking more like cut gems than like feathers. Along his sides and both under and across his wings shone more like sapphires in the light, and the scintillating plumage continued well down to his tail feathers. Chevron patterns in the color of a rich, wine red, burgundy, and a vibrant garnet red banded across his wings, breaking up the blue. His chest feathers were predominantly red beneath the demarcating line of sapphire on the upper chest, extending down his belly. The previous scarring from his long-past battle with an angry badger appeared to be no more. He noticed also the accenting tips on his feathers were now uniformly a rich purple; they looked like amethysts had been ground up and painted onto his wingtips and tail feathers. He could only barely make out the colors in the water, but from what little he could see, his crown of feathers extended out from the top and back of his head, starting at sapphire, then amethyst, then ending with the garnet caps.
Niko really, really wanted to see what his head looked like now. He stood up fully before stretching out his limbs, making sure nothing else had changed.
But much had, as he realized. He realized now that he was taller by several centimeters, but that wasn’t where most of the change was. The main bulk of his form was just straight up more robust, layers of muscle had developed beneath his feathers and, Niko realized, made him look like a blend between noble and powerful.
His talons were sharper, but also angled outwards slightly more, making them better for traction and the occasional goring kick than for grabbing anything. The claws on his hands had lengthened, becoming sharper and better at slashing attacks. His beak had subtly grown larger, but not much else had changed there. It had been near perfect before, in his opinion, and improving on perfection wasn’t easy. Niko might have been biased there, but he still felt that was pretty accurate overall.
Niko flared out his long tail feathers, and he noted from all his observed changes, that his feathers could hold a very slight amount of essence. Perhaps he could now guard himself with it easier. That had been a decently powerful tactic before, improvement to that end would only be welcome.
Niko examined himself for several more seconds, before he idly stepped into the water and began the most important part of his day.
He started to preen himself, putting some of his body into the water with a crouch. The fact that his feathers were brand new was no excuse not to make sure they weren’t clean. After all, they looked especially gem-like, so why not polish them to an incredible degree? As he did so, he sang out low trilling notes, random nothings that his siblings didn’t know. They crowded around him, before beginning their own cleaning sessions.
“You’re a lot bigger! Did you get fat?” Pecky briefly interrupted their shared cleaning session as Niko helped to straighten her wing feathers.
“Fat? Do I look fat?” Niko asked flatly, “If anything, you’ve clearly gained a bit of a paunch here.”
He poked her tummy and felt her giggle, “No, I guess not fat. You’re definitely bigger though.”
“Brother cheated. Got more muscle by sleeping.” Glowered Yak as he helped Talon preen herself for a few seconds before she returned the favor.
“Yak’s jealous,” Owl hooted, while he finished his wings.
“Am not!” Yak huffed with a glare at his smaller brother, “Yak is big!”
“Big brother is bigger, though.” Said Gabby before Yak shot her a dismayed expression, “It’s true, Yak. But you’ll grow too, so it’s fine.”
Yak opened his beak before clicking it closed thoughtfully. He turned to Niko with a hopeful expression that Niko found incredibly adorable on him.
“Yup. Just takes time. We already know I don’t bird right.” Niko shrugged, deciding to play into Gabby’s previous words instead of taking the time to explain everything.
Yak happily trilled out at that, before turning his attention back to a patient Talon as she waited for him to help finish their morning cleaning. For the next few minutes, they finished cleaning up and then shook themselves out of any extra water. Niko kept trilling out songs that he made up, and occasionally his siblings would join in with coherent sounds of their own.
Eventually, the doors to the dormitories opened up again to reveal Reese, who stood stock still with an expression that Niko must have been confusing with something else, because she seemed happy and proud at the sight of him and his siblings. She was also still wincing with the pain of a hangover. ‘That’s gotta be wrong. But, just in case… a liiiittle more distance from her today is in order.’ He felt goosebumps race up his feathers at the sight of Reese’s expression for some reason. Thankfully, she started to move over to where the washrooms were. As Reese was halfway over to the washrooms, Mithel and Dachna emerged from the dormitories as well. They were engaged in a conversation amongst themselves, and they both seemed to be dragging themselves one step in front of the other doggedly.
Niko regarded them only briefly at first as they, too, crossed the room. They didn’t even glance at him, looking more like they were sleepwalking than anything else just yet. ‘Not morning people? That’s good to know for… scientific purposes.’ Niko definitely wasn’t plotting any kind of stereotypically annoying bird sounds to wake them up in the morning, no. Before he completely put them out of his mind, though, he paused, his sense of smell tickling him.
With a slow motion, he turned his gaze back to them, noting how they were standing subtly closer together, and how they both smelled like each oth–
‘Oh! Oh my! They’re an item, then? I didn’t think… is that a good idea?’ Niko frowned to himself, ‘I really hope that doesn’t become a problem. Are they serious with each other or casual? Hmm…’ As much as Niko thought this could complicate things, he also decided that it… wasn’t his business?
‘Actually, if I’m going with them, that kind of is. But… nope. I’m leaving that to the rest of them.’ Niko immediately divorced himself of any kind of responsibility regarding their situation. On top of that, he wasn’t going to bring attention to it, either. If it wasn’t serious between them, bringing it up wouldn’t help, but if it was… well, bringing it up still probably wouldn’t do him any favors.
Then Niko heard Ronald enter the room. Note, ‘heard’ because the man immediately decided to shout out, “Goooood morning!”
Dachna and Mithel flinched from the sounds before shooting him death-glares and continuing on their course to the washrooms. Niko studied Ronald’s face for any trace that he might suspect something was going on with the pair.
‘Ah, yup, he’s not an idiot. Except for the nicknames. That’s good.’ Niko nodded to himself as Ronald’s expression became very complicated, like a blend between happy and also strained. It would be bittersweet, Niko figured, to have his friends be more than friends, but also dangerous because any negative blowback from that relationship could have an effect on the team.
Ronald was probably the closest thing they had to a team leader, so Niko kind of felt sorry for the man. Dealing with this would not be fun, but maybe he’d just ignore it?
For the time being, that seemed to be Ronald’s choice. He walked halfway through the room in thought before he damn near stumbled on his feet as he caught full sight of Niko.
“Whoa, where’d all these feathers come from?” The big man noticed the large mostly-piled up feathers that Niko had shed, and then settled his gaze on the now much more built bird.
“Gods above, you’re really built like a bull, now!” He whistled, apparently completely unaffected by the alcohol consumption of the night before. “G’morning, Niko, Yak, Gabby, Pecky, Talon, Owl.” He greeted them each in turn before turning and moving towards the washroom, “Be back, have morning business to attend to.”
Niko nodded his own greeting at him, before watching him go. Then realized he also needed to use the washroom.
“Hey, where are we supposed to relieve ourselves here?” Niko turned and asked his siblings, dreading the idea of dropping bombs indoors and in the open. It was different in the wilderness, but here it felt… wrong?
Talon keened at him, “Same place they’re going to. Why?”
“Oh? Really? Uhh… okay. I just expected it would be…” He stopped, realizing that he wasn’t a pet. Of course any decent facility would treat them with more dignity than that. “Nevermind, be back!”
He trotted over to the washroom doors, realizing that they had a small, cute little door at the top that had a railing for the hawks to land on as he went. They could open them easily, too. Niko had to duck to get through the washroom doors, but he quickly found himself at a three way cross section for washrooms. Each was dictated clearly with who they catered more to. Female, male, and then a beast icon that looked hilariously like a cat-bird-dog that he couldn’t take his eyes off of for a moment; that made the decision straightforward at least.
Stepping lightly, Niko moved down the central walkway that had a higher ceiling and more open walls than the other two routes had. His first surprise was that the washroom was well lit, and featured long, floor to ceiling mirrors with silver filigree on the edges. It was altogether fancier than what he cared for in a washroom, but it was very nice. As a major plus, he got a good look at his new plumage, and found himself head over talon in adoration of the patterns and vibe.
“Ah, damn I’m a pecking pretty bird!” Niko declared loudly before he turned to the side, seeing stalls with open doors, but none facing each other so as to maintain privacy. He stepped into one, happy that there was plenty of space, and then stared at the strange assortment of gadgetry around the toilet itself.
‘Huh… I guess you’d need all sorts of stuff, since you never know what might roll through, but still. This looks shockingly modern.’ It was, he realized, an honest to goodness washroom, if you ignored the clearly not-quite-for-humanoid construction it had.
Niko took care of his business and left the washroom, feeling a sort of odd, surreal disconnect with the whole situation.
When he emerged from the washroom, his siblings decided now was the time to take care of their own purges. Walking into the main room, he was greeted with the smell of breakfast. It smelled delicious, even without all the extra essence infusions that last night's fest had had Niko knew he'd love it. The others were already digging in with aplomb, with Crowe overseeing his own assistants silently and passively.
Just before Niko reached the table, Crowe paused as he took the bird in. His eyebrows furrowed as he studied Niko, looking him over at length with such focus that Niko couldn’t help but to freeze. All of a sudden, it felt like he was being looked at by a predator.
As a cold clamminess began to make itself known under his feathers, Niko was beginning to worry that he’d done something wrong.
Crowe loosened up as he realized he was not only staring, but also doing so in a way that was making Niko wary. “Apologies, Sir, that was incredibly inappropriate for someone of my station,” Crowe bowed his head to him, “Please, be seated. We will have breakfast before we get into the itinerary for the rest of the week.”
The man stepped out of the way, but Niko found his feet still rooted in position. His instincts had most definitely grown more powerful after his latest growth into an adult Phorus, because rather than feeling a sense of either ‘side’ of his instincts, there was simply a single unified sense. That sense was warning him very strongly that Crowe could have turned him into a plucked chicken in the few seconds he was studying him.
‘Hoooly feathering peck, what the pluck brought that on!?’ Niko thought to himself with panic, before he realized that Skye was looking over at him with confusion.
Skye opened her mouth to ask something, but Niko subtly shook his head before making too-quick footsteps over to the table and sitting down. She tilted her head questioningly, but he pointedly kept his attention on the table.
The person who delivered his food was not Crowe, whom had distanced himself from the table after whatever it was had happened. Niko dove into his meal, adamant on putting that out of his mind and eating. It, amazingly enough, did wonders in bringing his mood back up.
He’d known, of course, that there were people much more powerful than him around, but it was different to feel just how much stronger they were.
When his siblings joined his side of the table in a hungry horde, Niko finally put it fully out of mind. ‘Nothing to be done for it,’ he remarked to himself, ‘Just all the more reason to get stronger.’
He finished eating what amounted to a pile of waffles, but this time he felt the essence laced food was less enticing in a way. Clearly it was good for him, but now he found he could more easily ignore the instinctive need to consume it. He’d been hoping for more control, to dilute his Phorus-side instincts with his Human mind, and while it seemed successful, he feared it might work both ways. Time would tell if that would be a problem.
“While you’re finishing up, I will briefly cover the schedule for the day.” Crowe spoke up, “Guildmaster Maul will not be present today, as he has some prior engagements scheduled with the local Baron. We will spend a brief time in the morning going over the current political climate, due to the fact that you esteemed persons are now arguably a part of it.”
The table stopped briefly as they digested that fact. Red Hawks and Phorus certainly counted for nobility, from what Niko had found out, but he didn’t know why.
“It will be a primer at best, however. A more in depth discussion will have to be undertaken on another day. Camille and I will personally handle your training in matters of politics, subterfuge, direct combat skill, tactics, strategy, beast and monster knowledge, and in whatever else we deem is necessary. We are not experts of all things, but we can cover a great deal, and in lieu of being able to notify others of your presence, we will suffice until a date when remedial lessons may be offered.” Crowe presented himself with poise and a stern kind of dignity.
Camille only smiled broadly, “Which you won’t need.”
‘Alright, that’s cryptic,’ Niko thought to himself when she didn’t expand upon that, much to Crowe’s subtle annoyance if the visible twinge of an eyelid indicated anything.
While still eating, Dachna asked, “So we’re really stuck here for a while, huh?”
“That is so, Sir.” Came Crowe’s succinct answer.
“Mmm… Alright,” the dirty blonde haired man shrugged, “So, where’s Reese?”
Niko started as he realized that, in fact, the woman wasn’t present. He thought for sure that she’d been there at first, but hadn’t noticed when she might have stepped away.
Camille glowered, “She has opted to leave. Orson doesn’t actually have any authority to ask her to stay, so she didn’t. She has paladin business to get to, I guess.” She was being clearly sarcastic at potentially having been snubbed.
“Our guest,” Crowe subtly emphasized the word, “Was free to leave on her own. It’s doubtful that anyone will pursue her, either. Miss Snowe can take care of herself, I’m sure.”
Most of the Greenhorns looked annoyed, but Ronald simply nodded along. Skye noticed, and asked, “Did you already know about that?”
“To a degree. She asked that I ‘pass on her thanks for the company,’ to everyone before she left.” He shrugged, “Not really important for us.”
Skye huffed a little, “Definitely not getting a slot in the team like that.”
Mithel bit her lip as she was about to say something, and by happenstance met eyes with Niko. The smirking bird was too much for Mithel as she let out a short laugh.
“What? What’s funny?” Skye crossed her arms and stared at Mithel with narrowing eyes.
“O-Oh, nothing, y’know… Just, Niko made me laugh.” She cleared her throat as Niko looked away, innocently.
Skye’s eyes darted between them, “About?”
They didn’t answer her, but eventually she was distracted by Mithel pointing out that Skye hadn’t finished her food yet. At which point Niko only loomed over the plate, eyeing it in mock hunger. Skye defended her meal, finishing it while the group spoke of nothing topics in an easy atmosphere of conversation.
When the table finally finished their meal, Camille spoke up after turning away from Crowe, “Great! You’re all done. So, first things first, I believe some corrections are in order.”
The large woman cleared her throat, “First off, my full name is Camille Fraun, and I was someone who once took on the pilgrimage with my team. This is my brother, Crowe Fraun.”
Niko didn’t think that was especially significant, but he did find it interesting that they’d gone on the pilgrimage. Surely, they could give them some good inform–
“Bant’s arse!” Dachna would have shot to his feet if he didn’t nearly fall backwards in his seat, “Camille the Carnage? That Camille?”
The woman flashed a wide, dangerous smile, “In the flesh, shorty!”
If Dachna could have gone any whiter, snow would have looked dark. The rest of the table didn’t seem that shaken, though.
‘Ah, no, nevermind. They’re rooted in place. Right. Mortal terror, then. Now I don’t feel so bad about my reaction earlier!’ Niko silently heaved a sigh of relief at that.
“And I suppose that makes you…?” Ronald carefully led a question while staring at Crowe.
“Funeral Bell Fraun,” Crowe spoke with a light downturn twinge of his mouth, “Refrain from that title if at all possible. I find it distasteful in the extreme.”
The group nodded, though Niko felt like Dachna’s neck was going to snap if he did it any faster. “Excellent! So, it’s good that you all know us, though it looks like the other young’uns don’t.” Camille winked at the Red Hawks and at Niko, “That’s okay, you just need to know that we’re officially Champions, albeit more retired than not. So, when I say that you probably won’t need remedial lessons, it’s because I doubt you’ll find anyone who can top us.”
“Please move on,” Crowe had a long, distressed look on his face, half urging, half begging her.
Camille pouted, “Fine, fine. Anyways, to make a long story short, we’ll need to know everything you've got. We won’t tell anyone, not even the Guildmaster, because we know some of you may or may not have sensitive issues or knowledge. Trust me when I say that we have seen it all and then some. We’ve fought alongside Chosen, against Chosen, handled monster hordes, been cursed, even cursed a few people–” she shrugged, “–Countercurse, but still. You have our word that no one will know. And if you need, nobody in your group needs to know, either, we’re taking everyone in separately for today and we’ll go over what you’ve got. As much as I know that this is going to be annoying as all hells to hear, you guys are too far down the food chain to bother withholding information.”
“In any case,” Crowe spoke, “We shall return shortly to take all of you to the study hall. Please, refrain from imbibing anything from the bar; you will need your wits about you shortly.”
Niko watched as he left with Camille, and for a long moment he just stared after them. His heart pounded so hard in his chest that he was almost positive it was audible, but given the rest of the table, his response was mild.
“Two honest to Gods champions?” Dachna looked like he was going to faint, “Someone pinch me.”
“You… uh… You okay there?” Mithel looked at him while subtly edging away in a very minor display of ‘You’re weirding me the cluck out,’ that Niko would have appreciated at any other time.
“Oh, I'm doing okay. After the heart attack passes, anyways.”
Niko tuned Dachna out then, instead using their conversation as a distraction as he dipped a finger claw into a thick syrup and wrote on his plate and, with a subtle wing nudge, got Skye’s attention on it.
Her eyebrows shot up as her head snapped up to meet Niko’s gaze. She mouthed the words, ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’
Niko shook his head, before writing more, ‘Need to know more.’
She glanced at it before nervously tucking hair behind her ears, a tic that Niko had begun to recognize to mean that she was very stressed out.
Her mouth firmed to a thin line, as she whispered, “I don’t like it. But… I don’t know enough either. It’s… let's wait and see. If by the time they start talking to us and you decide that’s still what you wanna do, bring me in. Maybe that’ll…”
She trailed off, getting quieter, but Niko suspected what she was going to say. “Hiding two bodies is harder than one,” He chirped grimly, “It’s risky, but maybe worth it.”
She nodded, almost seeming to follow along with the tone, when Dane caught their interaction from the corner of his eye.
“Wow, you’re really taking this interpreter thing seriously, huh?” Dane smiled, “It’s almost like you guys are talking already.”
“Hah, yeah…” Skye answered awkwardly, but luckily no one really noticed.
The elf and bird shared another wary look, and decided to see how things played out.
Cheep!?
Chapter 48
Niko awoke feeling shockingly well rested, albeit groggy, and pleasantly surprised by his lack of a hangover given how much alcohol he'd had the night prior.
‘It is morning, right?’ He turned his gaze upwards, expecting a sun overhead, only to realize he was inside a building. A moment of heart-racing shock surged through his veins before he caught himself. ‘Right, that happened, everything’s fine. We’re in that mansion or whatever it is,’ he forced a few slow breaths out, before he realized that something felt… off.
Niko lifted his head, sending one of his siblings tumbling off of him slightly. Yak grumpily squawked before he began to sit up, turning his head around while blinking owlishly at the world. He squinted against the light in the room. “Yak not feel too good.”
Snorting, his elder brother, Niko, twisted around to examine himself before stopping abruptly. He had found that Skye was embedded firmly into his side, keeping him from moving nearly as much as he wanted to.
‘The peck? Why are you– ohhh, I remember. You were drunk and must have gotten cold, so you snuggled up next to the nearest source of warmth. That’d make sense.’ He nodded his understanding before planting a foot against her back, ‘Still not that close though, so! Wakey wakey!’
The elf started awake with a yelp as Niko shoved her away with just the right amount of force to project her, but not enough to hurt. She arced into the nearby tall grass, cushioned, as she came up in a roll before staggering a bit with a hand to her forehead followed by a groan of misery.
Niko realized then she’d have one pecking hell of a hangover from yesterday, and almost regretted being quite so forceful. Almost.
“Ugh, wha-Niko? Ohhh, my hea–” she froze as her eyes opened wide, staring at him in disbelief. Niko clucked questioningly, as Yak turned his own head to follow the elf’s gaze. He, too, paused on Niko for a few seconds before his eyes widened.
“Brother got bigger!” Yak screeched out excitedly, rousing his other siblings who relayed varying degrees of scathing bird curses at him in turn, the likes of which warned of plucked tail feathers in his future.
“You–you lost so many feathers!? Are you okay? Are you sick?” Skye paled slightly, shifting on one foot to the other, “Oh, crap, is it stress? I heard birds can go bald with stress.”
Niko’s confusion was at a precipice when he looked down at himself, noting with growing horror that his earlier kick and his currently rousing siblings were dislodging feathers away from his body. They fell away like a sheet, and Niko, beside himself in terror, screeched while rising to his full height.
And immediately realized that the ground felt just a little bit further away than usual.
“Oh peck, oh peck, ohhhh feathering peck,” Niko chittered with clear panic in his tone, “I don’t want to be a bald bird!”
His siblings, utterly immune to his panic, laughed heavily at him even as more feathers fell away from his body still.
“Oi! You lot! I’m gonna peck your feathers out and see how you like it!” Niko threatened, though when he moved and felt more feathers fall off, he locked his muscles in sheer dread.
Finally, Talon took pity on him, “Niko, you’re molting, not going bald. You’ve already got more feathers coming in.”
Niko’s head snapped to her as a longer feather on his head fell away. With a pitiful squeak, little louder than a door creaking, he asked, “M-molting? I’m molting?”
They cackled so loudly that a still-very-hungover Skye groaned and held her hands to her head. Apparently his siblings weren’t quite that smashed from last night and thus didn’t get any awful hangovers themselves.
“You’ve never molted before? We’ve molted already. What about when you grew into this not-flying bird thing?” Owl chirruped with deep amusement.
“I was asleep for the whole thing,” Niko said distractedly, before looking down at the pile of feathers. “Am I really supposed to shed all of this?”
“Err, well… no, usually only a few at a time.” Owl blinked, “But, looks like yours are.”
“We can help pluck them!” Gabby cheered, “Ready? I’m so ready!”
Niko, alarmed, shrieked at her, “Peck no! What? Why would I want you to pluck my feathers!?”
Talon, with a cool patience that Niko immediately noted was incongruous with her poised position to take flight in order to assault him, said, “It’s to help the new ones grow in better! You’ve got pretty feathers, so it’d be a shame if they grew in crooked.”
“Skye, heeeeeelp!” Niko crowed shamelessly as his siblings took flight and began to veritably maul him. They chittered with laughter, and Skye simply stood dumbstruck, uncertain as to what was going on. For some reason, she felt that, perhaps, she’d been asked for help.
Niko watched as she shook her head, a hand still pressed to her forehead, “I’m going to go clean up.”
“Noooo! I’m sorry for kicking you! Help meeee!” Niko cried out as she left.
Owl snorted, “She can’t even understand you anyway, right? Dane’s better.”
“So nice,” Pecky plucked a loose tail feather, ignoring how Niko yelped, “He’s got such warm paws, too!”
“Hands, Pecky, they’re called hands.” Talon corrected as she warningly slapped Niko in the head with a wing as he made a move to flap his own flightless wings in a vain attempt to ward his siblings off, “You stay still.”
Niko sat patiently whilst emitting half-panicked warbles after his scolding from Talon, though not before he got another wing-slap for an attempt to not-so-subtly yeet himself to safety. As he surrendered to their ministrations, though, he did calm down considerably, in fact, it almost felt nice to be fussed over like this.
Until the itching all over his skin began in force, like hundreds of shafts of pine needles were burrowing up and outwards from his skin. He groaned low, shuddering as he looked back at his once wonderful coat of feathers.
It was then that Dane and Eustace walked out of the doors that led to the dormitories. They took one look at the scene, shared a commensurate look of concern, and then promptly walked straight to the washroom without sparing another glance at him. Then he heard them laugh, long and hard.
Niko looked at his nearly naked form, and shuddered, “Ohhh this is awful!” He sniffled, then saw feather shafts begin to grow out from his body at a very visible rate. “Ohhhh, it’s soooo creepy!”
Essence trickled throughout his body, moving to his pores in a way that he realized he could feel much more clearly than he could before. In any other circumstance he’d have pursued that with interest, but right now it was aggravating in ways he couldn’t even begin to fathom. His siblings hopped off of him, their mission complete, giving him space to move. Before he could process anything, he was rubbing himself up against the rock, itching his body desperately before he realized it was doing less than nothing.
“Hnnnghh! Why!? WHY IS THIS SO AWFUL!?” He shrilly clamored at his siblings.
Yak shouted, “It’ll be over soon!”
Niko wanted to call him a pecking liar when it wasn’t over soon enough. It was what he imagined being covered in angry ants would feel like. Every inch of skin, even right past his beak, itched. After what felt like hours, but in reality was only ten minutes, Niko lay exhausted on his stomach with his head almost flopped in the river. He’d tried to reach the water, but between the itching and the worry that he’d somehow damage his feathers, Niko could only lay there and suffer in silence.
He flexed his skin, feeling new feathers rise with his efforts, and he slowly began to take stock of everything that had changed. Niko looked into the water, trying to find a calm enough part to really see himself, but abandoned that attempt when he noted that there weren’t really any calm enough parts in the indoor creek. He missed his riverbend just a little bit then, but he pushed that down, glad that he was at least with his family here; even if they’d just reveled in seeing his terror at his first real molt. Technically speaking, he’d molted when he was a chick as well, but he barely remembered how that had felt, and in the first place there had definitely been a lot less to lose at that point.
Niko lifted his head to look at his new feathers as they had come in so far and he had to admit, they looked good. His neck and back, and upper chest had sapphire blue feathers that shimmered in the light, looking more like cut gems than like feathers. Along his sides and both under and across his wings shone more like sapphires in the light, and the scintillating plumage continued well down to his tail feathers. Chevron patterns in the color of a rich, wine red, burgundy, and a vibrant garnet red banded across his wings, breaking up the blue. His chest feathers were predominantly red beneath the demarcating line of sapphire on the upper chest, extending down his belly. The previous scarring from his long-past battle with an angry badger appeared to be no more. He noticed also the accenting tips on his feathers were now uniformly a rich purple; they looked like amethysts had been ground up and painted onto his wingtips and tail feathers. He could only barely make out the colors in the water, but from what little he could see, his crown of feathers extended out from the top and back of his head, starting at sapphire, then amethyst, then ending with the garnet caps.
Niko really, really wanted to see what his head looked like now. He stood up fully before stretching out his limbs, making sure nothing else had changed.
But much had, as he realized. He realized now that he was taller by several centimeters, but that wasn’t where most of the change was. The main bulk of his form was just straight up more robust, layers of muscle had developed beneath his feathers and, Niko realized, made him look like a blend between noble and powerful.
His talons were sharper, but also angled outwards slightly more, making them better for traction and the occasional goring kick than for grabbing anything. The claws on his hands had lengthened, becoming sharper and better at slashing attacks. His beak had subtly grown larger, but not much else had changed there. It had been near perfect before, in his opinion, and improving on perfection wasn’t easy. Niko might have been biased there, but he still felt that was pretty accurate overall.
Niko flared out his long tail feathers, and he noted from all his observed changes, that his feathers could hold a very slight amount of essence. Perhaps he could now guard himself with it easier. That had been a decently powerful tactic before, improvement to that end would only be welcome.
Niko examined himself for several more seconds, before he idly stepped into the water and began the most important part of his day.
He started to preen himself, putting some of his body into the water with a crouch. The fact that his feathers were brand new was no excuse not to make sure they weren’t clean. After all, they looked especially gem-like, so why not polish them to an incredible degree? As he did so, he sang out low trilling notes, random nothings that his siblings didn’t know. They crowded around him, before beginning their own cleaning sessions.
“You’re a lot bigger! Did you get fat?” Pecky briefly interrupted their shared cleaning session as Niko helped to straighten her wing feathers.
“Fat? Do I look fat?” Niko asked flatly, “If anything, you’ve clearly gained a bit of a paunch here.”
He poked her tummy and felt her giggle, “No, I guess not fat. You’re definitely bigger though.”
“Brother cheated. Got more muscle by sleeping.” Glowered Yak as he helped Talon preen herself for a few seconds before she returned the favor.
“Yak’s jealous,” Owl hooted, while he finished his wings.
“Am not!” Yak huffed with a glare at his smaller brother, “Yak is big!”
“Big brother is bigger, though.” Said Gabby before Yak shot her a dismayed expression, “It’s true, Yak. But you’ll grow too, so it’s fine.”
Yak opened his beak before clicking it closed thoughtfully. He turned to Niko with a hopeful expression that Niko found incredibly adorable on him.
“Yup. Just takes time. We already know I don’t bird right.” Niko shrugged, deciding to play into Gabby’s previous words instead of taking the time to explain everything.
Yak happily trilled out at that, before turning his attention back to a patient Talon as she waited for him to help finish their morning cleaning. For the next few minutes, they finished cleaning up and then shook themselves out of any extra water. Niko kept trilling out songs that he made up, and occasionally his siblings would join in with coherent sounds of their own.
Eventually, the doors to the dormitories opened up again to reveal Reese, who stood stock still with an expression that Niko must have been confusing with something else, because she seemed happy and proud at the sight of him and his siblings. She was also still wincing with the pain of a hangover. ‘That’s gotta be wrong. But, just in case… a liiiittle more distance from her today is in order.’ He felt goosebumps race up his feathers at the sight of Reese’s expression for some reason. Thankfully, she started to move over to where the washrooms were. As Reese was halfway over to the washrooms, Mithel and Dachna emerged from the dormitories as well. They were engaged in a conversation amongst themselves, and they both seemed to be dragging themselves one step in front of the other doggedly.
Niko regarded them only briefly at first as they, too, crossed the room. They didn’t even glance at him, looking more like they were sleepwalking than anything else just yet. ‘Not morning people? That’s good to know for… scientific purposes.’ Niko definitely wasn’t plotting any kind of stereotypically annoying bird sounds to wake them up in the morning, no. Before he completely put them out of his mind, though, he paused, his sense of smell tickling him.
With a slow motion, he turned his gaze back to them, noting how they were standing subtly closer together, and how they both smelled like each oth–
‘Oh! Oh my! They’re an item, then? I didn’t think… is that a good idea?’ Niko frowned to himself, ‘I really hope that doesn’t become a problem. Are they serious with each other or casual? Hmm…’ As much as Niko thought this could complicate things, he also decided that it… wasn’t his business?
‘Actually, if I’m going with them, that kind of is. But… nope. I’m leaving that to the rest of them.’ Niko immediately divorced himself of any kind of responsibility regarding their situation. On top of that, he wasn’t going to bring attention to it, either. If it wasn’t serious between them, bringing it up wouldn’t help, but if it was… well, bringing it up still probably wouldn’t do him any favors.
Then Niko heard Ronald enter the room. Note, ‘heard’ because the man immediately decided to shout out, “Goooood morning!”
Dachna and Mithel flinched from the sounds before shooting him death-glares and continuing on their course to the washrooms. Niko studied Ronald’s face for any trace that he might suspect something was going on with the pair.
‘Ah, yup, he’s not an idiot. Except for the nicknames. That’s good.’ Niko nodded to himself as Ronald’s expression became very complicated, like a blend between happy and also strained. It would be bittersweet, Niko figured, to have his friends be more than friends, but also dangerous because any negative blowback from that relationship could have an effect on the team.
Ronald was probably the closest thing they had to a team leader, so Niko kind of felt sorry for the man. Dealing with this would not be fun, but maybe he’d just ignore it?
For the time being, that seemed to be Ronald’s choice. He walked halfway through the room in thought before he damn near stumbled on his feet as he caught full sight of Niko.
“Whoa, where’d all these feathers come from?” The big man noticed the large mostly-piled up feathers that Niko had shed, and then settled his gaze on the now much more built bird.
“Gods above, you’re really built like a bull, now!” He whistled, apparently completely unaffected by the alcohol consumption of the night before. “G’morning, Niko, Yak, Gabby, Pecky, Talon, Owl.” He greeted them each in turn before turning and moving towards the washroom, “Be back, have morning business to attend to.”
Niko nodded his own greeting at him, before watching him go. Then realized he also needed to use the washroom.
“Hey, where are we supposed to relieve ourselves here?” Niko turned and asked his siblings, dreading the idea of dropping bombs indoors and in the open. It was different in the wilderness, but here it felt… wrong?
Talon keened at him, “Same place they’re going to. Why?”
“Oh? Really? Uhh… okay. I just expected it would be…” He stopped, realizing that he wasn’t a pet. Of course any decent facility would treat them with more dignity than that. “Nevermind, be back!”
He trotted over to the washroom doors, realizing that they had a small, cute little door at the top that had a railing for the hawks to land on as he went. They could open them easily, too. Niko had to duck to get through the washroom doors, but he quickly found himself at a three way cross section for washrooms. Each was dictated clearly with who they catered more to. Female, male, and then a beast icon that looked hilariously like a cat-bird-dog that he couldn’t take his eyes off of for a moment; that made the decision straightforward at least.
Stepping lightly, Niko moved down the central walkway that had a higher ceiling and more open walls than the other two routes had. His first surprise was that the washroom was well lit, and featured long, floor to ceiling mirrors with silver filigree on the edges. It was altogether fancier than what he cared for in a washroom, but it was very nice. As a major plus, he got a good look at his new plumage, and found himself head over talon in adoration of the patterns and vibe.
“Ah, damn I’m a pecking pretty bird!” Niko declared loudly before he turned to the side, seeing stalls with open doors, but none facing each other so as to maintain privacy. He stepped into one, happy that there was plenty of space, and then stared at the strange assortment of gadgetry around the toilet itself.
‘Huh… I guess you’d need all sorts of stuff, since you never know what might roll through, but still. This looks shockingly modern.’ It was, he realized, an honest to goodness washroom, if you ignored the clearly not-quite-for-humanoid construction it had.
Niko took care of his business and left the washroom, feeling a sort of odd, surreal disconnect with the whole situation.
When he emerged from the washroom, his siblings decided now was the time to take care of their own purges. Walking into the main room, he was greeted with the smell of breakfast. It smelled delicious, even without all the extra essence infusions that last night's fest had had Niko knew he'd love it. The others were already digging in with aplomb, with Crowe overseeing his own assistants silently and passively.
Just before Niko reached the table, Crowe paused as he took the bird in. His eyebrows furrowed as he studied Niko, looking him over at length with such focus that Niko couldn’t help but to freeze. All of a sudden, it felt like he was being looked at by a predator.
As a cold clamminess began to make itself known under his feathers, Niko was beginning to worry that he’d done something wrong.
Crowe loosened up as he realized he was not only staring, but also doing so in a way that was making Niko wary. “Apologies, Sir, that was incredibly inappropriate for someone of my station,” Crowe bowed his head to him, “Please, be seated. We will have breakfast before we get into the itinerary for the rest of the week.”
The man stepped out of the way, but Niko found his feet still rooted in position. His instincts had most definitely grown more powerful after his latest growth into an adult Phorus, because rather than feeling a sense of either ‘side’ of his instincts, there was simply a single unified sense. That sense was warning him very strongly that Crowe could have turned him into a plucked chicken in the few seconds he was studying him.
‘Hoooly feathering peck, what the pluck brought that on!?’ Niko thought to himself with panic, before he realized that Skye was looking over at him with confusion.
Skye opened her mouth to ask something, but Niko subtly shook his head before making too-quick footsteps over to the table and sitting down. She tilted her head questioningly, but he pointedly kept his attention on the table.
The person who delivered his food was not Crowe, whom had distanced himself from the table after whatever it was had happened. Niko dove into his meal, adamant on putting that out of his mind and eating. It, amazingly enough, did wonders in bringing his mood back up.
He’d known, of course, that there were people much more powerful than him around, but it was different to feel just how much stronger they were.
When his siblings joined his side of the table in a hungry horde, Niko finally put it fully out of mind. ‘Nothing to be done for it,’ he remarked to himself, ‘Just all the more reason to get stronger.’
He finished eating what amounted to a pile of waffles, but this time he felt the essence laced food was less enticing in a way. Clearly it was good for him, but now he found he could more easily ignore the instinctive need to consume it. He’d been hoping for more control, to dilute his Phorus-side instincts with his Human mind, and while it seemed successful, he feared it might work both ways. Time would tell if that would be a problem.
“While you’re finishing up, I will briefly cover the schedule for the day.” Crowe spoke up, “Guildmaster Maul will not be present today, as he has some prior engagements scheduled with the local Baron. We will spend a brief time in the morning going over the current political climate, due to the fact that you esteemed persons are now arguably a part of it.”
The table stopped briefly as they digested that fact. Red Hawks and Phorus certainly counted for nobility, from what Niko had found out, but he didn’t know why.
“It will be a primer at best, however. A more in depth discussion will have to be undertaken on another day. Camille and I will personally handle your training in matters of politics, subterfuge, direct combat skill, tactics, strategy, beast and monster knowledge, and in whatever else we deem is necessary. We are not experts of all things, but we can cover a great deal, and in lieu of being able to notify others of your presence, we will suffice until a date when remedial lessons may be offered.” Crowe presented himself with poise and a stern kind of dignity.
Camille only smiled broadly, “Which you won’t need.”
‘Alright, that’s cryptic,’ Niko thought to himself when she didn’t expand upon that, much to Crowe’s subtle annoyance if the visible twinge of an eyelid indicated anything.
While still eating, Dachna asked, “So we’re really stuck here for a while, huh?”
“That is so, Sir.” Came Crowe’s succinct answer.
“Mmm… Alright,” the dirty blonde haired man shrugged, “So, where’s Reese?”
Niko started as he realized that, in fact, the woman wasn’t present. He thought for sure that she’d been there at first, but hadn’t noticed when she might have stepped away.
Camille glowered, “She has opted to leave. Orson doesn’t actually have any authority to ask her to stay, so she didn’t. She has paladin business to get to, I guess.” She was being clearly sarcastic at potentially having been snubbed.
“Our guest,” Crowe subtly emphasized the word, “Was free to leave on her own. It’s doubtful that anyone will pursue her, either. Miss Snowe can take care of herself, I’m sure.”
Most of the Greenhorns looked annoyed, but Ronald simply nodded along. Skye noticed, and asked, “Did you already know about that?”
“To a degree. She asked that I ‘pass on her thanks for the company,’ to everyone before she left.” He shrugged, “Not really important for us.”
Skye huffed a little, “Definitely not getting a slot in the team like that.”
Mithel bit her lip as she was about to say something, and by happenstance met eyes with Niko. The smirking bird was too much for Mithel as she let out a short laugh.
“What? What’s funny?” Skye crossed her arms and stared at Mithel with narrowing eyes.
“O-Oh, nothing, y’know… Just, Niko made me laugh.” She cleared her throat as Niko looked away, innocently.
Skye’s eyes darted between them, “About?”
They didn’t answer her, but eventually she was distracted by Mithel pointing out that Skye hadn’t finished her food yet. At which point Niko only loomed over the plate, eyeing it in mock hunger. Skye defended her meal, finishing it while the group spoke of nothing topics in an easy atmosphere of conversation.
When the table finally finished their meal, Camille spoke up after turning away from Crowe, “Great! You’re all done. So, first things first, I believe some corrections are in order.”
The large woman cleared her throat, “First off, my full name is Camille Fraun, and I was someone who once took on the pilgrimage with my team. This is my brother, Crowe Fraun.”
Niko didn’t think that was especially significant, but he did find it interesting that they’d gone on the pilgrimage. Surely, they could give them some good inform–
“Bant’s arse!” Dachna would have shot to his feet if he didn’t nearly fall backwards in his seat, “Camille the Carnage? That Camille?”
The woman flashed a wide, dangerous smile, “In the flesh, shorty!”
If Dachna could have gone any whiter, snow would have looked dark. The rest of the table didn’t seem that shaken, though.
‘Ah, no, nevermind. They’re rooted in place. Right. Mortal terror, then. Now I don’t feel so bad about my reaction earlier!’ Niko silently heaved a sigh of relief at that.
“And I suppose that makes you…?” Ronald carefully led a question while staring at Crowe.
“Funeral Bell Fraun,” Crowe spoke with a light downturn twinge of his mouth, “Refrain from that title if at all possible. I find it distasteful in the extreme.”
The group nodded, though Niko felt like Dachna’s neck was going to snap if he did it any faster. “Excellent! So, it’s good that you all know us, though it looks like the other young’uns don’t.” Camille winked at the Red Hawks and at Niko, “That’s okay, you just need to know that we’re officially Champions, albeit more retired than not. So, when I say that you probably won’t need remedial lessons, it’s because I doubt you’ll find anyone who can top us.”
“Please move on,” Crowe had a long, distressed look on his face, half urging, half begging her.
Camille pouted, “Fine, fine. Anyways, to make a long story short, we’ll need to know everything you've got. We won’t tell anyone, not even the Guildmaster, because we know some of you may or may not have sensitive issues or knowledge. Trust me when I say that we have seen it all and then some. We’ve fought alongside Chosen, against Chosen, handled monster hordes, been cursed, even cursed a few people–” she shrugged, “–Countercurse, but still. You have our word that no one will know. And if you need, nobody in your group needs to know, either, we’re taking everyone in separately for today and we’ll go over what you’ve got. As much as I know that this is going to be annoying as all hells to hear, you guys are too far down the food chain to bother withholding information.”
“In any case,” Crowe spoke, “We shall return shortly to take all of you to the study hall. Please, refrain from imbibing anything from the bar; you will need your wits about you shortly.”
Niko watched as he left with Camille, and for a long moment he just stared after them. His heart pounded so hard in his chest that he was almost positive it was audible, but given the rest of the table, his response was mild.
“Two honest to Gods champions?” Dachna looked like he was going to faint, “Someone pinch me.”
“You… uh… You okay there?” Mithel looked at him while subtly edging away in a very minor display of ‘You’re weirding me the cluck out,’ that Niko would have appreciated at any other time.
“Oh, I'm doing okay. After the heart attack passes, anyways.”
Niko tuned Dachna out then, instead using their conversation as a distraction as he dipped a finger claw into a thick syrup and wrote on his plate and, with a subtle wing nudge, got Skye’s attention on it.
Her eyebrows shot up as her head snapped up to meet Niko’s gaze. She mouthed the words, ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’
Niko shook his head, before writing more, ‘Need to know more.’
She glanced at it before nervously tucking hair behind her ears, a tic that Niko had begun to recognize to mean that she was very stressed out.
Her mouth firmed to a thin line, as she whispered, “I don’t like it. But… I don’t know enough either. It’s… let's wait and see. If by the time they start talking to us and you decide that’s still what you wanna do, bring me in. Maybe that’ll…”
She trailed off, getting quieter, but Niko suspected what she was going to say. “Hiding two bodies is harder than one,” He chirped grimly, “It’s risky, but maybe worth it.”
She nodded, almost seeming to follow along with the tone, when Dane caught their interaction from the corner of his eye.
“Wow, you’re really taking this interpreter thing seriously, huh?” Dane smiled, “It’s almost like you guys are talking already.”
“Hah, yeah…” Skye answered awkwardly, but luckily no one really noticed.
The elf and bird shared another wary look, and decided to see how things played out.
