By the time I had finished the scouting report on Stormbringer, the siblings had already left. All but the youngest sister who had somehow managed to sneak up on me and read along over my wing.

“Where did the others go?”, I asked.

“Ah, they’re back at the inn. Father wanted to lay out the plans for buying new goods. I don’t have to be there yet since I’m not an adult. And someone should be watching you, Droy said.”

I raised a tuft.

“I see. Well, enjoy yourself.”

She nodded, a wide smile on her face.

I went back to my pile, the myths about the weather dragon now on top. They were… extreme. Mentions about Stormbringer as a god, how to appease and sacrifice him. Mentions as a force of nature or a spirit. These stories were old. Pre-dwarves old, according to the author who collected them. Most cities had one or two and they were very similar at times and strangely different in other spots. I mostly skimmed through since after reading one tale I knew most of the others.

At the end of the collection was a small essay elaborating on the author’s thoughts on the stories’ origin. He claimed they were originated from the goblins the felt-ear dwarves had evolved from or maybe even the species before. He also considered the differences to be caused by the distance to Stormbringer’s path. The further away from the city, the less extreme the stories. They were more distant legends than instructions for worship. I put the book aside as it did not have anything I was interested in. No detailed description of the dragon or its path.

Last but not least, the thaumaturge’s diary. It was honestly just a mess. Inane rambling mixed with encrypted letters to avoid readers. Some pages were filled with line after line, each perfectly parallel. Sometimes the author had used blood instead of ink to write. From the way the writing transitioned between the colours, he had run out. It took me until just before closing time until I finally managed to get through. The codes were easy, mostly just swapping around letters for others. While there were parts where it seemed to just lack any system at all, I found myself able to figure out some kind of meaning anyways. Maybe there was some warp in this book? I should see if I could make a device to check for warp. Some kind of scanner might work.

Back to the diary. The passage the librarian had mentioned was one of the not encrypted pages. I still found it to be difficult to parse. An infused strike could not batter me more than this storm. That was just one of his simpler descriptions. When it came to the dragon itself, or the eye of the storm, there was only a short paragraph.

The blood would wash off the page as I tried to write. I see myself reflected in the pool above me. A vacuos and alienis jar could not be more destructively beautiful. Oh, how I longed to go there. This one was surely my guide. He would take me. I knew it. I had to know. How else could I be alive after so much water?

The text itself was written in ink. I assumed he had tried to take notes in the middle of the storm. A futile effort, even in the eye. He had sat down as soon as he could and just wrote the words down, lest he forgot. Sadly, it did not help me much either. Besides the fact that the thaumaturge did not mention the wyverns once. Maybe there was a way to avoid them or places they did not go. I could only guess at this point.

At least the day had been productive. I asked the librarian to put my books aside in a reading room and left the library together with the dwarven girl. She had hung out for the whole afternoon, though at some point she got bored and started reading my other books. I asked her if there was anything interesting but apparently, she had already forgotten most details. She only remembered how most raptors were very aggressive when defending their hunting grounds, something I knew already.

We reached the inn soon after and got some rest. The dwarves did, at least. I decided to enjoy the night a little more. My wings brought me up and I drew a slow circle around Serrington. The city was still lively in some places with dwarves out to drink in droves but the factories, smithies and fields were quiet. Even the Guardian’s home was completely silent. I looked for some movement but saw nothing of interest pop up, even when I got closer. With the [Node Guardian] Skill, the Nymph would notice when I got too close so I kept far enough not to trigger it.

What I did notice about the small forest in the centre of the city was that it consisted of mostly fruit trees. And even with the cold weather, they were blooming or carrying food as if someone confused the seasons just here. It had to be the node’s doing. All the herba and arbor vis poured into the plants and made them grow no matter the temperature.

I widened the circle and checked the forest outside the city. There was a maybe fifty-metre band of grass surrounding the Field Wall. Beyond, forested hills extended as far as my eyes reached. I kept an inner eye out for nodes or enriched animals but saw nothing particularly interesting. A few minor nodes here and there hosting some animal. A small crack reached my ears as somewhere between the trees a node collapsed. I only saw a glint of light illuminate some kind of fox but it looked very normal from up here. I did not notice any mana so it could not have much. It was also moving normally even after breaking a minor node so it definitely had some.

Turning back to Serrington, I saw a few nodes in or between the fields. I must have overlooked them in the daylight but their soft glow gave away their positions now. Though, once again, it was only minor nodes. They only caught my eyes because they were spread out in an open area. I flew close to one and saw a few poles had been stuck into the ground below. Crystals started to bud around. They would surely take years to grow to any respectable size but better than having only the ones from the Guardian’s home.

With that, I found myself tired and returned to the inn to get some rest. I had barely closed my eyes when the dwarves started to rise again and we got ready for another day.

Once again, I just spent most of my time reading. The bestiary on flying beasts was useful, the books about smaller birds not so much. The smaller ones were no danger to me. At most I could consider them food, but I did not need to know their mating ritual to hunt one.

The days passed like that, Servin sometimes coming along to read up on something himself. Or so he claimed until he started to ask some questions. He was fishing for information on how to make thaumium or other interesting thaumaturgic secrets but I mostly just deflected and pointed him to dwarven practitioners if he wanted to learn more.

Soon, his questions became more harmless, like small talk. I was still careful but I indulged him. The dwarf had understood what I wanted to convey and was now just keeping up friendly relations.

On that matter, I still had not gotten a notification about becoming friends with the siblings. With how much time we spent with each other, I almost expected something to pop up any day now, but it just did not happen. One afternoon, as I was alone with the youngest sister Selvie, I simply asked her.

“Say, are we friends?”

The dwarf blinked.

“Yes?”, she asked, “I think so. At least I wouldn’t know how we aren’t friends?”

I hooted softly.

“That makes sense. Though it took me some time to remember your name. I’m pretty sure we are friends by now.”

Nothing. Well, nothing from the system. Selvie just nodded with a big smile on her face.

“Wanna do some friends stuff?”

I tilted my head.

“Like what?”

“Like… Hmm. Do you like baths?”

I pulled some of my facial feathers into a frown.

“I think… Not all that much? I can’t fly with wet feathers. But I like being clean.”

“Then let’s go! You don’t need to fly in the city. I’ll ask Harra to come along. We’re gonna have some girls time!”

After a moment of hesitation, I nodded.

“Okay. Do you have a time in mind?”

She nodded.

“We wash ourselves every morning in the inn but that’s not a real bath. We can spend some extra time tomorrow in the public bathhouse.”

With that, it was decided. Still, I was confused about the system. I made a friend. I was very sure of that. But I did not get any experience. Why? I tried to look back at my previous notifications. It took but a moment and the words popped up in my mind.

~ding~ You have made friends with a new species, congratulations! Experience is awarded!

Well, there it was. A new species. I already had a dwarven friend. Of course, I would not get any experience.

The next morning was… weird. Not quite unpleasant but not purely enjoyable either. The two sisters led me to the bathhouse which was surprisingly packed. Of course, there were separate baths for men and women. More importantly, the ‘public bath house’ started out with very much private washrooms. Well, mostly private. The sisters undressed and dragged me into one. The only piece of cloth they still wore were their dionan, the ear protectors. Only once the washroom was locked did they remove them. They squirmed a little bit, embarrassed in a way I would expect from nudity in humans. Still, they started to wash each other and dragged me into the shower as well. I let them carefully brush through my wing feathers and simply tried to enjoy the water. It felt heavy on my body but it was nice seeing the dirty stream going into the drain slowly turn clear. Then they brought out soap and I retreated. I did not want them to rub me all over. But once more I was dragged in, not completely against my will. The girls were careful and after finishing my wings, Selvie sat down in front of me, facing away.

“You can wash my hair a-and my ears. Okay?”

I saw her ears twitching nervously and looked at Harra. The older sister encouraged me and I took the soap. It took some getting used to but eventually, I just rubbed the soap into her hair with some shadows and then used [Preening] to clean and straighten her hair. When I was finished the dwarf turned around, slightly red in her face. I could not tell if that was from the hot water or from getting her ears touched, so I asked.

“Ah, well. It’s not all that embarrassing, actually. We show our naked ears to family and close friends, you know? It just takes some getting used to for the first time. And with us travelling with father’s caravan, most our friends are far away in our hometown so we didn’t do this for a while.”

I nodded.

“That makes sense. I usually don’t let others touch me, either. It’s… against my instincts? Especially on the head.”

The girls nodded.

“Then, thank you. That’s a true showing of trust”, Harra said.

“Now, do my hair!”

I obliged and soon we were done with washing. Now came the real bath. The girls dried their ears as best they could and put on a different set of dionan that looked to be waterproof. Then we went into the actual public bath. A large pool was in the middle, some dwarves swimming lines or sitting on the edge. The walls were lined with enclosed tubs of steaming water. They were not quite whirlpools, lacking the valves to push bubbles in but had very similar dimensions.

Interestingly, I spotted another animal in one of the steam pools. It was a beaver, as far as I could tell. There was some clear mana coming off her and she seemed to be taking part in the conversation of the dwarves sitting close. Our eyes met and for a second my instincts told me to fight but I pushed the feeling down and resorted to a simple nod. The beaver answered likewise and I rushed after the sister that had found a steam pool with enough free space for all of us.

The morning dragged on with small talk about cosmetic products, relationships and other gossip while I simply tried to enjoy the water. It was nice just drifting on top but I could not stand it for more than ten minutes at a time which meant I took regular breaks letting the liquid drip off my feathers. All in all, I enjoyed it much more than I expected. Maybe baths were not all bad.