My tensed shoulders(top of my wings?) relax as we leave the lake behind us. Caïssa's tears had caused the flowers blooming atop her grave-bed to grow at a ridiculous rate. The entire open areas around the lake where grass grew were now dotted with flowers of all shapes and colors, all coming together in the different hues of a rainbow.

The small crystals that were her Tears and her seed hung in a small sack I'd fashioned out of her left behind canvas clothes around Greenie's neck. After Greenie had finished covering me in clay, he'd quickly settled me atop his shoulder and turned to leave.

The presences that I could sense with Scent Detection were still out beyond the lake. Whatever those musty smelling things were, they didn't follow the four of us as we left. Somehow, with their connection as Kin, I was able to erase the two's presence with Hide. Things would go much smoother now that there was a smaller chance of monsters finding us.

Lady? Crixus, the Minotaur, calls out to me through our thought-link.

Why do you call me Lady?

I wasn't even sure if I was a boy or girl bird. How did you tell the gender of a raven? It wasn't like I could just peer between my legs and look for something dangling; my feathers were too fluffy to see past.

Crixus blinks his thickly lashed round cow eyes at me.

It seemed fitting. The majestic aura that you exude, it's as a great Minotaur that has won countless Challenges. If you were one of us, you would have a great pair of horns, curving high into the sky.

Crixus' nostrils flare widely as he begins to breathe roughly in excitement.

Erm..Thank you…?

That was definitely the Progenitor title in effect. From what I gather, apart from the Book of Lines gibberish, it gave me a beauty filter? Greenie kept glancing at me after I'd acquired the title as well. 'Very ok, Master!' He kept saying.

Tilting my neck up at the pair of broken horns growing atop Crixus' head, I clack my beak..

but, I think your horns are very cool too!

The Minotaur rears his head back in surprise as if I'd punched him, snorting. As if what I'd said had caught him off guard.

My...my horns, Lady??

Mhm. Nodding excitedly, I point with my shiny good wing at his jagged horns.

B-but, they are broken.

His horns were a yellowish-brown at the bottom, a color similar to old paper. The color blended into a shiny pitch black at the broken off ends, almost like the color of my own wings. Shinies were pretty. It didn't matter if the ends of the shinies were round or jagged. Shiny was shiny.

Clacking my beak again, I hold back my urge to want to pluck them off his head. That was definitely an illogical and impossible thing to do.

Why does that matter?

I cock my head, confused.

Being broken doesn't make it any less beautiful.

Shiny was shiny.

He grows quiet when I tell him that. The three of them were all quiet after I said that. And the heavy feelings I could feel through the links that connected us..Was what I said that strange??

Whuffing in response, Crixus solemnly nods his head. Mixed with waves of sadness and shame, I could feel the awe he truly felt directly through our link, and it was quite embarrassing.

Andvari, though he was doing a good job of hiding his emotions, was clearly confused with what I said. He kept stumbling over the gnarled tree roots when he'd stepped over them so carefully before.

Shrugging, I preen my feathers in thought as Greenie carries me back to our cave. I was nothing but a former human-turned bird. I don't know why Crixus felt awe towards me. There was nothing to be amazed about.

An Unkindness, was it? What that system called our group?

I surveyed the two new members of our group from atop Greenie's shoulder as they followed us back to our cave.

What a strange company we must make.

One muscled Minotaur in a loincloth, horns broken and arms missing. A blind, dwarf dressed in what was basically a burlap sack with a rope belt, carrying a sword as he taps a foot over the ground with each step he takes. His long beard was brown with streaks of grey, long enough to skim over the ground. How did he avoid tripping over it? I wonder.

Poor Greenie.

I felt bad that Greenie was still my pet while these two got a Blood Contract. But I'd hesitated when I shared my blood with Crixus. Greenie still had a tribe he could go back to. It wouldn't be right if I made him into my Kin? family? without asking what he wanted.

A pang of sorrow makes my heart clench.

Someday he might want to go back to those goblins. If he became strong enough, I was sure they would welcome him back.

Maybe I could try asking him..Stretching out a wing, I poke Greenie's dark green cheek.

Greenie?

The other two don't seem to react when I focus on the strand that connects the two of us, trying to contact him using Thought Transmission to Greenie directly.

Poke-poke.

Greenie, do you want to become family with me? You'll have to drink my blood, but it'll give you something called the Right of Kin.

Greenie shakes his head.

Oh.... That was saddening. That made sense though. Of course Greenie would want to be with other members of his own kind, instead of becoming family with a bird he'd picked up one day.

Master need heal more first.

He gently taps a finger on my clay-encrusted body. Except for my good wing, my entire torso was practically hardened in place with the large amount of clay Greenie had slopped on.

Greenie wait.

But the other two already have it. Are you sure Greenie?

He looks over his other shoulder at Crixus, who leans his head to the side, shoulder up as if he was going to touch his horns. But he didn't have any hands to touch them with. Greenie and I watch as he does the same motion a few more times, each time blinking as if he'd just realized he didn't have any arms.

Looking back at me, Greenie shakes his head.

Greenie have longer time together Master.

Master important.

That makes me rear back my head in surprise. What are you, Greenie, a saint?? The sunlight shining between green leaves seems to circle Greenie's head in a faint green halo. You must be a saint.

I don't deserve you, Greenie.

No Master. Master accept Greenie.

Give Greenie feathers. Make strong.

With another firm nod, he lightly brushes away the clay dust that clings to the shock of white ruffled feathers at my neck.

Greenie wait.

Lady?

This Minotaur, Crixus, was more of a talker than Andvari, but not by much. By the way his ears flick up, his curiosity towards our interactions were clear.

I must say, this goblin is a strange one, Esteemed Lady. What is your relationship with him?

He's-

I glance back at the side of Greenie's face. The long canines poked out of the corners of his mouth as he grimaced, knitting his thin lips tightly together. He was obviously listening to our conversation.

We'd battled the rats together. He'd saved me from that snake. Greenie was so much more than a pet, though this system called him one.

Readjusting the grip of my talons, I look back to Crixus. There was nothing to be ashamed of.

Family. Greenie's my family.

The Minotaur's tail flicks behind him as he follows Greenie, using his shoulders to knock aside the branches in the way. Especially since every time Greenie bent back a branch out of the way, he let it go so that is snapped right back towards the Minotaur behind him.

Pardon my rudeness, Esteemed Lady. But a goblin? Your family? He holds the Right of Kin as well?

With each question from the Minotaur, Greenie's shoulders sag a little deeper. I carefully dig my talons into Greenie's meaty shoulder so that I don't accidentally slip off.

Why? Is it strange?

To make a goblin a member of your tribe?

Crixus shakes his head.

I have never, in all my years on the Plains and in the Cages, seen or heard of a goblin together with a creature that was not goblin.

Is that true? Andvari?

I look to the blind dwarf for confirmation.

Yes, Lady. Unless the creature was a female.

Andvari nods, readjusting his hold around the sword.

Urgh. Thinking back to the sight of the dead humans in the goblin camp, I knew that for a fact.

He must have a tribe of his own to go back to. Goblins never work alone. That's the motto of the adventurers when they spot a goblin.

I guess that was correct. Greenie had belonged to what he called the Woodspeaker tribe.

Why, what's wrong with being a goblin? Greenie's fine just the way he is.

Goblins are shiftless creatures, Lady. They only know to steal, kill and destroy. Crixus tells me, though he doesn't seem to believe his own words as he stares at Greenie's back.

Snap!

Greenie lets go of another branch, sending it swinging back with a slap into the Minotaur's heavily muscled chest. Crixus doesn't even seem to notice the branch, not even flinching from the impact.

Greenie?

Greenie doesn't respond, staring down at the ground as he swiftly continues forward with sure footsteps.

I changed the subject, asking about Crixus' past, how he'd ended up here. How he, Advari, and Caïssa had come to hunt me down. It felt strange to get the information I so badly wanted so easily. Crixus patiently answered all my questions the best he could. And by patient, I mean patient.

He thought out a lot of his answers, bit by bit, long enough to make me flutter my good wing in slight annoyance.

I wasn't used to someone who drawled out their answers. In my past life, my work required me and my co-workers to speak quickly and succinctly. The last thing we wanted to do was waste time trying to figure out the main point in the conversation when a client was waiting for their papers.

Greenie too was a quick responder to my words and action, jumpy as he excitedly followed me around.

Andvari, on the other hand, rarely enters the conversation unless I address a conversation to him directly. Crixus didn't know his background either. They'd all met recently, on a slave ship at the docks, he said.

My skin under the dense feathers, deep underneath the splint and all the clay, feels itchy.

I still didn't know what the heck the two former-slaves wanted from me. What was I going to do with them? Start living in a cave together like we were the latest reality tv show? Hmm, what would be a good show name? Keeping up with the Misfits? Greenie's world? Wildlands Shore?

Andvari speaks up, following behind Crixus by the rope tied to his waist.

Lady, where are we approaching? I sense a great many networks beneath us.

Networks?

Yes. There are tunnels in the ground. Large enough for someone of my size to crawl around in.

Crouching, Andvari points at the area in front of us, right where our cave was. His other palm presses flat to the ground, patting it like he was meeting an old friend.

That doesn't sound good. It must be related to that deep hole in the back of our cave, the one the rats had come out of.