As she stared at the surreal message showing her profile, the letters shattered and reformed, and she realized that only now was she reading these messages in the new world's language.

[

Selen Moonlit, Aves Female

Congratulations on living through your sixteenth year!* Based on your natural talents, your attributes have been assigned.

Favored Type: Mental

Learning 1, Wits 1, Sanity 1, Charm 1

It is recommended that you commit to a Class and Geas to begin making full use of the System.

]

The asterisk led to a further note adding, [Approximate.] She'd thought at first that it just referenced her role as an understudy for the real bird-girl. But from piecing things together, it sounded like she was adopted and nobody knew her true "hatchday". And the System didn't care, or was fudging things because of her unique situation, and...

She let out a squawk. "The exact reason doesn't matter. I have enough things to learn already."

When she'd cleaned up as well as she could manage, she dumped out the water and figured out where to toss the dirty rags. So now, where did she live?

The elderly Farpeak was busying herself with a broom made of straw, as an excuse to keep watch. Selen nodded politely to her and said, "I've had a tough day. Would you mind coming with me to my room?"

Farpeak tilted her head, looking puzzled, but said, "All right." She opened the door at the rear of the main circular room. A spiral staircase with a big patio ran up the outside of the tower, and apparently down through a locked basement door too. Selen made her way upstairs, thinking her family had to be rich to have these, what, four floors of space in a city. Other towers nearby, some made of wood, had aerial bridges linking them to each other and to a city wall.

"You must be exhausted!" Farpeak said, tugging her by the arm to keep her from going past the third floor. Selen got ushered into a more private living area divided mostly into four bedrooms. Farpeak stopped with one hand on the nearest door, her shoulders fluffed up in an odd way, her head rearing back and tilted. "Whatever happened out there, was it really that bad?"

Selen sighed. "Most of it, I don't remember. I'm sorry, um... Granny?"

Farpeak snorted faintly but accepted the name.

"I don't remember everything I should. If you'll bear with me and remind me of some things, I'll try to be normal again."

"Normal! Now that's one thing I don't expect from you, girl. Whatever happened, you'll be better off with a good night's sleep." She spread her wings wide.

Hoping she read the cue right, Selen stepped forward and let the woman hug her. "Thanks. I'll get better."

Farpeak bobbed her head and retreated into another room, giving Selen a glimpse of clutter. Selen slowly opened the door to the home of the person she was replacing.

The original Selen had left behind a workbench and stool, a cedar-scented chest, a bed of rope netting and straw, a backpack, and a chalkboard with notes about addresses and deliveries. And Selen was supposed to move right in and take over? She'd already committed, so yes. Now if she could just sit down without hurting herself...

She lay down on the bed with her new tail tucked beneath her like half a skirt. She was behind a closed door and didn't have to perform or pretend. Her beak opened in a yawn and clacked shut again.

"Bird officer's log, stardate unknown. Several kilotons of emotional trauma are safely shoved behind containment fields. Wish I had at least a tape recorder."

This new body was exhausted, but her mind still raced. She'd seen hints of a halfway-decent society here. As far as she knew, a random medieval peasant would be lucky to have her own room. This family seemed to be innkeepers, not aristocrats.

She still had a hundred questions but could hardly keep her eyes open. She gave thanks for having more time to figure everything out.

#

Talons rapped on the door and Bluemoon called out, "Afternoon!"

Selen was sprawled across the bed. She had leftover spicy Thai noodles in the fridge; she could have those with coffee and then get back to studying for the test on Friday.

The scaly skin she felt when she rubbed her eyes, and the feathers brushing along her arm, brought her back to what passed for reality. She sat up and stared at her talon-fingers. Only three and a thumb on each hand, huh. She made herself stand up on her wobbly clawed feet. She hadn't even undressed last night.

She opened the door. "Hello?"

"Time to get you some training! Come along. Did you get the hatchday notice?"

"I did."

Bluemoon trilled, and the feathers on the back of his head stuck up. "I wonder if you really were hatched that day, or if the gods accepted the day you came to us as a good-enough day to mark it."

"I don't know what the real day was. So, it may as well be. I saw a message saying I'm..." She blinked. "I'm sixteen. Huh." She'd been granted a substantial gift of youth, if her mysterious patron had told the truth about the Aves race having a Human-like lifespan.

"Mental attributes, I take it?"

"That's what it said. Learning, Wits, Sanity, Charm."

Bluemoon chirped. "Charm! I would've expected Will to be your other one, but the gods have decreed you a cute bird."

Selen felt herself blushing, but wasn't sure if it was at all visible under her feathers. She scraped one foot along the floor and said, "So, training?"

He took her downstairs to the back steps, where they had to wait for a big deliveryman. Selen stared as a small horse emerged from the open basement ramp, and then at the fact that it was no animal, but a Centaur! She'd sort of been briefed that they existed, but it was different to really lay eyes on the elegant blended creature wearing heavy saddlebags full of letters.

Bluemoon dipped his beak and said hello, then led Selen onward. Across a small plaza from the Two Hoots stood a flatter two-story building with people going in and out, including another of the hooved ones. Looked like a tavern with upturned spikes at the corners.

"Nobody stole the ladder while my back was turned," said Bluemoon. "And no wind today. Perfect. Get on up."

"And...?"

"Throw yourself off, of course." He spread his wings and said, "Remember, stretch wide, feet up, concentrate on Slowfall at first."