It didn’t take too long getting to the inn, now that we were four people they could actually see us when we were walking unlike when I was walking alone.

*knock *knock*

“Coming! Who is i- Plush?” Anna.

Evening.

“Did something happen? You don’t usually come in through the front door.”

I had some friends coming visiting from another country and they were looking for a good place to stay.

“Oh? Not only are you giving Hannah and outlet for her researching urges, but you’re also giving us customers? My oh my…”

“Well miss? How much is it for the rooms?” Asks Diifan.

“Normally it would be five silver a night with extra for food, but considering you’re all with Plush and also considering how all of you… lack in volume so to speak, if you want to you can stay in Plush’s room, free of charge, however you’ll still have to pay extra for the food.”

“That’s a pretty good deal, but how much extra for food are we talking?” Asks Baom

“Well that depends on what you want, we’ve got the menu inside if you care to peruse it.”

“Alright, but what about beds if we’re going to be sleeping in the same room?” Charlie asks.

“We will be providing an extra bed, though you will have to sleep two people in each bed.”

“Eh, you’ve probly got needlessly large beds either way, it should be fine.”

“Plush, I have more chores I need to attend to, so could you show these guys to the room? Hanna and I will come by with the bed soon”

Alright. ‘Follow me you guys’

“Lead the way Plush.”

All three of us then walk up the stairs and I lead the way to my room.

‘You guys mind if I summon my familiar?’

“I’m fine, I’ve been wanting to see this familiar since back home. What about you guys?”

“Go for it.”

“Don’t mind.”

Lizz then flies out from the book, however it seems that even she knows it would be bad for them to see her coming directly out of the book, so instead she flies out from the pouch on the front, already fully formed rather than coming out as an energy ball.

“Phew! Finally!”

‘I thought you liked it in there? With the comfy bed and all the food.’

“Well, yeah, but of course I’ll want to get outside every so often!”

All three of the pickits then look at her with sympathy.

*knock* *knock*

‘Could you guys tell her to come in?’

“Come in!” Shouts Lizz.

“We can’t, we’re carrying a bed!”

“Oh.” ‘Oh.’ “Oh.” “Oh.” “Oh.”

Diifan goes and opens the door for them, Anna and Hannah then come in through the door while carrying a bed sideways, they then put it down on the other side of the room to the bed that’s already there.

“Whew! There you guys go, I’m going back to bed now Anna, night y’all.” Says Hannah as she tiredly walks back out the door.

“And I’ll be right back with some extra pillows, toodles.” Says Anna as she also exits the room.

‘Well what do you guys want to do tomorrow then? If you want to find out information both Lizz and I would recommend joining the adventurers’ guild.’

Baum and Diifan then look towards Charlie.

“You’re the chief’s daughter so you’re the boss.”

“What Diifan said.”

“Hm… Well Plush, we don’t know a whole lot about this place so if you recommend the guild then we’ll try the guild, tomorrow that is.”

*knock* *knock* *knock* “Pillows!”

This time Charlie goes and opens the door, she accepts the pillows from Anna while thanking her.

“Here you go, Diifan, Baom.” As she says that she throws a pillow at them each so that they all have one.

‘Well while you guys decide where you’re going to be sleeping I’ll head to bed.’ I think to them all as I lay myself under the blanket.

*yawn* “Me too...” Says Lizz tiredly as she lays on top of my head and we both fall asleep.

‘…’

“...Ey!”

‘…’

“Hey! Wake up!”

‘...What?’

I open my not-eyes and try to find someone to complain to about being woken up, only to find that I’m no longer in my inn room, but rather I seem to be laying in a birds nest.

A black and white bird’s nest.

“Hey, get up already! Don’t try to pretend you can’t move, like hell an inanimate stuffed toy would be able to get here!”

I sit up while scratching the back of my head and try to find where the voice is coming from.

“Ah! See!? I knew you could move! Now how did you get here!?”

I look up at one of the sides of the bird's nest and see a demi-human bird.

‘Where the hell is this?’

“Don’t try to play that trick on me! Like hell you would climb this mountain without knowing where you are!” She say while pointing one of her wings at me.

The demi-bird has green feathers covering her entire body, except for her feet which are standard talons. Her legs are multi jointed, like those of a goat, and rather than arms she has wings, she’s twice as tall as me, however compared to a human she’s still fairly short, maybe one and a quarter meters.

She’s wearing a mask, well, I say mask it looks more like she just glued a very wide feather to her head. The stalk of the feather is going vertically across where her face is, with the barbs going out to the side and covering the rest of it, only letting the light of her glowing eyes get through it.

‘Wait, you can hear me!?’

“Well duh, why wouldn’t I be able to hear you?”

‘Because I’m mute?’

“Oh really? And how are you talking if you’re mute?”

‘I’m not talking, I’m thinking. I don’t even have a mouth.’

“And I’m supposed to believe you don’t have a mouth under that mask of yours? Do you really think I’m that stupid?” The demi-bird says, now looking at me with even more distrust than before.

‘Not a mask, this is my face.’

“Oh really, know what? I’m tired of this.” She says and runs up to me, puts her right talon on my face and lifts me into the air.

She then starts dangling me while half shouting “Why won’t you come off?!”.

She eventually drops me and falls to the floor panting.

“...Okay *pant* Fine *pant* It’s your face *pant*”

‘Thank god I can’t feel pain, can’t imagine it would be very pleasant to have a giant bird run up to you and try and rip your face off. Oh yeah, why did you run up to me? You’re a bird, so wouldn’t it have been faster for you to fly here?’

“I’m sorry about trying to rip your face off.” She says, while turning her head away from me and ignoring my other question.

‘...Don’t tell me, you’re afraid of heights?’

“!” She now gets up from the floor of the bird’s nest and stares at me.

“How did you know!?”

‘I used to have a friend who was afraid of heights as well, so I can usually tell.’

“Huh.”

‘By the way, where is this place even? And why is everything black and white?’

“Ah!” She looks around and gasps in surprise.

‘Did you not realize it?’

“...No…” She says while pouting “I was too surprised by you appearing that I didn’t even notice it…”

‘Well do you have any idea why it’s happening?’

“Not a clue.”

‘Okay, well aside from that, where is this place?’

“The peak of a mountain?”

‘Okay, I can see that, but do you know the name of the mountain?’

“And now how am I supposed to know that!? I haven’t been able to leave this place since I was born due to my fear of heights!”

‘Wait, if you’ve lied up here all your live, how do you know so much? Well much may be a bit of a stretch…’

“Hey! That’s rude! Also it’s a secret, but I can tell you that it’s not due to family visiting and telling me stuff, they left as soon as they could fly.”

‘Then how are you getting enough food to eat even?’

She then points towards a nearby cliff wall, on it there’s a very large tree with a lot of very large and vibrantly colored fruits in it.

‘Oh.’

“What’s your name by the way?”

‘I’m Plush, you?’

“I’m Shiona.”

And then everything turns black.