“You say we can?”, my mum asked.

Her telepathic voice was a little lower after I showed her a few variations. It was rather difficult to alter my own. Much more than I had anticipated. Still, everyone was forming their own identity. Not that it mattered too much. [Telepathy] made it very clear who was talking. Every soul was different enough much more obviously than a face or voice.

“Yes. I don’t think it will be a problem.”

She slowly extended a talon and nudged the vis crystal. Her foot lingered as she blinked. Then it lowered again. This time, she held contact for a moment longer.

“It is okay”, she sent.

“Good. I expect it will take you some time to get to medium enrichment but it’ll be possible to accelerate the process if you bring a few to the nest. The additional aspects will be useful and the boys can get a head start as well.”

“Yes. Good.”

Mum nodded and I could feel happiness through the connection. I had collected a few medium vis crystals from nearby nodes. Mostly to expand the number of aspects they could utilize in the future. They were mostly order, earth and water with a few life and light thrown in. Sadly, there was nothing I could make use of. Nodes of the size I needed were exceedingly rare.

“Useful”, dad said.

His voice was even deeper but still sounded like a woman trying to pass as a man. It was somewhat funny at first but I had gotten used to it by now.

“Have you two decided on a name for my sister? Or the boys, for that matter?”

Mum took a moment to process the words before answering.

“Yes. We have.”

“Great! I want to be there when you tell her.”

They bobbed their heads in agreement. Soon after, dad went back to absorbing from the node while mum made use of the crystals in between getting rest. I simply enjoyed the silent company. It was something special to simply stick around my family and be there. No demands, no plans. Just rest.

When morning came, all of us made our way towards the nest together. We stopped my sister from leading the boys back inside and instead gathered everyone somewhere we could actually stay together. The kids were looking very nervous but stayed put which I counted as a win. I decided to include them in the conversation even if they could not understand anything. It would help to start them early.

“What is happening?”, my sister asked.

“Names!”, dad hooted.

“Oh! Good!”

“I have thought”, mum said, “Shadeer has thought. We have decided.”

“We have! From today, you are Yuuna!”

“Yuuna.”

She tasted the word a few times. I did not know why they would call her that nor was I really interested. It seemed they simply went for something that sounded nice to them with the next two.

“You two!”, mum said to the boys.

The little fledglings flinched. They knew they were being addressed.

“Hik! Sem!”

That did not reach them. They blinked and tilted their heads but understanding was still very lacking. Mum repeated the names a few times but it was not helping all that much. I decided to skip ahead and pulled out the vis crystals for the nest.

“For you”, I said as I showed them off to the boys.

Since I lathered the telepathic message with conceptual meaning, they even understood what I was trying to say. Carefully, they touched the strange objects and instantly flinched back.

I chuckled.

“Come!”, I sent and took off. The boys looked at their parents but when our mum rose after me to follow, they joined as well. I showed them where I put the crystals in the nest and soon after, we were done. Mum went to guard them for the day while us other adults returned to the node.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I kept spending my time somewhere between my [Witch] Master and my family. It took almost two weeks for the boys to reach sapience which I felt was rather quick. They must have been close with their mental Attributes. In that time, I managed to get [Apprentice Witch] up to level eight and even picked up another level in [Assassin]. That was from hunting a decently large mountain goat to share with Circe and Mira. Or rather, the village. [Brewing] rose to level three as well.

The village of Greypeak was preparing for a summer celebration. Apparently, Circe’s father was getting too old to handle things and was going to hand over his job to his son and Circe’s eldest brother. The young man was called Thomas and was 21 years old. More importantly, his Class [Leader] was reaching the point of evolution and the celebration was supposed to net him the final levels as well as let him evolve it to [Village Head]. On my question, Mira told me leadership Classes were always much more public since that was part of how they levelled up.

For the celebrations, everyone was supposed to contribute something. The [Witch] had made some drinkable alcohol for everyone while Circe was donating a basket of herbs and berries. I had decided to bring the goat when I saw it while flying through the nearby mountains.

Since the festival was to be held one week from now, Leon took the hunt off me and delivered it personally. Though, this time, Circe and I followed him. It was the first time I would actually see the village proper.

At first, I was somewhere between excited and scared. I rode on Circe’s arm and observed our surroundings closely. The [Hunter] had enough Strength to easily move the animal on his own and was walking in front of us.

As we left the trees there was a small band of grass in front of the buildings. The houses were all larger than Mira’s home likely because most of the villagers were living with their families and even the farm animals. That was what I thought from the noises, at least.

There was a palisade wall surrounding everything but it was only two metres tall and in place of a gate was a simple opening. A man stood guard with a simple spear in hand. He waved at us as we approached.

“Morning, Lee”, he greeted, “That’s a big haul. Where’d you get that?”

“You know as well as I do there’s not any goats this far out the mountains.”

“That’s why I’m asking. You haven’t left for long enough to hunt one.”

“Hey Bert!”, Circe greeted.

I hooted as he looked over.

“Hey, girl! That your familiar?”

I scoffed.

“Nope!”, Circe said, “Just a friend.”

“That so? Ain’t no friends to be had with beasts.”

I narrowed my eyes and connected to his mind.

“I am not a beast”, I sent.

Bert stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet. The palisade stood just perfectly to catch his fall. He still hit the back of his head.

Leon laughed.

“That’s creepy, right? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

The guard rubbed his ache.

“Ah, fuck. I don’t know if I want to.”

“Better be. She’s the one who caught the goat. Donated it for Thomas’ festival.”

“Really?”

He looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

“Yes”, I bobbed my head.

“Alright then. I trust you, Circe.”

“Thanks!”, she cheered and made to enter the village. Leon followed after us for a few more steps before moving between two houses. I saw a few racks with skins pulled taut over them to dry in the sun. The smell only registered after I figured out what it was. They were tanning hides. From the size, most of their prey were rabbits or similar.

Leon tied the mountain goat to a wooden beam in a partially open shack and knocked on the door. Not long after, it swung open. A grizzled man with lots of scars and a roughly shaved beard stood in the entryway, his muscular frame blocking any impression I could have gotten from inside.

“What?”, he grunted, “Leon? Caught something?”

His voice was rough, airy, and much too quiet. I got the distinct impression he had suffered a throat injury at some point.

“Not me”, the boy said, “Fio.”

“Who’s Fio?”

“The owl over there.”

I hooted a greeting at his glance.

To his credit, the man only blinked once before turning to Leon.

“Where’s it?”, he asked.

“On the beam. Let’s get it processed.”

“Hrmph.”

The boy led the man out of the house and over to the shack. They quickly got to work skinning the animal and bleeding it out. The presumed tanner and/or butcher looked over to me once during a small break and gave me a “Good work”.

Circe shrugged and said goodbye to them before we moved deeper into the village. Or attempted to. There was a small crowd gathered around us at a bit of a distance. The villagers looked torn between scared of me and happy for Circe. I had half a mind just letting them think I was her familiar. That was what we had planned at some point, after all. [Mingling] was ready to go and make me appear like any normal owl. Circe had no such reservations. I was unsure if she had forgotten or simply did not care. At least I knew she trusted everyone.

“Hey, guys!”, she called out, “Long time no see!”

“You can say that again, young lady!”, a woman answered from the third row.

The crowd parted to reveal an elderly lady by local standards. She probably had a few years on Mira and yet moved with spry limbs as she stalked towards Circe. The girl had no such reservations. She sprinted forwards, forcing me to jump off and slowly glide after her. Along with the sudden movement came a shout from her.

“Mum!”

Moments later, the two were in each other’s arms.

“You should come over more often, sweetie. You know I don’t like to make the walk.”

“Sorry, mum. I got caught up in learning.”

The woman chuckled.

“Well, then. I shall not complain. Now, introduce us to this friend of yours.”

“Of course!”, she shouted and stepped back. I ignored her held-out arm and simply stared up at the woman in front of me.

“This is Fio”, she said.

Her hand pointed at me hiding the fact that she had expected me to jump up.

“She’s my friend but not my familiar. She’s also really smart. And I don’t mean in an animal way. She’s better at maths than me.”

I scoffed and connected to Circe’s mother.

“That’s not really that hard. You’re barely where you should be.”

The woman blinked at me.

“Oh? Is that your voice?”

“Yes. I can’t connect to everyone here but I can at least talk to you and Circe.”

“I see. Well, why don’t we move to somewhere more comfortable? I would love to hear your story.”

“What’s going on, Joanne?”, a woman next to us asked, “Is it talking?”

“She”, Circe’s mother corrected, “And yes. She is talking to me in my head.”

“How’s that work?”, someone asked.

“Magic!”, Circe cheered.

“It’s a Skill”, I corrected.

Only two people heard me and they did not care to correct it. Not that ‘magic’ was totally wrong.

“So we got a magic owl in our village?”, the woman next to us asked, “Is that safe?”

I met her eyes. I could see the fear and hesitation in there. I knew I had a lot of work to gain the trust of these people. Better to start early on that.

I connected to her mind.

“It is safe”, I sent, “Hello. I’m Fio. Nice to meet you. I’m Circe’s friend and Mira’s apprentice, for the time being.”

“Eh? It’s… She’s really talking? In my head?”

It looked like the majority of that information had not reached her. I was not disturbed. I could spend some time making more friends. Or even just acquaintances.

“Let’s go?”, I sent to Circe and her mother.

“Yes, let’s!”, my friend cheered and we were on our way. Into another human house. This time, with more people. People who would surely be concerned about how much of a threat I really was.