POV: Altair Oberon Lyrius

I stood atop a rooftop, looking down at the streets below. People walked and talked as if this place wasn't a complete shithole. And I was still trying not to throw up. Being constantly surrounded by humans and the disgusting aura they have constantly swirling around them had me on the edge at almost all times. All I could do to survive was to bear with it until I finally had enough information on the churches activities over the past years.

"So, you gonna visit the fledglings and see if they know anything?" M asked.

"Guess I don't have another choice... and I swear if one of those fucking gangs is responsible for this I'm gonna start ripping out spines again," I responded, clenching my fist and trying not to get angry, which happened very quickly in this place.

I constantly felt like throwing up and then there were the voices that would just talk and talk, at this point, it was as if memories of my old life were just playing in the background while I was trying to live my life.

"Come on, we don't want to be there late!"

"Right, right..."

"Coming!"

Footsteps followed those words.

I quickly shook my head and focused on the here and now.

"I really hope this won't take long, I don't have time for stuff like this," I said while making a pained grimace.

I already had a headache and I hadn't even been awake for a long time.

"Let's go then, Crow," M said jokingly.

"You know they call me that because of you, right?" I responded with a pained smile on my face.

'Less bickering and more doing!' Ira screamed inside my head.

'Right, right,' I responded.

I began running and jumped to the next roof. In the distance, I could already see the large flat roof with the upside-down boat on top of it. It took me a good five minutes to get there. Below me, I could hear gasping and overly loud whispering.

"The Crow!"

"He's got another job!"

"He's gonna kill those dudes!"

"The Crow is here!"

I would always hear things like that whenever I was out and about, no matter what I did. Apparently, some of these people couldn't believe that I sometimes had to do things besides doing jobs for others. One time when I was seen at a tavern to get some food some people thought I was bout to kill the barkeeper and listed reasons as to why he was such a great guy.

"I really hate this place," I whispered under my breath as I jumped onto the large flat roof where the upside-down boat was located.

Next to the boat, which stuck out of the ceiling and looked pretty out of place, was a hole in the ceiling with multiple ladders sticking out of it. Like my... house there was a piece of cloth, this one beige with multiple holes in it, instead of a door and above it, written on the thick arching door frame in white tall letters was: The Upside-Down Booat.

I let out a chuckle.

"My little fledgelings are the only thing about this place that isn't terrible," I whispered as I pushed aside the ragged piece of cloth and removed my hood.

The inside of the: Upside-Down Booat, was warm. Sunlight came in through the many holes and dust was flying around the room like crazy, looked almost like another layer of... air. In the middle of the room, if one could call it that, was a wooden beam that went up to what was now the ceiling. Wooden beam extended from it to either side to the walls. And hanging from those beams were lanterns that currently weren't lit. Inside were small lights that constantly swirled around each other. Scattered around the room were many crates and rags, sitting and laying on those crates were my fledgelings. Most of them were children, some adults. But one thing they all had in common was the fact that they weren't human. And that they were all homeless, or used to be until I came along.

In this place, everyone who isn't human is either a beggar or a slave. With the exception of me, and now my fledgelings. All of them were people I saved from the larger gangs in the town. Some were full-fledged beastfolk, like humanoid cats and the like while others were half-human, half- beastfolk or half-goblin. There was even one half-wood elven girl among them.

When I asked her where she came from she told me that she was born in the Woodlands. The Woodlands were a place Elster taught us about, it was one of the only remaining wood elven forests after the blood-wood war and the place the wood elven city of Wald is located.

"Mister Altair is back!" one of them said out loud.

"Fledgelings, I need you to find someone for me," I said, feeling a little proud that they were so excited to see me.

That showed that I could at least still have empathy towards other non-humans.

"Who do you need to find?" a frail boy with wolf ears and a wolf tail along with furry arms and legs asked.

"A girl, blond hair, blue eyes. Must have been brought here recently, wore a blue robe when she came here... oh, and a little dark dot under one of her eyes," I said.

For a few moments, there was silence.

"Wait... a blue robe... I think I found one," one beastfolk boy that sat in the corner said.

He had the likeness of a black cat. With a swift motion, he crawled behind some crates and pulled out a blue robe covered in dirt and... other things.

"Found it in an alley," he explained.

An alley huh?

I scratched my head as I tried to imagine what could have happened.

"Which alley?" I asked.

"Ahem... the one by the old hags shop, with the stone skull," the boy explained.

Alright... so she was around there... that place is close to one of the sewer entrances.

"Give me that," I said, reaching out of the robe.

It was wet and a little slimy... definitely has been to the sewers. I gave it back to the boy.

"Find out if anyone's been using the sewers lately, I'll have a look around the alley. You two-" I pointed to a beastfolk boy with the likeness of a fox and a half-goblin girl, "-look around the area, try to find something."

All of them nodded in unison.

"Dismissed!" I said loudly.

I turned around and quickly left the: Upside-Down Booat.

Time to see what the stone skull alley has to offer...