Not positive what was going on he twisted his head one way then trying to ascertain the reason. Finding no cause he went back to his search for seeds. "Caaw" came the same cry. This time Corvus also heard a small flicking hiss. Putting the pieces together, he jumped towards the family of birds.

Once he was safe, Matty and One Feather came at the snake from both flanks. There was no chance they would actually kill it but that wasn't really their goal. Driving it away took only a couple of moments. It was a humbler Corvus that went back to browsing for seeds, doing so reluctantly only after One Feather did. Once again they very real threats on this world substantiated themselves to Corvus. While he could feed himself before the others that only mattered if he could find food and did nothing to protect him from harm. 'Being smarter than a bird wasn't really that much of an accomplishment especially given I was originally human,' thought reproaching himself.

Struggling not to become depressed as all the times he had missed opportunities, been naive, avoided truths, or let others control events flashed through his mind. All the questions he didn't think to ask, his naivety during his first time as a crow, his most recent behaviour. There were times when nothing he could have done would have changed anything but there were also things he could have done so much better.

"Caaw," the call came again yanking Corvus from his reflections. Taking the cue this time he moved himself to the same area as his crow family. The snake slithered into view again. This time though Matty and One Feather were unable to drive it away, and instead lead their children away. The sun moved across the sky as the day passed. At first Corvus had been fine but when the day wore on he became hungry. Unable to resist it any longer he was forced to beg his parents for food. That night it was a struggle to asleep. The Insomniac trait had fully kicked in. Tired but unable to rest, he paced around hoping to exhaust himself.

His eyes had finally begun to droop when he saw a flash of movement in the distance. Shaking himself awake he saw a snake slithering towards his family. Frantic he stuttered, "Ca-Caw." This woke the others but they were looking around, as if trying to determine something. Trying again he drawled, "Caaw!"

This caused the other birds to huddle themselves over in his direction. When the snake finally got in range it was met by five tired, angry birds. All of them cawing loudly and flapping their wings managed to drive it away. The rest of the night was uneventful and Corvus even succeeded in getting four hours sleep.

Most of the summer and autumn passed in a fairly similar manner. Corvus managed his first shaky flight a week or two after he left the nest. The iridescent rings appeared just as they had last time, but they seemed almost dimmer somehow. Over the entire four month period his parents imparted a bunch of knowledge to their offspring. Most of it was various sources of food, there was a bend in the island where various forms of seaweed would wash up. The small pool of water on the far north of the island had a pool some frogs lived in. They had woken everyone up early once, to watch as a bunch of baby turtles hatched from under the sand. Corvus had been enthralled watching that but amazement turned to horror as Matty and One Feather showed them how to kill and eat the baby turtles. As horrible as that had been to watch, it helped him understand something about the Pecking skill.

Perhaps the most astounding thing Corvus learned though was how crows talked to each other. Their language was primitive by his standards, consisting of several simple statements; "Ca-Caw" was used as a general caution, "Caaw" meant snake. Simple as it was, Covus was certain he still had a lot to learn. The meaning of "Caw!" for example still eluded him. Sometimes he thought it meant food, but it seemed almost interchangeable with come or follow.

There was a distinct chill in the air and the clouds stretched on as if endless. Only a dingy light made it down, giving the impression it was much later in the day. Corvus ruffled his feathers as he glanced around, watching for any signs of danger. Right now, it was his turn to be sentry. He, White Wings, and Speckles had all started taking turns near the start of fall. All in all, his life had entered something of a rut. 'Hell, even that goals window indicates the same thing.' ruminated Corvus. Mature had increased, but Fledge hadn't moved since he began flying. It had jumped up to sixty six after his first successful flight, then for the past almost three months it hadn't changed.

Communicate started going up as he discovered the meanings of the various bird calls. It rose rapidly at first but then it too stagnated. As willing as he was to learn this new language when he wasn't provided any new patterns it became impossible. 'Day in and day out all we do is scrounge for food and sleep.' Corvus bitched. It wasn't actually like that as they were being taught, also White Wings and Speckles eventually took part in various aerial acrobatics and tricks. They were quite playful about it, and would squawk at Corvus trying to get him to join in. Corvus never did join them, it wasn't anything immature like he didn't want to play with children that stopped him. Simply put, he was too terrified to even attempt them.

A shrill cawing broke out in the sky above him. Descending towards his family were five birds, that Corvus had never encountered before. They landed in a semi-circle around them and two of arrivals attempted to intimidate his group by flapping their wings and cawing. Corvus would have smiled if he could. 'That's leave,' he noted to himself happy to have begun expanding his vocabulary again. As he was celebrating this fact, Matty and One Feather blustered about trying to drive the intruders away.

Things went back and forth like that for a while, but the new birds were just a smidge larger and healthier so his parents were being driven back. Corvus often referred to the older birds in his mind as his parents, but in comparison he felt much less sense of belonging to this new family than to his deceased mother. Still being driven away from his home by some interlopers bothered him. Joining the squabble himself, he thought about driving the other crow group off and small shimmering dots appeared on the strangers. While he had watched his elders essentially massacre the baby turtles he stumbled across the fact that his Pecking skill used the dots to indicate where to strike, but more than that it also adapted to his intent. So if he wanted to drive something away it would highlight points that would cause pain, it would even change depending on whether or not he minded killing his target.

Lashing out Corvus struck the foreign male in the chest driving the crow backwards. Seizing the flow, Corvus rushed in again with stroke of his wings striking close to where his first strike landed. Agitated and losing ground, the larger bird eventually turned tail flying off with his family. On their own again, it didn't take long for the rest of his group to fall back into their routine. Corvus, on the other hand, had yet to be so excited feeling for the first time as though things were beginning to change.

Over the next day this little drama repeated itself multiple times. It reached the point where when the new birds landed Corvus just groaned, 'Again!' Getting tired of this he decided to just ignore them unless they went after his family. Most of the crows were quite smart, figuring out his rules fast. It was only that original male that kept pestering him. Corvus was annoyed but quite tolerant restraining himself to only driving it off.

The sun was disappearing off in the west when it happened. The other family of birds showed up again, this time the father going straight at Corvus. Having been through this enough already he just fell into form not really taking the exchange seriously. 'One Peck, two pecks, and done.' Corvus stopped going back to his evening meal.

""""Danger"""" four voices shouted in unison.

Feeling a strike to his wing Corvus found that against his expectations the older male was still coming at him. The two birds fluttered around each other, Corvus striking the other a few more times to no effect. Enraged the elder bird leaped up striking towards one of Corvus' eyes. Shocked and infuriated at this escalation Corvus lashed out pecking at the others eye, smashing into it. Deep enough to blind but not kill. Shrieking in pain the other bird backed off regrouping with his own flock. A procession of caws that he didn't recognize the meaning went back and forth between the birds.

Three of them flew off, while the other two walked over to him, giving him a long almost pleading, "Caaaaw?"

Corvus had a vague idea that they were requesting to join his group but there was no way to be sure. 'Hell, I'm not even sure how to respond.' he griped feeling his own deficiencies once again, 'I don't even know how to say yes or no.' Settling on a choice he was about to parrot their cry back to them when he saw a snake appear behind one.

"Snake," he yelled. The warning came just a little too late as the snake sprang forth latching on to one of their wings. It flailed around trying to get loose only to fail. Rushing into the fray, Corvus thought about freeing the trapped bird bringing forth the iridescent circles. One appeared on the back of snakes head right where it joined with the rest of it's body. Feeling pressured the snake began slithering away, it's prey still held tight. "Nooo!" Corvus roared refusing to allow the snake to get away as it was dragging the other bird away violently. Flying up, Corvus let gravity add power to his attack as his beak slammed into the same spot as before piercing half way through the snake's body rendering it immobile. Giving it a flurry of pecks, Corvus watched as the light left the serpents eyes allowing the other bird to shake itself loose.

Looking at the rescued crow, Corvus paled. 'I was too slow.' he regretted. Her wing was punctured and slightly bent, and she had fallen to the ground unable to support herself. Matty, One Feather, White Wings, Speckles and the other new female caught up with them. Looking at the scene they all just cocked their heads sideways trying to determine what had occurred. Having failed Corvus just stood there in a daze, unsure of what to do now. He watched as Matty walked over peering out her one of her eyes at the downed bird.

"Caaaaaw," came a mournful sound.

Getting an incredibly unpleasant sense of deja vu Corvus jumped between Matty and the younger female.