It was so much fun!

The guys knew how to snowboard already, especially Jason, but now they were Olympians. They bent around trees, ducked under branches and broke free of the powder on embankments. They wove together and apart, and the small unit tactics had them slipping through the formation -

With me as air support. I hadn't hit them once - My hands were full, and my feet, I just couldn't match the coordination, even shaped perfectly like a hand, I was kicking out - launching compacted snow the size of a soccer ball, far faster -

Strafing and leading their movements, the skill that guided their movements together stopped working for me the second I turned my attention to attacking one of them. But I was becoming more comfortable flying by the flap -

Then I realized I could gain speed, lose the wing suit, have enough time to shift, throw as many snowballs as possible in the six seconds of momentum, shift back and flap -

They started to fight back, now the snowballs curved out of the way, or knocked each other off their path, and their shots were perfect -

I was diving, circling, looping - nothing worked, after losing two durability I noped the fuck out and got far overhead -

I thought the hunting was gonna be shit in the snow, like the desert, but nope -

Angry stags charged, an entire herd drawn by our shouting, as trees bent to slow them, both Derek and Jason fired, and their arrows flew true - Jason's not quite reaching Derek's skill and ability, he took longer to aim, couldn't move them the same - or didn't have as much practice.

But what an advantage - that in our unit, at any moment, the best person suited for a job was almost doubled. And it was a small bit of regret that I saw Brandon as our lagging member now. In a way he could be the most powerful, a nuke, that the only reason I'd survived the facility was his power, of how many crabs it killed -

But Jason was the one who had to use it to accomplish it. It was far less powerful in his hands, didn't do nearly the damage, or explode. It wasn't fueled the same way, where Brandon poured everything into it, Jason just leaked - and it was strange to feel something you didn't really talk about, how different emotion can be between two people, how they express it - channel it.

There was a reason he won the position of being in charge of the money, he had made it all - or enough that what the rest of us added was pennies to bills - and once you had enough money in the bank to unlock something, it stayed unlocked, even if you couldn't but it you could see it -

And Jason did like to shop -

Derek finally shouted, after two hours we hadn't found a flat place - he pulled up frustrated, on a hill top, and I was already diving, screaming, "Nooo!"

But it only took him a second to toss it, even as he looked up at me - and sand, a massive dust storm swirled around the shape and I could already see the outline, how the bricks that had made it up would land, my only thought was rather it would just collapse, all the bricks sliding and tumbling down and crushing them, or -

It finished forming, the dust expanding and solidifying, and it was fine. The bricks had melded, compacted the snow beneath, flowed over and around the hills instead of collapsing or tumbling like a geeky dice down the short slope. I dove toward the open door through the hall -

"Are you kidding me! Are you fucking kidding me!" Jason was screeching, "And all I got was this stupid -" He held up the ankh, like he was about to smash it against the ground, but the motion never completed. Instead it vanished and the tea pot appeared and he -

Finally he threw the half burnt red candle down, went to stomp on it and missed - stomping around it in angry circles.

Both Brandon and Derek only glanced at him as though this was the most normal, expected response, while Derek was sharing the disappointing meaning of the different script panels and Jason chuckled at the joke, it was such a good power - and it seemed so stupid, at first...so flawed.

"Can I use the bathroom?" Jason asked.

"There isn't a bathroom." Derek replied, and the look of satisfaction on Jason's face, up until the moment Derek said, "Yet. I can pay to upgrade it, but it's really expensive -"

"Unauthorized!" Jason shouted, back to being irritated and heading toward the door, "Are you going to play house all day when there's an ice palace out there with my name on it?"

I tended not to agree with much of what Jason said on principle, but - the pyramid wasn't much my style either. It was actually a lot creepier then I'd remembered, even with Brandon's clear light illuminating it entire. And there was a spell that perhaps we all could afford before we left that could make some things a bit easier -

So Derek packed his pyramid back in and we took off, I'd already been scanning for something out of place but it was Brandon that found it, a cave, sliding to stop on his board - the flash of snow like a flare, drawing a circle over his head and tapping -

Circle up -

Drawn to him, quiet and serious, he pointed at an eroded hill that clearly had a mouth, icicle teeth before it swallowed the light, and just a dark entrance awaited, my cowl fell over me, the others swapped to the crabby armor, Jason's a medium thickness like Derek's, allowing for mobility, but Brandon's was thick. Covered in spikes that covered his back, that turned his forearms, his knees into piercing, dicing weapons -

The difficulty had been making them strong enough to have an effect, while still being brittle enough to break off, so that he wouldn't get caught on something - the cutting portions weren't designed to last forever, but be replaced.

"Derek, give me...three stingers." I whispered, and he produced them, quickly I smoothed out the curve of them, and sealed the small hole, weakening it just past the point. I put pressure, on the back, compressing the venom contained, then attached one to the top of his head, the other two lightly to his fists, adding barbs.

Hopefully they'd not just stab, but break and deliver their toxin - and it did look a bit stupid, I saw Jason's eyes flash between them, and Derek's adventurer hat and whip, a look of indecision but he stayed silent.

I made a quick wood fort - dropped a tree in the center and grew it, Jason helping me and stealing a bit of Brandon's, then Derek's mana, and then we sat within, eyes on the cave, resting and rejuvenating -

Prepared Skirmish, Unknown Hostilities.

We could have taken the whole day to prepare for this fight, reduced the threat further and further. We could inch into the cave making barriers along the way, maybe we should have...

But at some point, there's a balance. Between the goal and risk, and so the light spell entered, weapons ready for any target and -

It was just a cave. An eroded portion of the hill, made nefarious by the icicles, not so much as a bone within, just a few dangly roots and some icy mud.

Derek's dummy still stomped in, poking at the walls, this time I noticed it was dressed differently. That Derek had found the time to rip apart somebodies giant tigger toy, gutting it and shoving it over the dummies head that now wore just a pair of loose shorts. That nobody giggled, just turned their heads to glance at my expression gleefully, to make that face that stupid dog makes on duck hunt meant they had already seen it -

Just when we were even -

We packed up and went back to searching, to hunting - we fought bears, found other caves dug out, covered in snow, these Brandon pointed out as well. They were just a sinking of the snow, a depression - and we had to dig them out to find the sleeping grizzly, an oystered pearl worth fifty coins each, dead before a roar could echo the mountains -

And it changed everything. Because now I knew what to look for - of course everything was buried under the snow, that I hadn't realized how deep it was, hadn't looked at the snow at all and I flew up again. High above the trees circling wider and wider after growing a tall tree taller, marking our location with a bright red sweater -

My eyes scanning the ground looking for disruptions in the snow.

Nothing -

More bear caves, I marked each with a taller tree, a slanting top like a banner, but nothing. When I finally took one last glance to remember where all the trees were, before heading back and I noticed something strange, a place where the trees didn't grow. Large, a bowled area -

I flew over it, checking it out but it could be nothing, it could be anything. There was definitely snow, no trees, then got the others where we looked down at it.

"A small lake." Brandon said, looking down, even as he headed closer to it - this time I built our fortress in the trees themselves, just where they ended, I stripped branches, created a ladder, a raised platform, the walls made and reinforced, then we dug.

Which for me was actually just sucking the snow into my my body, throwing out my hand and letting it stretch, slowly rotating, stepping I sank deep until I reached ice -

"I know there's something in there." Jason said, "It's at the bottom."

I handed him a bone pick.

"Maybe there is, but, we can guarantee good coins from hunting, guaranteed, and beneath there, maybe it's nothing? Just water?"

"I can't think of anything associated that would be buried beneath a lake, trapped in ice."

"An igloo." Jason pointed out.

"Is that something you would even want?" He frowned, but we were already inching away, he turned and followed. And we never found anything more interesting than a bear, though we probably covered a hundred miles, maybe 20 square miles, with my eyes and flight.

It would have been more disappointing, even if it wasn't that surprising that you can't find a timeless, impossible treasure every time. A part of me even felt relieved that perhaps I hadn't missed out on troves of amazing stuff, but inside of me I felt a wiggling, a common occurrence now - except this time it cracked -

"I think we need the pyramid." I told Derek, and he produced it, nippy at first but wood and a large bonfire with the door left open, and we were comfortable, I didn't tell anybody what I was up to, but began stacking blankets and pillows.

I'd read as much as I could about birds and a concept called 'imprinting'. That basically the first thing a bird sees, it develops a trust and fondness for. I keenly remember the eagle's eyes, that they didn't seem dumb or bored, but intelligent -

And I hoped...

As they sat down I produced an egg for each of them, those that had moved the most lately, and for myself, the one that cracked.

"I want to try something." They looked at the eggs cautiously, by now used to me asking them to try a strange food -

Most of my training efforts had been hard pressed, abysmal failures. That I think had occurred mostly by accident - the training of Enemy-Friend I'd attributed to showing dominance and power, overpowering her. And the Queen, how I had managed to convey myself, to offer her protection -

And everything else I tried to train failed - I didn't have an Ability or Skill for it. But there was something else I had done, without even realizing it, and using the pyramid? There was a connection? A magical connection, and something about it jogged loose a thought, that forced me to re-remember those times.

With Enemy-Friend I was tapping into my memories, I opened myself to the past, my father, and my mind escaped the present. So far did it escape that I fell into a daze, repeating the same motions over and over again, a stream of thought and memory - leading up to Derek.

That my memory had been so improved, it certainly was magical - but what are we, if not a collection of our memories? And to experience my own magic, my friends, and feel how personal it is -

Magic and Memory. There is a link there.

How quickly the Queen was trained, again I'd used powerful memories, again my magic had manifested, my inventory expanded and adapted to what I needed - those powerful memories clicking together, throwing sparks and lighting a magical flame -

Both times a portion of my magic had bled through to whatever I was touching, that I didn't realize we could just use mana -

I explained to them my theory, saw a mix of recognition in each of them, saw the same understanding soreness I reached -

Pain -

Each their own version, own memories and lives. That they would need a memory, a powerful foundational moment to use for this process. Something powerful to train the animal. That I felt the memory chosen was not just crucial to it's success, but could impact the result -

And I turned to my egg, cracked, I sat on the opposite side of the fire, where it was just me and it. I placed it on a pillow and sat down and reached -

In the same way that I reached to fill a plant with Rapid Growth - but I didn't include the photosynthetic flavor, instead I filled it much like I filled my light spell, but instead of intent I filled the pathway with memory. My mother, my first memory - it had been so brief before, just a flash I thought I'd imagined, and maybe I had back then, but now I had something clearer to share...

As she bounced me on her lap, all I saw was her - younger, she couldn't ever be more beautiful, she is my mother - with all that love in her eyes, 'Can you say mama? Ma-ma? Can you say dada? Da-da?" Then she would lean in, soft lips brushing my forehead - how treasured I am.

How important -

To a little bird just emerging from the shell, or had - as I looked down and realized I was rocking it - her. And she was cheeping, our eyes locked together and they were blue -

She had my eyes - that even most and drying, her feathers just sticky down, how she looked so -

Adorable. I realized I loved her, that she was perfect. And I was so proud...

Bond of Maternity - You have formed a magical connection with a living creature - while it exists you are able to share with this creature the blessing of your guardianship, your protection, and your life. That while you are healthy, the excess power you generate will be shared to help her grow.

That like all living creatures, so too, can bonds evolve.

I kissed her beak and wrapped her in my Cowl, bundling her up - the other three poking their heads around the fire, I brought her over to gloat, and I was absolutely smug.

"I'd like to introduce you to Rose." And it was perfect, that already I had seen the sharp talons, that she had already rose up to my heart, that she would rise still higher, and soar - like a little angel. Wait, was angel a better name? Could I change it, or was it too late?

"Oh shit." Derek said, "He didn't think about his own advice."

I shushed him.

Brandon looked at me like I had half a pineapple sticking out of my nose, and Jason, well, they all were obviously jealous - and I am drunk -

With happiness, with joy! I'm a Mother!

"Oh, shucks." I whispered, forming a crib. It needed to rock, and of course, a mobile to spin above her. And -

Sisters and brothers. To play.