For the first time since freeing them, I got to meet the harpies- er, Corvids.

  I saw them at the breakfast table, each of them shoveling porridge into their faces like their lives depended on it. They had an amazing dexterity in using their spoons given the fact that they had neither hands nor fingers, but wings made up of jet black feathers. Otherwise, I didn't see much of their bodies but the way they vanished into their tunics and their sunken faces had a quality of… well, the best way to describe them would be to say that their faces looked a bit like greyhounds looked. It was clear that they had been starved for at least a few days. The two of them didn't seem much older than twelve years by my estimate.

  “Did you two sleep well?”, I asked. They looked up from their food, made eye contact with each other as if reading each other's minds before facing me again and nodding. Then, both of them continued eating.

  “My name is Henry, I hope we can get along.” Part of me died inside at the sheer awkwardness. I looked at them before they made eye contact with each other once more. Then they just stared at me. Did they not speak the language? They stared at me for a few more moments before continuing to eat.

  Finally Rebecca took pity on me and leaned down. “Corvids can't speak the common tongue till they're 25. Coming of age ceremony big thing.”, she whispered in my ear. “I'm guessing its about a year or two more before they have theirs. So unless you can speak the corvid tongue like you could with the dwarvish one, this wont work.”

  I remembered hearing about a whistling language back home. After everything I had experienced so far, I wondered if it was comparable to the language the Corvids… spoke? Whistled? Whispoke?

  After a few moments of consideration, Rebecca whistled two notes and the twins looked up. “Like he said, he′s Henry, he's the one who got you out of the slavers shop.”

  One of the twins looked at me, then Rebecca before whistling, to which Rebecca nodded and said. “No, and I'm not going to anytime soon.” More whistling. “Yes, Argos.” The name Argos got Simon to raise his eyebrows but he didn't say anything.

  The twin looked at me again and began whistling more.

  “No, I doubt it. He's my husband.” That seemed to be a shock to the twins. They both began twittering around.

  “That's too fast for me, slow down you two.” After a couple more minutes, they slowed down their twittering and began chirping much slower instead.

  In return, Rebecca gave the two of them an abridged version of how we had met, starting in Henry′s room the day I had been brought to this world and what we had experienced so far.

  “What were they asking you about?”, I asked her, which caused her to hesitate.

  “Demihuman business.”, she said. “It would take too long to explain if I'm being honest.”

  I wanted to say something but after taking a deep breath I decided to trust her words instead.

  “They wanna know what plans you have now that you bought their freedom.”, Rebecca said. She leaned onto her hand, looking at me as if already knowing what I'd answer.

  Turning to the twins I said: “Nothing. You can come along if Simon is ok with it, you can leave if you want. Everything in between. You′re free to do as you want as far as I'm concerned.” Rebecca gave a smiling nod.

  The two of them exchange a rapid number of chirps before looking at Rebecca who simply shrugs. “I can't tell you two what to do. And no, I don't think that's why he helped you two. He′s not the type.”

  Breakfast continued like this, with neither Emily nor Simon commenting, both in thought. I learned that the twins were named Robin and Nico but just as I wasn't sure which one was the male and which the female, I wasn't quite sure who was who and the two of them seemed to delight in that. After breakfast, while Rebecca went upstairs to pick up our things, Emily waved me closer.

  “Could you help me?”, she asked. “Im still a bit sore so I'd need some help getting into my harness.”

  I didn't see a single reason why I shouldn't so I just nodded. Emily gave me a thankful smile. “I don't think we′ve ever talked just the two of us.”, she said as she pointed to the harness, a mess of leather straps and cushionings. Seeing my confused look, Emily giggled.

  “It's made to put the pressure onto my collar- and hipbones instead of my chest like the harnesses of old.” She gestured at two loops. “Hold these open, I need to put my legs there.”

  She guided my fingers into holes in the straps to allow me to hold them open. “Wont your joints get messed up putting that much pressure on them?”, I asked.

  She lifted her leg and put her foot into one loop, her thighs sliding slowly against my fingers as she stepped inside while holding onto my shoulders, enveloping me in a sweet yet earthy scent.

  Something soft pressed against the top of my head and I felt a shiver go through me. “Aww you′re worried? No need, between healing magic, support runes in the harness and my joints being stronger than a human's, I won't have too many problems till Im elderly.” She lifted her other foot and inserted it into the other loop and once more I could feel her muscular thigh move against my fingers, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. “Dont stretch the loop too much, it needs to fit tightly.”

  “Ok.”, I pressed out, trying to focus on something else as Emily tensed up. I felt a gaze on me and looked up to see Rebecca watching us, her expression unreadable.

  “Helping our Drafter, dear?”, she said as she sauntered closer.

  “Y-yeah, I asked for his help.”, Emily said. “I'm struggling a bit with putting it on after being tied up so roughly just the other day.”

  Rebecca placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ill help you, I've done this before.” She then turned to me, evaluating something before saying in a warmer tone: “Simon asked for you, he says he wont need the Moonstones anymore since he rented the Inventory Rings so he'd like to give them back sooner rather than later.” She gave me a smile. “Dont let him wait.”

  I slid my fingers out of the harness immediately and stood up. “Thank you, I'll get going right away.”

  I left the two women to their own devices only to be almost immediately flanked by Robin and Nico. Neither of them made an attempt to acknowledge my presence. “Are you two joining me?”, I asked and the twin to my right nodded. “Ok with me.”

  Thus followed, I approached Simon who opened and closed a small box, containing a couple of rings. “This is unsatisfying.”, Simon said. “With the Moonstone bags it at least felt like I was transporting wares but like this? I could put them on my finger and pretend like im just…. wandering around. Barely feels like being a merchant anymore. But everything for profit, right?” He handed me a small leather bag. “There you go, your Moonstones in pristine condition.”

  I grabbed my grimoire from my backpack and inserted the stones back into their slots. With a little luck, I'd be able to charge them tonight and maybe try out some more spells. Every tool I had could be useful after all.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  My breath formed clouds in the cold air as we started walking next to the wagon once more. It had only been a few days but it sure felt like weeks.

  “Getting cold.”, Simon said. “Lets hope we won't get snow before we reach the capital.”

  “Lets.”, Emily said curtly.

  We had said goodbye to Thost and Drumm, with the promise that we′d meet again in the capital. Thost had looked over our items and fixed my flickchain, but those were the limits of the help he could offer us with our, as he called them, “human-market-grade items.” He did, however, have nothing but praise for Rebecca′s uncle.

  “I′ve seen steelbreath of higher grade in lesser quality. I hope I can get to meet him someday.”

  From the moment we began walking, one of the twins walked to my left and one to Rebecca's right. They didnt give a tweet and didn't do anything but walk besides us. I wasn't sure if I should say something or not, but decided against it, no reason to complain after all.

  Around midday we stopped the wagon and Emily removed the harness as Simon began heating water in his small cooking cauldron, making more of the stew I had already learned to tolerate. As he heated the water Rebecca pulled me aside.

  “Everything ok? I asked and she hesitated for half a second before saying "Individually yes, all together is a bit much. But enough of that, I promised you that id show you the basis of the water core technique, remember?”

  “If you need my help-”

  “Ill talk to you when you can, I promise. No use worrying you about things you cant help with.”

  After saying that, she sat down and made me do the same. The grass was cool and moist and I had to suppress my discomfort as my pants soaked up the moisture. While we sat opposite of each other, Robin and Nico once more sat on opposite sides next to us. “Why are they doing that?”, I asked.

  Rebecca shrugged. “Havent got the faintest idea.” One of the two began chirping but Rebecca waved them off. “No clue.”

  Rebecca took my hands in hers. “Close your eyes.”, she said and I did as she asked. As I sat there, I waited for something to happen. I felt Rebecca′s hands holding mine, their warmth seeping through my skin. Her hands were calloused and strong, yet gentle as she held my fingers. I could feel heat rise to my face, even as I tried to distract myself. I could hear amused chirping, followed by Rebecca′s quiet: “Oh shut your beak.”

  “Henry Im abou-”, more serious chirping. “What? No I cant, I never learned it mysel- Are you sure?” There was more chirping, followed by Rebecca growling. “Those…. And you are sure you two can do it?” More, chirping but this time it felt… proud, confident even, followed by a: “Well if you say so. Henry?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Nico and Robin said they wanted to show us something instead. Open your eyes.”

  I opened them to three pairs of eyes looking back at me.

  One of the twins took my hands, the other one Rebeccas.

  “Follow their breathing.”, Rebecca said.

  Their winged hands felt a bit strange to the touch, like a feather covered heated scarf with internal wires laying on my hand and lap. A small part of me wondered what an X-Ray would look like, how the bones and joints worked together but I forced myself to copy the breathing of the twin.

  My grace opened automatically and by the gasp Rebecca gave, it was the same for her.

  You are in the process of learning the [Basic Core Technique].

  We sat at it for a while until Simon slammed the ladle into a metal dish. “Food′s ready.” The twins jumped up almost immediately and rushed towards him. I got up and offered Rebecca a hand. She took it and, in trying to get up, almost pulled me down onto her. She seemed tense.

  “Are you really sure everything ok?”, I asked.

  She stared at our hands, gently squeezing mine while making an uncertain sound, only to eventually shrug. “I don't know.”, she admitted. “How come the water core doesn't show up in the Grace but the Basic one does?”

  “Maybe because you haven't had your Grace yet when you learned it?”

  She didn't seem convinced as she got up. “But your [Emperors Gaze] does show up and Henry Vide was supposed to be born with that. But the Dagger Sense also hasn't shown up.”

  “What Dagger Sense?”, I asked. I hadn't noticed anything strange per se that would fit that name.

  We began walking towards Simon as well, while the twins and Emily already ate.

  “Remember when you first held the chainmail and something felt off to you?”, she asked. “Or that pain you called out moments before we almost got hit by that explosive vial? In some circumstances Noble′s notice attempts on their lives, not every time and not all types of attempts so its less of a prediction sense and more of a “that CAN warn you but don't be too reliant on it” sense. Dagger Sense is probably not the real name and I′ve never heard of anybody who awakened it as a skill for their Grace either.”

  “True, that… sense…. hasn't shown up either yet. But wouldn't that mean that you'd have to be born with a Water Core?”

  “Canid′s are born with a Water core.”, Rebecca said. “Every Demihuman has their own type of core. Simon should have an air core and Emily a wooden core.”

  “Leporids have wind cores?”, I asked. “What core do Harpies have?”

  “The basic one.”, Rebecca said. We reached the wagon. Simon ladled us stew into our bowls and we ate. Something about those cores felt strange to me.

  A week passed and nothing bigger happened than Emily not speaking to Simon for a day when we passed the fork in the road towards Zerim.

  Rebecca and I continued to be flanked by the twins for most of the days, they slept near us during the night and taught us more of the Basic Core breathing technique whenever we had a break. At some point I had also managed to charge my Moonstones once more so I'd eventually be able to work on practicing more magic. We had walked for four days since our initial training before a new message appeared.

  You have achieved minimum proficiency in the [Basic Core Technique]

  I could now at the very least keep up the breathing for the Basic Core while I kept my attention on it. Rebecca stared in confusion at her Grace.

  “Now the [Water Core Technique] show′s up in my Grace too.” According to the Grace, she was proficient in the technique, equivalent to a lvl 5 user, but unable to advance to that because the level was tied to her [Basic Core Technique] which was only at lvl 1.

  Eventually she snarled. “If- When I meet them again, I'm gonna have to exchange some choice words for this.”

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Poisonous Blood  Lvl. 1

  Protection against Natural Poison and Venom Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Basic Core Technique]  Lvl. 1

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Determine Value]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death] (Taught Incorrectly)

  [Simple Transportation Magic]