Friend or Foe

[Battias]

Ivan The Smith

[Battias]

(1)
"Stop it!' one of the sisters screeched out as her younger sister tugged hard at her feathers, "That's enough now, no fighting," Their father said, one of the sisters, Aleigh, was the youngest, she hatched less than a week ago, and was already envying her older sister's feathers. Alis, the middle-sister, had most of her adult feathers already in, and was branching. The oldest sister was out already hunting, and rarely stuck by the large hollow. Aleigh turned away, giving a long, loud sigh. "Where is Lysis anyways? She's never home anymore..." Her father answered, tired, "She's more independant from us and more solitary, she doesn't have to stick around if she doesn't want to, she's old enough for her own descisions," His father looked at the egg in the corner of the hollow, sighing, "It better not be another daughter," he said silently, laughing to himself. The Cactus swayed as the wind picked up, the egg was due any day now. His mate arrived, sighing, "Have they been fighting while I was gone?" she said, the father answered humorously, "A little bit," She shook her head slowly and looked at her daughters, "It's nearly time for sleep, its almost morning," Alis sighed, "Why sleep so early?" Her mother looked at her, "Because, tomorrow is a very busy day, your father teaches you more about flying, while I go get the healer that lives nearby, as I know that there's usually something wrong that happens when our eggs hatch, and that egg is due this week." Alis sighed, remembering the stories their parents told, about how during Lysis's hatching, she had a piece of shell lodged down her beak, and how during her hatching she didn't breathe for a few minutes. during Aleigh's hatching, she had a large bruise thats cause was unknown.

An hour after the egg hatched, everything seemed to go well. The father was relieved to have a son, and the mother named him Ivan. The healer inspected him, "Nothing's wrong, he's breathing perfectly and there's no injury, and he's strong," The mother stared adoringly at the new member of the family, like she did during every hatching, "Stick around for a little bit more, would you, just incase anything else appears to happen? Knowing our luck it will," the healer nodded. It was dawn now, when it was dusk when the egg hatched, Ivan already had all of his downy feathers, but never spoke, which was strange as most owlets wanted to get as many words out as possible as soon as they learned to. The healer was concerned, as Ivan was attempting to make various noises but failed to. Ivan looked at his surroundings, the owls he knew as his mum and da, his sisters, and the stranger. He heard them, 'talking', he wanted to join them, but failed to, was there something wrong as to why he couldn't feel the words? The stranger approached him, the 'healer', "Ivan, I want you to try to make a sound, anything," Ivan tried, getting frustrated, he ended up moving his beak to mouth out the words 'I can't', The healer looked at him, "w..what? You can't? How does it feel when you try to?" Ivan mouthed out the words again, 'nothing, no feeling,' The healer nodded slowly, "W...well, you've found a temporary way to communicate for now, but I'll need to think about this," Ivan nodded slowly, shivering quickly, he had his entire first insect ceremony just a few hours ago, and sat through it silently, trying to learn how to speak. The healer approached Ivan's mother, father, and sisters, saying silently, "Well, I am assuming that he is... mute, he can't speak, I haven't heard of many owls being born this way, the only two owlets I know were mute for a little while, but one finally learned to speak after a while, the other stayed permenantly mute. Usually owls become mute when being inujured heavily, but usually not during hatching," The parents nodded, "I must go for now, just watch after him, he'll mouth out the words, but this may be permenant," The parents nodded, Ivan partially heard what the healer said, and sighed silently

[Battias]

(2)
Ivan stood alone in the corner of the hollow, looking at the floor, feeling down. He felt different, he felt incompatable with the world, he couldn't speak, so he couldn't socialize, if he couldn't socialize, he would be alone, as if the world didn't want him. His father was on the opposite side of the room giving a bit of attention to Aleigh before realizing that Ivan was down, and he guessed why. He whispered to Aleigh, telling her to hold on for a minute, and headed over torwards Ivan. Ivan didn't noticed until his father lowered himself and whispered to Ivan... "Just because you can't speak doesn't mean that you aren't loved. Every owl is different from eachother, and this is what sets you apart, just because you can't speak doesn't mean you can't communicate. Today... I will teach you to read, and by learning to read you will eventually learn to write. Motioning the words won't work all the time, and so won't writing, but you will know which to use when you need to use them." Ivan took a glance at his father, and pressed his head into his father's wing. His father said to him, "hold on, I'll be right back." His father left the hollow, Ivan peered out the edge, seeing where he went, He went to another hollow underneath the cactus they lived in, and returned carrying a small book filled with many pages. He stood next to Ivan, Aleigh wanted to join, and he let her join

As his father read about the Guardians, the Wolves of the Beyond. An old healer, and a smith from long ago. Ivan was interested in a few of the stories. Ivan enventually saw them, he saw the strange shapes on the book turn into letters. The letters then turned into words, and words into sentences. After three hours of reading, taking a break to write something or show a specific word of letter then continuing, Ivan learned to write basic words, Aleigh even did too, during the reading, Aleigh smiled at Ivan. Their mother finally returned with a shrew in her talons. Alis followed, not flying but climbing on the long spines of the cactus into the hollow, using her wings to balance herself. Lysis, their older sister, followed, carrying another shrew, this was the first time Ivan saw his oldest sister, she gave the shrew to their mother and approach Ivan, "Hello little brother, I've heard, I hope that isn't getting you down," She said calmly, Ivan shook his head. He could see out the hollow a sliver of sunlight peeking over the horizon. Lysis said to Ivan, "I'm going to be staying for the day, We can get to become familiar with eachother," She said smiling, Ivan nodded slowly. His mother brought forward a small piece of naked meat from one of the shrews, "It's time for your first meat," She said happily. This was Ivan's last memory of his family.

[Battias]

(3)
Ivan awoke to screeching, He saw his father tackle a strange owl, it looked like a barn owl, like the ones described in the book, wearing battle claws. Ivan watching in horror as his father was sliced by another barn owl entering the hollow. His mother formed a wall with Lysis between Ivan, Aliegh, Alis, and the attackers. They were killed too, leaving Alis, who foolishly rushed forward to be put down. Ivan cowered with Aleigh, who was crying, Ivan just stared. They panted, "They're just owlets, what are they going to do?" the Barn owl said, the other asked, "Was that the slipgizzle?" The other said in reply, "I don't know, all we know was they were an elf owl," Ivan saw the blood on the battle claws, he shrunk back, "How about we throw them out of here?" The other nodded, Aleigh screeched, Ivan looked in horror as they wrapped their talons around them and threw them out of the hollow. Ivan felt the hot sun, and felt as the hot sand cushioned his fall. Aleigh was unlucky, She struck a rock headfirst, Ivan approached her and saw that she wasn't breathing, and her heart grew slower until it stopped, Ivan felt tears finally, and hid in the hollow under where they lived where they stored small items. He hid under there. tears falling.

Ivan woke up, it was night, his eyes were sore and dry, he got up slowly and looked out. It seemed clear, so he left. What would he do now, was the world truely abandoning him now? He walked, and walked. The sand begun to turn into rock as he approached a large crack in the ground, large enough for a great grey to fit, he looked down, and then looked across, he couldn't hop across it, and it was too long to go around. He gave up for now, And rested, eventually falling asleep again. He awoke, scared. A figure stood over him, "Hello, Little owlet? It said, it had a strange scent, possibly that of smoke, which was mentioned in one of the stories? It said, "Why are you all alone, out in the middle of this place?" Ivan remembered he couldn't speak, and ended up drawning into the sand, 'I am mute,' The figure turned out to be an owl, a barred owl. He said in his rather deep voice, "Mute? I though you could only be mute if you were badly injured around your neck?" Ivan shook his head weakly, drawing out 'I was born with it' The owl looked at him, saying, "I understand, you seem very talented at such a young age," he said attempting to comfort Ivan, pausing a moment before adding "Why are you all alone?" Ivan drew out very shakily, 'my family, attacked' tears dripped down The big owl Finally said, "Do you have any relatives... anybody?" Ivan shook his head, the owl sighed, "I'll take care of you for now. I'll carry you to my home, if you want," Ivan nodded slowly, he wasn't going to survive alone anyways. Suddenly, the owl drew a bag from behind him, a botkin like the smith used in the one story, a smith. was this owl a smith?

[Battias]

(4)
They arrived to a hole in the ground, it seemed like. They headed down the hole, which turned out to be a tunnel, Ivan felt cramped in the small space, even though he was a small owlet. They finally made it to a large room, smoke coming up from a forge, like the one in the story, and being funnelled out of the room by a small hole in the ceiling. Ivan looked at all the weaponry on the walls, sharp and well made, it was amazing. Ivan was lifted out of the botkin and placed down on the floor, the smith sighed, worried, and asked "What's your name, young one?" Ivan mouthed out his name, "Ivan?" Ivan nodded, The smith waited silently, finally saying, "I truely don't know what to do. I need to think about this situation for a few. That room over there is where you can stay for the meantime, I'll make your bedding and such, Have you already had your meat on fur?" Ivan shook his head, "Alright, I'll go set everything up," Ivan followed the smith into the side room, his bedding was in the corner of the room, the smith made bedding out of moss in a separate botkin lying beside his bed. When he finished, he looked at Ivan with his worried look, and said, "My name is Skylar, sorry for being rude and not telling you earlier. The only rules while you stay is do not get too close to the weapons or the forge, it's dangerous." Ivan nodded, Skylar looked back into the other room, his forge, "Get some rest, I've got to work on some things and think about this," Ivan nodded, the only response he had. He inspected his bedding, and rested. He eventually fell asleep.

Ivan woke up, a feeling of dread came over him as he though about his family, he grieved. Skylar was in the other room, out of sight but Ivan could hear him. Ivan waited silently thinking about his family, such a short time he had with them, but he bonded with them and loved them. Skylar entered unexpectedly, "You're awake? I've given it some thought, and it comes down to what you want to do," Ivan nodded slowly, listening, "What i've come up with first, the choice almost everyone in this situation would go along with, is that you could be cared for with the Guardians. They have caring owls there, and you have a chance to grow up safely and happily. The next choice, the one I needed to give thought, was... well, you could stay. I'm old and need to pass on my knowledge. You could become a smith some day. Ivan was dazed by the choices, his heart trembled as he wasn't sure. He wanted to stay, but he wanted to go to the Guardians. Skylar added, "I am a supplier for the Guardians, meaning I visit them, or they visit me, regularly. Either way, you will interact with the Guardians," Ivan though long and hard, before making up his mind, something that he didn't expect himself to do. He wanted to mouth out 'Guardians', but what came out instead was 'here', Ivan didn't bother changing his answer.

[Battias]

(5)
Ivan was exhausted from the day full of nothing but branching, but it put him a step closer to actually flying. In the past few weeks he read constantly, Skylar had a reliable supply of books to keep him occupied. Ivan decided that he was finished, and made his way back into the forge. He passed by Skylar, who was heating his forge, "Ivan, once you get hunting for yourself then You'll get to learning how to smith, that's when I've decided you'll be suitable for learning," Ivan nodded while passing by. Skylar also called back, "By the way, we'll have a visiter tomorrow, It's a guardian, like I said." Ivan nodded, excitement rushed into his mind. He yawned as the light from the rising sun was peeking through the forge's entrance, Ivan entered the side room, and begun to go to sleep. He had the occasional though about his family, they were gone, he watched them die, but was Skylar his 'family' now? He learned that Skylar was 'progessive', he wanted things to go forward. He expected Ivan to turn out to be his best.

Ivan waited in the forge watching Skylar work, a stranger entered the forge, the guardian? "Right on time," Skylar said, the guardian responded, "I am, who's this?" Skylar looked at Ivan, "This is Ivan, don't expect response, he's mute, long story," The guardian nodded, he was a barn owl, like the ones who killed his family, but Ivan knew he wasn't assosiated, he was a Guardian, he was not like them. "I'll have to hear the story later, as you know I came for the battle claw idea you've come up with, plus some metals that we need," Skylar picked up a botkin, "The pair of claws are in there as long as the metals you asked for, the next owl they send to me brings me back this botkin," the barn owl nodded, "I know, you don't have botkins to give away," Skylar smirked. The guardian made his way out, "You'll be repayed by the next visit, it was nice meeting your company." Ivan watched the Guardian leave, Skylar looked at Ivan, "And that is what I do, I don't usually make battle claws for the guardians, what I usually do is repair many of the broken battle claws they send to me, as their smithing chaw isn't huge," Ivan nodded in response, Skylar unexpectedly added, "Ivan, You know... I can teach you the basics of smithing, maybe something advanced here and there, but I want you to try to go to the Guardians, learn from their smith," Ivan stood silently, pondering, "They know more than me, and you'll be safe at the tree for a while, You know... you could stay there or leave to take business elsewhere, whatever you want," Ivan stared at Skylar, "Sorry, I'm honestly not trying to get rid of you, im so sorry, I just want the future to be best for you," Ivan nodded slowly, not making any other movements.