Saran soared high over the trees of the Pelder forest. Her two best friends and wing-mates were patrolling the cliffs off to the east, and for the moment, she was alone. Saran loved flying, and took a moment to bask in the feel of the air flowing over her wings. Common form might have its purposes, but if she ever had to pick between the two, she'd choose Clan form every time. Nothing could ever compare to the awesome feeling of flight. And of course, she could only fly in Clan form.
She was just about to flick her tail and make the sharp bank to the east to rejoin the wing when she spotted something move in the forest below. This particular section of the forest was supposed to be uninhabited. So nothing large should be moving. She briefly considered turning to tell her friends, but decided that she would lose what ever it was if she took her eyes off it for two long. Tracking things in the forest was not easy.
Adopting a holding pattern, she circled the area being careful to keep her eye on the ... figure. It looked bit like a lailani in common form, or maybe a human, from this high up she couldn't smell the difference. The figure wound it's way through the woods, seemingly at random. "Ground dwellers," she thought with disdain, walking in circles when everyone knew that the easiest way to get from one place to another was to fly. This particular one didn't seem to be doing anything interesting, but blame her Raven father, she was curious. She circled a little closer to see if maybe she could make out a little more about the figure.
The figure appeared to have it's dirty blond hair in a pony tail. A man, Saran decided since women always wore their hair in in a braid. Dirty blond hair usually meant a Bear-Hawk clan mix. She herself had random black streaks in her otherwise beautiful blond braid. Again, another unfortunate side effect of having a Raven father, But, at least her mother had had the sense to mate another sky clan. Saran couldn't believe any male Hawk in her clan would stoop to mate a ground clan. Come to think of it, she was the first hawk clan hybrid in nearly 50 years, so the figure down below couldn't be lailani at all. And she decided, if the figure was indeed human. He must be a she. Because everyone knew human males had this weird habit of cutting their hair short.
The sun told Saran that she would soon have to join back up with her wing. So it was now or never if she wanted to find out what the woman was doing in such a remote area deep in the Cinani mountains. Humans were harmless, particularly their woman. Saran descended, aiming her landing at about 30 ft ahead on the tiny path the woman appeared to be following. Humans were dumb enough that they rarely recognised lailani unless they saw them change. And safety dictated that lailani not reveal themselves unless absolutely necessary.
Twenty feet above the path, Saran gave her wings one last flap to brake her fall before turning them into arms for the last few feet of descent. Her cloth shoes hit he ground with barely a sound. She just had time to take that trouble feather behind her left ear and turn it back into hair before the human came around the bend.
It was indeed a woman, though she was wearing pants, yet another human custom that made no sense. And, she was holding an armful of packages, which she managed to clumsily drop upon seeing Saran.
"Wh-wh-who are you?" the woman stammered, scrambling to pick up all the packages.
Saran just looked down at her for a second, before bothering to respond. The woman looked funny all flustered like that. "That is unimportant" Saran claimed in a voice of authority. "You are not to be here according to the Treaty of Cinani."
The woman smirked, "Tell that to Haro.." she cut herself off suddenly.
"Who?" Saran couldn't resist asking. Blame that stupid Raven curiosity.
"It's not important, the woman mimicked, "but if you really want to know you can follow me some more."
Saran raised an eyebrow at that, "more?"
"I saw you circling," the woman smirked again "I know you want to know what I'm doing,"
Saran glance at the sun, she was going o be late if she didn't leave now. But, blame the Raven, she wanted to know what was going on "I have to be going," She whispered, moving slowly towards a large pine tree just off the path.
I know you're curious," the woman taunted, her arms again full of packages.
Suddenly, Saran was angry, no one ever called her curious! Raven father, she was still a Hawk! Saran scaled the tree with lighting speed. But, She couldn't resist one last glance down. The woman was smiling?!? "I'm not curious," Saran declared, as she jumped off the highest branch. Transforming mid-air, she thought she heard the woman mumble something as she soared away. It sounded a bit like "You'll be back."
The End.
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