Corax dipped his wings and glided smoothly and steadily down towards the maple sappling that Shad had pointed out. There was a smile in his voice as he spoke,
"When we have landed, I shall introduce you to the Corvidae Council, Shad."
Knowing it impossible to to land on such flimsy branches, the five Corvids all landed round the base of the tree. Corax stumbled slightly as his scaly feet met the ground, but he quickly regained composure. And as he waited for Shad to step off his back, the Raven announced,
"My name is Corax." He then pointed his cruel beak to each of the birds in turn. "Corone, Frugilegus, Monedula, and Pica."
Frugilegus ruffled his feathers back into place and glanced around. "So, what happens now?" the Rook asked Shad in a rather bored and accusing tone.

Shad did indeed hop off his back, and rather quickly. It was almost as if the bird was afraid of heights. Or maybe death. Both? No. Shad huddles close to the base of the tree, silently accusing himself of jumping too quickly, causing a few more shoots of pain ro rush through him. Damned wing. He'd fix it.

Memorize the names first. Corax the Raven, Corone the Crow, Frugilegus the Rock, Monedula the Jackdaw, and Pica the Magpie. Magpie with the white, Jackdaw with the blue eyes. The Rock has a tanish beak, longer than that on the Crow and the Raven, and he'd know the Raven for the day thanks to a few needed to be preened feathers on its back. And the Rock asked him what he'd do...

The little bird seemed to die. Just, die. The body went limp, and the bird fell into a heap of feathers. And that was all. Except a small, orange colored mystical bird appeared from some grass out in the field. L'arancia, Shad's minature pheonix shell. It had sprung to life when Shad's kestrel form had 'died'. What had happened? Shad moved his spirit from one form to another. His only actual magic being that. And his ability to shapeshift into a bird, but that was more species than magic. Well, the little pheonix only had one job: to cry. To cry healing tears. And those healing tears were effective for everything short term. And the break in Shad's wing was short term. And as L'arancia's tears hit Shads wing, a painful crack was heard. The bone had healed wrong, and was resetting itself. Muscles were untearing themselves. The wing fixed itself. And then the little crying bird stopped.

And the kestrel sprang back to life. Flapped the broken wing. Would have been smiling if birds could smile. Then took flight and pearched himself on one of the flimsy branches. Being so much smaller than the Crow, Raven, Rook, Magpie, and smaller, but less so, than the Jackdaw, the branches did not bend and give way. And the small bird spoke.

"Thank you for the flight, Corvidae Council. Now, what shall I be expected to do for you in return..."

When Shad had abruptly keeled over, the five Corvids had just as abruptly gathered round the still body of the kestrel with a sudden and rather foreboding attentiveness. Despite Corone having just about managed to hokd back a shriek of blood-thirsty delight, all five birds seemed to know that Shad was not dead. Stereo-typical as it was, the Council were birds of death and so knew death when they saw it, and this was not death. This was something for more interesting...
The Corvidae Council watched with a kind of calm fascination as a tiny bird, undeniably a Phoenix, appeared and cried its healing tears onto Shad's ruined wing. They continued to watch without comment until Shad had fluttered up into the sappling, at which point Corax looked up and said,
"An impressive display, to say the least. Intriguing magic. A sharing of souls, was it? You must be full of secrets yet to be shown, little one..."
The Raven briefly twisted his head back over his shoulder to tug at the ruffled feathers on his back, before looking back up to Shad and continuing,
"Aah yes, methods of payment. Well as I said, at present there is nothing we need from you, and we shall look to you when the time of need comes. But you can expect that you will be replaying us with your Phoenix's tears..."
Pica nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes...pretty medicine..."

Shad nodded. Full of secrets... Those being his only two. He'd give it off as if he were wise in his ways and had knowledge over them. Made him feel a tad safer, knowing there was one of him, five of them, and a size difference.

Shad knew the repayment would likely be with L'arancia and her tears, but Pica's comment made him uncomfortable. Pretty medicine... Now, Shad was one to jump to conclusions, and he thought the other was eyeing his pheonix as a prize. Take her, perhaps. He commanded her off, silently. And she left into the tall grasses, till out of sight and earshot.

"Very well... And how shall I know when you need my medicine? I am not always in one place, and might not be easy to locate..."

He wasn't really concerned about not being found. No... He was a little frightened of these birds, and was looking to avoidbeing hunt down and killed because one of their own had died without him having been found with L'arancia. Protecting his own skin, that was all.



((OOC: This is off the subject, but what shall we do with Liz and Shad? Shad's been cursed since this post, and so it'll be interesting to see what happens when they do meet again. Whatever he secretly or openly wants, the curse makes him do. 's amusing... Anyway, he is talking with his 'mentor' first, then he is open for a new post...))

(OOC: Well Liz, or rather Pazuzu, was in a thread with one of Napoleon's characters, but he seems to have given up on me, so Liz can be considered free for a topic with Shad now. I'll keep her reserved until Shad is free. ^_^ )

Corax gave a soft chuckle. "Never you mind about that, Shad. We are Corvids! If we want you we shall find you, of that there's no doubt!"
The Raven then turned away from Shad to address the Council. "We'll leave Shad to himself now, shall we?"
The other four Corvids each gave a curt nod of agreement, and without another word to Shad the five dark carrion birds took flight as one, climbing up into the sky and away...

(Last post here for moi...)

Shad blinked, and watched them go. Sent a silent thank you, and looked over his wing. So... Healed. And unhurt. And, hell, that cold was gone too. Thanked himself for being a freak with wings and a pheonix. Thanked everything, and took off into the air. Thanked the sky for being so open, and flew, in whatever direction was opposite the Corvids, and let his mind be as free as the sky. Too happy to do anything else.

((Yippee! Then I'll make sure to end Matti/Shad as soon as I can without ruining the good topic.))