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Kin Woodsmith is still working on repairing all the doors, roofs and all the trinkets that got damaged by the fire – or replacing destroyed ones. His own home is cold and unused since the hamlet got attacked.

He smiles. He traded the comfort of a roof, walls to protect him from wind and weather, a warm fireplace, a fully functional kitchen, a warm bed and all comfort a human could possibly want from their home for a place with a wall on only one side, cold stone floor and the roof being nothing more then a makeshift riverbed build from bricks, now melted together to become a single plate of stone. Still, he was more happy then he had ever been before.

The villagers got used to him living just outside the village and even accepted the person that keeps him company, despite her trying to burn down their homes and killing several members of a visiting trade caravan, thanks to some dark sorcery.

He is standing in the door, that he just repaired. The smell of flour and bread lies in the air, and the shelves near the door are well stocked with all kinds of bakery. He waves into the house "Alright, Carly, your door is fixed – you should be able to keep it warm inside again now. Take care!"

"Thanks Woodsmith, ill make sure to get some extra bread ready for you tomorrow! Just switch your toaster to WARM not BURN this time, ok?"

He saw the idea in one of the trade caravans and remade it with Akira's help. Just 2 metal grids, wooden handles and a locking mechanism. People liked the result so much, he had to carve the handles for days and Akira had even more work with the grids. Of course, Carly wasn't really talking about these but instead poking at the phoenix he was living with outside the village.

The carpenter looks up into the sky, slightly worried. "Where is she? She should have flown to the altar by now, she always does before noon. May be I missed her?"

A huge hand lands on his shoulder "Ey mate, what'cha mumbling about? Ya 'ird is fine, id 'e more far more worried about you in your own house, then her at ya place. Nothing can get near ya 'ird without 'urning. 'ut since ya miss her so 'adly, ill note down any other work that comes up to 'e done for ya for tomorrow. Now get goin,"

Kin grins "Thanks, Akira, for everything."

"Don't you do the thanks-game with me, 'oy. Your 'ird helped create two masterpieces already, that sold for a fortune. Can do such great things, when ya got de heat in ya forge."

Akira had gotten an order from a rich trader from the capital a few weeks ago. That's when he talked to Zaiya about the idea of her helping with the forge.

They completely rebuild Akira's backyard, to make it safe for the phoenix to stay there and simply by sitting there she fires up the forge by a large portion. It took quiet some time to fine tune the amount of heat that would go through holes in Akira's wall and lead below the forge, but in the end, the building was a masterpiece. With the smiths experience and skill, and the fact, that he could ask for more or less heat simply by shouting for her to tune her aura, it was easy to get perfect results on special contracts now. The reaction to the weapon for the merchant was so overwhelmingly positive, that the next order came from the prince himself! Of course, the lordling didn't come up to get it himself, but it definitely gave the smith a lot of renown in the capital and the traders that were there. There would be more and more contracts coming in with the next months. This money will help the village to rebuild the simple straw and wood homes into sturdy and fire resistant stone houses. Just in case.

He nods "She will be happy to hear that, for sure. She has been looking for ways to make up for the fires."

But the smith just waves him off again"Tell ya lady, that she has nothing to make up for. Tis wasn't her fault. Ya 'oth convinced not just me, 'ut everyone around here of that." Then he laughs "ya remember Erza's wife, when she saw ya on that 'ird the first time?"

Kin blows air into his cheeks and pulls his head in, while raising his elbows to act as if his torso was smaller and broader "Tat.. tat.. tats not wat the creater meant us do! Ya cant sit on a horse wihout some decent clohes on ya legs! And much less on a bird, boy!" He laughs "And her face, when she brought some cloths and they immediately turned to flames, when she got too close."

Zaiya was pretty embarrassed at burning them. Her control over her aura was getting better and better, but she still has a long way to go. At least, the woman didn't get hurt in the process and these by far, weren't the only cloths they lost to fire during the last months.

Akira joins into the laughter "Ya, right, mate. She is a nice person, but not the 'rightest lantern around. Now go, ya lady surely is waiting for ya. Oh wait, meh got sumthin for ya, 'efore ya leave.

There was a traveling merchant earlier today that sold some trinkets for ya. Not sure how useful them will 'e, but its ya 'irds share of the money i made 'ecause of her. First: A necklace, that makes ya immune to fire, tried it already, tis works. I know, ya don't really need it, but who knows. A ring, that supposedly keeps ya cool during hot days, not sure a'out that one. And some rope, that's also not effected 'y fire and supposedly cant rip apart. Meh tried and couldn't do it, 'ut that doesn't mean its not possible. They are yours. Next time i hope they'll 'ring some cloths and 'oots that cant 'urn. That's what ya really need."

Kin takes the gifts "Thank you." Akira is still the only one, that knows the phoenix and him are more then 'roommates', but rumors about them have spread and worked themselves into a running gag over the last weeks. The carpenter doesn't mind, they may use it to make fun, but beside Akira, no one thinks its real. The phoenix and her carpenter couldn't care less about what people thought.

"Just let us know, when you need more heat. She was always very happy she could do something more, then sit on that stone and eat."

He laughs "Ya, meh wish i could keep eatin like that without growin a second chin."

Kin grins "You mean 4th chin"

"Ya rascal, get outa here before i introduce you to ol' San. He'd be happy to 'ash some manners and 'rains into ya skull!"

The carpenter laughs and takes a few steps back "Friend, there is work that has more chance of succeeding for your hammer then that. Like splitting the ground open or causing and earthquake that makes the capital to crumble to dust."

Both laugh "Dam right ya are there, mate. Meh might try dat instead...".

Kin waves again, whistling slightly to himself as he leaves the city through the smiths garden gate that leads north along the aqueduct.

He admires the strange coloring and smooth surface of the building, while walking below it.

The glazing over of their part of the aqueduct also relieved them of a lot of work. When usually there were 5 to 10 people up there to check for new cracks and fix them every time of the day, now there are only two people on crack duty and the rest could help on the ground with other tasks.

The glazing over was tricky to do, though. They wanted to do it in very thick and foggy nights, which is very uncomfortable for the phoenix due to the high humidity and even less vision, but still doable for her with some help. They didn't want the neighboring villages to see what they were doing, so it would not stir too much attention in addition to the curious people that saw the strange colors and patterns on this part of the aqueduct. Sooner or later, it would be known that there is a phoenix guarding Juniper. They prefer later rather then sooner, though.

Zaiyas fear of water got a little better, with her increasing power. She even evaporated the water around the spots she was glazing over a few times, then hopped onto the edge to let the water cool down the spot on the building once more. The quick temperature change very often caused new cracks, so they had to leave the stone cool slower. But it showed that her phobia got better at least, though.

The idea of helping other villages was a short conversation only. She didn't want to spend all her time traveling along the aqueduct to treat other villages parts the same way. Once done, she would have to start over to get rid of any cracks that appear with time and use.

And Kin would have to stay in town to do his tasks here. Even if he could join her, it still didn't sound acceptable for him to ask his firebird to spend their time working for other villages. At first, it sounded somewhat funny to her, ' village guardian '. But she quickly took her role pretty seriously, especially since the villagers were very welcoming to her after the first few weeks past her attack.

Now, he usually just waves comments about it off with a "I belong to this town and she guards this town. She doesn't belong to any village nor the crown and thus, doesn't HAVE to do anything."

Usually the first comment is something along the line of "But Woodsmith, she belongs to you, doesn't she? You could just tell her to do it, right?"

At which point he always just laughs "You think i own a flaming bird of destruction? I could conquer kingdoms then! Become a king myself! And even if you would believe that, didn't you hear the rumors? About me and her? Would YOU like to sent your wife away on constant traveling, only seeing her may be once a month?"

That ALWAYS shuts them up with a nervous, embarrassed laughter and a shake of their heads.

Kin climbs the path they created up to the place by now and drops the cloths, so they wouldn't burn under the rock he uses to hide them from the weather, then walks up the rest of the path.

"Zaiya? You there? Oh there you are. I didn't see you fly out or come back today, is everything all right?"

The phoenix just smiles at him, her emerald eyes seem brighter then usually, happy, as she stares at him. When he gets closer and touches her beak, she stands and reveals a bright red egg with white speckles on it about the size of his head.

Kin immediately stumbles backwards from an explosion of heat.

"Your arrival is timed perfectly. A new phoenix will hatch soon. "

She sits down once more, blocking the heat from the egg and allowing him to approach again.

With a hint of sadness in her voice, she continues "You will only be able to watch it from a distance, because of the heat the egg and the hatchling will radiate. Our bond only prevents my heat from burning you and the little one will have no control over its aura at all. It wont be around for long either and fly up nearly the instance it hatches and spend the next years above the clouds chasing the day to build up enough energy to survive the night. If it hatches too late in the day, though, it may have to stay here until the morning. If that happens, you might have to sleep in the village to avoid the danger of being burned.

He had completely forgotten about Akira's gifts for now, too excited about seeing the small hatchling emerge from the egg.

He hugs her neck tightly "We did it! One more firebird here. “ He only takes a moment to think before continuing “So.. should we try to cancel the bond some time, and.. redo it? Its kinda... abusing the system, but it would be worth, right?"

She looks shocked for a moment, that he is still thinking about that. Then her expression turns indifferent – he wonders how he could read a bird of preys face like that as he wondered so many times already. It always works, but not after the first shock on her face disappears this time. She is obviously thinking, but only quietly. “I told you, you should focus on enjoying our life instead of focusing on a non existent duty!” Zaiya nibbles on his hair again before she adds "Yes, we could in a bit, if you really want to. "

Kin felt like there was more to it, but he was too happy to question her. They would bring more of her kind into the world. "Would YOU like to?", at which she hesitates for a long moment, then slowly but enthusiastically nods.

"Is there anything i should know, Zaiya?"

She thinks, one hatchling in more then 1100 years and now, her second one. “Or rather... first one.”

She quickly discards the dark thoughts of the past and focuses on the happy event that is about to happen.

She tilts her head at him, then decides to ignore the question.

"First, this one has to hatch, then we can see. Get on my back, its better if I stay between you and the egg, unless you want to sit.. over there and watch, then have me charge over and flop onto you, if the young one decides to investigate that strange creature staring at him or her."

That wouldn't be good.

He looks at the spot she pointed to for a few moments, then wordlessly climbs on her back and listens to her explanations. She is really good at explaining things.

"The egg would be fine, even without me, as will the hatchling. Usually we lay the egg high up in the mountain, then leave it there – far away from any possible danger and either in a cave or above the clouds and rain. But i wanted you to at least see it once, before the hatchling takes flight. The weather is perfect with no rain in sight. Even if there was rain, I would have to watch over the hatchling only until the weather gets better before the little one could start the ascent into the sky. She or he will have no problem to get to a decent height quickly."

She cries out in surprise, as he suddenly hugs her neck tightly. "Thank you again, thank you very much. That means a lot to me."

Zaiya coughs when he lets go again "There is no need to thank me. Now tell me what happened down in my village today."

It makes her happy to see how excited he is. She never heard of any other human, that wanted to help one of her kind so badly. It is strange and there is no sensible explanation for her, but she knows, making her happy is one part of it. She pushes him towards her affectionately with her beak – her equivalent of a hug. She also fully embraced the thought of acting as the village guardian.

“Akira says thank you for helping him, he will use the money from the jobs done perfectly thanks to your partnership to rebuild the houses in the village with stone. So you will have slightly less trouble if something happens. He also is on the lookout for trinkets and cloths for me.”

Then she grins at him and replies playfully again “You know, I hope he has more need for me soon. It really is a great way to follow your command about practicing the control of my aura, master.”

He bonks her head, then caresses the feathers there before she could complain about it. That also stops her from asking more questions about the day, for the moment at least.

He must have dozed off at some point. May be an hour later, according to the sun, she nudges him awake again. "There we go!"

She gets up and raises her wing up, which blocks his view. He pulls in the leg that is still looking out from under her wing, when he feels the heat that radiates from the egg. Then she waddles to the point she told him to wait earlier. He has been on her back a lot while she only was walking, but he never saw her walk sideways and it feels... awkward. But her reason quickly shows itself as a few loud banging noises can be heard and tiny 'things?' seem to hit her wing, then drop to the ground.

Sounds not like a cracking at all, but literally tiny explosions coming from the egg. And more splinters hit her wing and fall to the ground harmlessly.

He waits patiently for her to lower her wing, when she deems it a save distance for him. Zaiya turns to face the egg so he could still hide behind her neck while watching. Now he can see the tiny bits of the eggshell getting shot away, followed by short range balls of fire. More and more of them, until a chic surrounded by a ball of flame falls out of the shell. The bird waddles around aimlessly for a few moments. Then the chick stops and tilts its head at them before nibbling the egg shell for a few moments. The little one looks similar to its mother, just smaller. When Kin focuses on the feathers, they seem to look green, but the overall color of the bird is still a bright, burning red.

Beside the size and the color, Kin cant see any difference to the little ones mother. A fact, that bothers him greatly.

"Aww, she is cute. Why eat the egg? "

Zaiya laughs in his head "She is a HE, and he wont eat the shell, only females do that. The Eggshell is the only thing for which we need to consume something else then light or warmth, so a female hatchling would have taken the rest of the shell in, but males don't."

“How do you distinguish male from female?” He sounds curious but still bothered by not seeing any difference.

She turns her head and nudges him. “Don't worry. We just -know-. There are some tiny indicators, though. The tails and feathers on a males head are slightly shorter, you wont see that until he is grown up, though. The wings are less broad, more agile and if you look at his beak, there is a tiny edge in his beak, that only males have.”

Kin sighs, disappointed. “I cant see any of these features.”

Zaiya rubs her beak against his shoulder “Don't worry. You have me to tell you.” She coos again, as he gently strokes her head feathers, not fully satisfied but accepting that it is the best he will get.

That very same second, the hatchling looses interest in the shell, looks at them one more time and gives a tiny squeak before flapping his wings, first to test. Then, after only a minute, he launches himself into the air and tumbles very insecure at first but seems to be perfectly fine before the tiny ball of flame leaves the area of their nest, then disappears into the sky.

Kin leans heavily against her neck after that, while she waddles them back to the nest and consumes the shell. "That was.. the best thing I have ever seen. The very best. Once in a lifetime!"

When she nestles down, pleased, he nudges her neck. "So.. should we do it? Now?"

She shivers a bit, and turns her head to look at him. "Can you stay around for a day? I would feel better, if you could make sure, that you will. " A fake cheery undertone enters her voice at that and he looks suspiciously at her.

"why.. is that important? I can, yes, but something sounds off. Explain?"

Zaiya flaps her wings once. "Its. Nothing, there might be some side effects. I don't know exactly what will happen, but it doesn't feel comfortable. No need to worry. No matter how bad it will be, there wont be any long term effects and we will be fine after they fade, if there are any. What will happen is how it is meant to be." It seems like she is hiding something, but she takes a deep breath and interrupts his thoughts "Ok, now please get some distance, like where your cloths are, to be sure. I got much stronger the last few weeks and i don't think I will be able to restrain my flames after it for a while. Without my blessing, the flames will consume you." Her voice actually shakes when she says that.

"You" He pulls her head around towards him by her beak to look at him, which she does with some irritation. "Are scared for my safety."

Zaiya nods slowly "You could burn to death very easily until we recreate the bond and I am afraid, that I might be unable to do anything about it."

Kin isn't really satisfied by that and stares at her, still feeling that there is something else, but she stays quiet and avoids his gaze. He hesitantly slides off her and walks to the stash with his cloths, carefully avoiding the very few pointy stones on the ground, that weren't smoothed to the ground by heat yet.

Once he gets to the rock, he turns around "So, I just say something like 'I want to cancel our bond and set you free' or so?"

She lies down "Just.. watch over me, and STAY at that rock!" Then she starts writhing and screeching in pain. She was worried this would happen, but now she knows.

Kin on the other hand doesn't comprehend what is happening, but he keeps enough wits about him to grab Akira's gifts this time, before dashing towards her. It didn't even cross his mind to actually try the necklace before running towards her, though. He just tosses it over his neck grabbing the rope. She sees it, but cant do anything about it now, no matter how much she tries to push through the pain.

Her eyes show a little relief, when he kneels beside her head, holding her without turning to ash. Then the next bullet train of agonizing pain hits her and she lets out another ear piercing screech.

Kin looks helpless, he tries to immobilize her head, but gets pulled around like a soap bauble in a storm. He has no chance to actually use the rope to keep her from hurting herself, all he can do is prevent her head from banging against the rock, while tears run down from his eyes as well as tiny specks of flames from hers.

"What is happening? Zaiya, what is happening?"

His arms ache from holding on to her. His knees hurt from getting banged to the ground over and over again. But he wount let go. Even though she is in great pain every few seconds, he can see the relieve and love in her eyes, whenever she lies still for a few moment. And he smiles at her with teary eyes every time.

That is when she suddenly goes quiet. Deadly quiet and just stares at him with sorrow in her eyes. "No, not that. Please no, not her. She was waiting. She grabbed the remaining strings. Took them, twisted them, again. You must run, hide. Before she..."

Her wing jerks – and she screams, then her talons and she screams again. This goes on until she is on her feet.

Kins eyes turn to slits and the phoenix gets ready to take flight, its obviously she is struggling against it. It looks like a puppet master is playing her limbs very clumsily and in addition, the puppet is struggling against the strings. Every movement followed by a screech of pain.

He finally realizes who she was talking about.

"RIKKA! What are you up to? The same boring thing as before?". He tries hard to suppress the anger and rage in his voice.

Then the dark robed figure walks down the hill and stays well away, but in view. "Well, of course, boy. I will please my master by burning down this pagan village of filthy sun worshipers.” She sounds bored. “As was his wish. He wasn't too happy about my failure last time. So, please, keep your little fists with you today."

He glares, but keeps cool, barely, while Zaiya just stands, wings ready to bring her to the village. She is shivering in fear and anxiety, but at least not in pain right now. "And what point would that make? What would your um.. master? Say, if you would actually come along with the phoenix, while she does the burning. I understand, may be flying with a phoenix is just a peasant thing, you of course, are used to much nobler steeds, are you? Where is yours, by the way? "

She tosses a blue light at his feet, similar to the one that was on her finger, when she froze his cheek. The spot where it lands freezes the ground instantly. "I don't need some filthy animal to carry me around. Wait, "She scans him for a moment "smart boy, you are trying to goad on me into something, aren't you?"

He shrugs "Mislead you to do what? See your handiwork? Do what this peasant did all day long with that majestic bird? What use would I have from it, now that you took back from me what was rightfully yours anyway. All I could gain, is a cold, gruesome death, right?"

She nods at that, thoughtfully "You realized that, do you? At least that. You are still nothing more then a peasant. Get down, pigeon."

Zaiya still enjoys the praise from her human and didn't expect that outcome at all, so it took a tad too long for her to react and she suddenly gets jerked down to the ground, with a surprised and pained squawk.

Rikka walks towards the bird, then steps on her back. For the first time, the sorceress lifts her robe and shows her high heels, black as the night and pitch black tights. She must be some kind of noble or something. He only saw fancy cloths like that, when a traveling group with a distant relative to the king came through their village once.

If it is uncomfortable for Zaiya, she doesn't show it. But he hears her voice one more time, weak, scared, but oh SO pleased... "My smart, little human."

Then she gets jerked to her feet "Now bird, you better fly carefully and do not drop me." Rikka couldn't use her strings now, because of the clumsy control she has with them. Since the phoenix still does the flying, the pain would hinder her too much to prevent any turbulence.

The phoenix seems to listen, there is no jerking or pained screeches as she slowly walks faster and faster, then she beats her wings to take them to the air as calmly as possible to make it easier for the sorceress to stay where she is.

Rikka stands on the birds back as if it is steady ground.

“Good pigeon. If you continue like that, I might leave your human alive to see what you did to his village later.” The wind blows her hood from her head and Rikkas hair flows with it, like water grass in a river follows the stream. It looks like there are silvery, silken strands in her hair. Another thing the carpenter cant remember to have ever seen before. And Rikka's ears look strangely familiar, pointy.

That is all the effect the wind seems to have on her, no other sign of the wind disturbing her or her robe. Nor does the fire... Kin just realizes that too. The aura should burn her cloths, but nothing. Stupid magic tricks.

Zaiya flies a small circle to get some height, before she aims for the village again.

A moment later, when they are about decent height above ground, the phoenix jerks to the right, then does a quick barrel roll – followed by pained screech and then dives and crashes to the ground.

The bad thing: Rikka disappears just a second after she gets dropped and Kin silently curses.

Before he gets to run towards the crash site, Zaiya is airborne once more easily and flies towards him.

A few bushes nearby get torched, but that's all the vegetation there is around the aqueduct. And the phoenix is too agitated to notice or care.

She lands in front of him, half happy, half concerned. Especially when she sees his face of terror.

Rikka's voice appears from above. "You rascal. Not a bad move, I underestimated you. Again. But not good enough. Now, whats the best way to thank a lowlife like yourself for showing his betters a fault in their plan? I know! I wont kill you yet. Isn't that nice? " That's when Zaiya lets out another ear piercing screech of pain and flips on her back, then slowly gets jerked back to her feet, each limb moves one by one accompanied by sounds of agony.

".. but you can watch, how your lovely bird gets dragged to burn down your lovely village. Sounds LOVELY, right? No! It gets better. Afterwards, I will make your bird watch, while I take you apart, piece by piece! She needs a treat too! I mean, she played along well with the plan, didn't she? Or wait, SHE will rip you apart. Perfect, that is it! You can still try to run and hide now. It would be more fun to let her search for you, before using her talons. Don't worry, ill make sure her aura wont grant you a quick death before that can happen. I wonder why it doesn't burn you now. Interesting. Did she find another way to exempt you from her aura. Anyway,... cutting talons have to wait... “

Zaiya lets loose a screech of anger now – which is quickly replaced with the ones of agony, as she is dragged forward towards the village. His anger grows, as his elegant phoenix is dragged towards the village far less graceful then she would be on her own, while trying to get airborne. The sorceress didn't get in sight this time. She doesn't have to “or so she thinks”, he says grimly. This time, the carpenter doesn't wait. He starts sprinting towards HIS bird instantly, dragging the rope behind him.

He doesn't care about a few rocks piercing his feet, or the strange cold, that he feels even thought he is surrounded by a firestorm. He is rage. But he has to control it, much like Zaiya always wanted him to be able to control her? Rage? with those strings. He shakes his head, unsure where that thought came from and pounces on the phoenix back. He immediately wraps the rope around her right wing, then drops down to her left side to entangle her legs. This takes her balance and makes them crash to the ground, where they keep rolling downhill until one of the pillars stops them. He clings to a bunch of feathers on her neck with one hand and a wing with one leg. His other hand swings through the air with a few more feathers he had ripped out. The strange rope he got entangles their limbs, except: he tries to avoid them as much as possible, the puppet master doesn't. She doesn't even see what is going on, and Zaiya tries to do nothing beside bending her free wing slightly to shield his head from banging against the ground. Once they roll into the pillar and come to a stop, he quickly wraps the rope around anything of the bird he can get, pulling tight after each time he wrapped some more around her limp. She actually makes sure to follow the tugs of the rope.

“What is this? You want to prevent me from going to the village!”

She looks at him, eyes gleaming happily for a moment, before she realizes one thing: “She will kill you. No matter what now. She will make me kill you.” She starts sobbing after that.

He gently pats her beak quietly and his determined stare shuts her up. It is the same he had, when they ran through the forest and hid in that cave. The rope goes around the base of her neck, before going down to her last free leg.

He wonders for a second how long that rope actually is since it seems much longer then he thought, but he wont complain about it right now.

Then Rikka, who must have noticed that something is wrong when the phoenix didn't appear at the village by now, tugs at her again.

Even thought her screeches feel like they are ripping his heart apart, he continues to entangle her limbs more and more until she is just a flaming ball of feathers at the bottom of one of the large supports for the aqueduct. She still switches between crying, weeping blobs of oily, burning liquid and screaming in agony, whenever one of her limps jerks to get her free.

In the end, the phoenix lies on her side, one wing spread up with a leg tied to it, the feathers on the wing bent, some broken. While the other wing is tightly fastened to her body in its natural position. The second leg stretches uncomfortably forward along her body. Her head hangs down limply, beak open and she is panting from exhaustion. The phoenix gives him a smile before screeching again, when one of her wings gets jerked, but the rope doesn't give any room for her. He makes sure the end – he actually reached it finally - is secure for now, before he hides behind the pillar. His back is a mess, he got stabbed by more then one sharp stone when they were rolling down, and his head feels like Akira smacked him with his hammer. Without Zaiyas wing adding protecting his head from banging against the ground and rocks, who knows if he would be even conscious by now.

Rikka appears above soon after, levitating down to the bird. "Hach... you stupid, filthy bunch of feathers. How did THIS happen now? Am i asking too much of you? Just flying through that stupid village? And you cant even do that? " Zaiya only gives an exhausted chirp and something that sounds like a raspy, coughed laugh, probably not something nice.

"Oh, the Chicken gets cocky, hu? " she kicks the phoenix as hard as she can – which Zaiya seemingly didn't even feel through her feathers, no flinching or other indicator shows otherwise.

The sorceress walks closer, slowly and full of confidence. When she nearly reaches the bird to look at the rope closely, Kin steps forward and launches a fist sized rock at her, powered by all the rage that he accumulated over the last few minutes.

The look of surprise on the sorceress face is priceless as red explodes over it, and she falls backwards, rolling further down the hill.

The bird jerks again followed by a screech. A laugh, in her position – its obviously a laugh. The phoenix laughs so hard, that the rope seems to cut into her wings, leaving more broken feathers and more oily, liquid fire leaking from where the rope cuts into her body. Adding to the bruises that were already there from the crashes before.

Rikka was less lucky with her fall then the other two before, as she catches 2 drops of at least a mans height down on rocky ground.

Its her time to give cries of pain, not that the human listened or cared about it.

He doesn't seem to feel his cut open back or the bloody left foot he got at some point. He turns his head at the phoenix, who gives him a chirp of encouragement. Then he dashes down the hill, which looks suicidal at best, making his bird worry not just about his bruised back but the possible stumbling that might result in him dropping down like the sorceress just did.

His mind is blank as he chases after her, not even concern only rage filling him. And he can easily follow the bloody traces down the hill. It seems the sorcerers was injured badly considering the blood specks on the rocks. When he finally reaches her, he is on top of her right away.

"What have you done? Stop it NOW!" He bellows at her, but she only laughs.

"I only took back what is rightfully mine. That you stole from me. You said so yourself. You peasant really think you can stop me?"

Her left arm is obviously broken, a part of her bone sticking out from her skin and the wound paints the ground in red. Looking at the angle her right leg stands, that one was broken too.

It doesn't seem to stop her.

He kicks her in the side "Release her NOW! Do it, or I swear, my phoenixes suffering will be childsplay to what I will do to you!"

She jerks away and coughs as he reaches for her head, ready to hit her. "Ok. Ok, peasant. Sheesh, and here I thought you were so kind hearted. I will free her, but remember, you asked me to." The cruel smirk on her face should have warned him, but he was too furious to think clearly.

A blue stream of wind leaves her mouth and dissipates. Only moments later, another high pitched screech of anguish sounds from above – but this one doesn't stop, it goes on for seconds, before he finally decided to strike the sorceress down once and for all. His fist comes down straight at her face with all the rage that still fills him to the brink of overflowing. He doesn't even consider what this strike might do to his hand, when it hits her head. And he doesn't see the other runes she started weaving into the air while he was distracted by the screeching. She disappears right in front of him.

His fist hits the rocky ground with a sickening crunch and he shouts. The pain in his hand and arm sends him on his butt for a few moments. His vision blurry and he feels dizzy from the pain. But the sheer sound of anguish in the air quickly wakes him from his shock and he climbs to his bloody feet while cradling his hand.

Then the screeching stops.

Eery silence all around. Not one bird sings, not one sound from the herd animals down near the village, not even the insects seem to buzz, nothing.

He tries to ignore the pain and cradles his broken hand while climbing back up the hill to the phoenix as fast as he can in his current condition.

She lies there, still tangled up, silent and unmoving. Her beak half open and her head hanging down. Zaiyas eyes are closed.

He removes the rope that is around the base of her neck, in fear of strangling her. Tears well up in his eyes.

“Zaiya.. Zaiya? Please, open your eyes. She is gone. She...”

He starts crying uncontrollably for several minutes, cradling her head with both arms, smearing blood from his battered hand all over her head.

Then her wing twitches and he finally checks her breathing. He looks up as if tons have been lifted from his shoulders, followed by a sigh of relief. She definitely is still alive.

He is scared to untangle her yet, unsure if the sorceress has planned for this too.

He keeps cradling her head and presses it against his torso with the arm of the mutilated hand and starts gently caressing her as she likes so much with his good hand. His broken hand hurts even more, as the muscles in his arm flex, working to hold her head even without the hand being directly involved. His good hand gently moves above her head, the pain seems strangely far away and the blood that he still smears on her head burns away quickly.

It feels like an eternity to him, but in fact, it only takes a few more minutes before finally, the exhausted birds eyes look at him and quickly turn to a bright, happy stare.

Her voice sounds surprised and happy – not amused, playful or a bit vein as usual, nothing but pure relief and happiness "Kin. You did it. She removed all the strings. At once. Every end of a phoenix stage of life ends in pain, we are used to it. But this was unimaginable. I never heard of any phoenix blacken out at all before this. "

She struggles against the rope weakly, then looks at him panting with her beak open.

The carpenter hugs her neck, tears of joy dropping on her neck and evaporating before he untangles her as quickly as possible. At first she flops on her side, but is quick to pounce on him, overwhelmingly happy.

"They are gone, completely. All of them, even if she were around, it would take her an hour to perform the ritual again, if I would let her. How did you make her do this?" Her beak touches his nose, and he stares at her cross eyed.

"I um.. threw a rock in her face, pushed her down the hill, where she broke several bones, then threatened to punch her head into a pulp? Before she disappeared. "

He motions to his hand but Zaiya didn't really listen to his explanation, and instead explores his body.

"You are a mess, I see. We have to fix that hand, and the other scratches too."

Kin tries to move, but she wont let him one bit of room to wiggle out from below her. He is about to complain about the pain on his back, but then he shivers. After seeing her in so much pain it would not be right to complain about a broken hand and some scratches. So he just shuts his mouth again.

The ground still makes him shiver, especially because of the wounds on his back. Thankfully the amulet was still there. Because of it, though, he cant feel any of her warmth. Only the downs of her belly give him some, but they still feel far cooler then they should. Like a blanket does in a cold bed, once one lies in it.

Kin gives up and stares at her with a stern expression. "Why didn't you tell me about what would happen." He immediately becomes softer again. "And i would understand, if you didn't want to renew our or any bond at all. It was horrible to watch and must have been worse to endure for you. If that happens every time a bond is broken, even when the human dies, it would be, no, it IS horrible."

Tears form at her eyes again – burning little embers, that drop down to the ground before she rubs her head against his face enthusiastically.

"I didn't know what would happen, it just felt dangerous. Now I know, it IS the same that happens if a bonded human dies. With a good bond. ” She confirms his theory. “Even though, the silken strings are comforting and warm. Pulling them out still has a similar effect as tugging the stings the dark ritual adds. And once a bond is broken, they automatically get pulled out, one every few moments. And the sorceress.. pulled out the rest of these all at once. The dark ones just dissipate slowly without any effect, once the curse is broken or no longer used, but while they are active, they are painful.”

The bird nibbles at his ear lovingly – as much as possible, considering his head is on the ground and the beak is far too big for a tiny, human ear.

"Now look at me, human!"

Kin smiles as the familiar feeling of paralysis hits him when his phoenix once again weaves their bond, completely ignoring his comment from earlier.

The warmth that immediately washes over him does the rest to fully let him relax.

“MY human.”

He reaches up to brush through the feathers on her neck with his good hand. “Yes.”

"You know, Zaiya, it seems that Akiras amulet protects me from any heat that may harm me. So, i only felt cold since our bond got canceled. But now, that its reestablished, i feel your warmth once more. Its.. I don't like wearing it. It cuts my neck and ill just put it back in the house unless we need it.”

She giggles “I don't think I am too fond of wearing the other thing either.”

Then he glares at her, making the phoenix flinch "Anyway. Under these circumstances, we wont do that again." His voice doesn't give any room for discussion there, then he slowly adds "Its bad enough, that this will happen one more time."

She frowns shortly, then smiles brightly "May be, may be not. There is far more to us, then you or even i know yet. Thanks to that black stone, I could accumulate power far faster then what is normal, without spending decades above the clouds, drinking from the sun. With enough power, knowledge about our skills just come to us. A freshly hatched chic doesn't know how to bond. After a few decades flying in the sunlight, we learn that and what it is for. I cant tell you how much or where else it may lead to for me, but i know, i can share something else with you now. But for that, you have to use your strings."

He glares at her again, but reaches for her face gently. "Then. I. Don't. Want. It."

She still smiles at him "Please? Do me the favor, ok?"

He sighs and gives in, exhausted "Ok, but only after you are rested."

She nips his nose carefully, " Deal. " Then she eyes his broken hand.

"That might take a few days until it heals, its smashed pretty badly."

He playfully punches her beak with his other hand. "We humans may look frail, but we aren't made of sugar."

"WOODSMITH! I SAW YA! Ya just punched a lady in da face AGAIN. " Akira bellowed at him.

"No cake for you tonight!" adds Carly.

There were at least ten villagers, armed with pitchforks, hammers and other tools coming up the path towards them. They couldn't approach them much closer, due to Zaiya on top of him. He is pretty happy about that, though, due to he still feeling embarrassed without cloths in front of villagers.

"We heard da screechin and " He takes a short break " Wanted to check whats going on, when it didn't stop."

The phoenix smiles at them, then starts grooming her humans hair once more, while he explains.

"That sorceress appeared again, and tried to sent our guardian back to destroy the city. But...”

The smith interrupts him, eyeing the rope, that still loosely hangs from one of her wings then wraps around her left leg, with a bellowing laughter "Mah trinkets, hu? So you tied up ya lady, so she couldn't fly away and kicked the other girls butt to free ya 'ird? Ya really are sumthin, mate, hitting two ladies on one day and still not getting old San on ya head. Lucky you. "

Kin blushes and nods, then rubs his face against the underside of her neck "yes, that i am. Really, really lucky."