FSE

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It has been two days since the battle with Rikka. Kin couldn't do much at all, with his broken hand. Even though, it heals far faster when he is around his firebird, it still takes time to fully recover the smashed hand. He walks down to the hamlet most days to do the few tasks he could do with his good hand, but usually that takes not more then an hour plus may be another hour of visiting and talking to his fellow villagers.

Today, when he is about to go down to the village again, Zaiya stops him.

"You promised, and I'm rested now!"

Kin sighs and drops the linen tunic he just picked up.

"You are right, I did." He takes a deep breath and looks at her for a moment. "You really want that, do you?” He returns to the nest and pokes her neck “But you have to tell me about side effects first this time!" He had promised her before, that she may try out something she had learned a few days ago.

Both didn't know much about 'it', though.

The phoenix stares at him, then hides her head under her left wing and pulls out one of the last broken feathers that needs to be replaced. The ground has quiet a few of them on it already, each one a little lantern, but not warm enough in itself to even burn a leaf nearby. "I wonder if these can be used for longer. How long will they give light?"

Zaiya looks up, curiously and he is once more frozen in place by her gaze into his eyes. She flinches as she is reminded of an event of her past, but quickly wipes it away.

"They will dissolve with the wind after a few days. It works much longer, if you put them in a lantern or whatever similar things your friends have. If possible, prevent any air to get to them to keep them there for as long as possible."

He stares through her for a few moments. “If we heat the air, then close the lantern and make sure air cant get it, it would work. Ill tell Akira, he is the one making our lanterns, and he surely will have no problem making that. Put in a few of these and then set them up around the hamlet....”

She likes his open, inventive mind. Without pressure, just tossing out his thoughts. And she really likes to pay back her debt little by little. It doesn't matter that the villagers don't see any debt left. Even if she would agree to that, she would just do her duty as the village guardian.

Kin still stares at her until she lies her head down on the ground with a sigh "Ok. I will tell you what I know." He sits down and pulls her head up while she wiggles forward a bit until she can rest her head on his lap.

"You will have to stay very still, and I will have to be still too. My fire intensifies similar to the one on your black stone, and if we move, it ccould have a similar effect to us that your beam has to the villagers sacrifices. You SHOULD still be protected, while it SHOULD still not be harmful to me. I just learned this and know how it is done. Not much more. There are stories about it, but even these don't talk about the ritual or any side effects." She smiles playfully at him from the ground.

"You just pull my wings apart as far as they go. And don't let go until the light disappears. I will need to concentrate fully on what I'm doing, so, if you let go, bad things may happen.". Her voice sounds grim at that, as if it can have real, drastic consequences.

"That sounds dangerous and we don't know why exactly? Now I feel like my friends down there, when I tried to convince them, that I tamed you." She giggles playfully "You did, didn't you? I am no longer trying to burn your village and you keep me here as your pet."

He grins back at her "More like the other way around. YOU keep ME up here instead of the village."

After she gets up, he scoops up more of the feathers and drops them into a bucket. A gift for the village. And possibly a few ideas how to utilize them better "Fine, I trust you."

She stares at him thoughtfully for a few seconds. He didn't even ask WHAT the ritual is about. He just trusts her and says 'ok'. If anything, she could eat his soul now and she wouldn't even have to lie about it. She beams at him happily as she clumsily picks up a feather with her beak to help him. She REALY wants to try – do – this. And it has to work. She decided she wants to spend more time with her human. And do more things, things he would have trouble surviving without this.

"Lets go somewhere else, just in case. " She motions in the direction of the village, and they follow the aqueduct for about a minute before they settle down again.

It takes a while for him to find out HOW it should work. Its not like he had those strings physically in hand to tug them, but once he found out how they are connected to his own mind, it is easy to take a hold of them. Her genuine smile and lack of struggling helps him be a little more comfortable with it.

So, after trying for a bit, he realizes, that he can hold her wings near infinitely without much effort and starts pulling as far as he deems healthy for her.

When she is satisfied, she nods "Whatever happens, don't move and don't let go. Even if I seem to fall, you have to keep me in the position without moving at all. Promise me that. "

Kin nods hesitantly, still worried about side effects for either of them "I will." He focuses on a few more strings after this to hold her up, in case she really falls. It is not that bad and she looks like she is enjoying it. He doesn't understand how or why, but she wants to do this. It helps her and keeps both safe. So no harm done by the strings at least, he tells himself.

Kin makes sure to keep her wings and body spread out, as well as her head, then they stare at each other until her eyes turn white – pure white. A white he has never seen before. Very scary. The rest of her whole body just as normal as ever, if not for the seemingly awkward position. Kins eyes blink, as her front also starts emitting the purest of light colored similar as her eyes. A strange sensation, not painful, just very uncomfortable, spreads through his body as she focuses the light down on his form. It comes from every feather of her body and every scale on her feet. Wingtips to tail. Beak to talons. Its a very beautiful sight, but her eyes turning it into a VERY scary nightmare. The uncomfortable feeling as the light seems to penetrate his whole body doesn't help either. He feels that there is something happening inside his whole body, like a visit at the dentist, who partly anesthetizes ones jaw, before he starts drilling away inside the bone, not just the teeth. No pain, but the body still knows what is going on.

That is happening all over his body right now. At once. It takes him a lot of focus and self control, to not let go of her strings or move away from the light. The stones around give strange hissing and cracking sounds, but he doesn't dare to look.

It takes more then a minute of holding her until the light tunes down and finally stops again. She sags a little, only held by the strings and drops to the ground at his feet the same moment he lets go of her, looking very exhausted.

"I think, it worked." She says quietly, panting.

He turns his head to look at the stones around him. They didn't just turn black, or melt, they actually just seem to have disappeared around his frame. Not even the tiniest bit of molten rock, just a irregular line around his frame, disintegrated deep into the stone below. Deep enough, so he can't see the bottom of it.

"We tried to melt stone on our altar once. It took several seconds until the stone turned into the super hot liquid. This.. did not happen here."

Zaiya wiggles forward a bit, more like a snake then a bird, and murmurs tiredly "I knew it was far more energetic, but I didn't know it would be like this." Her head slowly moves over to his chest

"I told you, my human, this is only the second time this ever happened. "

She flops down when her head reaches over his chest, her beak hooks against his shoulder.

He smiles nonetheless and caresses along her beak. "Now... my lady, what exactly did you do to me. Or to yourself." His eyes turned to slits again, when he said the last part.

Zaiyas smile stays all the same. "I shared my power of immortality with you. Its not the same, but your wounds will heal quicker. While in my flame aura, that process will be even faster, sicknesses are burned away from your body – not the results of them if they don't heal naturally, though, so you shouldn't stray away from me for too long. And the only other time, this supposedly has happened, was from a phoenix with over 5600 summers. And his human died after 583 due to an accident. You are still vulnerable to weapons and accidents, so be careful. But no more rebonding, unless you want to. Even if we do, you should not worry about the side effects, because this is our natural cycle, this is how it is supposed to work. May be, in a few hundred years, we can try again." She seems to be thinking about something "If, we are sure, that it wont mess with your age, my blessing or the ritual we just did."

She wiggles forward some more, to cover him fully and seems to try to speak again, but instead, she goes limp – fallen asleep.

He turns his head, to get some feathers out of his mouth "Um. Zaiya? Are you ok? ".

He checks her breathing, then relaxes "ok, well. No matter how pumped up she was from bathing on the altar for all this time, she still is a few thousand years away from that other phoenix."

So he wraps his arms around her neck and concentrates on her breathing, while fondling the 3 long, thin feathers on her head. Very carefully once more, due to their seemingly delicateness. He examines them again, bends them, strokes along them and decides, that they are sturdy, but flexible.

He helped her quiet a bit with her feathers after her two crashes and learned a lot about them from her explanations. How they are built, their growth, their use and how to fix them and the position they are in.

She couldn't explain how her body could produce these with light and heat as her only source of food, only stated the fact that it did exactly that. From all that, the feathers on her head seem to be flexible and long - like her tails, sturdy and strong – like her wing feathers, the tiny fluff along them, soft – like her belly feathers. Strange combination.

The phoenix starts purring. Yes, purring. Like a cat. He couldn't believe it, she never did that before, not even when he stroked along them during other times. She is still asleep, just like a cat.

Kin laughs quietly, but doesn't stop playing with those three feathers. He was stuck anyway, if he didn't want to exhaust himself while trying to crawl out from under her with one of his hands still handicapped.

"Hey Woodsmith! Where are ya? Ya 'ird needs her eyes fixed, shes sleeping away for ya spot!"

The smith carefully walks closer, holding his hammer sideways, ready to block a possible attack.

He climbs up the hill, avoiding Zaiyas tails and body, then circles around the sleeping bird, looking for a possible reason why she is there and why her fire doesn't burn him.

"Mate, sumthins wrong. Ya 'ird is cold, but still 'reathing. Oh, there ya are, what did ya do to ya lady? Ya cant just sleep everywhere, what if ya start another 'rushfire?"

Kin grins at him "No worries Akira, she is fine and wont start any fire for a while. She is exhausted from something she wanted to do. I am still not sure what exactly happened beside what she told me about it, but.. um... a little help?"

The Carpenter wrestles his good hand out from under the sleeping phoenix and reaches up for Akira to pull him out. The other hand looks much better already, but it still would take more time to fully heal. May be it will be faster after ... this. Akira drops his hammer on the ground and pulls him out without any problem, fast enough so Zaiyas head drops to the ground and she chirps a complaint in her sleep.

"Sorry mate, didn't think before pullin' . So what THE HECK IS THAT."

The phoenix complains again at his loud shout, then he bends down to inspect the area where the light disintegrated the stone.

"Creator, did ya 'ird cut that out? Tats like if " He sticks his fingers in the larger portion of the cut out rocks around the frame where Kin was lying earlier. "Tats like if one of Yuri's cheese was cut 'y one of mah 'lades. 'ut its rock. " He turns his head towards the carpenter after he follows the outline for as much as the sleeping bird allows. "Dunt tell meh, ya was lying on the ground, while ya 'ird cut the rocks? Creator, you are some crazy son of a lemming. What were ya thinkin. There aren't even molten edges, the rock is just... gone."

Kin smiles and shrugs "She said, she learned something new and wanted to try that. "

Akira shakes his head "Ya really trust ya lady with ya life or.. whatever else that would take from ya. But at least, ya made her happy then, right? “ Kin nods and Akira continues “Good 'oy. Crazy and suicidal, 'ut still good."

Zaiya groans and tells them both "That.. he is. I need sleep.". When she sees Akira, her eyes fixate on him for several seconds until she realizes that he is close to her with her aura 'set to normal' she frantically stumbles back and immediately tries to turn down her aura. "Are you ok? Are you burned?"

The smith climbs back to his feet, his head NEARLY reaching up to her neck when standing.

"Nay, mate. I think, whatever ya have 'een doing, really drained ya. Ill 'ring some fire wood. Unless ya wanna go to ya spot on the altar. You may have a few hours of sunlight left."

She nods slowly, perplexed.

"Can I come too, or are you too tired to carry me? "Kin sounded seriously concerned and her voice gets soft "I'll carry you on foot if I cant while flying."

Akira grins "Ya know, ya two are really cute to watch. So, I guess, I will tell ya mates down in da village, that ya still got trou'les with ya hand, hu? " She got used to include most villagers nearby when talking. Its less awkward and gives openings for a lot of funny moments too.

Kin nods slowly “I guess, I will get to the stuff done tomorrow then, my hand should be much better then anyway, thanks to her. Unless its something bad?"

His friend shakes his head "Nay, 'revin broke his chair again. Erza's door still wont stay closed and Carly 'roke her mixing gadget again. Nothin the others cant fix and the kitchen thing can wait a day or two. "

He takes a step back. "ya 'ird is getting back her heat. Still, a pot of soup is warmer then her. Ya two get to ya rock, I'll see ya tomorrow." He picks up his hammer and waves his goodbye – with the hammer.

They both look at each other, then he shrugs "Sounds good to me. He is right, thought. You could walk through the forest right now and nothing would happen."

The phoenix nudges him with her beak "Stop worrying, I'm fine, just exhausted. I will be better tomorrow."

The last words turned down to a tired murmur again.

"Stone or sleep, decide now, where we go."

She takes a deep breath "You will be cold tonight, if we sleep now. So, lets go to the stone."

"Thank you." He brushes along her beak when he walks to her side, to get on her back, and she leans into his touch. Then she turns around slowly and picks a course down the hill, where she has a lot of time to catch updrafts.

He smiles brightly. She always has his well being in mind. Even if it makes her life a little more difficult or exhausting. And he plans to give that back, as he hopefully has done so far.

"May be it was still a bit early to try that? I think, I wasn't ready for it either. I nearly tried to get away several times." He just holds on to his bird and continues talking to keep her awake.

She sounds still very tired, but so pleased about her achievement. "May be. But it worked. I know it. And I finally made you use the power I gave you.” She sounds SO pleased at that. She isn't even sure which one is the bigger one, though. It has been months and he kept refusing to use them. "We could sleep now as phoenixes usually do – above the clouds – and I wont have to worry for you to fall, while I sleep."

"So that's why you were trying to get me to learn that." He asks thoughtfully. "Why not say so?"

She sounds amused “Because, its only one reason, and not the main reason.”

She starts descending now towards the clearing.

"The other one is.. because it feels really nice. Like lying on soft ground, that moves your body without you having to work for it. Poking at sensitive spots, similar to what you do on my head." Zaiya adds shyly, another trait he rarely sees on his proud firebird.

He gets an idea. "I need to try something later too, then."

Kin reaches for her head again. "This is it, right?" and she coos her agreement while landing near the altar.

He slides of her back and inspects the clearing, then sits down on the other side of the altar, after she hops into the beam of light. The afternoon air, gently draining him from the bit of warmth he has left after the flight, he misses the heat from her aura already. He grins as he thinks about it. “I think, your aura spoiled me. I am so used to feel comfortably warm all the time, it feels bad to miss it.”

She smiles back at him “Good. Very good.” then adds playfully “I am working on it, master.”

The altar had a lot of scratches on the side, where Zaiya always sits.

The first green saplings start poking through the burned ground and the trees are sprouting new leaves on the black stumps where not all life got burned out and new life enters where the wind carried seeds onto the clearing. Insects slowly make their way across it, searching for an evening snack on one of the few blooming flowers in the area.

At times, she gladly steps down, when the villagers ask to do their rites to sacrifice a part of their work, be it artisans with tools, farmers with corn or Carly and Aceson, the bakers, with bread and cake.

The phoenix was glad, that she could decently control her aura now, allowing her to watch them, while still being on the clearing. She also loves to watch life coming back to this place, slowly but steadily without her burning it again. She really feels like the village guardian now. It no longer is just a title and more importantly for her: Now she can help the villagers here and there!

The beam doesn't seem to do anything to her, except may be, the color of her feathers is a little brighter at the spot where it hits her. Slowly, barely noticeable, the color of her plumage turns from a red to the usually bright red he loves so much on her.

Kin smiles, as he admires her. His gaze roaming around her wings, looking through each feather, her head with the three long feathers standing tall as she looks down at him too. Her beak, grayish red, its pointy end aiming at her feet. Down to her belly where his face color slightly changes again. Then to her talons. After their adventure before the cave, he never saw her use them again. He wonders why they are so sharp and deadly, if a phoenix doesn't use them. Then he gets pulled out from his thoughts, when she notices him scanning her and slowly spreads her wings to give him a better view, even posing for him. She smiles genuinely at him, now with her wings spread fully so the light from above can draw her outlines against the green and blue background of the forest and sky.

After a few more moments of showing off, her playful mood is back with only a hint of tiredness left.

"Its impolite to stare at a lady."

He chuckles and takes a step forward on the altar, but a stern look of her, makes him stop.

She hates it, when he gets close to the beam.

"But if I stare at MY lady, it should be fine, right? "

The phoenix giggles, then whispers "Yes, if no one watches."

They stay until the beam disappears and the mantle of darkness covers the land. Her light once again enough to illuminate the way back to their 'nest' to rest.

She doesn't mind the darkness while flying, not while she is her own lantern. And if another storm approaches, she still got her human. She smiles and takes a few more flaps, then pulls in her wings, pressing his legs painfully against her body and does a few barrel rolls towards the ground shortly before landing. She didn't have to hold him, though. At the first roll, she could feel his hands grab a handful of feathers on her neck, but he quickly lets go again and screams out. He obviously likes it too.

Then she lands on their nest and nudges him. “I see, you liked that!”

He grins and pokes her neck. "Yes, it was fun. But no distraction, it is my turn now. "

"Lay down and spread your wings. " She does, while watching him climbing around on her body, but this time kneeling on it facing her left wing.

Then he starts pressing gently into the muscles around there and she groans "that's.. ", she immediately pants and soon her head drops to the ground with a loud thud.

He keeps massaging her flight muscles on both wings, before he slowly moves upwards to her neck. The feathers being moved around increasing the sensation for her.

"This is.. even.. so much.. better then if you use.. strings."

While he keeps working on her body, her cooing gets quieter and quieter as she really feels like the liquid energy her body is made of and dripping to the ground or like wax in his nimble hands.

It doesn't take long for her completely relaxed body to pull her into a deep, restorative slumber.

The next day, Kin was quick to do the few tasks that were there for him at the village. She didn't promise too much after the ritual: He already is able to move his hand once more. May be a little stiff still, but definitely close to a full recovery. The carpenter leaves for the altar as soon as he finished Carla's mixer.

Kin saw the phoenix fly there shortly after he left their 'nest'. He has no idea, how long it would take for her to recharge her energy after yesterday. But she would tell him, if she needs more time.

His main task today was for Akira. He badly needed some maintenance on his tools in the forge.

Nothing out of the ordinary, a few handles and a quick fix on a chair, that had a leg broken off.

Overall, the tasks were easily done way before noon. And then, of course, the mixer. The chair and door Akira mentioned the day before have been fixed by his fellows already.

Kins home has been completely turned into a storage chamber for himself and many of the other wood workers of the town. His belongings being cramped in the back of it, where his bed stands.

Only a small area through the house is free to walk. Many of his tools and the parts he prepared as replacement are put on cupboards and the table at the sides of his home. Some other tools people put down there, Axes, a few hammers, furniture – especially more chairs and tables. They had been doing some serious rebuilding over the last weeks. With a lot of spare things to replace broken ones. He grins as he closes the door and takes the path across the meadow and into their small forest to the altar.

When he arrives at the clearing, Zaiya looks up, surprised to see her mate "Welcome to this humble shrine, oh seeker of divine blessings.” She grins “You are early, aren't you?"

He smiles, one hand behind his back "I'm done for today and thought, may be we could fly some?"

She tilts her head, confused "Clothes? Did you get some that can survive?"

He smiles and shakes his head, beckoning her over "No, but, you are good at not burning things now." The bird sighs "Yes, but it is still very exhausting – and even then, if we fly, they will definitely burn at some point." By that time, she had waddled over to him already, rubbing her head to his chest – non of the insects around turn to ash, non of the bushes next to him catch fire and his cloths stay intact. For the time, at least.

When he doesn't start caressing her head as usually, she steps back to look at him.

He smiles and holds out a rose to her.

"A flower? " She sounds confused.

It is his turn to giggle "Its good to finally find something you don't know. When humans love each other, they sometimes bring flowers as small gifts. This one means 'I love you' "

The bird leans forward to sniff it. She doesn't see the sense in it but nonetheless, is happy about it and rubs her head against his chest again while whispering "I cant pick flowers for you, but I still love you too."

As he tries to stick it between the feathers on her head, it starts turning colors due to the warmth. Thanks to her holding back her flames, it might survive a minute or two.

"I just saw it on the way here, and thought I'd bring it." NOW he strokes along her head and neck as normal.

"You wanted to fly, right? " She asks happily "I could introduce you to someone I met. He is another phoenix, living above the kingdoms and he is very interested in the affairs of humans from above. Very knowledgeable about these too! And he also knows a lot of things about phoenixes, that I don't know yet. Since there are so few of us, we rarely meet others, information takes a long time to go around to other phoenixes. It is always exciting to to be able to talk. " As she notices his curious look, she continues "With another of my kind. We can meet him above the clouds, where he usually is, even during the night. "

Kin smiles at her "So, can you keep cool until we drop the cloths, then we go up?"

She nods happily and lies down, waiting for him to climb on his spot in front of her wings.

They flyby drop his cloths at their nest before ascending towards the clouds.

Its a cloudy day, but all clouds are white and light with no rain in sight.

"Kin, usually, we spend most of our time up there to feed on the sun. But with your altar, one day is like if I had been up there many years. I'm not sure how many of those spots are there in this world and why I haven't heard of them, but I would like to keep this quiet. Please. "

He looks a bit puzzled "Wouldn't it help your kind a lot, if they could search and use these spots? What about volcanoes? "

"Yes, we sometimes bathe in volcanoes.” She nods carefully “ Phoenixes don't bow to human rules and we have a different mindset. If one comes to use our altar, they most likely wouldn't care about the destruction they brought. Simply because they .. we don't think about the consequences. Just like I did before. I only concentrated on my fire, when my power was abused by that sorceress and when it might have hurt you, after you saved me. But that was just because you did what you did. "

Her voice gets a bit quieter "And because I was curious about you.", then she continues normally. "Others most likely wont pay attention, because that is how we are. It may change after several human partners as we see more of the world down on the ground and start respecting it. Seeing everything in a different light, but you don't know how much time a phoenix spent there and if he or she thinks or cares about any consequences. Above the clouds, we cant burn down whole forests or cities of humans, simply by being there. We have to get used to that thought first.”

She flaps harder to gain altitude faster and a few minutes later, he already feels the difference.

Her aura no longer holds back all of the icy wind and he snuggles closer to her body and into her feathers.

She coos "Are you all right? If its too cold, let me know. I still didn't recover fully from the ritual, so my aura is still weak. "

He reaches forward to stroke her beak "I am sorry, may be it was a bad idea. We should have waited a few more days before flying up here then."

"No, this is the normal way for us to recover. Fly and eat light and warmth from the sun. Your beam is, what you call 'cheating'? But it gives me more time on the ground and more energy to act during cloudy days on the ground! And to keep you warm."

"That is good to know. So many puzzle pieces that fit together now, if she didn't treat you so badly, I might even thank that sorceress. "

At that, Zaiya hisses at him "Don't speak of that human. I do not wish to even think about her kind. Hungry for power, relentless, uncaring, treacherous and cruel. These are the people why phoenixes learned to avoid humans as much as possible!"

Kin flinches. He never saw her upset like that before, and he soothingly strokes along her neck, then her head and she immediately relaxes again.

"Please keep doing that, yes, a little to the left. Perfect. "

He giggles "You really are like a kitten. Just larger. With wings. And on fire."

"You can call me anything you want as long as you don't stop that." She had her eyes closed, which isn't a problem when there are no obstacles.

"I would like to hear more about your past, Zaiya. You are a wellspring of knowledge and wisdom, but you never talked about your past. And if you mention anything, you quickly switch the subject."

She sighs. Of course, she knew this would come up sooner or later.

"I.. don't like talking about it. My first human partner was as it was supposed to be. We were friends. A simple farmer. He tried helping, but he was not open minded enough to want to mate. It was still a nice time with him. I could actually sleep in one of his wooden stalls, so weak was my aura at that time. It still burned down when he died and the strings came loose. His family ran away, when they heard me screeching, but at least, I didn't burn his home or body. " She closes her eyes a little, and pushes her head up against his hand to get them moving again. When she continues, he can clearly hear the pain of the memory in her voice.

"Shortly after he was gone, I met my first mate, he was a wizard. Very powerful. A researcher. He was nice.. at first." Her words become quieter and sadder, and he doubles his efforts on her head. Her voice still trembles "He actually gave me an egg. But I was still young, “She sighs, depressed at the next part. “...and my power was far too little for him to get any use out of me. So he canceled the bond and put me up on a wall outside. It was painful. I was hurt. I didn't want another human, but then, a kind soul saw me and talked to me." Her mood recovers a little now. "He promised he would help me, if I told him how. I was hung up against the wall by my strings, invisible to him. " She shudders slightly "So I told him to bring water, lots of buckets of water, to the point, where he didn't want to hear my screams anymore. I don't understand how no one else heard me or checked the corner of the city we were in. I convinced him to continue, since that was the only way I knew to weaken me enough to break the bond with the wizard. It worked. When I was weak enough, I replaced the current bond with the wizard with a voluntary one with Denson.

Kin wonders how that guy could cancel a bond and then tie her to the wall with them, but doesn't interrupt her until he hears that name "Denson... that name rings a bell..."

"He was kind to me, but again, didn't want to help with creating an egg. But it was still a happy time.

He was fun to have around and he used me to rob caravans. It was less draining then being the power source for a Sorcerer, and I didn't care much about it anyway. Especially, since he always treated me like a friend, instead of a possession."

"DENSON! The highway robber that couldn't afford cloths? That's one of the most common stories around here. It is said, that he would jump naked in front of a caravan, and while everyone averted their gaze from him, he would steal all their belongings quick as lightning, then disappear."

She giggles slightly "That's... not how it happened, but I guess, people couldn't explain a flaming ball of fire behind the robber. Most people ran, others hid away. I cant remember any case anyone tried to fight back. He quickly grabbed a few valuables, tossed them over a cliff, then we flew down, so he could pick them up when we had time to prepare, so they wouldn't burn. It was tricky due to my aura, even though it was still very weak. It was a great, happy time. No one could chase us, since we were living high up in the mountain, and with the valuables he stole, he bought the needed supplies and some interesting things to spend his time. He also taught me to read your language. From afar. The other side of the cave. After the first few books erupted into flames. Then he got sick and I wasn't strong enough yet to help him with it. He died a little later." She smiles at the memory "He was a good human. A good friend. Until all the strings were gone, I managed to burn everything we brought to the cave, including his body. I was sad, but, this is our way. So I left to chase the sun for nearly eleven hundred summers, not returning to the ground beside the occasional bath in a volcano. Too much pain and sadness within the not even two years I spent down there."

She sighs again. "And when I wanted to give it another try, that KERRIN caught me."

She turns her head "Kin? Are you? Oh..." She gently rubs her beak over his seemingly sleeping form, but he catches her and steals a few pets over it. Not sleeping. She then concentrates on gaining more altitude. She already could feel the other phoenix presence. They would reach him within the hour.

Kin must have fallen asleep soon after, and he groggily opens his eyes. “Darn, sorry, Zaiya, I must have.. fallen asleep.“ The air is very thin by now, that probably played a role in his sleep too. He closes his eyes again, just enjoying the interplay of the harshly cold wind from above and the warmth of her body, while her aura and the wind fought an endless and painful battle over his back.

“It's ok.” She pushes against his hand, to get him working again.

He stirs slightly, when he hears a voice, but doesn't open his eyes. One arm hanging down from her neck, the other one lying on top of it to scratch her head.

"You forgot to leave your human on the ground."

Zaiya answers "Of course not. I brought him along on purpose, to show him the sky and may be let you two meet."

"Hello, human, nice to meet you, now you can leave. Just jump. "

She takes a sudden turn to the right as another fiery aura approached from the left. She hisses at the other phoenix dangerously and he backs off immediately.

"Sorry. I am just not used to this. I picked seven humans already and created three eggs. That is more then enough interaction for me with them. We are not supposed to cling to our humans anyway. We feed of the sun, and then feed the sun. That is our cycle. "

She jerks slightly as if the revelation hits her. "Oh. True, but we still have our lives to do with as we please. So why shouldn't we? Lets go down a bit, humans need air too and far more then we do. And I need to focus on absorbing the sun light, that which I cant will burn him and I don't want that to happen."

The other phoenix sighs and they slowly decent "Fine. Did you see the Kerrin again?"

Zaiya shudders again. "Yes, yesterday. "

Kin coughs once, then turns his head to look at the other phoenix. He weakly raises his hand in greeting. While Zaiyas feathers were bright red with white on the edge below her flames, this phoenix feathers seem darker and blue instead of red. The overall appearance is still a red bird, but if he focuses on the feathers, there was no red in them. As his clouded mind tries to understand this paradox, the two birds continue their conversation.

"We tried to rebond, but she interfered and took a hold of me again."

The other phoenix gasps "You mean you canceled the bond to stick to this human, instead of taking another one? Its.. not meant to be like that." He obviously doesn't like that idea.

Zaiyas voice sounds dangerous "Yes. So what? We both agreed to it and we will see if it works."

The other phoenix quickly changes subject, when he notices how this agitates her.

"Was the Kerrin still trying to burn down that village for whatever useless reason?" His voice sounds exhausted, as if he heard stories like that before.

"Yes, she seems to be completely obsessed with that village. I don't know what they did to her and he has no idea either." She turns her head to nibble at Kins hair lovingly for a moment. Before she can straighten out her neck, he steals another pet over her beak with his hanging arm.

The other phoenix hisses in disagreement about her behavior, but else stays quiet about it.

"When I was about to leave, my human convinced her, that she should fly with me. "

At that, the other phoenix laughed heartily "I think, I like your human a little more now. It is always a blast when a Kerrin tries that. Did you manage to get rid of her?"

Zaiya continues with a tad of embarrassment and sadness "No, she disappeared before she hit the ground. She might have anticipated it, because she barley had left my back, when she disappeared.

So, she made me start a second run, this time from somewhere nearby, but my human used some trinket to immobilize me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out. "

He hisses "Cant trust those humans, never trust them. -" But he quickly gets interrupted "Shut your beak! He did it so I couldn't burn down MY village. The one I chose to protect! And then he waited for the Kerrin to appear, to see whats wrong. He didn't have any other tools with him to fight her, not even cloths, and he wouldn't have stood a chance against her anyway. But he surprised her again and hit her with a rock, she fell down the hill. He tried to finish her, but she teleported again. Not before he convinced her somehow, to remove ALL the tethers on me, though. It was... bad. I.. blackened out from it. But she really freed me completely, can you believe that?"

"You mean... unconscious? That's .. “He scans her, probably unsure if she is just weak or.. “never happened. And no, hard to believe, why would she do that?"

Kin yawns "Because she needed to buy time to teleport away. The heartbreaking screech that I heard for seconds, distracted me long enough for her to disappear."

His voice was hard "So you failed, human."

Zaiyas body tenses as if she is about to attack and rip the other phoenix apart, but Kin pulled her head by a few feathers lightly to stop her.

"No, I achieved exactly what I wanted to. Zaiya was free, Rikka was hurting badly and gone."

"Zaiya would have been free anyway. And now, the Kerrin is still alive and searching for power."

Kin doesn't give in one bit, even though THIS phoenix could easily burn him to ash. Possibly even with Zaiya around due to his aura. "I will not weight the death of a sorceress higher the well being of my phoenix."

"YOUR phoenix? You gave her an egg, she will stay around you until you die, then she will return to the sky, as it should be. And when her time comes, she will fly to the sun to feed herself to it. That is our way. "

Kin gasps and tries to sit up, but gives up on that as soon as he lifts himself out of her warm feathers. "I..."

He gets interrupted by Zaiya "We did the Kar'ahn"

The other phoenix turns his head so abruptly, that his wings jerk and he tumbles through the air ungracefully until he catches himself again. "You did WHAT? This is just a MYTH. And even if it was true, you are far too young to have the power to execute that ritual. It was only done ONCE in the last few Millennia. And Char'than was supposed to be nearly six times as old as you are. There is no way you can accumulate the power to do this within your short lifetime. I am nearly three times your age and I still don't even know about it. "

She smiles at him sweetly and replies in the cocky, amused tune Kin loves so much. "May be age isn't everything.” Then adds smugly: “And may be, humans aren't as useless as you think they are. At least, mine isn't." She tries to turns her head to get her humans attention, since he stopped caressing her head, when that doesn't work, she just rubs her beak against his shoulder.

"You really are too fond of your human." He tries to state indifferently, but he cant hide all of his antipathy. "I don't see anything special in him."

She giggles "Good, since he is mine anyway. "

He continues "So, the people of your village know about you. It seems, your neighboring kingdom knows too. I told you about them, getting ready to play their war games and take over your kingdom, right? The armies got pulled back. With no reason I saw at all. "

Now she sounds indifferent "I don't care what the other humans do, as long as they leave my human and my village alone."

The other phoenix chuckles "And if they don't, they will burn. If you really have the power to execute the Kar'ahn, they could only use their numbers to get your village. And the result of that would be simple: No village and no armies." He stops for a moment, thoughtful, "Humans might do just that. But not yet. There are more kingdoms around, ready to attack any other kingdom that looks weak. They need their armies. So you and your pets are safe."

"..but you are supposed to be the pet." Kin weakly but playfully remarks. The other phoenix snarls at his playful comment, but Zaiya giggles again at that "Sure, master." Then she looks at the sun. "We should start our decent. So we can get down before the sun disappears. You know what happens, if you decent too fast – and humans are far more prone to physical harm then we are, so I have to go slow, will you come along, Gavin?"

"No, thanks, I will cycle around here more and watch the humans move on the ground. It is really entertaining."

She nods and angles her wings to go into a not too steep dive.

Kin raises his hand once more "Take care, Gavin, nice meeting you too. " He is honest about that, then thinks about inviting him down, but remembers what Zaiya told him and quickly shuts his mouth. He is too exhausted to do much more then resting on his phoenix's back anyway. Besides her head scratches.

"So, that is a phoenix life cycle? Eat sun, pick a human for eggs, then fly up back into the sun to die?"

She sounds thoughtful "It sounds right. I did not know that. But don't worry, as long as both of us are alive, I will not follow this path." Then she coos as he gets closer to those 3 long feathers on her head again.

When they reach the ground, he simply stays on her neck and back, completely exhausted. "I don't understand that. You were the one flying. I was just resting the whole time, and I am still exhausted. But not hungry. Whole day without food and I am not hungry."

The phoenix nestles down, then turns her head to push him onto her back properly and preen his head once more. "The aura also feeds you to some extend. But the other things beside energy that your body needs, I cant provide. You still need to eat. Then there is the cold up there and the lack of air. Phoenixes are build for this, but humans are not. Just stay where you are. You..." She stops, shuddering "that.. is what I need now". He had grabbed two of the feathers on her head, gently stroking along them. She instantly flops to the ground, shuddering and her eyes closed.

"No matter how often I do that, you don't get bored of it, don't you?" She coos weakly and angles her neck to grant him better access to her head.

Kin giggles "Who needs strings, when you know which feathers to pull on your phoenix! May be I should get to your wings again once I rested a bit?"

Zaiya claps her beak once, which is her only reply. No snarky remark, explanation or comment to his question. Completely occupied with the sensation.

She falls asleep second, after her carpenter fell asleep and stopped fondling these feathers.

To be fair, it doesn't take long for both after that day.