A white disc-shaped face was focused on the man lying on the floor, two black eyes reflecting the light from the fireplace. A dirty white beak sat below them, with the face being surrounded by a sooty-black rim. The body was thin with tightly-bound black feathers, all of which were densely mottled with a silvery flecks. Two rows of thick black feathers jutted out from the backs of each of their forearms. The crown of their chest to their lower torso was lined with down feathers that were a pale smokey-white. Their legs were that of a bird, relatively lanky and black, two large talons replacing their feet. The same could be said for their hands, covered in a thick leathery skin, corresponding with their legs. This was an owl.
For a brief moment, the air was still. Ambient sounds faded away as the two stared into one another. Surely, this creature was a fallacy—no humanoid birds existed. It was unnatural, unorthodox, yet at the same time spell bounding and entrancing. The both of them were as frozen as the snow on the ground. Eternity from the blackness of the eyes flashed before the man, as time seemed to erase for an instant before they let out a deafening scream. The man clambered backwards, their pain disappearing as their back hit the wall behind them. Their heart was about to shatter their rib cage. The man’s eyes involuntarily shut themselves, his vision not wanting to see the beast in from of him. Flight mode had activated.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” the man screamed. Against his initial judgement of not wanting to make the situation more dire, the owl blurted out,
“Please, your foot is injured. Let me help,” he said, slowly moving toward the man.
“Get the fuck away from me!” the human demanded, pushing himself further against the wall. “Get me home right now! Where the hell am I?!”
The concern grew greater inside of the owl, showing itself more intensity across their face, their large eyes still glimmering in the light of the fire. He began his side of the story, starting with a retelling of the precedential events and morphing into an introduction, their voice a low, breathy, soothing quality.
“I discovered you outside whilst I was hunting in the afternoon. I’m not certain how long you had been unconscious before finding you, and you were suffering from minor frostbite to your extremities. A blizzard had been ongoing for a while.” he said, attempting to sound as reassuring as possible. He continued, “I knew you were alive because your heartbeat had slowed; that is what drew me to initially locating you. Us owls can hear subtle things like heartbeats from many meters away. If you hadn’t been wearing your thick clothing you would have been dead.” The owl shuddered slightly at the thought of what he had just said. He paused, “I understand to you that my appearance may be... frightening to you,” he looked down at the man’s swollen foot with a crane of his neck, similar to the movement of a gimbal. Their voice became lower with less volume, “But I truly assure you... I will not hurt you. I wouldn’t think about harming you. I have water, food, and shelter. Your foot needs to heal, and it will take... weeks.” The man’s face transformed into a look of disgust at this. “I moved your belongings to the other room where they won’t be touched. I greatly apologize for not applying a splint to your foot. I didn’t want to do anything without your consent. I... knew better and I should have done so.” With this, the man finally forced himself to open his eyes with hesitation, gazing upon the humanoid. He felt his heart rate increase, but he stared intentionally and focused on the owl’s image just feet away from them, their prominent heart-shaped face contrasting their black body as all Lesser Sooty owls possessed.
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“My name is As,” the owl finally revealed, “What’s yours?” By this point the man’s foot ache had dissipated. He hesitantly revealed it, still unsure of whether he could trust this—thing.
“Wayne,” the man said in a low tone, “My... my name’s Wayne.”
“Well, Wayne,” As started, “I want you to get your heart rate down. Again, I don’t have any weapons. I’m here to help you.” Wayne looked down at As’ talons on his feet, switching his gaze quickly to their black claws on their fingertips.
“I beg to differ on the weapons.” Wayne said with a sense unease in his voice.
“Please don’t mind my talons. I only use them for my daily hunting. I eat smaller creatures, not ones like you. Speaking of which...” he trailed off for a moment, swiveling his head towards the hearth while simultaneously reaching for a metal ladle with a wooden handle hanging on the corner of the stone structure, “This stew has been ready for some time now. I’m sure you’re very hungry, that is, if you haven’t lost your appetite from your predicament.” As internally joked, but not a hint of it was in his tone. Wayne looked around with some nervousness, then ghosted a small smile. “Here, let me help you back into bed,” As gestured their arms out as if signaling to carry them.
“No, no. I can do it.” Wayne’s voice suddenly grew shaky; it would hurt doing this. Slowly, Wayne stood on his useful left leg and began hopping towards the bed, stopping, and planting himself down precariously, carefully keeping their right foot suspended. With great care, Wayne lowered their broken foot onto the bed with a slight wince. As walked to the opposite side and lifted the blankets from the floor, situating them over top the human in a neat manner.
Laying his head back with a weary, deep sigh, Wayne at long last forced himself to relax, or at least what his body would consider relaxed in the moment. His thoughts were flooded with his wife, Shayna, and their daughter, Allysa. Did they know he was gone? Whisked away to some... magical fantasy land? Surely not, not until two weeks have passed by. Silently, he hoped time had stood still, and when this was all over he would end up right where he had vanished from, with two weeks remaining in his escapade, as if a lifetime flashed by in a second. His anger rose. This mess he couldn’t control. This stupid bird, this stupid blizzard, his stupid broken bone. For a glint it built up, swelling inside of him, as he watched the owl go about their self-righteous ways by the heat of the blaze. The nuisance he had become. A choking feeling made itself known. This was going to be a long ordeal, and deep down he resented it.