The village square had transformed leading up to the festival. The large warehouse had been opened up and tables and benches were brought outside. The women of the village had set up several fire pits and stoves inside and were working hard on making food for everyone. Outside, the men had built a stage for the ceremony. It was a simple wooden platform with stairs leading up from two sides and the back. The front door of the chief’s house was only a few steps from there.
I had thought the warehouse was some kind of storage building for the produce the villagers harvested from their fields but it turned out they had two smaller sheds near the entrances for that. In case of emergency, they could move the food there but that had never been necessary.
Mira and Circe were busying themselves with everyone else, working on the preparations. Tassels were hung up on the walls and long lines hung above the open space. Several barrels of ale stood ready along the inside wall of the warehouse and there even was some water. Bonfires were prepared around the square to light up the night while the centre was kept free for dancing and merrymaking.
I had taken some time to hunt with my family and we prepared food for ourselves. It was simply raw meat sliced into more civil portions but that would be much more comfortable than swallowing whole rats or the like in front of everyone. I also hijacked some space in the warehouse to set up my heating plate. I wanted to have tea for myself and my family at least. Maybe some humans would be interested as well.
The day of the festival started like any other. I made my way over to the witch hut together with my sister, who had spent the night in the village with me. We flew low above the dirt paths and some of the villagers even greeted us in passing. I made my way down to the clearing while Yuuna flew towards our nest. It was her turn to watch the boys today. Once dusk broke, they would come to Greypeak and get a first look at human culture. Shank had built them a little platform on the side of the warehouse where they could sit out of reach. That should help them feel safer with the whole event.
We had our usual lessons with Circe, still working on her maths, and followed that up with some potion crafting and herbal knowledge. Mira spent most of the time simply quizzing us with increasingly difficult questions. I gave up shortly after noon while Circe held out an hour or so longer. It was then I realized how much I still had to learn about witchcraft. I was only skilled in brewing potions since I had such insight into the thaumaturgical background of that specific process.
It was late afternoon when we left for the village. The buzz was audible even to the two humans with practically every villager hard at work on the final steps. Meat was roasting in the back of the warehouse, stews were being cooked and fresh bread was brought over from the baker. Mothers were putting their children into fancy clothes, as clean as they could get them. Fathers were being scolded for drinking before the celebrations started. All in all, it was a lively atmosphere.
I had elected to walk next to Circe. Flying would separate us too much and this way I felt like I was truly part of the community. We made our way over to Circe’s family home where the humans quickly entered to drop off the ritual ingredients. Since my friend told me she would be back in a moment, I elected to stay outside and observe the organized mess. I saw Shank carrying over a new bench to where an old one had broken.
Bert, the guard I met the first day I properly entered, was nursing a cup of ale while standing in front of the buffet. A few children tried to sneak by and get their hands on some of the bread and vegetables but he was a stalwart defender.
Rubeos, the smith, was helping the butcher cook the roast meat in the back. Both of them were keeping an eye on two fires. My goat was being prepared by the butcher. It looked like they would still take an hour or two.
I was ripped out of my musing by a high-pitched voice.
“Hey!”
I swivelled my head to the source. In front of me stood a brat, maybe five or six years old, with dirty-grey hair. He had an entourage of two friends behind him and everyone was holding some still steaming bread.
“Want some?”, he grinned at me.
I blinked.
“No, thank you”, I said, “I only eat meat.”
The girl behind him squealed like a teenager at a concert by her favourite band.
“Wow, where did that voice come from?”, the other boy asked.
I shifted my body so they could see the arcane speaker.
“From here”, I said.
“Cool!”, the brat said before stuffing his mouth.
“C...can I touch you?”, the girl asked.
“No.”
“Aww!”
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I fluffed my wings making them flinch back.
“I’m Fio”, I said.
“Oh! Right!”, the brat exclaimed, “I’m Gus, that’s Pete and the squeak is Mini.”
“I’m not a squeak!”, Mini complained, “I’m only half a year younger than you!”
“Yeah, but you’re tiny!”, he said.
I looked between them. The girl was barely a few centimetres shorter than him. She was taller than Pete by a bit, even. Compared to me, they were all taller. Only by a bit, though.
“She really isn’t tiny”, I said.
“See?”
“But she’s small.”
“Hey!”
The boys laughed and Mini joined in after a short pout.
“So, why are you like that?”, Gus asked after they had calmed down.
I looked at my wings.
“You mean why I am an owl?”
Three nods.
“I was born as one.”
“Born?”, Pete asked, “I thought birds hatch from eggs.”
“Same thing, different word”, Mini said.
I nodded.
“So you didn’t evolve?”, Gus asked.
Now they all stared.
“That’s what you’re after?”, I smirked, “I did not evolve from a human, no.”
“Then how can you speak?”, Mini asked.
“I learned it.”
“But you need to be sapient, right?”
“Technically not. Sapience only allows you to take a Class and give [Identify]. Everything else is up to the individual.”
“I’ve never seen a beast that can speak”, Gus said.
“That is not surprising. Understanding a few words is entirely normal for animals that live with humans but that’s about it. Everyone else simply lacks the need to learn.”
“So you learned speaking to live with humans?”, Mini asked.
“You could say that.”
“I heard you met…”, Gus started but he was interrupted by a hand on his collar pulling him back.
“Gustav! Stay away from there!”, the owner of the hand said.
It was a woman in her thirties. She wore a pretty but simple linen dress and had the same dirty-grey hair as her son only much longer and in a beautiful braid.
“Eh? But…”
“No buts!”, she said, “And you two come here as well!”
“Muuum!”, Gus complained.
I blinked.
“I don’t mind”, I said.
She froze. Slowly, her face turned to me.
“I… you…”
It looked like she was trying to restart. Thankfully, Circe came out of the house just at that moment.
“Hey, Fio. Sorry… Oh, Mrs Freed. I didn’t see you there. How’re you doing?”
“Oh. Circe. Thank you, I am fine. If you’ll excuse me.”
With a hushed command, she made the kids follow her. Mini looked back apologetically and Pete rolled his eyes at Circe. Gus had no such freedom since his mother was pushing him along in front of her.
“What happened here?”, Circe asked.
“Well, the kids were talking to me and then the woman freaked out. Mrs Freed? Is that her name?”
“Yep. She never liked Master. I barely ever talked to her but I think she’s scared of witches.”
“I see. It did feel like you were making her more uncomfortable than I was.”
“Sorry.”
I looked up to see my friend rubbing the back of her head.
“No worries. Everything ready for the ceremony?”
“Yup. We can go around and see if anyone needs our help or just sit down and relax.”
“I would take the former option but I believe we would mostly get in the way…”
“Yeah…”, Circe said, “Let’s find a nice place to observe.”
“I’ll be sitting with my family up there”, I said and pointed at the platform on the side of the warehouse.
“Oh, can I stay there, too?”
“If you can get up.”
Circe tried for barely a minute before Shank brought over a ladder for her to use. The platform was more than big enough for everyone even if a few more humans decided to use the better vantage point. We observed the last hectic minutes of preparation and soon dusk was starting to break. The fires around the plaza were lit up and once they burned properly, the roasts were brought out to be kept warm closer to the tables. The same was done for the soup.
I left for a minute to meet my family mid-air and led them to our spot. The boys were understandably nervous but the calm behaviour of their role models was enough to keep them quiet at least. We did have enough arcane speakers for everyone but Hik and Sem were incapable of using the item. Circe greeted them with a friendly wave but kept her distance.
I observed the villagers and saw them looking up daintily. They were clearly more scared than my little brothers but having a human sitting with us and chatting normally calmed down most of them. A few minutes later, The brats stepped up below us. Mrs Freed was sitting a few tables away and looking on nervously. Joanne was holding her hand and spoke reassuring nonsense into the other woman’s ear.
“Hey!”, Gus shouted.
Even more heads turned.
“Can we come up?”, the boy asked.
Circe looked at me and I shrugged my wings.
“Sure”, I said.
Mini beamed at that and Pete bumped his fist. One by one they clambered up the ladder and soon settled in next to Circe. I told them to keep some distance from the boys.
“Because they’re kids?”, Mini asked.
“Yes”, Mum said, “They are not sapient. Need to grow.”
“Oh!”, Gus said, “That’s cool!”
“Cool?”, Mum tilted her head.
“He means interesting”, I sent to her telepathically.
She answered with understanding.
“Here, some meat!”, Gus said and stretched out his hand. He was holding a wooden plate with some leftovers than had been fried separately.
“Thank you”, I took the offering.
It was not very tasty, lacking the blood of a fresh kill. And yet, I enjoyed it. The first gift of a human that should have been scared of me. It was wonderful.