A level 40 bird was flying apparently confused when, without warning, something Collided with it. It was an albino goshawk the bird hadn’t seen coming, and which had plummeted at breakneck speed.

Supposedly, it was the food of said goshawk, but the predator, with the corpse in its claws, flew over a nearby camp and dropped it.

The attitude of the prey had been strange to it, to which it was necessary to add that the bird wasn’t a species native to that area, so it preferred to discard the food. That magic bird had long ago developed intelligence.

“It hasn’t taken the bait,” a mare-woman examined the corpse that had fallen from the sky.

“Not only that. It has sent us a message. We can’t send birds to drug it, it isn’t going to work,” added another.

They had been hired to capture the white goshawk, a task that was proving much more difficult than they had anticipated. In fact, their prey seemed to be playing with them.

“It’s our turn. This time it’ll fall into the cage,” intervened a mage, a man-bear.

“The time before it just walked around, without getting into it. The previous one, it just broke through the magic cage. What makes you think that this time you can surprise it?” the first woman scoffed.

“You haven’t done better either,” criticized another man-bear mage, a companion of the first one.

Both groups were rivals. The reward for catching the bird was substantial, so it had led to quarrels and sabotages. Finally, they had agreed to try it in turns, but neither had been successful, and they were running out of ideas. It was being a very frustrating business.

Nevertheless, if anyone was really frustrated, it was Krusledón. None of the experts he had hired had managed to catch the bird, and it didn’t seem like the last ones were going to do it either.

Higher-level birds were unable to follow it at full speed through the forest, where it could hide, or simply run away by using the forest as a smokescreen. If the magic was too powerful, it went away. If it wasn’t, it laughed at them by breaking it.

What they didn’t know was that, in other circumstances, it would have simply flied away from them, as it was already beginning to be a bit boring. However, it was expecting something, so it was using them to amuse itself.

“She’s close,” it said to itself, eager.

A magical trap got in the way of the bird, but it simply swerved, and circled it again and again to let them know that it knew it was there, to taunt them.

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“Now!” exclaimed one of the three mages, the one who was holding the spell.

They used Magic Displacement to move the trap around, to catch the elusive bird. What they didn’t know was that the sky wasn’t only its home, but its domain. There were no plants or other interference there, so it could clearly detect changes in mana, however subtle. Besides, that one wasn’t even that subtle.

Wrapped in wind, it broke the cage before it could re-form, so escaping with ease. It thought of Plummeting down on them, now that they were busy, to scare them off. It was confident that, at its speed, they wouldn’t be able to react. However, suddenly, the goshawk turned.

It Plummeted, not toward the mages, but in the opposite direction. The bird gained speed, entered the forest, and used Slalom to dodge trees and branches at breakneck speed.

It seemed as impossible not to collide, not even touch a leaf, as to stop suddenly, and land gently on the shoulder of a blond woman with pointed ears. Tears welled up from the goshawk’s eyes, as they hadn’t in a long time. Its head was gently hitting her cheek.

“Sisters…” she murmured telepathically. She was totally overcome by her feelings, unable to express in words the joy that her heart felt.

“Sister goshawk, welcome,” the lynx received her with sincerity.

During the game, they had argued often, very often, and even fought, but they were still sisters. Either one would defend the other even by risking her own life.

“Sister goshawk. I am so glad to see that you are fine…” Goldmi received her, while caressing the soft plumage of the goshawk with her hand.

That white plumage, with which she had fallen in love in the game, could now be touched and seen in all its splendor. No other player had paid attention to the bird, but she, after seeing her, hadn’t been able to help but ignore any previous ideas, any discussion about what the best pets would be. Gjaki and Eldi had simply shrugged, though the bird had positively surprised them later.

“Elf sister… I didn’t know if you would return, if I would see you again. Not until I felt the call, until I felt you coming. I wanted to go looking for you, but I couldn’t,” the bird sobbed.

“You couldn’t?” the elf asked, surprised.

“Being at level 50 and guarding this place was the condition to wait for you. So that you would find me if you came back,” confessed the bird.

“How…? Who…?” asked the elf.

However, her sister shook her head. She didn’t know more, or she couldn’t tell her.

Suddenly, the lynx raised its head.

“Something is coming.”

“They must come looking for me. They always show up, in case I’ve crashed into something. They do not lose hope…” explained the bird with disdain.

The goshawk prepared to fly away, while the elf and the lynx Camouflaged. Soon, Life Detection discovered three approaching presences. They were all over level 50, which was very dangerous.

It didn’t take long for them to get within a few meters, at which point the goshawk took off, with the intention of attracting their attention, so they would leave. However, she didn’t have the success that she was expecting.

“Damn bird. If we catch it, when the prince gets tired of it, I’ll be sure to grill it,” one of them cursed, whom Goldmi recognized.

He was one of the prince’s bodyguards, which confirmed that he was there, and that he was probably the one pursuing his winged sister. She hadn’t seen the other two before, but it wasn’t hard to guess that they were other bodyguards.

“There’s something else around here, but I don’t know exactly where,” another of them reported.

He was an expert tracker, so the presence of the two sisters wasn’t entirely unnoticed. They had Camouflaged their figures, noises and smells, but their aura, the distortion of mana that every living thing causes, was still there, though it was only detectable with great skill.