Selen, or rather the Earth native who'd taken her name and role, knocked on the tower's door. All the while she was thinking, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want..."

The door opened and a giant bluejay wearing a vest stared at her. Then he wrapped her up in his wings and said, "You silly owlet! What happened? The Duke's men said they were questioning you!"

Looking at him revealed the message, [Bluemoon, Aves Male, Merchant 4. Father.]

Selen froze, surrounded by warm feathers. Here was the place where she had to lie. Or was it a lie? She thought she'd reconciled herself to the new job, but being handed a family all at once... She owed them an attempt at the truth. "Um," she managed to say.

"Don't stand there in the cold; you remind me of the day you first chirped on our doorstep. And heavens, you're a mess, again!" Bluemoon released her and waved her inside. "Sit down while I have someone draw you a bath."

The inside of the building was a meeting place. The large, round room was lined with doors, one of them standing open to reveal a tiny wedge-shaped bedroom. The middle held tables and a raised platform with a big desk and a dangling sign advertising "Rooms and Deliveries" in pictures and that unfamiliar language.

Bluemoon's sky-blue tail twitched and he lifted slightly off the ground as he made for the back of the room. "One moment." Then he was gone.

Selen turned around, befuddled. She was literate in this local tongue, which got her wondering how common books were. And printing. Ironworking. Industry. Education. Thinking about the technology couldn't calm her completely, because Bluemoon was already coming back to scoot onto one of the benches and pat the table. "Come on, tell me. You were doing that hush-hush delivery run, and then what?"

Selen sat down, feeling her talons click on the wooden floor. "I'm told I got robbed. I woke up mostly all right, but --"

"Mostly! Is that blood on you?"

Selen hadn't paid close attention to it, but her clothes were a mess. She wore a plain brown vest and shorts that had been gashed and stained with dirt and disturbing rusty spots. She'd also begun with odd flexible boots that left her toe-claws bare. The outfit wasn't warm enough for this chilly weather.

She looked at the stains again and said, "Looks like it. But I feel intact."

"Are you at full health?"

Selen blinked. "I think so?"

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"Then what happened? You just woke up and the Duke's men seized you and you don't know why you were attacked?"

"Yeah. They must have been upset about whatever I was carrying."

"Ticks! This is my fault. 'Have someone inconspicuous carry it', they said. And oh, I said I'd give it to a messenger who doesn't even fly. I'm sorry, girl; I put you in danger."

"I can't blame you. There's more going on here than we know about. Um... I will get to fly, right?"

"Of course! I was ready to teach you if not for all this. But then, what is going on? Did the Duke's men tell you?" He turned his head like a turret and looked suspiciously at the closed hotel doors around them. He continued more quietly: "They said you were talking nonsense, saying you remembered another world."

Selen took a deep breath. "I have to tell you. I'm not quite who you think. Really I'm kind of from another world. I could tell you all about it."

The jay studied her, his avian face showing little expression. "I see. Are you willing to at least go back to pretending to be my daughter?"

She nodded, feeling that she'd just make things worse by insisting. "You'll have to remind me of some things."

"I hope that doesn't include bathing."

"No, no, I think I can figure that out."

"Good. Now get yourself clean and sleep well. We'll celebrate your hatchday tomorrow."

Faint chirping drew Selen's attention to a dull-feathered bird who was carrying two buckets to a back room. Bluemoon said to Selen, "It's best that you not upset your Granny."

Selen nodded and left him, to whatever he wanted to believe. It'd just hurt him to keep insisting she was someone different.

The older bird smiled at her and beckoned her into a primitive bathroom, where the two buckets of clean and soapy water sat next to a bench. "Whatever happened, I'm just glad you're safe. Rest now."

The room stank faintly but not so much as she would've expected. Selen said, "Thank you." Meanwhile she looked her helper over and saw, [Farpeak, Aves Female. Agent 5. Grandmother.]

Farpeak leaned close and rubbed her beak against Selen's, startling her. It was like having swords clashing in front of her face, with a thump and scraping and pressure. Confusing. The older jay said, "Good night, Selen."

Selen sat alone in the bathroom, trying to settle her thoughts. It seemed she was safe for now. So many questions, though! She stretched out one wing and stared at it, feeling the feathers shift and align like a fan unfolding. They had a blue tinge as seen in the light of... what was lighting this place, anyway? She looked up and saw a faceted crystal in an iron cage on the ceiling. She'd have called it quartz what with the hexagon shape, but this one was glowing milky white and it seemed to stir the air toward the room's high little window.

Focusing her attention on it brought up another comment like a window in her vision: [Crystal]. Unhelpful. But having such a thing around was a promise: she'd landed in a world with magic! And it was apparently being used to keep a medieval bathroom smelling decent.

"That's actually a good sign," she said to herself. "Means it's common."

She turned to the buckets and found she'd been given a few rags too. Awkwardly, she tried to scrub along her feathers and wherever under them she could reach. She had blood and dirt on her and discovered bruises she'd been ignoring. Along with some other weird bird anatomy she didn't want to think about right now.

She spotted her reflection in the clean-water bucket, and another of the messages appeared. She stared at her old name, hallucinated in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "No. I tried the straightforward approach, but everyone wants me to be Selen. That's me, now."