Weeks passed.

The winds grew colder and colder. Winter was approaching.

Little sparrow's stash of walnuts had run out in the first week, and soon he was reduced to having to try his chances with wild seeds again. Now wiser from his near death experience with the cat, he would fill the now empty wooden "cocoon" with seeds, before trying them at the top of a tree, where he had built a shoddy nest. Even if he fainted, he had a safe place to wait for his body to detoxify. It was hard for a spirit beast to succumb to regular poison.

His nest was made with twigs, weaved neatly, with many sprigs of dried grass for comfort. Little sparrow was proud of his handiwork... it was a very nicely made nest, if he chirped so himself! Still, without a padding of fur, it was scratchy and uncomfortable. The nest was already wearing down from his restless, sleepless nights.

Oh, how he missed home. And... the "berry" walnuts as well.

Having had to live weeks off questionable seeds, day after day, he couldn't help but think about those walnuts. They were delicious, but were they truly worth the danger of the human town?

Little sparrow couldn't say for sure.

...but it was a tempting thought.

He moved his nest a little closer to the town.

Each night, he saw many lights from the squares that adorned the human nests. It made him wonder, it made him curious! But never did he dare to go closer, to investigate. But as his nights went sleepless again and again, he noticed a strange pattern.

Further and further into the night, light after light would fade, as less and less humans walked about. And gradually, just about every light would be snuffed, there would be not a man in sight. Little sparrow was soon certain the humans were asleep when the lights went out.

One night, when the snow piled deep, and almost no humans came out even during the day... Little sparrow flew into the town.

36 days had passed since his last visit.

Little sparrow was miserable and starving, noticeably thinner. It had been difficult to find seeds in winter, so he was reduced to blowing snow aside with wind magic, before eating the frozen plants below. It was awful. Back at home, his parents had huge stockpiles of nuts for winters, having learnt from their squirrel neighbours.

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Walnuts.

He wanted to eat something tasty again. It had been so long... He flew deeper into town, until something piqued his interest.

The scent was faint, but on the roof of a house, a tray of walnuts had been placed. Little sparrow flapped around in delight. He wouldn't even have to risk entering a human nest! It did not occur to him to question why walnuts would be on a roof to begin with, nor why it remained unburied from the heavy snow.

He rushed over and began his feast. The walnuts were frozen from cold, but a strange feeling welled up from within, a mix of joy and relief. If he was human, perhaps he would have cried.

And right there... he felt a dizzy feeling before he fainted once more. No... how could walnuts be poisonous too?

...

"Oh... finally!"

As soon as he felt something tip the detection rune he had hidden beneath one of his walnut trays, Xuefang rushed over.

During the many weeks he had been setting up these traps, he had developed a vengeance for pigeons. He had lost count of the amount of times he rushed over in excitement, only for it to be a stupid pigeon (and the occasional rat or squirrel)! Really, he was almost glad when winter came.

He picked up the frail little sparrow and petted it gently. It was very cute.

His spoilt daughter had been nagging him about getting a pet recently, but he adamantly refused for months. After all, a pet was a commitment, one you had to feed, one you had to bath and whatnot. And it would probably stinky and poop all over the place. Truly, what a nightmare. He had enough of that when she was in her toddler phase.

That was until, he had a genius idea.

What if it was a spirit bird? It would be small, which would be convenient.

It wouldn't shit. It wouldn't stink. And it might be a good bodyguard for his daughter once trained. What was this? Could something so perfect truly exist? Finally, he could shut his annoying daughter up!

...then Xuefang found out how much it cost to buy a spirit beast. Fuck.

It almost felt like a miracle a Cloud Sparrow was spotted just weeks after. The heavens were looking out for him!

...

Little sparrow woke up at last. Where... was he?

It was warm here, and he was sitting on something soft and comfortable. Was he dreaming of home again?

But an annoying "hahaha" sound snapped him out of his train of thought. Little sparrow got up and looked around.

Lines of white were all around him, reminding vaguely of a spider web, and he was on a soft patch of fur of sorts. But further out... was human room... and there was a big and small human!

"Chirp! Chirp chirp chirp!"

Little sparrow began to cry out in panic and fly around, pecking at the white lines. But they were tougher than even wood, and it hurt his beak. Not even a stone bullet would break it! The humans had captured him!

It was all over...

Why did he risk his life for just some walnuts? If only he listened to his parents' warnings. Little sparrow resigned himself and just laid limb on the floor, as if dead.

...

...

He wished the humans would shut up. They were really noisy. He was hungry again.

A rattling sound came from the white lines, as the bigger human opened part of the white lines. Were they finally going to eat him? Little sparrow closed his eyes, terrified.

...but the human just put a weird purple leaf with blue stripes in front of him. It smelt really weird.

Stupid "grass" again? After he had to live on them for so long?

They were going to make him eat more?

He knew those humans were evil!