This time, one strand makes it safely away with the witch. She caught me once when my strands were thicker. She did not visit for a month. I cried and raged and I ate the lichen growing on the walls and even a bird or two. I wondered if the others would fly away. They certainly knew their kin were missing.
It is against the protocol to leave the perimeter and it is against the protocol to leave my tech on the witch.
“And it isn’t polite to snoop,” she said when she finally showed up again.
“Well I never had a proper mother to teach me that,” I screamed.
But I enjoy creeping over my boarders and this delicious invasion has been planned for a long long time. I want to hear her voice when she’s eating and hear her sleep. And I want to guide my birds who aren’t able to tell one old woman from another. She is getting old and one day she will need my help. I’m sure I did it for the right reasons.
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Well.
There’s a delay in transmission as she travels down the river but soon I pick her up at one of my outposts. Then another. I’m not sure she’ll be proud of me just yet if I reveal them so I keep them to myself.
The witch meets others after two days travel. I have swapped out many birds. The owl lands after nightfall and sits out of the smoke of their campfire. The sound travels well though. The witch is talking about me!
“I gave her whiskey,” she says, taking a long slug on the bottle we had shared. I was disappointed she had taken it with her. Now I see her share it around.
“What?” says a man with a charcoal uniform. “That’s an expensive piece of equipment, you shouldn’t give it alcohol.”
“The villagers send her all sorts of offerings. She can take it. Besides, it was a rite of passage. I read the last witch did the same. Her diary said it was celebrated as a 16th birthday ritual.”
“You’re soft,” the man said slowly, “it’s just as well you’re getting out.”
He signals to the other two. They set up a watch perimeter while the witch and the man settle down to sleep. I let the owl hunt. I see she is well protected.