Airya blinked. The light from her world was too bright for her eyes. She blinked again and laid there looking up at the never-ending wall of mountain that stood beside her. There was a flutter in the hand she was holding tight to her chest. She sat up.

Ignoring her throbbing head, she looked down at the little owl who looked up at her. She let it go. It shifted and wormed itself around until it sat directly on her palm, facing her. Airya noticed that the scars she had seen before on its feet now had newly added marks. Slices with fresh blood. She sighed, stroked its back, and then looked down at her arms and legs. She had the same slices with blood, also. Some cuts deeper and bleeding more than the others.

"I would take you home to tend to these, but I don't want you to feel like a prisoner or anything," Airya said to the owl, "I know I should go home and try to fix myself up and wash these out, but I’ll get in so much trouble, and I don't even know what to say."

The owl looked up to her with curious eyes.

"Do you know how we got these? Was it from the fall, or was it from that dream? My mom wouldn't believe me if I said it was from a dream."

The owl didn't utter a sound.

"Ok, well, you can go now." Airya set the owl on the ground and went to stand up, trying to shakily support herself. It just stayed where it was and stared at her.

Backing away slowly, feeling every cut with every shift of movement, she held out her hands to show it not to be afraid and then turned around to start heading again toward the village she was desperate to see.

The sad coo sounded again.

Turning back to face the owl, Airya found it still staring at her.

"Do you need me to help you find your way home?" She waited but didn't get an answer. Sighing, she approached the bird again and scooped it up. It rubbed the top of its beak against one of Airya's thumbs and nestled itself against it for a moment with its big eyes closed.

"Well, I guess I can help you find something to eat and clean you up a bit to get you ready to head home. Do you have a name?"

It opened its eyes and rustled its feathers.

Thinking for a moment, Airya decided to take that as a no, or maybe she wanted it to mean no so she could name it, "Can I give you a name?" she asked.

The owl rubbed the top of its beak against Airya's thumb once more.

"Ok… How about Hethei!"

It repeated the same movement again and nestled into her thumb, looking to fall asleep.

"Hethei it is then," she whispered with a smile. She carried the owl to the trees she had been heading toward before she had heard the sad hoot up the mountain.

Walking gently, she decided to pass multiple trees first before stopping so she could get closer to the second river. She still wanted to go to the village Atta, but before she could search for that, she noticed a big opening in the mountain wall for the second time. It was the opening that she had seen before she had gotten distracted by the little owl stuck in a tree.

Walking toward it, she cradled Hethei in her palms while he breathed steadily, seeming to have fallen asleep. Then she stopped in awe in front of it. She noticed that most of the mountain here that was chipped away and carved out looked just like the work that was done in the temple by the Solocs. But she also noticed deep, long smooth lines that she had never seen before high up on the edges of the opening. Grooves that dug deep into the stone. She wondered if they were from the Strigiformes long ago.

A random book popped out of thin air from the height of her head and fumbled toward the ground. The pages fluttered before it landed with a soft thud near the opening to the mountain. Airya stared at it before stepping toward it and bending slowly to pick it up with one hand. It was from one of the languages that she understood, thanks to the mirror in the temple. It had the title This Way We Were engraved in black on its red binding. She wanted to open it and read it, but she also wanted to go into the cave and then head to Atta before it got dark. Reluctantly, she set it back on the ground and noticed that there were other random pieces of writing a few paces away, just like the room in the temple. She would have to remember to come back to gather them up at some point and sneak them into the temple without her mom noticing.

She turned her attention back to the cave and walked in. She noticed that it wasn't as deep as she had been expecting. Instead, it was shallow but had many rocks and tools lying around with a bunch of small thin white chips scattered on the ground like someone had worked on something big and amazing long ago. Stepping once more into the cave, one of the chips cut into the bottom of her heel. She sucked in pain through her lips to try not to wake Hethei and then decided to hobble out on her toes back toward the trees to not put any pressure on the particle embedded in her skin.

She continued hobbling past a few more trees, her shoulders tense until she saw the second river ahead. Reaching it, she set Hethei down gently on the ground, which woke him. She smiled apologetically before sitting on the edge of the river and bringing her foot across her cut-up leg to get the thing she had stepped on out of her heel. Finding it, she saw that it was white, thin, and small, just like all the other shavings she had seen in the cave. Fixing her small fingers around it, she pulled it out and then set her foot in the river as she brought the shaving up to examine it. It was the color of the bones and the same material that was left behind from the rats boiled in the river at night after they would eat them. But it was flatter and way sharper. Shaking her head, she threw it into the river and looked to Hethei. He just stood there staring at her once again. She got up, scooped him up, and while holding onto him tightly, bent down to put his feet in the river too.

"There. Hopefully, that will get them clean enough for you," she said, bringing him back away from the water. He hopped up her arm, leaving wet footprints, and made his way up to her shoulder, perching next to her ear. She giggled. He wasn't that heavy and was like a small soft pillow when he leaned against her face tickling her with his feathers. "OK, now let's find some food for you so you can be off."

Standing up, she looked again toward the trees and then down the river, prepared to find any bugs she could under any stray rock. But then she saw it. There was a little village in the distance by the water. It was the other village she had been looking for, Atta.

She headed toward it to get a closer look. Uncertainty making her tremble, she told herself she didn't need to get too close, just close enough to see.

When walked until she could see the buildings' forms and some of the Solocs waddling around. Their homes resembled small temples carved from flat stones off the mountains' walls. They looked very much so like the homes her people lived in in the Molok Kingdom, but a lot newer, and there were fewer of them. Which surprised Airya because she had assumed that the same amount of Solocs had moved from the Molok Kingdom to Atta. When a large amount of Solocs came out of one home, her burning curiosity was answered. It seemed they had adjusted and decided to live more closely together than before and crowd themselves into fewer homes. She also saw that the village was set up like the Molok Kingdom in that it had a bridge across the river to the other side of the village, but this bridge wasn't stone like theirs. It was multiple large tree trunks flattened with age.

She had the urge to go to it. To see if they were anything like Stilk was. She had already bypassed her curiosity with the book she had just found, she didn’t want to not let herself do something else. Not when had this brief freedom from her mother. Not when she didn’t know when she would get the chance to be this close to them again.

She made her way over the flattened bridge.

A few Solocs saw her right away and stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Their beady eyes pierced into hers. She gave them a nervous smile as she continued her way forward, although her body wanted her to run. She could feel Hethei’s head shift to look to her face and then to the Solocs. He turned to her face again as if he was wondering, just as she was why she was doing what she was doing. She could tell by the Solocs’ chapped lips turning to deep, menacing sneers that they did not want her there at all. But she kept walking even though now a few of them scurried away, waddling quickly to disappear in their houses.

One stepped forward. One that was a little bigger than the rest. His large head held big ears with hair covering their lobes, turning a deep red that made Airya stop in her tracks. But before she could turn and run, he headed toward her faster than her mind could tell her feet to turn and walk away.

He got to her and shoved her down. Hethei flew up in the air. He made grunts and noises at her in a language that she could not read. He was furious, although she could also see the fear in his eyes.

But why? What did she do?

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

He bent down and grabbed her small ankle in his thick dry hand, wrapping his five fingers that were four times the size of hers around it. He then pulled her with him as he strutted away, dragging her deeper into the village, muttering something as the other Solocs stared.

She was about to scream, but when Hethei flew down and tried to peck at him, the scream caught in her throat. She waited a moment and then twisted, waiting for the Soloc to let go, but he only waved his hand, brushing Hethei away, his skin too thick to be prodded at all.

Then with one swing of his arm, he threw her through the opening to one of the houses. She squeaked as she skidded across the dirt ground and then scrambled to stand in the dark. She could barely see them but could feel them enough to know they were there. There were five shadows crowded close to the other wall opposite of her.

The sunlight was blocked from the giant Soloc making his way in.

She tried to run but had nowhere to go.

This time when he shoved her down, her arm stung as it scraped against a rock wall. He grabbed her ankle again to drag her back into the sun and toss her into another home with the same crowded scene.

This time she did not get up and was dragged out again into another, and another home as whimpers escaped her with pleas. Hethei tried with all his might to make the Soloc let go.

Finally, he did. Finally, he stopped. Dropping her ankle from his hand before turning to face her again. The red in his face was gone as more Solocs made their way to her to circle her all around.

She was scared, unsure of what they might do. She brought both of her knees to her body and held them, trying to keep her ankles and arms pulled in close. She didn’t want to be dragged again. She didn’t want to be touched again. She wanted them to let her go.

But none of them moved. They only stared at her with disgust and some deep-seeded pain. Too many heartbeats passed before two moved away, opening up the circle. They pointed at her and then at the opening for her to leave.

She got up and ran.

Why did they let her go? There was a throbbing pain in her ankle and a sting from the scrape on her arm when Hethei landed on it.

When she got far enough away, she let herself fall to the ground and cried tears that she had not been able to in their village because of how her fear held them back. She didn’t understand. Why did they do that to her? What were they trying to tell her? What did they want her to understand?

Why did they hate her so much when she had done nothing wrong?

Hethei hooted, startling Airya from her thoughts. She wiped the tears from her face.

"Oh, yes, food. Let's go," she replied, desperate for some kind of distraction. She turned around and walked back to the trees. She felt ease with each step the further she got from that village, although the same question lingered in her mind. Why did they hate her?

Approaching the first tree she got to, she pulled away some of the white bark that was already giving way and then quickly caught a live green bug that had six legs in her palm that was trying to scatter away from her preying hands. She held it out to Hethei to eat, but Hethei turned away.

"Don't you like bugs? I've seen owls eat them."

Hethei turned away more.

"Ok. No bugs. I don't know what to do for you then. I don't know how to catch rats or anything like the other kids." Airya was disappointed in herself for not only not being able to feed her companion but for also going into that village. She understood now why her mom did not want her to go.

Hethei rubbed his upper beak against her ear.

And after everything that had happened there, she now did not want to tell her mom. She looked down at her ankle that only had the slightest red mark. It was nothing compared to the scratches all over her arms and legs from the fall she had taken on the mountain. She was not in the mood to see the anger in her face and to hear her yell or scream. She was not in the mood to give her another reason to turn away from her for Stilk.

Why was she hated so much? Why did her mom not want to spend time with her, and why did the Solocs throw her around when she had just wanted to understand? What was wrong with her?

She sighed.

"Is there anywhere special you need or want me to drop you off at?"

A puff of feathers and an irritated shake.

A new hope clung to Airya’s heart, "Do you want to come home with me?"

A happy hoot. The first one Airya had heard from her new friend.

"You know, I don't have a lot of close friends. Everyone ages when their parents are ready for them to, so you never know if one day you will wake up and your friend will be just different. And soon you will see that my mom isn’t the biggest fan of me, just like all the Solocs aren’t either. I don’t understand.” There was another gentle stroke against her ear. She realized she was frowning. She received another loving stroke of Hethei’s beak when a tear trailed down her cheek into his feathers. " Let's head home, Hethei."

Airya walked up the temple steps with Hethei still sitting on her shoulders. When she had walked through the village, so many of her people had been staring at her. She imagined it was probably because of all the cuts and the big scrape on her arm, now crusted with dried blood.

Before entering the temple, she looked to the pillars carved with pictures of the giant owls and wondered if Hethei was born from one of them, but then saw the eggs from which the Solocs were emerging from. She looked away, confused. Her mind too tired to try to figure out how it all worked.

When walking into the temple, the sounds from the outside became closed off and muffled. She took in the smell of old stone and smiled when she saw her dad sitting on one of the two thrones talking to Stilk, who was standing by his side. When her dad saw her, he smiled his big wide smile that Airya always loved and showed most of his teeth. But then that smile dropped when he looked down her body, causing fear to strike Airya’s glee. She hadn’t seen her dad after she had aged yet. Would he still like her? Stilk turned to her, also looking at first shocked and then frustrated, probably from her interrupting them. He waddled off and away without even caring what may have happened to her or that she had aged.

"Airya! What happened!?" Her dad asked. His eyes widened as he jumped down from his stone seat to run to her.

She smiled awkwardly and lifted her shoulder a little to show him Hethei, "I made a new friend, Dad. And mom aged me to thirteen."

He shook his head, “Yeah. I know that. She told me. I meant your arms and legs. Let's get you cleaned up, and then you can tell me what happened. You look beautiful, Airya,” he added.

Her dad was very tall, about the same height as her mother, and had a strong jawline that was set very rigid as he dipped and tended to each of her opened cuts by the river to clean them. As he worked, she studied him. His hair was curly, which Airya loved, and she enjoyed how his locks always peeked up over his ears. His chin had a little scruff to it, and on his cheek was the one single freckle that Airya had always adored for as long as she could remember. Each dip of her cuts stung, but she was thankful. When he brought water up in a cupped hand and ran it down the one cut on her face, she was relieved that one hurt the least. When he was done, he took her in with his large yellow eyes.

"Ok, so who is this?" He asked, pointing to Hethei, who was perched on the ground next to the river watching them. He looked sleepy again.

"That's Hethei, dad. I saved him."

"Is that how you got all these cuts?"

"Yes, I think so."

His eyes grew wide, "What do you mean you think so?"

"I fell. He was stuck in a tree leaning a little high off the mountain. After I got him out, I fell."

She was pulled into a tight hug.

"Oh Airya! You have to be more careful!" He pulled her in tighter.

Hethei hooted a deep throaty hoot, and Airya pulled away from her dad, smiling at the owl.

"It's OK, Hethei. This is my dad. Now where to find you food." Airya looked around for any leftover rats that were boiled from the night before, and she spotted a couple on the other side of the temple set in the water. She got up and ran to the stairs, over the bridge connecting the two stairs, and to the two boiled rats. Picking them up, she smiled at her dad, "Can I give Hethei one of these?"

Her dad smiled back and went to pet the owl on the head gently, but Hethei leaped backwards away from him. "I don't see why not," he said, looking back at Airya, "He seems to really like you, doesn't he?"

Airya ran back over and sat next to her dad on the stone, crossing her legs and pulling one of the rats off of the stick it was stuck on. She laid it on the ground in front of Hethei and watched him hop up and down excitedly, flapping his wings, "Yeah, I guess so. I tried to let him go in the forest, but he didn't want to leave me,” which made Airya feel good inside. It was nice that at least someone cared for her and didn’t want to leave her or her to leave them. They both watched as Hethei took the rat into its beak and lifted its head back to try to tilt the whole rat inside its mouth. He had to do the motion again to let the rat fall further into its throat. Airya took a bite of her rat that was still on the stick. It was juicy and well done from being in the river all that time. The little bit of tender meat always filled her up quickly.

“How do you feel, Airya, being aged to thirteen?”

She smiled at her father. She had to remember that he loved her too, “Weird,” she answered, looking at her hands, that were a little larger than before. She could barely remember now what she had looked or felt like before, although her body seemed to. Every step she made felt like a giant leap, and whenever she went to sit somewhere, it was a giant fall.

“You’ll get used to it,” he pulled her into another hug. “Just imagine all the higher places you can reach now and all the new things you can do. You’ll have to try it out!”

She wanted to laugh but didn’t. Instead, she looked to Hethei, "Why are there so many owls here? Did the Strigiformes give birth to them all?"

Looking to the pillars framing the doorway to the temple, her dad answered, "Actually, I don't know. All I know is that Stilk had said that they just started showing up out of nowhere after the Strigiformes died."

Hethei finally finished the rat and bounced up to her. Hopping on his two feet, he cackled excitedly. Lifting off from the ground with a deep flap of wings, he flew and perched on Airya's shoulder before hooting gently. Airya smiled, "He has such a cute voice."

Her dad gave a deep hearted laugh, "If that’s what you say that is. You need some rest after your big adventure you had today," He looked to Hethei, "You and your friend."

Airya sighed. She loved time with her dad and hated when it had to end, "But I want to spend more time with you."

"And I want you to heal up. Rest will do that for you, Airya. Rest is always great after adventures because it prepares you for even more, and you want to have more adventures, don't you?" He poked her nose playfully with his finger.

She smiled, "Yes!"

"Then you should go to your room and try to get some rest. I’m going to need to find your mother to tell her about your cuts and your new friend," He looked to the outside of the temple. A slow, steady mist of rain began to fall in the daylight. The rain was always warm and fell in such a soft mist that it barely got them wet. Her dad had said that where they had come from rain always fell from clouds, but he didn't know where the rain came from here. There were never any clouds in the sky.

Airya watched the rain briefly with her dad while a small trickle of fear crept up in her stomach, "She won't make me get rid of him, right dad?"

Hethei puffed out its feathers.

"No, my little one, I will make sure she doesn't and that you won't get in too much trouble for falling and risking hurting yourself even worse than you could have," he said the last part in a mocking tone and winked at her. Airya pulled herself up to her knees so their faces could be level and kissed his small freckle on his cheek that she adored before getting up and heading to her room with Hethei.