Sharp taps were coming from her window. Athera glared at the beam of light streaming in and rolled off her bed. Maybe she could just stay on the floor and not deal with any of this.

“Athera!” a familiar voice called after another round of tapping.

She finally forced herself off the floor, keeping her blanket wrapped around her. Tarquin grinned at her as she opened the door and she glared back.

“Morning,” he said cheerfully. “Just getting out of bed? Really, Athera?”

“I had a rough night.” It came out harsher than she had meant.

Tarquin’s smile slipped for a moment. “We’re going to get her back,” he promised. “Come on, we do need to get an early start…and I need help saddling Cedar.”

From somewhere outside, the griffin gave his trilling cry. In response, Athera gave a shrill whistle and the griffin came trotting into view…his saddle somehow upside down.

She shot a glance at Tarquin and he shrugged. “You’re the beastmaster, I’m just a lowly blacksmith.”

“You’re anything but,” Athera said distractedly as she stepped past him.

Cedar bounded toward her, stopping just shy of barreling her over. “Hey boy,” she said, reaching around him for the saddle. He let her slide it back to its upright position, making a contented churring noise.

“How did you do that?” Tarquin asked, stepping up beside her.

“He’s always excited in the mornings,” she explained while tightening the girth on the saddle. “And you didn’t quite do the chest strap.” She moved to the front of the griffin, fixing the chest strap to him while he started preening her hair.

“He wouldn’t let me touch him after I got his bridle on,” Tarquin said.

Athera paused, looking over at the blacksmith. That couldn’t be right, could it? Cedar, while excitable, was her friendly griffin.

“I think he might be missing Tallis,” Tarquin said, voice uncharacteristically soft.

Cedar picked that moment to nip gently at Athera’s shirt where her harness should’ve been.

“He should be fine,” she decided. They both would. She took hold of his bridle and stroked his soft feathers.

“I hope so,” Tarquin hesitated, glancing at the woods between her cabin and the village. “Catherine wanted to talk to us before we left.”

“Us?”

“Yep, you specifically. You’re not getting out of this one.” He started back along the forest path, leaving Athera to follow him.

“I really don’t like the sound of that,” Athera murmured to herself, taking hold of Cedar’s reins. The griffin blessedly followed.

Tarquin shot her a grin from over his shoulder. “I know. But you’ll be fine.”

He continued chatting cheerfully as they made their way back to the village. In a way, Athera appreciated the distraction, even if it was mostly directed towards the relative heats of different types of woods when burned.

When they finally came to the village, it seemed…empty. Just the day before, children had been running everywhere and the market had been full of vendors. Right then, smoke rose from the chimneys of homes with broken windows and the few people that were out were busy cleaning the rubble the pirates had left behind.

“It’ll be good as new by the time we get back,” Tarquin said, seemingly guessing what Athera was thinking, but his tone seemed a bit hollow.

“I hope so,” Athera murmured softly. Even Cedar seemed subdued, glancing up and down the streets with his tail uncharacteristically low.

“There you are.”

Athera looked up to see Catherine, the grandmother of the village, beckoning toward her home. She was holding the reins to a hippogriff, already saddled.

“Is she coming with us?” Athera hissed to Tarquin. Catching up to a skyship would already be difficult, but with another rider? One who was well on in years?

“No,” Tarquin laughed softly. “She’s letting me borrow her hippogriff.”

They had talked about going to the next town to rent a mount for Tarquin, but the relief Athera felt at not having to walk another 10 miles was immense.

“So you’re both foolhardy enough to go after a gang of pirates?” Catherine asked as they stepped over to her.

“They took Athera’s griffin,” Tarquin said.

And my brother, she added silently.

“I have a favor to ask,” Catherine said, reaching up to stroke the ashen feathers of her hippogriff.

“Of course,” Tarquin said immediately.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Catherine glanced up the street before turning back to them. “I need you to steal back something the pirates took from me.”

Athera frowned. “What did they take?”

Catherine sighed. “Something important that’s been in my family for generations. I fear that they may not know what it is and am more afraid that they do.”

“Catherine?” Tarquin asked slowly.

“It’s an alchemical catalyst. A powerful one.”

Athera exchanged an uneasy look with Tarquin. She had never seen a catalyst, but they were supposedly the key to complex alchemy. The kind that was reserved for children’s stories.

“Are you…” She started asking, but before she could even form the words, the older woman shook her head.

“No. I’m trained only in the basics as all my family was--nothing that would require a catalyst.” She smiled warmly at Athera and reached out for her shoulder. Cedar intercepted, butting his head into the woman’s palm instead. “Where did you think my skill in healing came from?” she asked, ruffling Cedar’s feathers. Her hippogriff snorted.

Athera opted to not answer, not wanting to admit that she had never given it any thought. Even after Catherine had spent months helping her heal.

“What does the catalyst look like?” Tarquin broke in, saving her.

“It’s a split ruby and sapphire in a golden inlay. You’ll know it when you see it.”

“What if we can’t find it?” Athera asked. This was all becoming too much.

Catherine’s smile became a little too forced. “Then we must hope that they sell it to a collector that doesn’t understand its value.”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” Tarquin promised as Catherine handed him the reins to her hippogriff.

“Take care of yourselves,” she said. “I packed some goodies for both of you in Leather’s saddlebag.”

Tarquin’s face lit up. “Thanks!” he said excitedly--starting to reach for the saddlebag before thinking better of it. “We’ll be back before you know it, catalyst in hand.”

Catherine nodded, shivering slightly against the autumn breeze. “Athera dear, make sure he takes care of Leather.”

Athera nodded, watching as Cedar sniffed at the hippogriff. His ears perked up in interest while the hippogriff stretched, completely unphased.

“Hey!” Tarquin said, holding his hand to his heart in mock protest. The hippogriff followed the movement, sniffing at his chest and causing him to take a step back. Tarquin stilled and started to awkwardly pet it. “We’ll be the best of friends by the end of this,” Tarquin said weakly.

Athera smiled at that and nodded at Catherine. Tarquin was many things, but a beast tamer was not one of them.

They mounted as Catherine waved goodbye. As always, Cedar was curious, ears flicking in the direction of every new sound and experimentally testing the limits of his reins. Leather on the other hand stood stoically as Tarquin found his balance.

The sky had turned to dusky purples and grays by the time Cedar started to show signs of tiring.

“Good job,” Athera murmured to the griffin. They had been flying for a couple of hours and she was quite proud of her griffin. Leaning back in the saddle, she signaled to Tarquin to land. He nodded and said something, but between the distance and the wind, she couldn’t make out the words.

They landed next to the river moments later. Athera quickly slid out of the saddle, keeping a light hold on Cedar’s reins as Leather and Tarquin hit the ground. Again, she was struck with just how regal Leather was. The hippogriff kept his head high as Tarquin shakily dismounted, not even flinching when the blacksmith accidentally kicked him in the flank.

“I’m certainly glad that’s over,” Tarquin said. He shifted his weight from leg to leg, pausing to shake out a foot.

“You’re not going to like tomorrow,” Athera predicted.

Tarquin shot her a glance then took the bundle containing their tent off the back of his saddle. “If you have any advice for saddle soreness, I’d love to hear it,” he said, starting to set up the tent.

“Grin and bear it?” Athera tried around a grimace. It had been enough that she might even be sore the next morning.

“Comforting,” Tarquin said dryly.

Ahtera shrugged and pulled out the dried meat she had packed for Cedar. Luckily, the griffin was not picky and happily began to scarf it down. Leather, as a hippogriff, was able to graze on the grasses. He would need meat too, but he could wait until they restocked.

“There we go,” Tarquin said happily, dragging Athera out of her thoughts. He had finished with the tent and was already working on a fire, having started a small blaze on the sandy bank of the riverbed.

“You move fast,” she said. Cedar pulled another chunk of jerky out of her hands, nearly throwing her off balance.

Tarquin grabbed a larger branch and started coaxing the flames to it. “What can I say?” He said, turning to shoot her a grin. “I’m a man of many talents.”

Athera settled down beside him, giving in to a smile of her own. She offered Tarquin one of the apples that Catherine had packed for them and he took a large bite out of it.

“Strange how hungry you get after not doing any work,” he remarked around a second bite.

She refrained from telling him he’d feel just how much work he’d done in the morning. Instead she allowed herself to smile at him. “You’re always hungry,” she said.

“Aye, it’s true,” Tarquin finished his apple and held the core out where it was snatched up by Leather. “You know, the last time I spent a night in these woods was before I took over the forge.” He smiled with the memory.

“I think the woods feel more normal to me than indoors at this point.” Athera plucked a few of the tall grasses they were settled in and began to braid them absently.

“Do you camp out here on your own?”

“Sometimes.” She hadn’t gone for nearly a year, but there was nothing better than listening to the soft chirp of crickets and watching the stars.

Tarquin stiffened beside her. “Athera…” He said slowly.

She glanced over him, reading the concern in his eyes. She poked his shoulder with her braided grass. “I have the griffins. You don’t need to worry about me.”

The blacksmith nodded, clearly unconvinced.

Athera looked up at the sky, filled with thousands of glittering stars. Somewhere under them was her brother, maybe looking up at the same sky. Cedar plopped down behind her and she reached back to stroke the soft griffin. “Do you really think we’ll be able to track them?” she asked.

“They’re in an airship, it’ll be pretty hard for people to miss,” Tarquin paused. “Besides, they’ll be headed to a city to pawn what they stole. We’ll find them in no time.”

“Yeah,” Athera agreed. “Yeah.”

They were silent for a minute, the only sounds that of the stream and Leather ripping up grass from somewhere behind them. “What if it’s not him?” Tarquin asked quietly.

“It is,” Athera replied immediately. “I saw his face, it’s him.”

Tarquin stayed silent.

“He’s the right age,” she pressed on. “It has to be him, it can’t--he can’t--” she cut herself off, drawing in a controlled breath and pushing down the sudden bile that rose to her throat.

“Hey…forget I said anything,” Tarquin said. He smiled, but it didn’t seem to quite reach his eyes. “We’ll find them in no time.”