Lost Fledgling [MadEmperor]

[DragonSong]

Lanaya rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, look at it this way--how long did it take you to learn to walk as a human? A year? Two?" She shrugged. "You've only had this body for an hour or so, and you're already toddling. That's rather impressive, comparatively."

[MadEmperor]

Grimr laughed. It was a bit like a series of caws, but he hadn't been able to do that as a bird. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess it is."

"So what's the next destination gonna be?"

[DragonSong]

"Mmmm." Lanaya tapped one finger to her lips in thought, looking around. "I suppose we should start with just getting you to the stream and back. It's probably one of the more frequent errands you'll need to run once you start learning spellwork."

[MadEmperor]

Grimr nodded, beginning the laborious task of accomplishing that very trek. He was slow for the first circuit to and fro the stream, taking each step with care. The second time, he went at a more normal pace, only to trip and fall about halfway to the stream. With her encouragement, he got back to his feet on his own and kept going.

The second fall got him tangled in some vines. He flailed and cursed, but frustratingly, he couldn't seem to free himself. He couldn't get the right leverage to claw himself free, even if he had thought of doing it.

[DragonSong]

"Easy, easy, you'll just make it worse," Lanaya said soothingly as she approached. She'd wanted to let him work himself out of the tangle, but after a minute of thrashing it became clear that was not going to happen this time. "Here, hold still."

She lifted a hand and murmured under her breath. The vines around him shuddered, then slowly started to peel away from his form, slithering back across the ground like snakes rather than plant matter in response to her spell.

She dropped her hand, breathing a little harder than normal and blinking rapidly to clear her suddenly fuzzy vision.

[MadEmperor]

Grimr pushed himself to his feet with a groan. "Thanks," he said, clearly frustrated.

But then he noticed her breathing and, worriedly, asked, "Lanaya? Are you okay?"

[DragonSong]

"I--" She swallowed and blinked. "I'm alright. Just...tired." With a faint smile, she explained, "Magic use can be very taxing on the body." And she had performed a number of quite complicated spells in relatively close succession.

[MadEmperor]

"Do we need to take a break?" he asked, head cocked quizzically to the side. He didn't like to admit it, but he could use one too. "I'm actually a little tired myself."

[DragonSong]

The witch nodded with a little smile in his direction. "That's a good idea."

She settled herself onto a moss-covered stone that jutted from between the roots of an old oak. "One of the drawbacks of magic--spellwork may seem like the easier option, but in many situations it takes just as much or more effort than simply accomplishing a task the usual way."

[MadEmperor]

Grimr found a seat on another stone and nodded. "So, don't use magic for things you can easily do without? That makes sense."

"Though I guess it'll take me a while to know when magic will be wasted effort."

[DragonSong]

"A while" was a relative term; in Grimr's case, Lanaya was surprised he began to familiarize himself with his limits as quickly as he did. While he didn't quite take to the kind of spellwork that she preferred--channeling natural energies into her Craft--he did surprise her with a penchant for potion-making.

"I'll need to get you a proper copper cauldron," the witch noted as she climbed into her nest and saw him already at work. Norn, sleepy with the sunrise, hooted an approval from his perch above Grimr's head, where the owl was observing his work.

It had been a little less than three months since her flock had taken in the cursed little crow, but he fit into their home with surprising ease.

"Here." Lanaya crossed to show him the herbs she'd been out picking. "You needed more meadowsweet, right?"

[MadEmperor]

"Yes! Thanks!" the little birdman squawked appreciatively, deftly plucking a sprig of it and tossing it into his cauldron. The color of the brew took on a yellow hue. He seemed excited by this.

Over the past couple of months, he hadn't reverted in any noticeable way, aside from the return of a few avian mannerisms. He didn't seem to get how lucky he was in that regard, and he was already eager to try again to manipulate his curse. However, this was tempered by an even more powerful desire to learn.

[DragonSong]

Starting to wrap up the other herbs she'd gathered, Lanaya glanced at the potion and nodded approvingly.

"A few more months and you'll be better at brewing than I am, apprentice," she noted with a pleased chuckle.

[MadEmperor]

"Really?" Grimr asked happily.

"Though, it's not exactly spellcasting," he added with some disappointment. He had really hoped for something more active.

[DragonSong]

Lanaya gave him a sympathetic look; technically, while one didn't need a natural aptitude for magic to perform basic Craft, it certainly helped. Her own earth affinity powered her spells almost as often as witchcraft did.

"Not yet," she told him with a shrug and a quick pat on the shoulder. "But you're getting better at that, too. And there's no shame in playing to one's strengths--you'd be surprised how versatile alchemy and potion making can be."

[MadEmperor]

"Is it true that alchemical potions can even permanently affect the body?" he asked, though she had long since made sure he was keenly aware that trying to cheat the curse was a dangerous proposition that always carried serious risks. But that didn't stop him from thinking about ways it might be done. "Hells, temporarily would at least be something."

[DragonSong]

Her look turned a little sharp as she answered carefully, "It is...possible. But combining alchemy with other kinds of magic is rarely a good idea. Most alchemists who have tried end up..." She tried to think of a tactful way to say "exploded", failed, and huffed out an exasperated breath. "Let's put it like this: I have given you very few hard and fast rules. Unsupervised alchemical experimentation is now one of them, understood?"

It was true: she tried to respect Grimr's independence as much as safety allowed in his training, and had only given him a handful of strict rules in his apprenticeship. She had to hope he wasn't going to fight her on this one.

[MadEmperor]

"I know, I know!" he said with all the huffiness of an exasperated teenager. "Even if I was a master, actually trying it would be dangerous."

Of course, teenagers often said such things and then went and did what they were warned against anyway. Even if they meant every word when they said it. Because these were things that only happened to other people.

[DragonSong]

"Mmmm." The witch gave him a long, hard look, but ultimately decided not to push the point. For now.

"Perhaps we can find you a proper alchemist to speak with," she sighed eventually, moving to rummage around through her storage chest. "Someone in one of the larger cities, maybe..."

Finding the poultice she'd been looking for, she unscrewed the lid of the jar and reached up to begin smearing the greenish, minty paste over her shoulder blades as best she could. The scars on her back occasionally ached after work like foraging, and it wouldn't be a ritual Grimr was unfamiliar with at this point--even if Lanaya didn't exactly invite questions about it.

[MadEmperor]

The idea of that made him visibly uncomfortable. He hadn't once thought of going back, least of all as he was now. The boy could easily imagine ending up in some menagerie, made to entertain gawkers, lest he feel the lash.

"As if anyone but you would teach me..." They were more likely to want to study him as a specimen.