Eira joined us some time mid-flight, her crest had stopped glowing and the snow was already beginning to melt. It was a short flight to Talon’s tribe but the pain from my wounds slowed me down and made the distance seem like a few miles. When we reached the Hawk Tribe, their healers helped me bandage my wounds and put runes of restoration on the bandage. Dalia, the healer in charge and Talon’s mother, ordered me to avoid vigorous exercise for the next few days till my wounds healed. Knowing how fierce and strict she could be, I agreed, thankful she had not ordered me to stay in bed.

I wandered around the tribe, recalling memories of spending countless hours as a child here. “These are the basic runes you’ll be learning today…” The sound of a rune master’s teachings drifted towards me. I went over to observe the children, having nothing to do. Runes were quite simple to use, they were just symbols that channeled the world’s energies. For example, using a rune of heat would be directing the energy of any fire or source of heat to the rune. As the world had lava running below its surface, the energy would be gathered from there. A rune of cooling would be directing energy away from the rune. Runes would disappear over time, depending on how well they were drawn.

The children were practicing drawing the rune of heat to boil a pot of water. It was quite simple, three wavy vertical lines side by side to represent steam. One of them was having trouble with the rune; she kept drawing the lines too straight. I stooped down beside her and drew the rune into the sand next to her pot, showing her how to draw a perfect heat rune. The better the rune was drawn, the more effective it was. She copied the rune into the sand, a fierce concentration on her face. Drawing a circle around the symbol, she completed the rune as she had been taught. She anxiously put her pot of water on it, clearly thinking her rune would fail or at best, heat the water only slightly. I felt simple joy fill me when I saw her face light up in astonishment and triumph at succeeding in the drawing of the rune. She must have thought I was her rune master, as she almost fell over when she realized it was a stranger who had helped her. Blushing, she murmured her thanks, making me smile in reply.

Looking up, I saw her rune master glance at us and give me a nod of acknowledgement. He knew me. Of course he did. He was my old rune master and was familiar with those of us from Raven Tribe, having come from there himself. His name was Skylar. There was something different about him though, he had no wings. I left the temporary school yard and crossed over to where my pigeon was being kept. There were stories that said he once travelled across many worlds, learning different forms of magic and rune casting from all of them. At the end of his journey however, a payment for all the knowledge he had learnt was demanded and he paid in the form of his wings. When we were young, most of us thought the stories to be true, but we were too frightened to ask him. I chuckled at the memories of fear the stories had struck us with when we first heard them.

The pigeons here had a forest for them to roost in. The forest itself was amazing, considering the tribe was located on a mountain and the forest was in a cave. The forest consisted of many different species of birds and animals. Most of the animals from nearby tribes stayed here as the forest had a certain feeling of home to them. It was the same with the tribes, we all felt at peace in the forest. The cave was huge and it was possible to get lost in the forest. Whistling a simple birdcall, I called Eira in our own language that was a mix of pigeon and raven. Eira called back and flew to my arm, pecking me on my head playfully. I laughed and tickled her crest.

I heard Talon’s pigeon call out and an answering call came from behind me. I spun around and was amused to see his pigeon let out a small flame attempt to burn his hair. He winced and puffed air at the pigeon. His pigeon was a drought-pigeon, it had exactly the same properties as Eira but it caused a drought instead of a snowstorm.

“Didn’t Mom say to avoid vigorous activities?” He raised an eyebrow at me, knowing the instructions Dalia had issued out.

“In what way is greeting Eira considered vigorous?” I answered him. He snorted, clearly doubting that greeting Eira was all I came here to do. He was right though, I had come here to use a portal. That was another ability of my tribe; we could open portals easily without having to give anything in exchange. Our elders told us that in the past, ravens were messengers of Death and had to travel through many worlds. Thus, the ability was passed down to us and we now could pass through portals to travel either between worlds or great distances.

Talon grinned at me. Suspicion bloomed the moment I saw him smile. Before I could get airborne, he pushed me into the lake behind me and took off towards his tribe. Growling in fake anger, I chased after him, the feeling of being free and away from any trouble filling me with a joy that I had not felt in a long time.