And the moment she awakens, she’s back in her cage. Memories come to her hazily, frayed mind trying to connect her visit to another realm entirely with the events that have just come to pass here in this world. When the harpies finally dropped the shack down, they’d nded with a loud thud that bounced them all around the room. Nothing had broken in terms of bones and muscles, but their spirits were utterly damaged-

  To a point where Homer hadn’t even bothered to lift his bde when the harpies tore apart the pnks around them to dig a way into their hiding hole. To fight them now would be pointless; he could kill tens of them, for sure, but what then?

  Death.Nothing else.

  So the two surrendered, ying their weapons down (or rather, weapon, for Maia’s staff had no offensive capacity) as they waited to see what’d happen. The harpies chittered together in their nguage, although Maia could occasionally pick up words here and there. Maybe the harpy nguage was closely reted to that of humans?

  And then one stepped forth, far more imposing than the rest. Harpies were built somewhat akin to humans; they shared a simir torso and head shape, and their arms were mostly human-like except for the feathered wings that sprouted from along the arms… And then there were the legs, very much like birds. Sharp, hawk-like talons that could crunch even rock with enough force applied to the grip. This one was even bigger than the rest, standing a head apart- and unlike the rest, this one had a different cw structure, with one rge cw scratching against the ground on each foot.

  Like it was made for ripping open flesh and tearing out what lies beneath the flesh. Her arms were long and muscur, chest puffed with bright red and blue plumes, face etched with age and experience, hair long and flowing and just as bright as the plumes. This was someone of importance.

  And then it spoke.

  “Groundwalkers who’ve committed grievous crimes against the vilge must be punished. Do you acknowledge your crime?”

  At the time, neither Homer nor Maia had answered. Maia had been too beside herself with fear, Homer kept his mouth shut out of defiance. Then they’d been whisked away to their cages to rest there until they could face some sort of council-led trial.

  … And that’s how she’d ended up here. But now she’d resolved herself and found a new way forward. One of admittance, reparation, and hope.

  “Shadows,”she mumbles. The cages they’ve been locked inside are thankfully quite spacious and open, bars made of solid wood with enough space for one to stick a hand in between… And most importantly, they were outside. A bit of an awkward position with a natural jaggy rock formation right where the sun would rise, but it was te enough into the day that she could just barely position herself so that the rays of the sun shone down upon her and cast her shadow towards the locked door.

  She watches over her shoulder as her shadow quite literally comes alive, stretching out from the floor to become a physical being. It still holds her form, although it moves in unnatural ways- sliding between the bars like it’d turned into paper before becoming completely solid again, staring at the lock for some time.

  A surprisingly eborate mechanism that needed a key. Not that the shadow needed it, merely sticking a finger into the lock as it started fiddling around, molding itself to match the mechanism and its intricacies until… Click. The lock opens and the door is pulled open.

  “Thank you,” Maia mumbles as the shadow instantly melds back into the floor and becomes normal again. That was scary. She couldn’t even *feel* the shadow doing its own thing… And it’d been with her the whole time? Had they been providing her with aid like this the whole time? Likely not, but now she had to wonder.

  They had no guards: perhaps the harpies believed them to be no threat? Or they were a secondary concern… She could pick out that they were going to be hosting some sort of celebration or event when she was listening to tray words yesterday.

  She crawls out of the cage and towards Homer’s. He’s still slumped over, fast asleep. Maia’s hand reaches inside the cage to shake his shoulder over and over until he finally stirs awake, the old man’s eyes blearily searching for sources of light.

  “Mmmrngh…? Feeding time? Better be better gruel than what they give POWs back down at the- Maia?!”He instantly hushes himself when his voice raises, hand over his own mouth. It only takes a few seconds for the shadow to once again appear to undo the lock to his cage as well, but Homer quickly grabs Maia’s arm and shakes his head.

  “No. Leave me here for now. Whatever you’re about to do,” his eyes trace the shadow. He seems oddly nonplussed… Maybe he’d always had his suspicions. “having a lumbering old coot like me following you around won’t do. I’ll be fine. If you’re going to escape, do it alone. I’ll break out of here and follow you soon. We can meet further down the mountain.”

  Maia’s throat dries and tightens up. This is already going off the script she’d written in her mind, right hand idly gripping into a fist and tightening, then releasing, tightening. She just had to recollect herself and go with the flow.

  “O-Okay. But… If you don’t hear from me in a day, just- just go, okay? You’ve got your own reasons for traveling. I don’t want to become a weight tied to your leg. So tomorrow, if I haven’t shown up, you just keep going. And…” A loud swallow. Eyes focused. Don’t be afraid. “I’ll do the same if I don’t hear from you, okay?”

  Homer barks an instant, short ugh. Quiet and hoarse, so very Homer. So very alike the man who is already destined to die. “Something about being put in a cage really changed you, little miss. What, did you find your courage tucked away there?” Then he frowns at himself. “... Aye, no, you found your courage when you left that little hut of yours. You just found a way to express it now. I’ll agree to those terms. And I know we’ll meet again soon.”

  Maia reaches a hand into the cage to take hold of his hand in turn, fingers gripping together firmly. This might be the st time she sees the old man, feels his touch… She’d miss him-

  but she knows he’ll be fine. and that he’ll be fine.

  After a moment’s touch she lets go and slinks away. Alright. The red and blue plumed harpy was an important figure, but she couldn’t be the only one. She’d have to take in the vilge’s structure and figure out where to go… And she had to do so fast. She’s not sure how long she has for sure, but she expects her escape to be found out by evening when the harpies return from whatever event they were all attending.

  Snow crunches under her feet as she begins her mission. They’re close to the top of the mountain. Not the very peak, she can see that off in the distance; this is likely one of the lower peaks, still far higher up from where they’d been kidnapped from. This likely wasn’t the only harpy vilge on the Keybone… Maybe one of many? Since they could fly as they wished, the connections between the vilges didn’t have to be very physical.

  The air here felt light in her lungs. Crisp. She’s used to winter air. The forest she lived in could get absolutely drowned in it during the harsher winters, and one winter when her parents had still lived they’d been enclosed into the shack for a few weeks- only getting by thanks to their celr full of food and a source of freshwater.

  Harpy buildings were quite simir to human buildings. Four walls, roof, some had multiple stories- the tallest she was a three story one, seemingly belonging to someone important- although she saw a clear difference: every house had a hatch built onto the ceiling. Guess this was so that the harpies could leave by ceiling if needed. There were also pathways built to connect the roofs, so it was as if there was another street yer up above.

  … Well, calling it a street felt wrong, since the harpies didn’t seemingly pave the ground in any way. There weren’t even any clear dirt paths, besides the snow being more cleared here and there, likely not from active effort as much as from people just walking through the same parts over and over. There were barely any trees besides the occasional old pine. The sky was clear, no clouds above… So maybe below? Depends how high up they were.

  Occasionally she saw a harpy flying through the air, but they didn’t seem to notice her. Sticking close to the buildings and hunching down kept her out of view. This was the first time she got to see a harpy in flight without a prey in their sights; graceful fps of their wings, one did a loop-de-loop in air for no other reason besides to entertain itself…

  How beautiful.

  She’d taken the life of such a beautiful being. Not even in a violent way, like she’d ripped the strings of a puppet and left it lying on the floor. The harpy she’d brought to her god flew like this, chittered like this, made friends and had a family.

  And she had to find a way to fix this. She’s gone a few houses down now, gncing over her shoulder; the rge rock formation that had shadowed their cages was still visible, but she couldn’t see the cages themselves anymore. She’d gotten far. Still no sight of her goal though. How long has it been? Likely only ten minutes. Her bravery did not leave her, but she was beginning to realize the haste she’d made her decision in.

  One of the pnk pathways above her suddenly creaks. Did a harpy nd there? She freezes in pce and barely even breathes, waiting, watching, listening… Another sudden creak-

  And then snow drops. It was just snow. A big pile of snow. Probably melted or something. Maia feels her spirit leave her body for just a second before she rexes. She’s too jumpy. This is going to go badly if she doesn’t just take a breather and…

  …

  She’s leaning against the wall of one of these houses, and it's solid, aye, but now she’s realizing that there’s a window right next to where she’s leaning. And through the window a pair of eyes stares right at her, wide and unblinking.

  She stares back,

  slowly tries to move her arm-

  and in that fsh-in-a-pan moment the window is thrown open, arm sticking out and grasping Maia by the shoulder to yank her inside with such force that it actually lifts her off her feet and right into the house. The window closes right after, like Maia had never been outside the house at all.

  Little did she know that this would be yet another fateful encounter.