Carry You

Weiss found her way out to the mews blocks where she could see birds flying around. Night crew was taking over from day crew. There was still plenty of time left in the day, but they were definitely switching. Granted, she couldn’t hear the owls flying which really threw her for a loop. She hadn’t paid any attention to it before, but the owls were absolutelysilent.How was that possible? Granted, it wasn’t like she knew a lot about birds yet… She hoped Lilyana would be willing to explain why owls were so silent. She could hear the caracaras but definitely not the owls. Some of the owls were definitely quite large, but so were the caracaras. She found the woman getting things ready and she smiled at Weiss. “Well good evening, Weiss. How were things today?” “Um, pretty decent. I have a question that I wonder if you’d be willing to answer.” “If it’s about the birds, I’m willing to answer just about anything.” Weiss nodded. “It is. I was wondering why the owls are so quiet. I can hear the caracaras flying, but not the owls.” Lilyana put the bucket down and motioned for Weiss to follow her. “C’mon with me. This’ll put us behind a little bit, but those spoiled brats can wait a little bit.” Weiss nodded and followed Lilyana into her house. Lilyana led her to the front room where jars and jars full of feathers sat. The woman rummaged around the jars a little bit until she came back with a couple of long feathers. “If you look closely, you can see the fact that owl feathers are serrated. This along with the soft texture allows them to muffle the sound of the air coming through their feathers unlike the caracara’s feathers. Go ahead and touch it.” Weiss took the feather and gently touched it. “Wow, it is soft.” Lilyana smiled and nodded. “Sure is. That’s a major reason they can fly so quietly. It’s not perfectly silent but it’s darn near close. Honestly, if you plucked an owl, you’d be shocked just how little body mass they actually have. Most of their bulk comes from those soft feathers you’re touching right now, though that’s a flight feather. Body feathers especially deep down are softer and are called downy feathers.” Weiss blinked. “I used down-feather pillows in Atlas.” Lilyana shook her head. “Barbaric. Plucking feathers from birds like that…” “Well, where did you getthesefeathers then?” Weiss wasn’t accusatory; she just legitimately didn’t know where Lilyana had gotten the feathers. She gently took the one back from Weiss and put them back in the jars. “Raptors molt yearly, starting in the spring. All these you see here? They fell off naturally. I keep the flight feathers because you never know if something might happen and they need to be imped.” “Imped?” She hadn’t run into that term yet. Lilyana nodded and started out of the house. “It’s a procedure where you insert a molted feather into the shaft of a broken feather. We don’t really need to do it for day or night crew too much as they live relatively safe lives. They’re just surveillance for the manor. They don’t particularlylikebeing around other raptors so much, but as it’s how they were raised, they can handle it. It’s mostly my personal hunting birds I need to do it with. They sometimes get into tussles with wild birds and lose a feather or two…or they jam their tails into the ground with mantling sometimes.” She shook her head. “That can break one or more tail feathers. Thankfully, it’s something I’m perfectly trained to do by this point. It happens rarely, but when it does, youneedmore feathers to replace them. So I keep whatever shed feathers I find. I don’t pluck the birds for their feathers; raptors generally molt most if not all of their tail feathers and their flight feathers every year.” Weiss tapped her chin. “Didn’t you say you let the birds molt through the spring and summer and you give them the warmer seasons off? Why do the day and night crew continue to fly?” She was curious about that. Lilyana had said that the warm seasons weren’t really for hunting. However, Valerie continued to fly her eagles through the warmer seasons when they were molting. There were a lot of nuances she was curious about. “Well, like I said, the day and night crew are surveillance for the manor. They aren’t being used to hunt and they don’t hunt their own food either. I feed all of them on a rotating schedule. A raptor doesn’t need to be fed everyday or else they’ll be too fat to fly. I don’t use weight management techniques with day and night crew because they aren’t hunting birds like my personal ones I use.” “Weight management? I have heard it mentioned a couple of times, but I haven’t really had it explained to me yet.” It had definitely come up, but nobody had really explained what itwasto her yet. It was why micros were really difficult, but that was all she knew about it. She didn’t really knowwhat it wasactually. It sounded important, but she hadn’t asked what it was yet and nobody had offered to explain. “Ah, right. Weight management is what it sounds like: managing a bird’s weight. There are two main target weights: flying weight and hunting weight. Granted, with awakened animals, you don’t need to be as strict on it as you do with a normal bird. Awakened animals can be convinced to hunt even if their weight is too high and they’re relatively fat off a meal. Basically, it boils down to making sure they’re hungry enough to want to fly and hunt withoutactuallystarving them. You carefully control their rations and get them fit.” Weiss frowned. “That…sounds abusive.” She didn’t want to say it, but President Jacques had controlledherweight by not allowing her to eatanythingoutside of mealtimes and keeping her portionsincrediblysmall. She’d really never had enough to eat until coming here. She’d never known what being fullfelt likeafter Winter had awakened her aura. She had forgotten what it felt like since it’d been over a decade since she’d last had enough food to feel full. It felt like abuse to keep food from anyone. “Are you familiar with sports?” Weiss shook her head. “No. I wasn’t allowed to watch TV or anything like that. Everything in Schnee manor was strictly controlled.” “Well, the thing with top athletes is that they need to have very specific diets and calories given to them. It’s basically the same idea with a hunting bird. Their calories are controlled and they have specific diets to make sure their athleticism is able to sustain them at their target weight.” Lilyana tapped her chin. “Let’s put it like this. After you have a really big meal, do you feel like doing anything? Do you want to just go and wait it off?” “Not really.” She would’ve been punished had she attempted to do what Lilyana was suggesting. Shecouldn’tjust go and wait off a meal. Granted, she did feel kinda sleepy after meals here, but she always kept going. She didn’t show it because she didn’t want to be treated poorly or reflect poorly on the Belladonnas. “Weiss, I’m asking whatyouwant to do; not what you wereforcedto do.” Weiss looked down. “Yeah… The big meals here do make me kinda sleepy.” “There you go. It’s because it’s a massive amount of calories. Raptors are the same. Generally, they have something called a crop which is like a holding bag for food they’ve eaten. They digest it slower than if it all went straight through them. If you feel sleepy after a big meal and don’t want to do anything, why wouldthey?Of course, our physiology is different, but the concept still applies. A raptordoesn’twant to expend energy it doesn’t have to. Awakened animals can be convinced to use a lot more energy than their non-awakened counterparts. But point is, if a raptor’s had a big meal, they don’t want to fly or use energy. That’s where weight management comes in. Maybe…think of it more asenergyandmotivationmanagement. We give themmoremotivation by keeping food for them. If they’re fat, they don’t want to fly, let alone hunt. It makes them more energetic to keep their food supplies constricted. Theywantto fly to get the next big meal. But we’re notstarvingthem. We’re just controlling their portions so they have that energy and motivation to fly. Does that make sense?” “It still doesn’t feel right to me…” She just couldn’t get past the idea of keeping food from any living being. Of course, she knew that the wild was a harsh place and a meal was never guaranteed; these animals were incaptivitywas her hangup. “Is there a reason?” Lilyana’s voice was soft but Weiss looked down. She really didn’t like talking about what had happened to her and what President Jacques had done. “…My meals were strictly controlled before I came here. I never had enough food to feel full, not since I was a kid. My aura being activated means I need more food than most people. But if I let him know that I needed more food, it would get me in trouble. Aura users requiresomuch more food than a normal person.” “Ah, so you’re relating to the animals having their food restricted. Well… It’s not the same. Even top fae athletes have their diets pretty strictly controlled so that way their nutrition is kept at a specific level so that way they can build muscle. We’re making the birdathletesfor the hunting season.” Lilyana tapped her chin. “Well, think of it like this.Mostpeople who sit around and don’t exercise don’t build muscle, right?” Weiss nodded. “People that are more active need more calories, right?” Weiss nodded again. “But, in order to build muscle consistently, certain nutrients like protein are required in higher amounts, right?” Weiss nodded again. “That’s what we’re doing with the birds. During the molt, we keep them fat. We feed them as much as they can eat basically. They’ve lost their muscle mass from the previous falconry season due to just sitting around and eating as much as they please. Wewantthem fat because that’s how they grow new feathers effectively. But in the falconry season we want them fit and trim and able to fly as best they can. Do you think a bird can fly its best if it’s got a lot of weight on it?” Weiss shook her head. “Is it starting to make sense now?” “Yeah, I guess.” She just still didn’t like it, but she was starting to understand. She had never gone through conditioning since, well, President Jacques couldn’t know what was going on with her. She had never told him that she had her aura or that she was training in combat. That would get her in trouble. She was always hungry and her weight stayed very,verylow due to that. She would probably start putting on weight here, but that was frankly needed. She wasmuchtoo light for her age range and she was pretty sure her height was stunted from not getting enough nutrition growing up. “There you go then.” Lilyana smiled. “How about we start to get these birds fed?” “All right.” Weiss took one of the buckets from Lilyana who told her which mews blocks to toss the quail into. She still wasn’t the most comfortable with the headless quail, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. So she just started chucking them into the open mews. She was feeding the day crew as they were clearly not owls. Some were in pairs, others alone. They were definitely beautiful birds, but she could see they didn’t really want to get too close to her. They looked at her warily, so she didn’t linger for too terribly long. She finished up with what Lilyana told her, the sun beginning its descent much more noticeably now. She returned to where she had met up with Lilyana who waited for her. “So how are you handling those quail?” “Um. Still notgreat,really…but I don’t want to pass out, at least.” She was used to everything being so absolutely sterile in Schnee manor. She had no connection to the natural world aside from riding Neige and going on the hunt she had escaped from that had led her here. Theoretically, she knew that beef came from cows, chicken from chickens, pork from pigs… But it was another thingentirelyto be seeing the bodies of dead animals for her. She was used to being served everything already cooked. She hadn’t even seenrawbeef or chicken before in her life. “It’s just weird seeing the animal pretty much whole for me… I haven’t even seen raw chicken, beef, or pork.” “Well, you still won’t see it here since we fae don’t eat meat. Falconry is abigjump for most fae and not something most of them want to engage in. Some see it as cruelty and wholly unnecessary, at least when it comes to hunting birds. Day and night crews for large manors like this? The quail and other food sources are seen as necessary sacrifices to keep the birds happy and healthy. But some see hunting as cruelty even though we’re really just letting the birds do what they would do were they in the wild.” Weiss nodded. “I can see why. This is definitely a big jump for me and I’m not even hunting yet.” Assuming she could get past herself and be able to actually hunt. She was so squeamish. Oh, right… “I’m not sure if I’ll be around for evening feeding tomorrow or not; Valerie invited me on a hunting expedition to see her eagles fly. There’ll be some gyrfalcons there as well, or at least one.” She wasn’t sure if it would be one or more. The plural had been used, so maybe more than one? She really had no idea. She just didn’t want to let Lilyana down by seeming to skip a feeding. This really wasn’tnecessaryin the end, most likely, but she wanted to learn to fly the birds… If nothing else, she might be able to make furniture to sell to other falconers. That wouldn’t sate her desire to work with the birds, but she wanted to be involvedsomehow. “Oh, I think Valerie did mention that to me… Well, no big deal. I’ve been handling all of this myself for several centuries at this point. Don’t worry too much about it, Weiss. I promise I can handle the birds and feeding on my own. Though, eventually, I’ll probably need to teach you to break down the quail appropriately. You’ll see falconry in action tomorrow, so you’ll be able to decide if you canactuallystand real falconry or not. Keep in mind itishunting. It’sgoingto be animals having their lives taken. If you can handle tomorrow, then you can probably handle falconry. If not… Well, I’ll still be happy to have you down here. If all you can handle is feeding like this, then that’s fine. I’ll still be happy to teach you to make furniture and to handle the birds.” Weiss nodded. “All right. Thank you.” She wasn’t sure how she’d handle watching birdsactuallyhunt. She was so used to everything being sterile in Schnee manor…but this was a different world entirely. However, it seemed like a lot of things remained the same. Nature was a rough, nasty place to live and there was no guarantee of survival. However, people had still altered the natural world extensively and irrevocably. “Oh, how’s Dorosi?” “Oh, he’s doing fine and he’s coming along as a falconry dog. It might do well to take him with you tomorrow. I’m scent training him right now and playing fetch with him to get him used to retrieving. The scent training is the hardest part.” She shook her head. “Never thought I’d see a full-grownwolfso reluctant to engage in what should be natural behaviors. I know unicorn forests are places of peace, but it’s still weird to see awolfof all things so nervous and unwilling to do what should come naturally to it.” She paused. “Why don’t you take him in with you tonight? Let’s go find him.” Weiss nodded and followed Lilyana to a small shelter that had been built on the side of the house. It wasn’t anything impressive, but it would protect the inhabitant from wind, rain, and possibly snow. It was a little alcove with a bed in it. Dorosi lay there, eyes closed, but he opened them and raised his head when they started to approach.“Oh, hey, Weiss. What’s up?”He got himself to his paws and padded over. He sniffed her then nuzzled her hand with his nose. “Hello, Dosori. I’m going on a falconry expedition tomorrow with some of Blake’s friends. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? You wouldn’t have to do anything; Lilyana just thought it might be a good experience for you to see what a real falconry dog is like. Again, if I do manage to get in the field myself, it’ll be useful to have you, but you won’t have to hunt. Just retrieving and scenting. I won’t expect you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. It sounds like your training is going pretty well?” She wasn’t entirely certain how to speak to a wolf, honestly. She had only spoken to him a few times so it was still extremely awkward for her to do so… She was trying, but it was definitely really awkward. She wasn’t used to being around animals other than Neige. Dorosi looked down and dragged his paw on the ground.“I guess it couldn’t hurt, but I’ve had barely any training…” “It’s okay, Dorosi; I’m not expecting you todoanything. I just want you toseewhat goes into being a falconry dog.” Weiss smiled at him and held her hand out. “That’s all I’m wanting you to do with this.” She hoped that he wouldn’t feel discouraged by this… She really did want him to do what felt right to him. She definitely didn’t feel ready to take on a bird by herself yet, and he didn’t feel ready to try to work as a falconry dog yet. “That’s all we’re doing. It’s just a ‘see if you want to do this in the future’ sort of thing. I’m not expecting you to do anything. Just watch.” He nodded a bit, though his ears were down.“I guess it’s just a little hard to really want to see what’s going on… I’ve never had to hunt before. The unicorn forest is my home and even predators don’t hunt.” Weiss nodded and patted his head. He leaned up into it. “I know. Lilyana will continue working with you. I’m really not expecting you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Is the training fun?” She wasn’t really sure how to put him at ease right now. She was trying, but she was clearly falling flat. She really just wanted him to be comfortable if at all possible. She wasn’trequiringhim to be a falconry dog if he didn’t want to be. It was totally his choice. But it would be valuable experience if hesawwhat he was aiming for especially with a raptor as big as an eagle. He would see how they worked like a well-oiled machine. Valerie had been at this for quite a while, so she definitely knew what she was doing. He nodded.“The scent training is pretty fun! It’s nice to be able to run through the forest again. Though all of the scents are a bit overwhelming… I keep getting distracted.”He let out a sheepish noise and his ears twitched.“Sorry, I’m not very good at this… There are just a lot of things I haven’t smelled before so I want to investigate.” “How would you say his progress is?” Weiss looked at Lilyana. “He’s still young and he’s experiencing new things. Even if he’s not in shape for this season, it’s not like we don’t have plenty of seasons ahead of us.” That…was a very diplomatic answer. Weiss wasn’t sure if Lilyana was frustrated with him or not. But she didn’t seem to be driving him too hard either. It was definitely good that she was letting Dorosi go at his own pace. Weiss knewalltoo well what it was like to be pushed at an unreasonable pace to be as good as she could in a limited amount of time. It wasn’t funat all.She really hated it, but she could definitely rise to the occasion. She hoped the Belladonnas wouldn’t push her like President Jacques had… She could withstand it, but she didn’tlikeit. “Plus, I do have my own dog. She’s a Glashtail Hound. Honestly, it might not be a bad idea for you to meet her, Weiss. I have been working her with Dorosi to help guide him.” Weiss nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.” She looked at Dorosi. “Would you prefer to bring this dog with you?” Honestly, that might not be a bad idea and it might help him feel more confident… He wouldn’t be alone in the field with just Weiss; he’d have another friendly face. Lilyana couldn’t come with them, so she hoped that having a dog with him would help his confidence. He just wasn’t very confident in himself which…Weiss could understandalltoo well. She almost didn’t know what it was like to feel that she could accomplish something really well. The only things she felt good about were her dust studies and her Semblance, and the latter was usually just playing around. “Honestly, it might not be a bad idea… Plus, they’d have another dog to work with.” “Not a good idea. Glashtail Hounds are highly attuned to their handler and their individual birds. I mean I’ve gotten Velwyn to the point where she can work with multiple birds, but usually, they only work with one bird. She’s an experienced girl, about eight years old, so trying to get her to work with a new handler with birds she doesn’t know would only slow things down. I think Valerie has several of her own Glashtail Hounds, so don’t be surprised if you see several dogs with them. They’re kind of expensive, so I can only afford one. But any noble worth their falconry salt has one per individual bird.” Weiss nodded. “I see…” Well, that was definitely a bit of a let down. She had hoped to see Lilyana’s dog in action, but she could understand that as well. Trying to adapt to something new wasincrediblydifficult for Weiss, so she could only imagine how hard it’d be for a dog to adapt to a new handler in a new situation. She really hoped that she’d be able to see Velwyn in action one day eventually. Maybe, just maybe, she could have her own Glashtail Hound one day. She still really wanted to do falconry, but she had no idea if she’d be able to deal with dispatching the prey. She would see things like that tomorrow, and would probably make her ultimate decision then. She had seen the little kestrel take down a songbird, but everyone was suggesting she start with the redtail… It really sucked because the little birds were cute and not too intimidating while the larger birds couldeasilycause her damage if she didn’t have her aura activated. “Well, let’s go meet her.” Lilyana smiled and started walking around to the front of the house. They entered and Weiss saw a dog laying in a bed. Its coat was a strange rose-gold which she had never seen the likes of on an animal. There were also soft, lavender dapples in the coat, and the tail tip glowed very slightly. She had never seen a rose-gold or purple dog before, but she’d also never seen a purple horse before. Animals really did come in all sorts of colors here in Koiria… It was really insane. At least the colors weren’t as saturated as they were in Dydre’s forest. That place really caused her eyes to hurt if she spent too much time there. “Velwyn, c’mère.” The dog raised its head and padded over. It looked at Weiss and Dorosi, tilting its head back and forth a few times. “Oh, is this the human I’ve been smelling the past several days?”The dog wrinkled its nose.“She really doesn’t smell good.” “Yes, this is the human I’ve been helping ease into falconry, Vel. She’s a sweet girl, just a little unsure of herself. And you know Dorosi.” Dorosi wagged his tail a bit and opened his mouth, letting out a few breaths before closing it again. “I was wondering if you’d like to go on a falconry expedition with Valerie tomorrow. You wouldn’t have to do anything; you’d just be accompanying Dorosi.” Velwyn nodded and stretched.“All right. I know I wouldn’t do well with attempting to keep track of Valerie and all of her nonsense… As long as I don’t have todoanything… Trying to work with a new handler would be hard.” “I know, girl, I know. And you’ve never worked with eagles before either.” Velwyn’s nose wrinkled again. “Awful creatures, eagles…” Lilyana chuckled. “I know you don’t like Valerie’s eagles. They’re just too combative for your temperament, huh?” Velwyn nodded. “All right, Dorosi, it looks like she’s willing to go with you. Sound good?” Dorosi nodded and wagged his tail. “Also, you should probably go stay with Weiss tonight. You’ll need to be up bright and early in order to be ready. The time between here and the house would slow them down, so it’s best you stay with her.” Dorosi sighed.“I really don’t like staying inside…” “I know, boy. You’re used to being outside all the time. But you’re at a fae manor now; you need to get used to it.” Dorosi gave a morose nod then looked up at Weiss. “Actually, Velwyn, it’s probably best you go with Weiss too. Same reason.” The dog’s ears laid back but she nodded. “All right, Weiss and crew, have fun tomorrow. I’ll miss you tomorrow, Velwyn, but go and enjoy your first outing in a good couple months.” The dog nodded and both she and Dorosi looked at Weiss. “I’ll see you soon,” Weiss told Lilyana. Then she lifted her skirts and headed back to the manor house. It wasn’t quite time for bed yet, so she cracked open a book and started taking notes until it got truly dark. She stayed up until about ten, then she got ready for bed. Dorosi and Velwyn hopped up into bed next to her. Their warmth lulled her into gentle slumber where birds flew and stooped across open, cloudless skies above open grasslands.