Snow bird [attn; Alianora]

[Avyra]

Avyra

She had a new bird. She still had Kyella, obviously, but she had gone out to hack a new passage falcon. It was finally cold enough to fly one safely. The pure white with black spotted gyrfalcon perched on her hand, her weight far smaller than Kyella's, so much so that it felt odd. Already she had noticed differences. Kyella was not nearly high strung or active, while Avyra found that Tempest as she called her was quite the opposite. The bird liked to bate. She liked to bite and foot. It was quite different. She bundled up her clothes even more, trying to conserve warmth in the snowy courtyard. Tempest didn't seem to mind; she just looked around with yellow eyes and occasionally would spread her wings, trying to jump off, but Avyra held her jesses tightly to prevent an escape. However, Avyra found that there was something her newfound friend liked to do. She unhooked her bird, letting her land in the snow. She paused, then swiftly flew over to the frozen pond, landing atop of it, then looked at Avyra again, who made her way over. Tempest hopped about as Avyra squatted beside the lake, the bird letting herself "skate" across the ice with her claws. Avyra couldn't help but laugh. All birds were so funny. Tempest flopped down, watching her, then spread her wings and flew into the snowbank beside her, letting the snow fall all over her feathers.

this is what this idiot looks like

[Alianora]

Calira

Calira shivered and pulled her cloak more tightly around her, but the novice didn't even consider giving up on her walk and going inside. She knew from experience that if she moved faster, she'd be warm enough soon. The novice hurried her steps and studied the snow covered landscape that surrounded her. It might be cold, but Calira thought the snow was beautiful, especially when it was nearly untouched, as it was right now. With weather like this, few others bothered to come outside. Calira thought she was alone until the path drew closer to a frozen pond. A small girl wearing the bands of the Accepted stood near it, seeming to watch something on its surface.

Calira turned to see what the Accepted was looking at and saw something small and white scooting across the pond. Is that a bird? It didn't look like any of the small brown or grey birds that Calira was used to seeing, and she'd never seen one on ice. The bird looked rather silly, making Calira giggle. "What is that bird doing?" she called to the Accepted as she got closer. As she watched, the bird left the pond and plopped into the snow besides the Accepted. "Is it supposed to be out in the cold?" She'd never heard of birds liking the snow, but Calira was far more familiar with horses than birds. It wouldn't surprise her at all if this one, far larger and prettier than any bird she'd ever seen, was some sort of strange bird who liked it.

[Avyra]

She heard a giggle and a "What is that bird doing?" behind her, and Avyra turned of see a novice standing there, grinning at Tempest. "Is it supposed to be out in the cold?" Avyra laughed. "Oh, she's fine. She likes to mess around in it." She held out her glove and whistled, and Tempest hopped onto it, fluffing out her feathers and shaking them off, snow flying everywhere. "She's a gyrfalcon. They live in the cold. I'm lucky one came this far down, and a wonderful one at that. She makes a fine partner." Tempest clicked her beak, and Avyra let her fly again, the bird landing in a snowbank and sitting there. "My name's Avyra. That's Tempest. Who might you be? What can I do for you on this cold morning?" Tempest, however, did not resume her play. She stared at this stranger with black eyes, clicking her beak. She then tilted her head all the way upside down, holding it there for a few seconds before bringing it back up to level position. She ruffled her wings.

[Alianora]

Calira

"My name is Calira, I'm a novice," she responded, though most of her attention was focused on the bird, who had flown up to sit on the Accepted's arm as though it were completely normal behavior. "Tempest is beautiful, is she your pet? How did you get her to sit on your arm? Is she friendly?" Calira would have liked to touch the bird, but the bird flew off Avyra's arm and landed right back in the snow. Her hazel eyes followed the bird, distracted from the Accepted by her fascination with its strange behavior.

The novice grinned down at the bird sitting in the snow. To her surprise, the bird looked right at her before turning her head upside down. It was a strange sight, and Calira bent down to get a closer look. She picked her dress up off the ground and tried to scoot just a bit closer so she could see it better, but slowly. She didn't want to scare the bird off. "Will she mind if I watch her?" she asked as an afterthought. The bird didn't seem to have taken any further notice of her so far, but Calira wasn't sure when or if Tempest would begin to object to her presence.

[Avyra]

Avyra smiled. "No, she doesn't mind. She's quite used to people. Picky about her food, however." Tempest sat there, fluffed up in the snow. "She is, however, not a pet. Her willingness to sit on my arm comes from weeks of training and trust built up between the two of us. She's a falconry bird; a hunter. I use her to hunt food. She will be released once winter is over so she can follow her species' migration, if she wishes. Otherwise, I will keep her until she wants to leave." Avyra paused, however, raising an eyebrow at the Novice. "However, I would not advise getting closer. She is still a wild animal, however socialized. She doesn't like to be touched or treated like a domestic cat or dog would."

[Alianora]

Calira

Calira backed away from the bird, scrambling to her feet and looking guilty.How did she know? She'd only wanted to touch one of the bird's feathers, to find out if they were as soft as they looked. She'd never find out now. The little bird hadn't moved despite Calira's haste to get away from it, and Calira had a hard time imagining it being even remotely a threat to her. "But if she's wild, how did you ever get her to sit on your arm?" Calira asked. "And why is she just sitting there and not flying away?"

She studied the bird, trying to work out how it could be a wild animal as Avyra said and also clearly amenable to being used for hunting by the other woman. I suppose it's not much different than our horses the novice thought, thinking about the horse farm her family ran back home. Calira had always treated the horses like pets, but she knew they were there to be trained as working animals and then sold. Perhaps the bird was much the same, even if it did look more like a cute little ball of fluff than an animal with a job to do.

[Avyra]

"But if she's wild, how did you ever get her to sit on your arm? And why is she just sitting there and not flying away?" Avyra smiled, whistling for Tempest to fly over, landing on her fist. Avyra locked the gyrfalcon's jesses in her fingers before continuing. "Falconry is a complicated process, Novice. Tempest is a passage gyrfalcon; she's about a year old. I took her from the wild to aid in her hunting skills. She will be released soon." Avyra touched the bird's talons softly. "It is easy to view these birds as pets, but it is a mistake you must not make. These birds are wild hunters. Not her, but my golden eagle Kyella could break a man's femur in half with just talon grip alone. They're dangerous, and treating them like pets will make them want human interaction. "However, they are also incredibly intelligent. They cannot be treated like work animals. They're a companion, someone to hunt with. The falconer must respect the bird they have on their fist."

[Alianora]

Calira

Calira winced at the idea of a bird who was large enough, and strong enough, to break bone. She didn't think she'd want to run into the eagle Avyra had mentioned, but she still stubbornly thought the smaller bird was rather cute. Calira glanced at the bird who was sitting on Avyra's hand, appearing to be quite content. "You're going to let her go? Why? What if she doesn't want to? Won't you miss her at all?" She couldn't imagine working with an animal that closely and not having difficulty letting it go. Back home, she'd always found it difficult when the time came to sell any of the horses she'd worked with, even though Calira had known the entire time that she was training them so that they could be sold. That knowledge had never made it easier for her to part with them, and it confused Calira that the Aceepted could speak so calmly about releasing her bird.

The bird didn't appear interested in leaving at all, not even struggling although the Accepted held it down. It looked calm, not much like the vicious hunter Avyra had described. "What do you do with the animals she hunts? Does she eat them herself?"

[Avyra]

"Of course I will miss her, but thus is life. She could fly away right now and I would never see her again." Avyra gently ran a hand down the bird's stomach. "Of course I'll miss her. She's so sweet and funny. But she is wild. I caught her from the wild. Soon she'll want to go back. That's important to remember during falconry. This bird is not attached to you." Tempest ruffled her feathers and spread her wings, beating them before folding them back up again against her side. She looked at Avyra and peeped softly, then tilted her head all the way upside down to look at Calira. "She gets to eat what she hunts. She doesn't hunt, she doesn't get a big meal. She knows this, and she also knows that hunting is better with me around." She clicked her beak, watching Avyra.

[Alianora]

Calira

"She must be very intelligent," Calira commented. It seemed a bit odd to her to think of a bird that way, especially one that looked more like a pet bird than a wild animal. The novice giggled at the bird turning her head upside down, and tilted her own head, blinking at the bird. "You're a pretty bird," she cooed to the animal, whose eyes almost seemed to be watching her for a minute before turning back to the Accepted.

While interacting with the bird, another thought occurred to her. "Where does she live? Surely she isn't allowed in your room?" She laughed, imagining the bird swooping through one of the Accepted rooms. Not knowing what the rules for an Accepted were, Calira supposed that Avyra might be able to keep the bird in her room, but it didn't sound like a good idea to her, especially considering the Accepted's insistence that she was wild. She could only imagine the destruction the bird might bring to the Accepted's possessions and worked if she were contained in that sort of small space. It didn't sound possible, but Calira also couldn't imagine the bird living outside with the other wild birds and still being willing to hunt with the Accepted. It was a puzzle to her, one she thought Avyra would be able to solve much more quickly than she could.

Spoiler: show

OOC: Sorry I'm so late, Calira isn't being very cooperative lately.