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Berenice had been busy fixing another fish skull to her lines when Charlie had come back to the cottage and told her to go away so she could do something. She hadn't wanted to, it was [i]her[/i] nest after all, but Charlie had been nice to her and there lots of words she didn't understand, so she took off to go play in the wind.

This was one of her favourite day-to-day activities. The sea breezes along the cliff became quite strong a few hundred feet up, and she could hover and flip about and tumble much better than she could near the ground. The smell of the ocean and the clean air were wonderful, and she especially enjoyed feeling her feathers ruffle and move when the wind pushed against her. For a few minutes she just sat in place, buoyed by the breeze, staring out to sea and watching a pair of seals playing around a mile or so out to sea. Looking back, she saw some strange person hovering off near where Salamander was, but thought nothing of it. She twisted and spun to make a play dive at Charlie, which was when she saw her friend waving her down anyway, so she did so, landing on a section of the wall.

[color=honeydew]“Bought some time, we should get Salamander to set up some protections around the place so that imp can’t come back to spy on you.”

“If you need me I’ll be cleaning myself up outside.” [/color]

[color=82ca9d]”Okay, Car-lee.”[/color] She hopped down into the main area and folded her wings up, waddling over near her nest and preparing to take a late afternoon nap, when she noticed the smell. Whatever it had been, it was [i]awful[/i]. She reared up onto her talons, standing as tall as she could, and beat her wings, trying to fan out the stench. The wind this kicked up was far more powerful than she would have thought, and a loose chunk of wall stones came down, revealing something that made Berenice pause mid flap and nearly fall over. 

Inside the wall, which was apparently hollow, there was a tiny person, staring at her in horror. No more than three or four inches high, they were dressed in normal people clothes, though they seemed to have been stitched together from scraps of cloth and leaves. In its...[i]her[/i] hands, she held a tiny spear, made of a splinter of wood with a fishbone lashed to it. A folded up leaf seemed to be serving as a backpack of some sort. Both of them locked eyes on one another, and the tiny person seemed unable to move. Berenice, for her part, was torn between two instincts. On the one hand, she had a driving desire to catch and eat small things like this, but on the other, it was a tiny human-like creature, which she associated with kids and wanted to protect.

She hopped closer to it with her odd gait. The tiny girl didn't move, except to cower slightly. She hopped closer still, bringing her within grapsing range. This time the girl crouched low, seeming to develop a bit of spine, and brandished her spear. She said something, but Berenice couldn't hear her through the rushing of the breeze through the cottage ruins, so she moved closer still. Now within only a half foot from the tiny thing, she was rewarded with a fishbone spear thrown at her face. She blinked as it struck her nose off-kilter and bounced harmlessly to the ground. The tiny girl seemed horrorstruck by this turn of events and ducked behind a chunk of masonry that jutted up near where she stood, jabbering down into the wall in a rapid-fire language the siren did not understand.

Within the span of a few breaths, seven more miniscule people had appeared, brandishing a variety of weapons made from slivers of metal and bone. They seemed to range from teenaged to middle of their lives, all with black hair braided or pulled back, and all of them wore leaves and woven grass fibres as clothing. The largest of them, four and a half inches tall, strode forward to stand bravely in front of the rest, holding out a shard of glass with a woven grip that resembled a katana.

[color=BDB76B]“Great bird woman, come no closer! Our tribe has done you no harm yet, but we will kill you if you force our hand!”[/color]

Berenice's sharp eyes noted a few smaller ones, perhaps their children, hiding just around the edge of the masonry, before one of the adult females dragged them out of her view. The tiny man noticed her eye movements and readied his blade.

Speaking very softly so as to not blow them over, Berenice asked, [color=82ca9d]“How long have you lived in my nest?”[/color]

Since she did not seem to be threatening the children, the man relaxed, but did not sheathe his weapon. [color=BDB76B]“Since the great thunder that birthed you. Your presence drives off many creatures who would eat us.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”Why are you hiding, then?”[/color]

[color=BDB76B]“We do not know you or your ways, and you are also a predator.”[/color] He gestured at her treasure lines, from which hung many bones among the other glittering things. [color=BDB76B]“We do sometimes take from your scrap pile to fashion weapons and tools, but never from those.”[/color]

Berenice settled back on her talons, folding her wings over and staring at them. She didn't quite understand why these people were so small, but they were otherwise exactly like Charlie and the other humans she had met. And ever since she had first met the children, she knew that smaller humans needed protection. Why were these any different, other than being smaller and thus needing even more protection than the kids?

While she was mulling through this thought process, several of the other warriors were in whispered conversation with the brave man, who seemed to be some sort of leader. He nodded once, and then addressed her again. [color=BDB76B]“Great bird woman, we must leave, now. You will not see us again.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]"What?”[/color] she squawked. [color=82ca9d]”Why do you have to go?”[/color]

[color=BDB76B]“It is the way of our people. The giants find us and they want to catch us and study us, so we must flee now. This is the way it has always been.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”I am not going to study you! Or eat you!”[/color]

[color=BDB76B]“Your visitors may. We must go.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”But...”[/color] Berenice was having a hard time articulating her thoughts. Thankfully, the little man paused. The warriors seemed to be ready to move, but they also stopped.

[color=82ca9d]”Okay, so anywhere you go will be bad. Here is better, because the other animals don't come near my nest, so you are safe here, yes?”[/color] Her speech was rapid fire, almost like a sparrow chirp, but they seemed to be able to understand her fine.

[color=BDB76B]“This is true.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]I will protect you from others, then, and you don't have to hide unless they come. I can bring you food, and you will not have to go.”[/color]

He glowered at her. [color=BDB76B]“We can fend for ourselves. We always have.”[/color] The half dozen behind him nodded, though the first girl looked more thoughtful.

[color=82ca9d]”But you could stay. It would be easier, yes? You have lived here long enough to have babies. They cannot be easy to move. And you've been here as long as I have, so this nest is as much yours as mine.”[/color]

The girl moved forward, and entered into fierce whispering conversation with the man. She was obviously braver than she had first appeared. Berenice waited patiently while they conversed, glancing around to make sure Charlie was not hearing what was happening. After a few moments, they seemed to finish. The man and his warriors moved off, leaving the girl alone to face the siren. She looked up into what must have been one of her worst nightmares, but seemed to hold her ground, even though she shook slightly. 

[color=FFFACD]“I am called Sunheart. We have decided to try this new thing, but if it's to work, we must do a few things first.”[/color]

Berenice smiled brightly, though seeing as how her teeth seemed to unnerve the girl, she quickly schooled her face. [color=82ca9d]”What do you need to do?”[/color]

[color=FFFACD]“We must fix the wall here, though we should leave a window so we can speak. Before that however, to avoid violating the Laws, we must do something that has never been done before.”[/color] she took a deep breath. [color=FFFACD]“We must make you one of us.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”Am I going to become small?”[/color]

[color=FFFACD]“No, no. But you must be one of the tribe, so that we can live with you without fleeing. You would be special, and be able to go out amongst the Big Folk, where we cannot. This has never been done, not in all the knowing of our tribe. My uncle, the one you spoke to, is informing the elders now. By moontime, we should know whether or not this action will be accpeted. If it is not, we will leave.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”Oh. Okay.”[/color] Berenice thought for a moment. [color=82ca9d]”Why are you still here, then?”[/color]

The girl took another deep breath, and a barely perceptible gulp. [color=FFFACD]“I must teach you what you must know before the ceremony, if it is to happen, and I must also become your companion, to know if you are worthy. If I deem you not to be, we also will leave.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”How do you know if I am worthy or not?”[/color]

[color=FFFACD]“I must judge by your words and deeds, to know if you are brave, and clever, and fast.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”But how will you stay with me if you are so tiny and cannot fly?”[/color]

[color=FFFACD]“Um.”[/color] The girl looked a bit dumbfounded. She had obviously not thought of this. [color=FFFACD]“I don't suppose you would just...stay here?”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]”I will get hungry.”[/color]

This thought clearly terrified the girl, but she steeled herself. [color=FFFACD]“Then I must follow you anyway. However I can. It is my duty, and a great honour to be chosen to evaluate another. I will live up to it.”[/color] Her jaw jutted forward with pride.

Rather swiftly, however, the both of them were reduced to pacing back and forth, Berenice in the ruins and Sunheart on her little span of broken wall stones. It took several minutes before an idea came to the siren. 

[color=82ca9d]”Sunheart, what if you rode me like the fleas do?”[/color]

Sunheart stopped her pacing, and looked about to say something angry about being compared to fleas, but then stopped short and stared at Berry up and down, taking in her size and especially her feathers.

[color=FFFACD]“It might work. I have ridden squirrels and grasshoppers before.”[/color]

Without so much as another word, Berenice hopped forward and extended her right wing so that the leading edge was within a step of the tiny girl. Hesitating for a moment, both due to her instincts screaming at her to run from an approaching predator and because of the thought of riding on a Big Folk, Sunheart swallowed hard. This would be probably the most terrifying experiences she had ever had. Then, glancing back at her home, she nodded to herself and leapt across the gap and onto the feathered surface.

Berenice waited patiently, not daring to move her appendage until Sunheart had scrambled across the slick surface of her flight feathers and made it onto her shoulder. It tickled very badly, especially as the girl moved down her side to find a spot near her waist, burying herself into the feathers and securing herself with a tiny woven rope. Berenice assisted her getting it all the way around the leg she was on, shifting to adjust as it went along the inside of the crook of her leg, and then waited again until Sunheart had tied herself down. They looked at each other at a very strange angle.

[color=FFFACD]“Okay,”[/color] said the girl to the siren. [color=FFFACD]“Let us begin.”[/color]