A big storm was brewing on the big ocean. Yet, Caleb’s thoughts weren’t on the weather. He was thinking of home, remembering a time when he listened to the Elder Eagle telling him stories in his office.

“…and that, young fledgling, is how Prince Hector and I won our first battle,” the bird said. Not only was the Elder Eagle a title, it was also a descriptor of the storyteller and head of the city; a talking golden eagle named Eldridge who was old. His left wing was cut in half so he could no longer fly, but the bird was highly respected for his service to the Kingdom and for founding Eagletown. 

“Cool!” the nine-year old Caleb exclaimed with wide-eyed wonder, “so if that was your first battle, how did you first meet Hector?”

“[b]PRINCE[/b] Hector, Caleb!” the eagle yelled, loudly scolding the kid.

“Sorry,” Caleb quietly said. 

“Thank you,” the bird calmly replied, “and to answer your question, it requires another story.” Caleb’s face indicated that the Elder Eagle had his full attention.

“It was many years ago when I was a young baby in my mother’s nest, long before the Greater Wisdom spell gave me the abilities I have now. At the time, Prince Hector was Captain of the 5th division of the Royal Marauders. They had been sent east into gnoll lands to repel a raiding party that had been planning to hit Northgate while the Eastern Walls were being upgraded. A preventative sort of mission. Of course, I didn’t know any of that at the time, but it’s important for the story. See, just before the Prince’s forces attacked, the gnolls were hunting. Sadly, they got my parents and siblings,” the Elder Eagle said sadly.

“That’s terrible!” was the boy’s response.

“Indeed, but fortunately for me, the humans had attacked as they were about to get me. If they had waited another moment I would not be alive today. The details of the battle aren’t really important, but what is important is that the gnolls lost and ran away. Again, I didn’t know what was going on - just that my family was gone and that a bunch of creatures were fighting. It was scary and I didn’t know if I would live to see the next day.”

“But you did, obviously” Caleb said.

The bird continued speaking. “Yeah. A lot of the men didn’t really care about a baby bird, but the Prince was different. He felt bad. He took the time to be kind and raised me himself. Eventually, we started battling together and, well...you know the rest.”

Back in the present, Caleb smiled. He had never navigated through a thunderstorm before, but he did know how to be kind. He went to the food supply, found the apples and took a few of them with him to the back of the sloop.

 Rainbow looked at the boy skeptically. “What, [i]exactly[/i], are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m making a friend,” Caleb happily responded.

This answer did not satisfy Rainbow. “Wh-” he began to speak, but he was interrupted by the boy.

“Hi! Are you alright out there!?” Caleb yelled towards the Hippocampus. “We’re friends! We have food!” The boy held up an apple as he said this. Rainbow just shook his head.

“Caleb, how do you [i]know[/i] that it’s friendly? It probably can’t even hear you. This is-“

Once again Rainbow was interrupted, but this time it wasn’t by Caleb. “Thanks for the offer, but I just ate!” The green thing did a double-take as he saw the hippocampus swim next to and talk to Caleb. He sounded maybe half of the boy’s age and had an orange coat that made him look like a mix between a goldfish and a horse with orange fur. “My name is Edward, who are you?”