The Non-Human Society

Lilly grumbled as she pulled the misshapen feather from her right wing.

“I should be happy. It means I’m still growing. But it’s still itchy and annoying,” Lilly complained as she twirled the molting feather around.

“You mean you’ll not molt once fully grown?” I asked. That was unusual.

She nodded. “Feathers will grow back if plucked, but they won’t do it all at once without reason. I don’t remember when they said it’d stop happening, but it happens every few years until I mature,” Lilly said.

Hm… An interesting trait. But it made sense. Their wings and feathers were more solid than a normal bird’s. Far bigger too. The one in her hand was larger than most birds themselves.

“A small price to pay for the freedom of the air,” I said to her.

Lilly sighed, and she tossed the feather at me. It hit my head, and I felt it get stuck in my hair.

She giggled at me as I reached up to pluck her feather out of my hair. Before tossing it aside, I studied it for a moment.

Yes. A half broken, weakened feather. She was indeed molting. Seemed it was her larger, inner, feathers first that were molting. Then it’d spread to the others.

Interesting. My parents would have loved to have studied her, and those like her.

The thought of my parents made me smile as I dropped the large feather. “You could make pens out of them. Maybe decorations or hairpins too. Or arrows. You’d have the whole city using your feathers in no time,” I said. They were big enough that anyone would find them interesting, really.

Lilly made a disgusted face. “I’d rather burn them then let those idiots touch them. Gross.”

Smiling, I nodded. I knew she would have seen it in such a way.

Reaching the top of the hill, Lilly sighed as her wings fluttered a little thanks to the wind picking up. We had found ourselves in a large grassland after a week of travel. One that was slowly turning into a rather moist forest. Little rivers and lakes were starting to become very common. There were rolling hills and small mountains, but there were large swaths of flatlands between them. The simple foliage and trees made it almost seem like a more moderate tundra than anything else.

“Are we finally there?” Lilly asked.

Off in the distance we could see a village. Several dozen buildings, surrounded by two large rivers and lots of fields. There was dark gray smoke coming from most of the chimneys, and it looked like there were also herds of cows surrounding the village. The large fluffy ones native to this area.

“We might be,” I said. The last village we had passed through hadn’t even known of a village this way. Which implied it was a village of non-humans. Our kind didn’t need to rely on trade as much as humans so didn’t venture out as often, if at all. And traveling traders and merchants didn’t like to visit often either, since our kind rarely wanted anything. Trinkets and baubles didn’t sell well in a village of non-humans. Nor did food or other necessities, usually.

And that was all under the assumption that a human would be willing to enter a non-human village, or the non-humans in question could blend in as humans.

Lilly sniffed the air, closing her eyes as she did so. I patiently waited as she hummed and then nodded. “Definitely not humans. Or well, there are enough of us there that their smell is strong. If it’s not the whole village I’m sure it’s most of them,” Lilly declared.

“All I smell is stink,” I admitted. Stink of cows. The distant smoke from the chimneys. The nearby rivers and wetlands. Lilly’s feathers.

“Well you would. They do stink. So do their herd animals. Cows? Nasty things,” she grumbled.

“You like to eat them, though,” I argued with her as we headed down the hill, towards the village.

“They’re tasty. But just because something’s tasty doesn’t mean it can’t stink. Like your cooking,” she said.

Well, that was true.

Lilly joined me down the hill, on foot. She could fly fine, even while molting, but lately she’d been trying her best to stay on the ground. I wasn’t really sure yet as to the reason, but I wasn’t going to ask why. Lilly was sometimes odd, but she usually had very down to earth reasons for her choices.

If I asked; her answer would likely just be that she wanted to walk the whole way here with me for training or something.

“So you’ve never met these ducks?” Lilly asked.

“No. I’ve never been here. If I’ve met any of them I don’t remember,” I said. Celine had given me a few names, such as the name of the Elders, but I hadn’t recognized any of them.

“You’d think Celine would give you like a census or something. What if something happened to her? Then there’d be entire villages of our people that we don’t even know about,” Lilly said.

“She’s given me one. Keeps it updated too,” I defended the Saint, even though I didn’t want to. Not because I didn’t want to defend Celine, but because I didn’t want to admit that I did in fact know the locations and name of all our members.

I had simply not memorized it yet.

“Oh…? Where? Can I get one too?” Lilly asked.

Glancing at the little owl, I wondered what she had planned. “You can. But may I ask why you want one?” I asked.

Lilly’s mouth tightened a little, and her wings shifted. They made small sounds, like sandpiper brushing stone, as they shuffled. “Promise not to laugh?” she asked.

I took a deep breath and flinched. “That’s a hard one. Sure. I’ll try my best,” I said.

Lilly didn’t laugh but she did smirk… then she nodded. “I want to see if there’re any other owls.”

Frowning, I slowed a little. “Surely Celine or someone else would have happily answered that,” I said.

“They would. I know… but…” Lilly slowed to a stop, and started fumbling with her fingers. Making them twirl.

Ah. I see.

Reaching out, Lilly didn’t even try to duck or shy away from my hand as I rubbed her head and ruffled her hair.

“You’re already at that age huh…? Sheesh. Won’t be able to call you Little Lilly anymore will I?” I teased her.

“Oh shut up! I don’t want to hear that from you!” Lilly finally grew upset with me, and swatted my hand away from her head.

Chuckling at her, I nodded. “You’ll always be little to me Lilly. Even if one day your wings are bigger than me,” I said.

This was a very pleasant turn of events. I had given in and brought her with me, after Celine had spent two whole days arguing with me about it. She was hoping that I’d further help Lilly along on her path to be a warrior. To teach her and polish her.

I hadn’t wanted to. I didn’t mind teaching someone something. My parents had been teachers. It’d only insult their legacy if I didn’t share what they had given freely. But… well…

I hadn’t wanted her to become a sword. I didn’t want anyone to be a sword.

Swords only broke. No matter how sharp or strong. They broke eventually. And when they did it wasn’t pretty.

Yet here I was… likely worried for no reason.

“I won’t get that big. Mother wasn’t as tall as Celine,” Lilly said.

Oh…? Interesting. Celine was actually rather tiny. Or well. In height at least.

We returned to walking as Lilly groaned and sighed at me. “Just shush, Vim. Really. It’s not like I want to settle down or anything I just… want to know, is all,” Lilly tried to defend herself… and failed horribly at it. Did she even realize she had a small blush right now?

“I’ll keep an eye out for you. Got any preferences?” I asked her.

“Huh…! Wait…” Lilly startled, and went into deep thought.

A little excited, I waited to hear what she was going to say. Lilly was a very mature girl for her age, and was thrice as prideful as she was mature. She let me tease and mess with her, but anyone else who tried so got hit upside the head with a wing.

Not to mention she was now a hardened warrior. She’d be hard pressed to be outmatched… even finding someone who has been in as many life and death battles… well…

I frowned as I realized whatever man caught her eye was going to either be very special in his own way, or basically someone who was very amiable. Someone who always bent and gave in to her every will.

“To be honest I’d like someone with darker wings than me… Most of my family had white spots or tips, and… well…” Lilly began to ramble about her preferences, and I realized I didn’t need to worry just yet.

So she was still just a young girl.

Smiling softly, I nodded. “Dark feathers. Got it. If I can’t find that, I’ll at least find some paint,” I said.

Lilly then tilted her head, and then smirked and laughed. “Vim…!”

Smiling with her, I hoped she found someone soon. Even if I felt she was still a little too young for it.

Maybe a family would make her a little more cautious. A little more… less likely to perish on some stupid quest given to her by Celine or the other members.

“What are you looking for Vim? I’ll keep an eye out for you too,” Lilly then asked, and I noted that although she was smirking… she hadn’t offered her help as to tease me.

She had been completely serious.

“That’s kind of you. Unlike you I don’t need help finding lovers. A benefit of being normal and not weird,” I teased her.

Lilly’s smirk grew as she giggled. “You? Normal? Please!”

I nodded as we neared a smaller bridge. One that led across a smaller section of one of the rivers that circled the village.

“I’m fine. I’ve been too busy running around everywhere lately. Maybe once things settle down I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Hmph. Knowing the rest of them that will be thousands of years,” Lilly mumbled.

It was a little worrisome that she was likely right.

Crossing the small bridge, Lilly finally took to the sky. But only to land again, on the bridge’s handrail. She walked atop it, next to me.

One of her feathers flew off as her wings settled, and I watched it land in the river. It floated away, rather quickly. The river had a strong current.

“If you must know, I tried to bed Celine not too long ago. That didn’t go well,” I told her.

Lilly miss-stepped, and slid off the rail and bridge.

I didn’t reach out to catch her, since I had expected her to take flight and save herself… But half a moment later she fell into the river, splashing wildly.

“Lilly…” I groaned as I stepped up to the side of the bridge, to make sure she didn’t need me to save her.

She coughed as she quickly emerged; flapping her wings wildly as she took to the air and flew over to the other side of the river. Landing as she coughed and laughed.

I hurried off the bridge, and stepped over to the laughing bird. Her huge, oddly dry already, wings flapped as she laughed hysterically.

“You’re kidding me!” she shouted between her laughs.

Smiling at her, I shook my head. “Not at all. Want to know the funniest part?” I asked her.

I waited until she got her laughing under control a little, as she bent over and heaved for air. After a second she nodded as she glanced up at me.

“She had the nerve to ask me to marry her instead. But without all the benefits. Can you believe that?” I told her.

Lilly fell back to her knees as she guffawed and wheezed, renewing her laughter.

Happily watching her laugh her wings off, I sighed as I turned to watch the person approaching us.

The woman looked relatively human. A little scrawny, but I didn’t see any obvious non-human features on her.

I stepped forward, to put a little distance between me and Lilly. She was still laughing hysterically. Too noisy to have a comfortable conversation next to.

Too out of it to protect herself, so I made sure to keep her safe.

“Hello…!” the woman greeted me, smiling broadly as she slowed and came to a stop a few feet from me. She pointed over at Lilly, smirking broadly. “Just what happened?” she asked, sounding as if she was about to join Lilly in laughter.

“My joke was so good she fell into the river on accident,” I told her part of the truth.

“Joke…?” the woman’s smile grew, as she turned to watch Lilly who was slowly getting her laughter under control. It was humorous that Lilly looked just like any bird did when soaked. The way she was crouched on the ground, with her wings spread out.

“My name is Vim. Celine sent me. Us,” I corrected myself.

“Ah…! Grandfather expected she would! Wonderful…! I assumed so too, what with her wings! How amazing!” the woman stepped past me, fully focused on Lilly.

Watching the woman, I noticed the way her sundress shifted. And not from the wind.

Lilly coughed as she slowly stood up. She was now only giggling and chuckling, as the woman approached her and happily greeted her. “Hello! I’m Serra, a duck!” she declared, and lifted her dress.

I blinked, and even Lilly went stiff and silent at the sudden flashing, but it became obvious what the woman was trying to do. She turned a little, as something similar to a dress fluttered.

A large tail of feathers wiggled at Lilly. It looked like the feathers started growing from the middle of her back, and ran down to her ass.

“Oh… huh… I’m Lilly,” Lilly seemed to collect and calm down a lot faster than I would have, as she and the woman shook hands.

“You have beautiful wings…! Are you okay? He said you fell in the river?” Serra worriedly became protective of Lilly.

“Hm…? Yeah… I’ll dry fast enough,” Lilly frowned at her and her concern.

“Come on, we need to be careful. The river is dangerous,” Serra reached out to tug on Lilly, to pull her away from the river’s bank.

I frowned at her, and then remembered the reason we were here.

Right. Fish. A feud with a family of them.

Did that mean the fish family harassing the ducks actually used the rivers? Swam in it? I mean it was obviously possible but…

I glanced up and down the nearby river. It was large, and deep. It was a little noisy, since its current was strong… and it did indeed seem to circle the whole village. And hadn’t there been another? A second on the other side?

Lilly’s wings flapped as she let the duck pull her away. Lilly glanced at me as she did, and glared at me. “We’ll continue that conversation later, Vim,” Lilly said.

I smirked at her and nodded. “Sure.”

“You mean the joke he told you? What was it? It must have been something crazy to make you risk falling into the river like that!” Serra held onto Lilly’s arm, pulling her towards the village.

Lilly’s wings shifted and furled, and I could tell she was a little bothered. Serra might be younger than she looker, based off how she was acting.

“Well he told me something ridiculous. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, Vim’s always able to strike where you least expect it… but still,” Lilly complained.

Following after the two young women, I stayed back a small distance. To let them talk privately and get to know one another.

Lilly didn’t have many friends. In truth she had none.

Maybe these fowl would somehow be up to task.

Studying the duck’s dress as they walked ahead of me, I noticed the tail feathers beneath it. They were as large as Lilly’s wings, really. It was an odd trait to have for a bird. To have the tail feathers, but nothing else. I wonder if her whole bloodline was like that.

“Must’a been some strike,” Serra said.

Lilly sighed. “It had been…” she then giggled a little.

Serra tilted her head at her. “Oh…? Is he your husband?” Serra asked, misunderstanding Lilly entirely.

I smirked as Lilly’s wings opened a little, in shock. “Husb…? No! Gross!” Lilly groaned and shook her head quickly, losing all of her earlier jubilant temperament and giggles as she did.

“Ouch,” I said softly, which made Lilly flinch. She glanced back at me, and hurriedly looked away. Embarrassed, but smiling.

I smirked and chuckled at her.

Serra glanced back to, and studied me for a moment. “Hm… he’s not too bad. Or is he something weird? I can’t smell what he is,” Serra asked.

“Who knows what he is. Just ignore him,” Lilly mumbled, as if trying to speak without letting me hear her.

Rude. But yes, please do ignore me.

“Hm… come on then, Lilly! Let’s go get you dried off!” Serra said as we entered the village.

Following the two, I rolled a shoulder as the whole village grew noisy.