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    • The large gate opened before me and I walked inside, where I was met with an escort of five dwarves. Different ones than the ones I had talked to. Four of which were wearing heavy metal armor including full face concealing helmets and carrying hammers in both hands.

    The last one was wearing a lighter chain shirt, but also a red cloak and didn't have his helmet on, revealing thick red hair and a large nose beneath bushy eyebrows.

    All of them reached to my waist, but I had no doubt that any single one of them could break me in half with no effort.

    "Your name is Taz?"

    "I am Taz," I agreed.

    He grunted, "Captain Steelbeard. Come with me."

    Then he turned and marched off without a second glance.

    I followed him, the four hammer dwarves falling into formation around me. They led me up a set of wide stairs up the hill towards what looked like the main mountain fortress. But then we turned to the right before the massive front gate and followed a path towards the left until we reached a smaller gate with a pair of dwarves in lighter metal armor, still full plate, just less heavy than the ones escorting me. One of them reached to open the gate before us and we entered. The inside was dark, lit only by a pair of sconces on the wall and had a tunnel leading further into the mountain.

    The lead dwarf stopped and turned to me before pointing at a bench by the wall, "Sit, human."

    What am I, a dog?

    But I didn't complain. I was just thankful to be able to sit down somewhere and not expect something to eat me. The dwarves may be planning to kill me or throw me back out to be killed, but at least for the moment I was safe. And I was fairly sure they wouldn't eat me.

    "Thank you," I said and shrugged my pack off before sinking down to sit on the stone bench, leaning back against the wall and trying not to groan.

    Damn, it's good to be able to sit down.

    "Remain here," he commanded and then marched off, the four dwarf guards falling in behind him and they marched off into the tunnel.

    After they left, I removed my cloak and hung it across the bench to dry the best it could before I shifted to sit back again, closing my eyes.

    The tunnel wasn't warm, but after the chill outside it felt outright comfortable. I wasn't dry, but I wasn't actively getting wet either.

    It felt amazing.

    I jerked upwards as someone suddenly poked me in the chest, "Wha-"

    I blinked, staring at a dwarf standing before me. He had long black hair in braids down his back, his beard and even mustache was also braided, each capped with bronze. He regarded me from beneath bushy eyebrows, "I am Stonehammer. You talk me. You look shaman? I shaman."

    Damn, his common was worse than mine, I could barely understand him.

    "Yes. I was looking for a shaman," I explained, talking clearly to be understood, "I am Taz. I tried to learn magic, but was told it was different. It looked like that of a shaman. I was hoping you could help."

    Stonehammer regarded me before he grunted and walked off, waving for me, "Human, follow."

    I gathered my things and followed him further into the mountain. He led me through a maze of tunnels and stairs before we exited through a gate out on top of the slope of the mountain.

    I blinked in the suddenly bright sunlight as he led me along a path to a stone hut.

    Okay, stone hut was unfair, it looked monolithic and half sunk into the ground, it had stairs leading down into it. He opened the wooden door and walked down the stairs. I followed and closed the door behind me.

    I'm so glad dwarves like high ceilings or I'd be bumping my head constantly.

    The inside was... warm. Nice and warm and it felt amazing. A fire roared in a fireplace, the main and only room circular around it with things spread out around it. Tables, chairs, chests, a bed. Bottles and things sat everywhere, books and scrolls were stacked on most flat surfaces.

    He turned to me and motioned at me with both hands, "Show."

    "...I only know one spell and it doesn't work. Fireball."

    "Show."

    "Alright," I agreed and put my things down on the floor before I shifted and started to cast the spell, hoping I remembered how. Just in case, I aimed it towards the fireplace.

    I wouldn't have needed to worry.

    Absolutely nothing happened.

    Okay, that's wrong. Stonehammer frowned, his eyes almost disappearing beneath his thick eyebrows as he peered at me.

    "So... know what's wrong?" I asked as I stopped.

    "Show, show!" he told me firmly, making a motion at me with his hands.

    Properly chastised, I went back to moving my hands and focusing on my magic. Not sure I even did that right, I just did as I remember the book telling me to do.

    Stonehammer moved off, muttering to himself in dwarvish, picking up seemingly random things from shelves, returning and then waving them at me.

    I kept casting. Or trying to cast anyway. It was tiring. Exhausting even.

    Finally after what felt like ages, Stonehammer waved to me, "Down."

    I stopped, "Do you know what's wrong?"

    "No."

    I had had hope. Now that collapsed too. This had been my last chance. My last option.

    "Sit," he commanded and pointed at a bench.

    I sat. He rummaged around and soon I found a loaf of bread and a tankard of what smelled like ale in my hands, "Eat. Drink. We talk."

    I ate.

    The bread was hard and the ale was bitter. I didn't care. I barely tasted them.

    Stonehammer sat down across from me, studying me before he spoke, "Magic strange."

    "I know," I said and let out a sigh, "I tried to learn it. The mage said I couldn't, that he had seen something similar in a shaman before. Thought a shaman was my best chance."

    He shook his head, "Different. But from earth."

    "What?"

    Stonehammer scowled, "No words," he said and then seemed to think, "Magic from..." he said and then pointed down, "Rock. Stone."

    "...I get magic from ground?"

    He grunted, "No. Different. No right word. Shaman same not same."

    Similar. Not the same, but similar.

    "Could you teach me?"

    "Maybe," he said before he shook his head, "Won't."

    I had not gotten this far for some stubborn dawn dwarf to refuse to teach me if he could!

    "Please. I have to learn."

    "No. Human no respect. No human elements."

    "Stonehammer," I said, "I beg of you. Please, this is my last chance to find my way back home."

    I'm not above begging. That's all I had left.

    He glowered at me before he stood up and pointed at a corner next to a big chest, "Sleep human."

    That sounded really good actually.

    I was so tired.
     
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    • DaLintyGuy said:
    A decent implication of drawing mana from Lands.
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    That plus learning a language so quickly plus how he got to Azeroth:
    Hiver said:
    I barely had time to do anything but get terrified and there was a sudden surge of something inside me.

    Shi-!

    There was a flash of light, a whirling confusion of colours. I screamed but there was no sound, no sensation of moving. It was a constant stream of impression, like a sandstorm of metal filings.

    Am I de-

    Flash.

    My scream rushed from me and was instantly taken away as I fell. Air. Sky. Air.
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    Is why we think Taz is a Planeswalker. And yes, Hiver has done that before, but this started immensely differently to that one.

    In That First Step the mc took part in a raid on a fortified position at about the same point Taz reached Northshire Abbey, then stumbled into the attention of a blue dragon, who noticed how strange his magic was. By this time he had been essentially adopted by the Blue Dragonflight.

    Not remotely the same story.
     
    The interesting thing is of course that the shamans of Azeroth actually talk with each other. So the big question actually is: What kinds of shamans or druids on Azeroth might be interested in teaching a weird human just to see what happens? Because it wouldn't be much hassle for that dwarven shaman to go "Yo. Got a weird one here."

    Hmm.

    Draenei, possibly? With an eye towards languages and diplomacy. Goblin? Just to see what happens. A Vulpera in need of someone to teach human tongues?
     
    Actually, aren't they on a mountain? The fireball spell should have done something on a mountain... Unless Azeroth's elementals decided he needs to learn some manners, maybe? Is that how it works?
     
    ForestGardener said:
    Is why we think Taz is a Planeswalker. And yes, Hiver has done that before, but this started immensely differently to that one.
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    Yes, but 'Rock, Stone', something that underlies, everyone walks on, depends on for support; fundamental. It'd be more interesting if was something like Jung's Collective Unconscious...

    Or, something else fundamental, in shamanic logic? The primordial 'Bloc', from which ephemeral reality, like air, water, life, briefly sublimate, before inevitably returning?
    (Dwarven cosmology? Ur-Rock came before everything else, and all will return to that, rather than Darkness, Water, anything weirdly abstract?)

    But, it'll be what it is - author writes story, we appreciate it.
     
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    Y'know, with how the Shifting Eternities have been described, I wouldn't block out the possibility of a new Planeswalker's mind just sealing the memory of their first Planeswalk up as a normal trauma response..
     
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    • I woke up at something poking me in the side.

    "Huh?" I asked, blinking awake and rolling over. I had slept on the stone floor, using my bag as my pillow. Didn't care, I was warm. Stone floor or not, I had slept awesome.

    "Wake!" Stonehammer said, poking at me again with a wooden staff.

    "...Good morning," I said and pushed myself up to sit, trying not to groan. I hurt everywhere.

    Stonehammer grunted and then motioned at me to get up, "Follow," he commanded and then walked towards the door. I struggled onto my feet and quickly grabbed my sword and bag before following,

    "Where are we going?"

    "Follow."

    Alright. I followed. We exited the stone hut and followed the path back into the mountain. He led me down the stairs and through the slight maze of tunnels. They were decorated beautifully, going through large halls with thick pillars demonstrating carvings and images of dwarf armies, dwarfs riding a griffon. Once I saw a carving of a dwarf and a crocolisk. The crocolisk was on fire. The dwarf was laughing.

    The fortress was busy too, I saw hundreds of dwarves moving around their business. Men, women, children.

    I was the only human, people stopping to look at me as I walked past.

    Finally we reached a larger tunnel and he turned to follow it, walking with a steady fast pace, his staff beating against the stone floor at each step.

    We soon reached a pair of large open gates and we walked out into the open air again. We were high on the mountain and the path split into two just outside the gates. Above, a pair of griffons and their riders dove from the mountain, heading out across the great valley.

    Stonehammer ignored them and took the left path, leaving me to hurry to catch up. We continued up along the path and by the time we reached the next landing, I was breathing hard. He looked completely unbothered.

    He pointed with his staff, "Gryphon house," he said and motioned towards the mountain. It was studded with openings along paths. Holes cut into the side of the mountain. There had to be hundreds of them.

    "Gryphon houses," I agreed.

    He grunted and motioned for me to follow. He led me to hole number forteen from what I counted before he turned to me again and poked me in the chest with his staff. Then he walked into the hole.

    I waited.

    "Human!"

    Apparently wrong thing to do. I hurried in to join him.

    The stable was not massive, maybe five meters deep and round inside the rock, a pile of hay and down at one side of it provided bedding. On the soft material was a white gryphon. Damn, they're huge up close.

    I had ridden one once, taking me to Stormwind. Or rather, it had gone to Stormwind with me strapped to its back, I'm not sure what I did counted as riding. Closer to cargo.

    It was larger than a horse, watching me with big amber eyes.

    Stonehammer turned to me, poking my chest with the head of his staff again, "Human," he said, "friend gryphon."

    "The gryphon is a friend?" I asked.

    Stonehammer scowled at me and shook his head, bronzed braid ends jingling before he poked my chest again, "Taz friend gryphon. Stonehammer teach Taz."

    He motioned between me and the large creature.

    "It's a friend and you teach me?"

    Stonehammer seemed annoyed at my slowness and I finally understood with a sinking feeling,

    "...If I become friends with the gryphon, you will teach me?" I asked hesitantly.

    Stonehammer nodded with a grunt, "Yes."

    I glanced at the large predator. Well, I got this far.

    Moving back to the entrance, I put my sword and bag down before slowly approaching it, my hands held out to the side, "Hello," I said softly, "I am Taz. And who might you be?"

    The gryphon pushed itself up to stand, massive wings shifted on its back as it regarded me with those massive amber eagle eyes.

    "See, I'm not dangerous," I said and held one hand out slightly, "And you're friendly, right? I just want to be you-"

    The gryphon struck, a massive taloned forepaw hit me in the chest, the claws snagging in my jacket and ripping it open as it sent me spinning to the stone ground.

    I could only whimper as I gasped, trying to get my breath back, my hands feeling my chest.

    No… no wound. It just caught my clothes.

    Stonehammer's laugh boomed as he left the chamber, only fading as he moved down the path outside.

    The gryphon settled back down on its bedding, regarding me with disdain as I managed to choke back another breath and struggled to crawl back across the floor until my back hit the wall.

    "S-so it's going to be like that, huh?" I finally managed to ask as I felt my jacket.

    It was destroyed, a massive tip across my chest. The claw had snagged the zipper, which caused me to get thrown off my feet.

    "Welp, that's one priceless artifact gone," I sighed and tested the zipper. It didn't work, it was all bent in that one spot, mangling the teeth.

    I glowered at the gryphon, "Arsehole," I said, too annoyed to be afraid of the large predator, "Who's going to pay for this? You? You don't have any pockets!"

    The gryphon clicked its beak at me.

    "Oh, you want me to leave?" I asked, pointing my thumb towards the opening before I crossed my arms and leaned back against the stone wall, "Well, after everything I gone through to get here, that's not fucking happening. Not unless you pay me."

    The gryphon stared at me.

    I stared right back at it.

    Well, I'm not fucking moving. I didn't almost die half a dozen times getting here only to let an overgrown pigeon scare me off without a fight.

    "Your move, birdbrain. Wanna be friends or what?"

    The gryphon shifted with a snort, looking at me with disdain.

    What followed was what might have been the most boring and infuriating weeks of my life so far.
     
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    • Hiver said:
    What followed was what might have been the most boring and infuriating weeks of my life so far.
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    Meanwhile, Stonehammer grumbles as he loses all the bets; the human neither giving up or getting mauled. But most of all, he grumbles because the daft human still hasn't figured out to ask the riders what he's doing wrong. His stubbornness is downright Dwarven...
     
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    No no no, If you want to make friends Taz you need to shoot them in the face with a giant magical beam attack. Oh, of course, you don't have magic yet.. maybe punching it into the ground until it's unconscious will work? Oh, you're essentially five noodles in a trenchcoat? Well, I'm out of ideas.
     
    Hiver said:
    What followed was what might have been the most boring and infuriating weeks of my life so far.
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    Traditionally speaking, isn't bribery, and/or finding common grounds, the way to go? Finding out more about gryphons doesn't sound stupid, if you are going for either of those...

    Do gryphons appreciate help with grooming, for example? Preferred food? Treats? Is there something special about white gryphons???
     
    Bribes of food usually help when befriending predators, yes.

    ScreamyBirb said:
    the daft human still hasn't figured out to ask the riders what he's doing wrong.
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    To be fair, Taz might believe Stonehammer considers that cheating.

    Hiver said:
    Once I saw a carving of a dwarf and a crocolisk. The crocolisk was on fire. The dwarf was laughing.
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    I was wondering if there would be a Dwarf Fortress reference. Happy to not be disappointed. :)
     
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    One thing I've never understood about dwarves - why do the flight masters who have just sold me a ride on a gryphon, always tell me to keep my feet on the ground? 🤣
     
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    • My days kind of fell into a routine.

    I helped out with what I could to earn myself food. Mostly, I spent the mornings until mid day carrying stuff or cutting wood.

    From then until the next morning, I spent in a staring contest with a flying apex predator that disliked me at best. But at least she didn't eat me in my sleep as I also slept there, so there is that.

    I wasn't alone in my tasks during the morning either. And many of the dwarves only knew a bit of common, so I had been learning dwarvish. And it seems like my likely head trauma caused savant-like language learning ability still worked.

    Three weeks in and... well, I wasn't fluent yet as I focused less on the language, but I was clearly understandable and I understood what they said to me.

    My dwarvish was better than that dick Stonehammer's common at least.

    Bastard.

    "Then on the way here, I was almost eaten by an owlkin," I explained to the gryphon watching me with destain, "Well, when I say almost eaten, I mean I hid as it walked past pulling a dead troll behind it. That was the last danger that I knew of at least, I likely wandered past half a dozen more I never even saw."

    I had told the entire story to the gryphon, mostly to practice my dwarvish to be honest.

    "After that, I arrived at this place, got introduced to Stonehammer and then to you. So after that long, eventful and life threatening journey, the biggest obstacle in my path is a big chickencat."

    She slowly blinked once at me.

    "Yes, I'm talking about you," I said with a scowl, "Don't you look innocent. As you can tell, my superhero identity is 'Stubborn Man'. So until you give in or one of us dies of old age, you won't be rid of me."

    The gryphon snorted and stretched her wings before folding them again.

    Reaching for my bag, I pulled out my secret weapon and unwrapped it.

    A grilled turkey leg. Or similar bird. It had taken a bunch of half meals to be able to 'afford' it, so this better work.

    I held it up, "Want this?"

    She was looking at it at least.

    "It's yours if you want it. But you have to come here to me and get it," I told her, " I'm not sure it will be good after today, so if you don't get it, I'm going to eat it."

    The gryphon looked at me, then back at the meat and then at me again.

    "I know you understand me, you're not a dumb beast. I've seen gryphon riders talk to their mounts and they clearly understand them. You understand at least some dwarvish. Want it or not?"

    She snorted, eyeing the meat.

    Then she climbed onto her paws. I moved onto my feet in turn to keep us at more or less eye level before I held it out, "Well?" I asked, "And I like to have my fingers at the end, so you best not try something."

    The gryphon snorted and looked at me with disdain once more. Before laying back down.

    "Oh screw you, pigeon," I told her and sank back down.

    She stood back up.

    I stood back up.

    She sank back down.

    I scowled at her, "Oh real mature. Want the thing or not?"

    The gryphon did a clicking sound with her beak at me before shifting her wings and sitting up, tail lashing as she watched me.

    I leaned my back against the wall, watching her right back before taking a bite from the grilled turkey leg. Oh, damn that's good. I haven't had much if any meat since I arrived!

    Her wings half spread and got onto all fours with a hissing sound at me.

    "Oh don't give me that shit. It could all have been yours, but you wanted to play games instead," I told her with a scowl, "You want the rest? You come here and I hand it to you. Well?"

    The gryphon growled but prowled towards me, wings folding again.

    You'd think I'd be scared seeing an apex predator that big approaching you like that. And normally you'd be right. But I was too damn angry with the entire situation to be afraid.

    I held the meat out and she reached for it with her beak.

    I pulled it back slightly and she hissed, glaring at me,

    "Don't give me that shit," I told her firmly, "You want this? You behave. I don't have to give you anything, I could walk out of here today and go back to Westfall and get a job as a farmhand."

    She stopped hissing and just glared at me instead, tail lashing behind her.

    I glared right back before holding the meat out again.

    She took it in her beak and then retreated back to carefully peel the flesh from the bone. I settled back down, crossing my arms as I watched. For a being that big, she really had a lot of precision in her eating.

    Finally she finished and went back to glaring at me again.

    I shrugged, "Don't look at me, it took me most of a week to earn that one. I can't afford that shit as a regular, I have no money."

    She kept glaring.

    "Look, I don't want to be here," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, "I want to go home. But I can't go home until I figure out my magic and I can't do that without Stonehammer's help. And he won't help me before you give the go ahead. You want to get rid of me? Play along and act friendly. I'd be out of your feathers."

    The gryphon... you may have guessed it... kept glaring at me.

    "Not that it matters," I then sighed, "Going home... even if I managed it right now, this instance.... my life would be ruined. All my possessions gone, my family likely think I'm dead. My job would be gone. I have been missing for almost half a year. And the longer I'm gone, the worse it gets. And all of this to even start to stand a chance to figure things out."

    Taking a deep breath, I glanced towards the entrance where the sunlight had started to turn into the colour of dusk.

    One more day gone. And it was getting colder every day.

    One more day, further from home.

    Adjusting my pack, I shifted to lay down to use it as a pillow, pulling my cloak around myself. Might as well try to get some sleep.

    I dreamed of a mist filled forest, spiders and blood.
     
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    • Hmmm... Would Westfall count as a White or Green Land-type? He's yet to stay in a White environment that long and doesn't feel like he's very attuned to Black...
     
    Gindjurra said:
    One thing I've never understood about dwarves - why do the flight masters who have just sold me a ride on a gryphon, always tell me to keep my feet on the ground? 🤣
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    Because it's advice they feel you genuinely need, given that you just paid money to get dragged somewhere by a giant birdcat.
    Caiuz said:
    Hmmm... Would Westfall count as a White or Green Land-type? He's yet to stay in a White environment that long and doesn't feel like he's very attuned to Black...
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    The monestary had white-mana vibes, for all that it was surrounded by forest.
    DaLintyGuy said:
    Hm. Green would be of use in his current task.
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    Or his current task is helping him attune to Green.
     
    Caiuz said:
    Hmmm... Would Westfall count as a White or Green Land-type? He's yet to stay in a White environment that long and doesn't feel like he's very attuned to Black...
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    Westfall is pretty typical 'rural' White - plains, grain fields, small settlements. Northshire is 100% White as a community church. Stormwind is either white as a collective or like, Blue for Mage Quarter, White for the Castle, White for the Cathedral, maybe some Red/White for the Dwarven forge Quarter.
     
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    • I swung the ax down and split another log, the two pieces of wood going flying in each direction with a clatter against the stony ground.

    The morning's frost had faded away in the sunlight, but I wouldn't call anything warm right now. But at least the physical activity helped keep me warm.

    Which is more than I could say for last night. Even with bedding of pine branches wrapped in my cloak I had been cold. And it wasn't even winter yet, it had just started to frost over in the mornings.

    I had no idea how I'd keep warm when it came to winter. I'd need a fire at the very least and I doubt that stupid catbird would like that.

    Well, fuck her. It's her damn fault I'm still doing this.

    Putting the ax down and leaning it against the stone wall, I started to pick up pieces of wood to carry towards the kitchen. The mountain was heated from inside from the forges, but the kitchen used wood for cooking.

    And as sad as it may seem, this had quickly turned into my favorite part of the day.

    When I could come in from the cold for a little bit and let the warmth soak through me, if only for a couple of minutes. As usual, the door from the kitchen was open to keep the heat from becoming overwhelming.

    It felt amazing anyway and I took in the scents from the stoves and pots bubbling away. Fresh baked bread, roasting meat, spices.

    Woodsmoke and food.

    It took me six more trips to carry the wood inside. Which was actually the one thing I could do better than the dwarves! They may be stronger than I was, but I had longer arms and the load was bulk limited, not mass!

    Kinda stupid they didn't have a wagon or at least baskets for this. But not like I could make either, so...

    A dwarf walked up to me, her blonde hair a bit covered with soot and tied back into braids around her head, wearing what looked to me like a mix of a chef's jacket, a robe and chain armor, "Taz. That is all the wood?"

    "Yes, boss," I confirmed, "Six full loads. Same as every morning."

    She nodded and reached over to the bench next to her and picked up a small basket, holding it out to me, "Bread, cheese and some uncooked meaty bones for the gryphon."

    "Thank you, boss," I said and took the basket. It was heavier than I thought it would be, but that was the bones. And damn, it seems like my cheese portion was bigger than usual too.

    Giving her a small bow, I left for the long trek up the mountain again. As soon as I exited the kitchens, the chill wind ripped the heat from me, straight from the core of my bones it felt like.

    Pulling my cloak around myself the best I could, I started back up the mountain.

    I entered the small chamber to find the gryphon gone.

    That wasn't unexpected, she usually didn't return until well after I did. Not sure what she did, but likely was out hunting or something similar.

    So I bundled up and sat down to wait on my thick bed of pine branches. I'd have to rearrange things tonight, last night I had slept on top of it, I have to try to pile more on top of myself, see if that helps more than keeping away from the stone floor.

    I also have to investigate the option of a fire. I still had my flint and steel, I could make a fire. Maybe if I made it outside and brought hot rocks inside, that could help keep me warm without smoking up the place. I remember reading about that in a documentary.

    There was the sound of wings and then claws against rock as the gryphon walked inside.

    Like usual, she stopped when she spotted me and let out a snorting sound.

    "Yes, hello to you too," I greeted her.

    She snorted again and then dismissed me for the moment, walking over to lay down on her pile of hay before starting her favorite activity.

    Glaring at me.

    Gryphons are great glarers, they have the eyes for it.

    I looked back at her as I ate some bread. It must have been piping hot when I got it because it wasn't cold when I got to it, just room temperature.

    Neither of us said anything.

    Me because I was eating. She because she was a stupid birdcat.

    "You know," I finally said, "I'm starting to think you don't like me."

    She slowly blinked and then went back to glaring at me.

    "Yeah, that didn't tell me anything. If you were a cat, that would have said you trusted me. But you're not. I don't speak gryphon, work with me here."

    That earned me a disdainful snort and a clicking of her beak.

    That's a thought. Could I learn gryphon? I could learn Common and Dwarvish fast enough. Why not gryphon? I wouldn't need to be able to speak it, she understood dwarvish well enough.

    Then again, that assumed she would cooperate to teach me. And that there was an actual language in there and not just sounds.

    Reaching into the basket, I pulled out what looked and felt like a hip bone from a cow or similar creature. It still had strips of meat on it.

    Now she stopped glaring at me to instead look at the bone.

    "Want this?" I asked, holding it out, "You know the deal by now."

    The gryphon turned her head, regarding me for a moment before getting to her paws.

    I pushed myself onto my feet in turn.

    She laid back down and then turned her head away to ignore me.

    Now it was my turn to glare at her, "Oh? Well then," I said and walked to the opening, "I guess you don't want this," I said and reared back to throw it down the mountain.

    There was a squawking sound and when I glanced back, she was sitting up again, looking at me.

    "Oh, you want it after all?" I asked and turned back, "I'm not playing your games. You want it? You come and get it. Or I'm throwing it out."

    She growled at me, but got fully up and stalked over to me, stopping to raise her head higher when she got close, just to be taller than me.

    "Don't give me that shit, I don't need to bring you treats at all you overgrown pigeon."

    Her eyes widened.

    "Yes, you heard me. I've done nothing but been nice to you. I may mainly care about being allowed to learn magic, but that's because you've been nothing but bitchy to me since I arrived. I'd like to be friends," I told her firmly, "But that's up to you. You want respect? You treat me with respect. Until then your gryphon privileges are rescinded, pigeon."

    She moved towards me in a quick movement, claws scraping at the stone floor before she slid to a halt with her wings half spread just before me when I didn't move.

    I glared straight back at her, not moving, "Well?"

    The pigeon snorted and clicked her beak in a threatening manner, glaring at me, her white feathers raising high as they ruffled in the cold wind from outside.

    "Want the bone or not?" I asked as I glared right back, "Pigeon."

    She growled but lowered her head again to a more normal posture. I held the bone out and she took it in her beak before returning to sink down on her hay to gnaw on it.

    I shook my head and pulled my cloak tighter around myself.

    Whatever, I'm already up. Might as well go find some rocks and branches and try to get a fire going.
     
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