My head tilted upward. There it was, high above us, monitoring.
A crow—big, black, with wings spread wide circled us lazily. Once. Twice. Its beady eyes were fixed on one of us only: Morad.
"Strange. I wonder why this bird is even here. But that aside, why does it keep circling us?" And then, like a nail hit on the head with a hammer, it snapped into my mind: it was planning to eat Morad.
"Morad, that bird wants you for food!"
Morad froze mid-glide, fins stiffening. "me food… why me? that bird… seriously?"
I squinted. "Looks like it." This was not a good situation. For one, we were both low on mana, and two, the bird had the height advantage. Crap, how are we going to get out of this situation? It's one problem after the other.
"Astraga, we can take it! Since it's after me, we can distract it or something?"
"Probably." The last thing I wanted was for Morad to end up inside some crow's belly.
"A Dragon Seed? Food?" His voice cracked with outrage. "Unacceptable! I am majestic! Does it even know the value of a Dragon Seed? If not for this fish form, ugh! I'm not some pond snack!" Morad really took offense to a bird just being a bird.
"Relax," I muttered, though the crow dipped lower, its talons flexing. "It probably just sees a flying fish out of water as an easy meal. Which… to be fair, is exactly what you look like."
Morad's jaw dropped. "Don't side with it! Let's get moving, here it comes!"
The crow swooped lower, wings slicing the air. Morad panicked, darting in a sloppy circle.
"Ahhh, it's trying to eat me! Astraga! Do something!"
And then it happened.
My thumb twitched, giving a white gleam it looked as though my bond sense had been activated and an idea popped into my head.
"Move around, we split up! Since it's after you, I have a plan!" Even though it wasn't planned, this was the ideal situation to find ourselves in, as it was the perfect time to test the bond sense.
"Alright, let's test it."
Since my thumb felt like a controller, it felt natural for me to use my left hand to hold onto my right thumb, like a joystick, and steer Morad.
As we split, the bird instantly gained on Morad. Morad got a speed boost in the nick of time immediately after I placed my left hand on my thumb. The link between my thumb and Morad was unbelievable; I could see what I needed to do as a third party. I swiped him left, right, and zig-zag, and the crow was hyper-focused on Morad, seeming to enjoy the challenge of chasing a fish moving and weaving its way through the air.
"Brother, this is awesome! Watch out!"
Sorry, I almost made Morad hit a rock, but this was unbelievable. He was responding to my control with no delays. I still needed to get a hang of it, but it was amazing; it felt game-like.
Morad was energetic. "I'm so fast! You're a natural at this, but how do we lose the bird, brother?"
He was right; he had been dodging the bird's attempts, but how do we shake this bird off our tail? Wait, is that a tree?
"Morad, I have a plan! Trust me on it…"
I tightened the grip on my gleaming thumb, faced Morad full throttle towards the tree, shooting forward toward the tree trunk .
"What the—?!" he yelped.
"Astraga! What are you doing?" Morad's head tilted slightly in my direction as his body sped full-force towards the tree trunk.
"I'm gonna die, goodbye world…" he said, accepting his fate, as the crow was still in hot pursuit, locked onto him.
I yelled out loud, "Trust me on this, Morad!"
And without a moment's hesitation, he yelled back, "I trust you, brother! Yahooo! Let's go!" Morad was now more confident in me, letting loose entirely.
This trust was a heavy burden, as a single mistake from me might actually kill him. He was slightly ahead of the crow due to the speed boost from our sense bond.
"Astraga!"
"Not yet!"
Closer to the trunk.
"ASTRAGA!"
"Not yet!"
Before he could yell my name again, I made his body take a sharp turn sideways from a direct impact. The crow, which had been hyper-focused on its meal, wasn't able to react fast enough.
Bang! It hit the tree, now stunned by the impact.
"Whooowhooo! That was crazy, Astraga! Made my heart pump! Let's do that again!" Morad curled playfully around the unconscious bird. "Yeah, who is the meal now?"
I ran towards him.
"Astraga, that was a nice one! Thanks, brother! I thought you finally wanted to get rid of me." Morad was back to his usual, dramatic self.
"Come on! I'd never! You know I'm saving you for Astraya now."
"Now I'm scared again! She's really into fish meat!"
But all that Morad was saying even the mention of Astraya and fish wasn't registering with me as I stared at the crow's foot.
"Wait, is this a message bird?" I noticed a scrolled paper was tied to its leg.
"Paper!" Morad rephrased.
I reached for the crow, now holding it, and removed the letter from its leg. The crow regained consciousness and flew away into the distance, landing on another distant tree, appearing to have lost interest in Morad.
"A message…" I muttered, staring at the rolled-up paper in my palm. The wax seal pressed into it made my chest tighten. The symbol on it was one I knew all too well.
Morad's eyes widened. "What kind of bird delivers messages? Is this… one of yours?"
Morad tilted his head. "You look like you've gotten the best news ever. Well? What does it say?"
I replied with the biggest grin I had ever managed.
"Brother?" Morad pressed. "What is it?"
The words within the letter were from only one person I wanted them to be from. "…It's from my Father."
Morad blinked. "Your… father? So, it's good news the way you're grinning…?"
"Yes." My throat tightened. "He's coming. Tomorrow." It appeared the crow had been sent a week earlier, and I hadn't noticed it pass through the barrier.
"Tomorrow?" he repeated, his voice filled with excitement.
I nodded, folding the letter with playful fingers. "Tomorrow, everything changes. I get to see Astraya's teacher and, most especially, my bodyguard."