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She was born in a crow flock. Her parents were horrified. A jackdaw? The flock had heard stories of these mutations. Dangerous and dishonorable, able to kill of or take over flocks with ease. Quickly, she was rushed away from the nest, her family, her siblings.

She was kept locked away until adulthood, alone in the cold dark cells far below the territory. As soon as she was old enough, the flock put her to work. It was hard physical labor, never getting a break from toiling under the hot humid sun somewhere in the desert. Only fed scraps, kicked around, and degraded, but never told why. This life was all she knew.

She watched what she had learned were her parents raise and love her siblings who would never know her beyond the flocks slave. A monster. A stressball. But, they were loved. They were happy. So why?

Why?

Why?

...

The fire burned bright, licking up to the night sky above. Huts turning to ash. Dragons reduced to bone. Bodil sat on a cliff in the distance, watching the only thing she ever knew burn to the ground. No more. No more would they hurt her, or anyone else. She felt but a brief pain of sadness for her fallen sibling, and parents. But they never loved her. And now they knew it was true. A jackdaw could ruin a flock, if not loved by it.


with a sound of wings, a nocturn landed at her side.

"come with me," the stranger whispered, "let me take you home,"