121st of Ashan 722
"Mother, may I?" Woe pleaded, "May I, please?"
Grandmother Grizelda clucked her tongue as she prepared the carrot and rabbit stew. "What did the crows ever do to you, that you should chase and hunt them so?" She tapped her ladle against the rim of the soup cauldron, and turned to Woe with a hand on her hip. They were in her cabin, in a forest somewhere outside of Andaris. Woe didn't remember the circumstances of his move from Erastus' workshop to this kindly old woman's care, but he didn't question his fortune. She was nice enough, although her rules were very strict, it seemed to him. She didn't allow him to hunt for fun, only for need. But their need was very small, when it came to meat. He wanted to hunt more. It was fun!
"There's no need for it boy." She warned, wagging her ladle spoon in front of his face, "Leave the crows alone. We've no need of hunting or chasing crows." She shook her head for emphasis.
Woe frowned, and planted his foot on the ground, but in the end she gave him a look that stifled that expression of defiance. He looked down at the ground, his face burning with mingling shame and rage. "Very well, Mother."
"Now, go fetch the pepper and salt for the soup..." She said, tasting it and frowning from the bland broth that was brewing. "This will need just a dash of it." He smacked her lips a few times, and then tried it again, this time ladling deeper into the soup to be sure that it didn't taste right. "Yes, just perhaps a dash to bring out the flavor of the rabbit stew."
Woe sniffed sharply, and then nodded, storming off toward the larder to fetch the spices she'd need. The cabin wasn't all that large, really the larder was just a large closet that adjoined the main cabin room from around the hearth. Dark though it was in the larder, he could still find his way by rote usually. However, this time, when his hand searched the darkness for the familiar feel of the salt-shaker and pepper bottle, he felt a cold piece of fabric against his hand. What felt like a spider web. Instinctive revulsion prompted him to stumble backward, falling on his rear.
Grandmother Grizelda called from the Hearth, "Alright boy? The soup is needing that salt and pepper!"
"Yes, Mother!" Woe shot back, and then turned toward the darkened larder. He got back up on his feet, and now knowing what to expect. He wasn't really afraid of spiders, and didn't dislike them. He went out of his way to avoid them mostly, leaving them to their own devices. At least, they were less revolting and disgusting than roaches. And sometimes the bigger spiders would eat roaches. So he had a passing respect for the creatures, one might say.
He reached into the darkness again, and much to his surprise a streak of pale luminescence dimly lit the gloomy space. There, he saw a glowing spider. His eyes went wide, but not with horror. It was possibly the most enchanting and beautiful insect he'd ever seen. The spider was large, which meant usually that it was a female. So he addressed her as such, "Pardons Ms. Spider. I need to get past you for some salt. Grandmother will be getting impatient."
Although he addressed the spider in voice, he never expected that it would speak back to him! And it did so then! Its voice soothing and cool as silk, "Tarry a bit, young one! Grandmother can wait."
Woe's eyes shone in the reflected luminscence, as he gaped at the spider. The glowing, speaking spider! "You... You can speak? How am I hearing your voice?"
"I got into your Grandmother's magic fairy dust. What does it matter how I'm speaking, so long as you hear me, and listen to what I say?" The spider chuckled into his mind, tapping the strands of her web as thought they were an instrument. "Now, I hear your mean Grandmother won't let you chase the crows."
Woe forgot the shock of the speaking spider for a moment, brought back to the frustration he had over not being able to hunt for fun. His face went red again, as the spider allowed his thoughts to go unsaid. "It's alright, young one. You can be angry at her, though she be kind enough to let you stay. What kind of mother would deprive her children of such needed stimulation, afterall?"
"It's not fair." Woe said, "We could fill the larder to bursting, and maybe get a dog and..."
"Yes. She is jealous. Wishes to keep you from growing, from spreading your wings." The spider sighed, "But, rather than hunt crows, how would you feel if you could become one?"
Woe looked up at the spider, watching the lights on her body flicker, casting a pulsing glow through the cabinet space. He quirked a brow, "Become one? What do you mean?"
"How child, would you like it if you could be free. To fly, and eat when you wanted and nest wherever you like. No cares, just you and your fellow crows."
Woe thought on it a little bit, and supposed he'd enjoy being a bird, if it meant he didn't also have to have a bird brain. If he could retain who he was, yet be free. The freedom was a very nice feeling, or would be if he'd ever experienced it.
"What if I could help make it happen, child?" The spider asked, glowing green then.
Woe heard flapping from behind him, on the open windowsill of his grandmother's cabin. He turned to look, and saw a red-eyed crow. His eyes, if it were possible, went even wider. He'd never seen a crow to take so closely to a human before. Was there... something wrong with it?
"It's a magic crow, child. Pluck one of its feathers, and it will grant you its form, so you may fly free of here."
Woe approached the crow, but then stopped in his tracks, and looked over toward where Griselda was cooking the soup. He liked the idea of freedom, of going anywhere, of forgetting his place here and leaving the safety of Grandmother's cabin. But at the same time, he wanted to be free, to be his own person... Perhaps if he could only become a crow for but a moment, and then return?
The crow reached out its wing, holding one of its loose feathrs toward him. Woe, barely thinking, looked one last time at the spider, then Grizelda, and then plucked the feather from the crow. Instantly, he began transforming into a crow, leaving his old body behind. He was next to the crow, his blue eyes staring into red ones. "Let's go home, brother." Said red-eye. And so they flew from the cabin, into the treelines and over them, leaving Grizelda and the glowing, talking spider behind them.
They flew very high into the night, the moons looming large over them. They followed the light of the stars, which pointed south, toward warmer climates. He reveled in the feeling of wind in his wings, of the closeness of the flock as other birds joined along side of him. However, as he flew, he was aware that he was being pulled along, and not quite in control of the direction of his flight. At first, he only tried to adjust his flight pattern slightly. Then, when that failed, he jerked in mid-air, trying for all his might and willpower to turn around, and fly back to Grandmother's house.
He could not bring himself to do it, no matter how his mind screamed for him to go back. It was around then, that the wind failed him, and he began falling to the ground. The sensation sent flutters through his belly as he descended to the ground, with increasing speed. When finally he hit a rock on the ground, he awoke in the middle of the night. The Moons shone large tonight, as he awakened in Egilrun.
Just a dream.
