Adventurers...?

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“This sucks!”

Kite voiced her displeasure, as she had several times that same afternoon. She held a small rake while Felix wielded a shovel. Their mission: to break apart and shovel griffon dung into the back of a cart, and transport it from the stables to the farmer’s fields for composting.

Like most others in Windia, their employer was a birdman. The black-feathered and yellow-beaked fellow sat on the porch of his farmhouse with a piece of straw in his mouth, relaxing in his rocking chair as Felix and Kite toiled in his place.

“You mean to tell me you did this kind of stuff every day, and you weren’t even paid for it?” Kite nearly wiped the sweat from her forehead before she realized her gloved hands were still speckled with manure. “Great…”

“That ‘stuff’ was how we survived.” Felix shoveled a pile into the cart. “We were paid with healthy animals and food to last the winter. Maybe enough produce to sell at the market in the next town from time to time.”

“I guess…”

“And aren’t you the one who asked if I’m ready to get my hands dirty?”

“Okay, okay.” Kite groaned. “I know what I said, and I don’t mean to complain or anything, but it’s all pretty… new.”

Felix chuckled, shaking his head lightly.

“You’ll get used to it.” He nodded. “And it’s not every day you get to see one of these so close up...”

A griffon with beautiful white feathers studied them with golden eyes. It sat behind a flimsy wooden pen within the stable that it could quite easily get out of, if it had wanted to.

However, the normally proud creature was docile and curious about their presence. Felix locked eyes with it.

“It would be really cool to ride on one.” Felix reached out a gentle hand for the beast to let it sniff. “Hey there, friend…”

“Wait, Felix.“

Kite tried to warn him away from sticking his hand between the wooden slats, but Felix wasn’t to be deterred. His eyes sparkled when the griffon suddenly leaned into his palm, nuzzling it with his ginormous beak.

“No way…” Kite muttered. “I think it likes you.”

“You think?” Felix was mentally prepared for the possibility that it might try to take an arm, but that worry fled him as he scratched the griffon’s luxurious chin feathers. “That’s a good griffon…”

“You sure do act like a kid sometimes.” Kite giggled as Felix shrugged incredulously. “Those things are notorious man-eaters, too, especially humans.”

“Not this sweet thing!” Felix continued to scratch its neck. “I mean, would it not be a little neat to fly on this guy’s back, high above the clouds?”

The griffon squeaked, snorting air and stomping a paw in protest. Felix nodded apologetically.

“Sorry, this lady’s back.”

It seemed much happier being addressed that way, relaxing its shoulders. Its sharp gaze came to rest on Kite next as it tilted its head at a horizontal angle in bird-like fashion.

A nervous bead of sweat painted Kite’s brow, but she, too, reached out a hand to pet the griffon.

“Huh.”

“See?”

Kite raked apart a stubborn grassy chunk of manure, a subtle smile on her face as she got back to work.

“I guess it would be sort of neat to fly.”

. . .

Felix and Kite left the farmhouse at sundown, holding a small handful of copper coins. They counted fifteen in total, after they’d been given a few extra for taking care of some other tasks, including transporting some lumber to a neighboring farm.

“A night at the inn is around twenty…” Kite rubbed her chin. “You sure there wasn’t anything else we could do today?”

“Every other posting seemed a step above what we’re capable of at the moment with just the two of us.” Felix looked upon their reward with a pensive smile. “But on the bright side…”

They opened the doors to the same stables they had spent all day cleaning. The smell of dung still lingered, and the griffons all slept in their enclosures with rumbling snores. They had learned the animals were all free range, and returned home to roost. Except for the pure white griffon who spent all day in the enclosure.

“Perks of the job, eh?” Felix passed a fleeting grin to Kite.

As it turns out, they would also be enjoying their stay on beds made of straw. Once they’d each found a suitable pile, Kite flopped down first, letting out a big sigh as she did.

“I think I miss prison.”

“Don’t say that,” Felix said. “You hated it there.”

“Yeah.” Kite flashed a smirk. “I was just thinking of our one free meal per day, personal space, and all our wonderfully kind friends…”

“Now I know you’re misremembering things.”

“That’s the last thing I wanna hear from you, my amnesiac friend.”

They shared a laugh.

“Alright, maybe you have a point,” Felix admitted, lying down in a straw pile of his own. “I’ve been a little curious about something though.”

“About what?”

“Well… You mentioned a little about how you ended up in that prison cell so far away from the capital.” Felix thought. “You‘ve said it was because you stole a purse, but also that someone set you up. Your sibling…?”

“Yeah, my sister.” Kite folded her hands behind her head, wearing a scowl. “It’s not a glamorous story or anything. The guards couldn’t catch me, but they caught her. She sang like a songbird and helped them bag me in exchange for her freedom. Simple as.”

“I see… And this still bothers you?”

“It is what it is.” Kite closed her eyes. “Listen, I know I’ve lived a life that few should be proud of, but that experience taught me a valuable lesson about trust. Even if she’s the only blood I’ve got, it’s better left to oneself.”

“I understand why you’d think that.” Felix pondered over that point. “But even so… I trust you, Kite.”

“Even though I’m a thief?”

“Because you’ve never given me a reason not to,” Felix replied. “Hero, thief, human, harpy. People can call us what they’d like. Sort of like you told me after prison. To me, you’ll always just be Kite, my friend.”

“…Thanks, Felix.”

“Any time.”

. . .

Felix suddenly remembered something he had wanted to ask before.

“Kite?” Felix began. “I realize I’m asking a bunch of questions here, but about your family… Why were you all really split up?”

There was a moment of silence. Just when Felix thought Kite might have checked out of the conversation, he heard her soft voice speak up over the sounds of the insects chirping outside the stables.

“…I’m a little tired tonight, to be honest,” Kite said, turning over. “And that story is a whole lot longer than the last one.”

Felix figured he had been mistaken in asking.

“That’s alright, sorry for—”

“—But I might tell it to you someday, if it comes up.” Kite finished her thought, cutting him off. “And if you’ll lend an ear. Now, what were you saying?”

“Nothing.” Felix smiled, closing his eyes. “Good night, Kite.”

“Good night, Felix.”

Long after the stable had fallen quiet, the white griffon remained awake, watching the two friends and their peaceful expressions with its unblinking golden eyes.

“Skreigh…” A lonely squeak left its mouth.

It wasn’t until morning finally came that Felix noticed the white griffon’s absence, and the massive hole in the side of their employer’s farmhouse. It had escaped.

. . .

“I want you all to find that damn animal immediately!”

The farmer who had hired Felix and Kite was steaming mad as he stomped out of his ruined house, still in his pajamas. One of the farmhands cautiously approached their boss, twiddling his thumbs.

“What do we do once we find it, sir?”

“Capture it, kill it, I don’t care what you do!” The farmer shouted. “And you two, get your tails over here!”

Felix and Kite, still tired themselves, approached confused after leaving the stables.

“Is there a problem?” Felix asked.

“Is there a problem, he asks. Why don’t you look at my house?! That thing tried to kill me!” The farmer flapped his feathery hands. “You two didn’t see anything, did you?”

“No, it didn’t bust up the stables at all, so we didn’t notice,” Kite said. “It must’ve snuck out and made a beeline for your house…”

“But it was so gentle, why in the world would it do that?” Felix rubbed the stubble on his chin.

“Well… I actually brought her in last week from the wild.” The farmer admitted, considering it himself. “I’d never seen a pure white griffon before, figured she’d earn me a profit ‘fore too long. Now look at what she’s done… gone and wrecked my place of living, and my peace of mind!”

“Well, there’s your problem,” Felix said. “She’s lived her whole life in the wild. What made you think she’d just stick around like the others who were bred in captivity?”

“First couple days, she did nothing but brood over in the stables by her lonesome. Tried to nip at one of the prospective buyers, but that's all.” The farmer crossed his arms. “I thought about building a proper cage for her soon, but I couldn’t find the time yet. What’s it to you?” 

“She stayed in the stables because she’d given up hope that she could leave...” Felix realized as he told the farmer. “Until now.”

I was exactly the same…

“A cage wouldn’t have helped anything besides keeping her locked in. My mother always said animals tell you what’s wrong long before they bite.”

“I can tell—by how quickly you got that work done yesterday and your attitude—you were a farmer’s boy, weren’t you?”

Felix nodded.

“In that case, I’ve got just the thing for you both to do.” The farmer said. “You both look tough. Find that griffon, and bring it back here before it causes me more trouble. I don’t trust the farmhands to do it, and you’ll both be paid well.”

“I just said I don’t think she belongs in—“

“How much are we talking about?”

“Kate?”

Kite shrugged as Felix shot her a look.

“Five silvers, each.” The farmer said.

In other words, enough for almost two months at the inn, assuming no other purchases were made. Kite answered in a heartbeat.

“We’ll do it!”