By Design [Elba]

Cairo felt himself glancing repeatedly at the owl that sat dozing in the oak as he worked on the armor for Lia. She was a pretty creature, the owl, and he’d found her on his way home, grounded with an injured wing. She’d had a few days to recover, and had her flight back now.

She’d taken a liking to him for helping her, and he found himself with a ghostly shadow most nights, floating silently above him during patrols, dozing nearby during the majority of the day. Her eyes were different from other owls of her kind. Pale, which made her look even more ghostly.

He shrugged to himself. She was useful, and had fascinating insight from the sky. And he liked her nature. His attention turned back to the carving he was working on. He was on the fourth panel, and still had several left. It had taken him the first two panels to get the rhythm and paw control down.

Many hours later, he had the next two panels done. He sat back for a break, blinking and stretching and studying the design. It wasn’t perfect, but for as scrappy as Lia was, it was more than likely her use of it over the years would scar the designs anyway.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think