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Leon and Singer-in-Caves danced in the sky for a long time.  The sheer joy of flight in avian form was indescribable, especially now that Leon had someone to truly share it with.  Flight using magic just wasn’t the same as feeling the wind in his feathers.

That being said, it wasn’t long before Leon started summoning the wind to aid their flight.  He called upon one of the elements that the Thunderbird was known for, lifting him and keeping him moving as he danced about in the air.  Singer was just behind, flying in his wake in a way that suggested timidity, but as the minutes and then hours passed, gave way to confidence and the ecstasy of flight.

She was much smaller in avian form than he was, but she called upon her own wind magic, which she was far more skilled at than Leon was, and was soon flying literal circles around him.  She even lived up to her name as she opened her beak and began to sing, letting loose with one of the most beautiful bird songs that Leon had ever heard.

Even with having given her some second-hand experience with darkness magic, Leon was surprised at how quickly Singer picked up moving about in her new body.  He was almost jealous, having had to put in days of work to learn in his own time.

But he supposed it was for the best and quickly put those thoughts out of mind and focused only on their dance, for he soon started trying to fly circles around Singer in turn.  However, she was small and sleek whereas he was large and bulky, and she was able to fly faster than he could and turn on a silver coin.  Their circular dance soon gave way to playful chasing, and before Leon knew it, all the other Hawks and his retainers had returned to the ground.  They’d followed him and Singer into the air but hadn’t been able to keep up.

After a while, Leon started growing a little self-conscious about how many magic senses he was feeling keeping an eye on him and Singer, but as Singer kept flying around with hardly a care in the world, Leon found it easy enough to not care.  He was more reticent about what he suspected were Singer’s attempts to get him to join her in bird song than he was in appearing dignified and regal for anyone watching.

But they couldn’t remain in the air forever, and after about two or three hours, Leon slowed down and sent a quick message to Singer courtesy of his darkness magic to land.  Singer sang in protest but followed him downward anyway.

As they approached the ground, Leon saw that their crowd had grown by several high-tiered mages, and quite a few people in the village were watching them.  He put on one last show for the people, flapping his wings and letting a bolt of silver-blue lightning, bright enough to be almost blinding even on the sunny day, erupt from his feathers and dissipate in the air several thousand feet above him.  The accompanying thunder reverberated throughout the village, startling the people, but those who’d been watching stared at him with even more shock and awe than they had been before.

Feeling somewhat proud and satisfied, Leon transformed back into his human form, dressing so quickly that he doubted anyone got even so much as a glimpse of his body and landing with practiced grace and dignity.

Singer-in-Caves came down a little rougher, but with much more energy.  She waited until she was touching dirt to transform back, and in that time, Valeria had run over to Leon, a faint smile spreading across her face.

“Have fun?” she asked, the last traces of worry vanishing from her gorgeous features as she stopped just close enough to Leon for him to pull her into a tight one-handed embrace, which he did immediately.

Leon pressed his lips to hers in a quick, but loving, peck and answered, “I did.”

[I’m jealous,] Maia whispered as she joined them.  [I almost wish I had wings, too.]

“You’re perfect just the way you are,” Leon replied as he pulled her under his other arm and kissed her, too.  “But if you ever want to go flying, you know I would never refuse…”

“Something to keep in mind,” Valeria responded as she slipped out from under Leon’s arm, though he could see her faint smile widening slightly despite this.  Maia, however, remained with him, apparently unconcerned about the attention they were receiving.

“That… was amazing!” Singer-in-Caves said as she finally transformed back into her human form, interrupting Leon before he could respond to his lady.  “I would never have guessed flying like that would be so exhilarating!”

Leon chuckled and said, “Like you’ve been craving something your whole life, but only now is that craving being satisfied, right?”

Singer nodded.  “It’s like every fiber of my being had been demanding I sprout wings and fly, but only now have I even realized it!”  She stared up into the sky, the wind she’d summoned ruffling her hair, and sighed, her dignity as an aged ninth-tier mage and most powerful elder of the Heart-Stabbing Hawks returning.  “I can already tell what’s going to be filling my free time from now on, but that is something that can be discussed another time.  For now, we have some monsters to kill, don’t we?  And some other business besides…”

She gave Leon a look of such admiration and gratitude that he started to feel a little uncomfortable, but at the very least, he at least hoped it meant that he’d be getting the Hawk Tribes’ support once all this was over.  Given the way Singer seemed to be buzzing with energy and joy, he could tell that she, at least, would be on his side, whatever the future had in store.

The group began moving back to the gathering hall, but just as they were about to leave, Leon heard Red audibly harrumph and grumble, “Feathers are overrated…”

He blinked in surprise, but before he could turn to her in indignation, Anzu jumped in and quietly responded, “Don’t be jealous, you’re still cool too.”

Red scoffed as Anzu kept walking, but Leon caught the wyvern trying to suppress a smile.  When she noticed him watching her, she glared at him and didn’t say a word, following Anzu and the others to the gathering hall instead.

Leon just shook his head, chuckled, and let the matter go as he followed everyone else in.

As he and Singer took their places on the dais with everyone else, including Leon’s retinue, taking seats, Singer said, “Who else would like to try this transformation enchantment?  I can verify that it’s safe, that it’s boosted my power, and is quite possibly the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.”  Singer paused a moment, glanced at her son, then added, “Well, maybe not quite that high, but in the top five, to be sure.”

Cloud-Runner laughed, then said, “I’ll be second!”

Another Hawk elder added, “And I’ll join you!”

A third Hawk mage, and then a fourth and fifth, and soon enough, Leon had twenty or so Hawk mages, elders and Chiefs both, willing to try the transformation enchantment.

‘A good number,’ he thought to himself, though he couldn’t quite quiet a worry that lodged itself in his head.  ‘Hopefully, this works for them, too.’  Two people were a small sample size and he hoped that the enchantment wouldn’t prove itself surprisingly dangerous.  But he had faith in his Ancestor, his employees in Magical Research and Development, and himself that the enchantment was safe enough.

“Stick around after the meeting,” Singer ordered.  “I’ll personally get all of you up-to-speed on what you need to do.  So let’s get this meeting done with so we can take care of that, why don’t we?”  She turned and nodded respectfully to Leon.

“Indeed,” Leon said.  “How are we doing with the monsters giving all of you problems?”

An eighth-tier elder said, “The sea monster is on the move, but it won’t be in range of anything important for days; we have plenty of time to cut it off.  The mutated bull is more problematic, but he seems to be resting right now.  It’s the serpent and the roc that’s most concerning.  The serpent isn’t directly threatening anything right now, but it’s cut off several important passes cutting through the mountains that link us with the Common Lands in the east.”

Leon nodded in understanding.  The Common Lands were shared by all the Ten Tribes since that’s where most of their Titanstone was mined.  The land wasn’t too hospitable for anything other than Titanstone quarries, anyway.  The Titanstone itself was usually transported within a powerful mage’s soul realm, as far as he was aware—along with a mountain of paperwork ensuring that none was ‘misplaced’ in a soul realm—but other supplies flowing to and from the quarries usually required more mundane transportation methods.

Ocean travel was out given how dangerous the water south of Kataigida were reported to be, and the sea monster wasn’t making that any easier, so having a giant, violent, territorial serpent blocking access to the east was a huge problem not just for the Hawks, but for all the Ten Tribes.  Supplies could be moved by soul realm, of course, but if that were too widely known, then the Hawks would lose a lot of prestige, so they wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

That meant they had to kill the damn thing, and soon.

“What about the roc?” Leon asked.

“We’re having some trouble tracking it; it moves fast,” the elder explained.  “It’s of the highest concern, and we have our best trackers on the problem.  If we notice it’s moving against any more villages, we’ll only have a day at most to intercept it.”

“Do we know where it roosts?” Leon asked.

“We do,” Singer said.  “It moves a lot, though, and can fly for days.  It rarely rests at its home.”

“So the possibility of springing a trap won’t work?  For any of these things?”

“We’ve tried,” Singer replied.  “Our Tribe isn’t the most well-equipped, but we’ve brought great force to bear when we’ve tried.  Every time, our prey wriggles out of our talons.”

“We’ve come close to killing the bull twice,” Cloud-Runner added.  “The damned bull heals surprisingly quickly, its horns can absorb our magic, and it’s faster than a red-tipped hare on kata beans.”

Leon gave him a blank look and said, “That… sounds fast.”

“It is,” Singer confirmed.

Leon blinked and decided to just move on.  “How about the serpent?”

“The largest of the bunch,” an eighth-tier elder informed.  “It can take more punishment than just about anything I’ve ever seen, and its venom is a potent weapon it can use at immense range.  Its scales are hard and its hide is thick, so penetrating and hitting something vital will be difficult.  But we have perhaps the best chance of springing an ambush on it out of any of the others.”

“Then the sea monster?” Leon asked.

“It’s a sea monster,” Singer said matter-of-factly.

“More specifically,” a seventh-tier Chief added, “it’s very strong and its hide has anti-magic properties.”

As he spoke, he waved his hand and used light magic to project an image of the beast, and Leon just about recoiled in disgust.  It had been described to him as an amphibian, but it looked like some unholy combination of frog, shark, and kraken, with a long, thick central body, a shark’s head, a frog’s legs, and kraken-like tentacles sprouting from all over its body.

“We aren’t powerful water magic users,” Singer whispered.  “We have to wait until it’s on land before engaging.  If it falls back below the waves, we’d never get a chance.”

Leon nodded again, filing the information away.  “All right.  Here’s what I’m thinking, and stop me if this sounds stupid.  But my retainers have already expressed interest in hunting these things down in smaller groups.  I’ve spread out some weapons among them to make their jobs easier, and I’m thinking having some of you join them in their hunts would be wise.”

“What kind of weapons are you talking about that would prove so effective?” Singer asked.

Leon quickly broke down the MALLs that he’d brought along, as well as the Lightning Lances they came with.  Additionally, he’d told them, all of his retainers had some access to anti-magic and some miscellaneous salves and potions that would help courtesy of Helen and Heaven’s Eye.

“Those… could come in handy,” Cloud-Runner said with a thoughtful look, which slowly turned into a subdued smile of anticipation.

“We don’t get many weapons down here,” another elder added.  “We have some war beasts, but for the most part, weapons and war beasts are reserved for the Jaguars, Tigers, Lions, and Bears, for they are the ones most active in defending the island from attack.  What we get are designed more for civilian applications than military ones.”

“That’s a shame,” Leon replied.  “All of the Tribes ought to have the equipment they need to defend themselves.”

“We don’t get many weapons, it’s not that we don’t get any weapons,” Singer corrected.  “Under normal circumstances, we’d have what we need, but our army is on the Sword right now, and with them, all of our best weapons and war beasts.”

“I see,” Leon whispered.  “And you haven’t asked for aid from any of the other Tribes?”

“We haven’t yet felt the need,” Singer coldly stated as she glanced over Leon’s shoulder, her eyes seeming to focus on something only she could see.

“We’d rather not involve them in our matters,” another elder diplomatically stated.

Leon smiled in understanding.  “I get that,” he said.  “Well, should I succeed and become King of the Ten Tribes, you can be sure I’d want to change that.  Pride is one thing, but I want all of the Tribes to trust me with their problems, and to feel secure that I’d render any aid I could, free of judgment and with great discretion.”

Silence fell upon the gathering hall, and for a moment, Leon thought he’d made a mistake campaigning for himself during their strategy meeting.  However, Singer quickly disabused him of that notion.

“For the transformation enchantment alone, you’d have my support,” she said.  “When the rest of the Tribe hears what you’ve given us, I’d wager they’d be clamoring for the ancient bloodline to return to its proper place.  The lack of progress with the war against the plane’s natives across the sea after our initial successes has dampened some spirits, but the return of the Thunderbird Clan would restore that feeling of restoration.”

Singer paused a moment and gave Leon first a cheeky look, but grew more contemplative after a couple seconds.

“The rest of the elders will fall in line,” she declared.  “Aid us in this, and you’ll have done more for the Hawks than the rest of the Ten Tribes has in ten thousand years.  You will have proven that you would be the kind of King that we would follow.”

Leon smiled as his gaze lingered on Singer, then slid over to the other handful of elders, and then to the Chiefs, all of whom were looking at him with respect and gratitude—or, at least on the faces of the more stoic among them, at least tacit acceptance of Singer’s words.

“Then let’s make that a reality,” Leon said.  “Let’s get our teams sorted out…”

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Two days after Singer’s first flight, the time came to move.  The sea monster had made landfall and was moving against a small city in the south that was the locus of some of the Hawks’ most productive farmland, and it had to be intercepted before it could pillage that food.  The serpent was still resting easy, but the bull was being more belligerent, steadily moving towards another village that processed much of the mineral wealth that the Hawks mined.

The roc, meanwhile, was still flying around several hundred miles further east, still stealing the occasional livestock or raiding a granary, but it recently started moving with greater purpose and with much greater killing intent towards a village that maintained some of the only pasture lands that the Hawks had that supported their war beasts.  If that pasture land was destroyed, or if too many of their breeding stock was killed, the Hawks would be forced to purchase more from the Bears—and from what he could gather, doing so would not be cheap, and would undoubtedly come with severe caveats given the current political climate.

So, over that day, his people broke down into their agreed-upon groups.  Valeria, Maia, and Red were with Leon, as were Singer and Cloud-Runner.

Anshu and Gaius were going after the sea monster; Anzu and Alcander, the bull; Marcus and Alix, the serpent.  Accompanying all of them were Chiefs and elders who had taken that morning, all of the previous day, and the night that Singer had transformed to learn how to transform themselves.  They hadn’t had much time to get used to the form, but all of them had grown stronger, their new avian forms boosting their power considerably compared to their human forms.

Seeing that none of them had any adverse effects relating to the transformation not only boosted Leon’s confidence in the enchantment, but also that of the other elders and Chiefs present, but while they’d learned the enchantment, it would take some time for them to actually build it in their respective soul realms and get some practice.  For the time being, they would fight as humans, whether using magic or using other weapons, their own or one of Leon’s design.

They all assembled one last time before heading out, and Leon decided to give them all a few parting words.

“You all know what your jobs are!” he shouted.

“Fuck yeah!” Alcander boomed.

“Let’s kill some monsters!” Alix shouted.

“We’ll get it done,” Gaius confidently stated, his more sedate response clashing with those previous.

“That we will!” Marcus added, bridging the attitude gap between the other three.

“That sea creature will be dead before it has a chance to take another human life!” Anshu declared.

“And the bull!” Anzu responded with a nod of confidence, a small jump of excitement, and a look of childish seriousness that Leon would’ve found funny if he weren’t irrationally worried about his eighth-tier adoptive brother.

The Hawks going with them expressed their confidence as well, being swept up a bit not only with the new transformations but with the excitement and confidence expressed by Leon’s retainers.

“Good!” Leon responded.  “Now, do what you have to do, but in the off-chance that you can get me some bits of those monsters, I wouldn’t say no to them…”

There were some polite chuckles, and Leon made quick eye contact with all of those about to head off to confront these dangerous eighth-tier beasts.  Then, he spoke words that he knew to be traditional among the Ten Tribes.

“By the winged grace, we’ll succeed in this endeavor.  For the Ten Tribes!”

“For the Ten Tribes!” the others roared, and into the air they went before splitting up and flying in three directions.

Then, Leon finally turned to his group.  Singer and her son gave him looks of respect and solidarity.  Red looked like she would’ve been chomping at the bit to get moving and attack that roc, if only she had a bit.

“We’re ready,” Valeria said with a quiet, comforting confidence that had Leon smiling back at her.

[The sky is for my mate and our children,] Maia added with a look of love and determination.

“Then the only thing left is to do it,” he said as he took control of the air around him and lifted himself into the air, closely followed by the other five.  As he rose, however, one last voice came to him, familiar crackling tones that just had to get in one little jab.

[Hey boy,] Xaphan said from his soul realm.  [It would look really bad if you fucked this up.  So don’t do that, you hear?  Don’t you bring any more shame upon my name as a Lord of Flame!]

[Don’t worry, Xaphan, you do that enough yourself,] Leon responded, the demon’s snort of amusement and derision bringing him almost as much relief as the confidence in him that everyone had shown.

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