Welcome to Gaia! ::

Odd's question startled her even more than Drywood's had. Again her gaze swung between the two males. She shifted a bit, feathers ruffling as she tried to shrug off a sudden discomfort and settled again. Yes, she was offended, a little. She was trying to let that go as well. She took a breath like she might speak, stopped and let it go.

Then took another. "I have my biases," she confessed, thinking back to her conversation with Hawthorn. "And I have had them challenged and amended my thinking as best I can. I am a teacher after all, and if a fledgling is presented to me, obviously it must be taught, regardless of his breeding. But I am not mindless and I do not suffer for the sake of politeness, so believe me, gentlemen, when I say that if I took issue with either of you, I'd have found somewhere else to go."

Another look between them and she put on a smile. "Now. Unless one of you have problems with my type, I hope this is settled."

Drywood's countenance brightened considerably at Alethia's statement that she would not have stuck around if she was offended in any way - which he happily took to mean that she was not offended even now - and he bobbed his head at her in a cheerful fashion.

"Well, that's certainly good to know, Miss Alethia! And I have no issue with Ghost-types whatsoever, so it looks like we will get along well," he said with an almost child-like honesty, and meant every word of it. Glad to have had that issue resolved so easily, Drywood puffed out his chest and glanced up at Odd, only to notice that the pure white sentinel still looked a bit distracted.

The apothecary tilted his head to the side. "Are you alright, Mr Odd?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, I am, my friend." Drywood's words snapped Odd back to the current situation. He tucked his head against the wind and peered at the second aberrant. "Just thinking and wondering about things... You see... All of my chirops are in my oak, on their own... Moth and I aren't there to protect them..."

"I'm sure they're clever enough to seek for other shelter if anything should happen to your oak," Alethia offered as well. Curious again, she tilted her head at Drywood. "Your little girl. You have a daughter?"

Drywood almost hiccuped as his temporary reverie was interrupted, and his head spun quickly to face the other two, his ear tufts bouncing slightly.

"Ah-haha, no. Oh my, no. My apologies... I meant my companion. She's not even very little anymore but I've had her for a long time... and... er... you know what it's like." The last statement somehow sounded a bit more like a question. "They grow up so fast," he finished awkwardly.

Odd nodded at Alethia's words. "Oh, yes. She should be fine..." His curiosity was peaked and he wanted to know just what she was. So, for the sake of conversation, he lifted his voice over the winds once more.

"What sort of companion is she, may I inquire?"

Alethia blinkblinked a few times. "You have a serpe? Honestly? And ...and you're not worried that one day she might not eat something or do something she shouldn't?"

"Oh, but on the contrary, Mr Odd," Drywood replied, turning serious with a bit of a frown on his face. "I worry constantly. She does that sort of thing all the time, cheeky little creature... She keeps eating the mus and the parus, even though I have repeatedly told her not to, and she's never on her best behaviour when I have visitors..." he sighed, speaking more to himself than to the other two: "It's really a good thing that I don't have any neighbours nearby. She behaves when I am around, but the moment I turn my back..." He clacked his beak thoughtfully, and fell silent.