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Mornidian too was in her feral form, though hers was more of a strategic choice rather than a lifestyle one. She preferred her larger form to this one. She wasn't nearly so graceful as a true bird would have been. Her serpentine tail made for an interesting appearance, but it was not so good for flying. She was more sluggish and less maneuverable than she would have been with a feather tail, and thus preferred her larger soquili form. She still was weighed down by an even heavier tail in that form, but she was able to use it with less hinderance while on land.

Now, she wore the form of a crow for stealth. There was another walker nearby. There was something in the quietness of the place that wasn't quite natural. She hadn't encountered any soquili for a full night of travel, except for some bare bones marked by claws. All these things added up in her swift mind to tell her that this had to be the territory of another walker. She could have gone around it and avoided potential conflict, but chose not to. This was the swiftest road to reach her destination and she did not fear others of her kind. Especially not this one, who was apparently blind to her presence even as she watched him eat

Her eyes twinkled with dark amusement as she watched the owl feed. It was obvious that this was the skinwalker of the territory. He was too big and colorful to be a normal owl, and gave off too much of the scent of blood to be a familiar. Besides, what familiar would dare lurk where a skinwalker hunted?

It was so ungraceful, or so Mauhur thought. Even in her crow form she was more discerning. She picked meat from the bone, not swallowed all without care for what slid down her gullet. She took more after a crow than a snake in this matter, wanting to pluck the finest portions of a meal first, like the eyes and the liver. She shook her head a bit at the lack of sophistication in this walker. Was he one of the ones that had abandoned intelligent thought to live as a beast? She was starting to think so.

Mornidian couldn't help but laugh, a raucous sound that was half-caw. The beating noise of her laughter echoed off the trees, making it sound like there was a whole murder of crows rather than just herself. Here she was, facing what most soquili would find terrifying, a skinwalker. Personally, all she could feel was contempt. She was really starting to think that she was right. She saw barely a glint of intelligence in those furious eyes. He reacted to her like he was an owl, not like he was a demon.

"Have you lost the power to speak?" she asked him, voice taunting and barbed. "Really, are you so far gone as that?" It was pathetic to think that she had to share breed categorization with things like that.

"Very good!" said Mornidian, her voice still in a mocking sing-song. "Really, if I stayed here all night with you, I think we could make some real progress." She laughed again, and it was no more melodious than the first time. "Maybe I could even train you enough that we could have a conversation."

But what could she possibly converse about with the owl? She was well accustomed to most soquili being her intellectual inferior, but this was even more so than most. She expected she could get more interesting insight from chatting with an owl familiar than this owl soquili. Not a bad idea, she reflected. She hadn't dissected an owl yet. She did wonder what sort of special features they might have to help them navigate the darkness so effectively.

Even for Mornidian who often needled dangerous enemies, it was a swift transition into combat. She cawed and prepared her spurs, but decided in a quick moment that it was best not to engage. He was over twice her size in bird form, and she didn't want to risk transforming and seeing that he was twice her size in soquili form as well. With a flutter of wings she took off, clawing at the air and whipping her way past branches.

Mornidian moved differently in the air than a natural bird did and she had the feeling that was what was keeping her alive. He moved like a demon possessed, which she supposed, he was. When his beak snatched a few feathers from her wing, that was when she realized she was going to be killed if she didn't do something other than running away.

Knowing that her next movements could mean the difference between life and death, she grimaced, and spun in the air. Fangs bared, she lunged for the owl's wing joint.

Mornidian let herself be shaken off, rather than stay for a longer bite. She had injected enough venom into him to destroy his chance of pursuit, and she didn't want to risk breaking her fangs. She only gave herself the briefest look to gloat on his haphazard descent back into the forest. If he transformed, the venom would be dissipated and he'd be able to chase her down all over again. She wanted to be gone before he figured that out.

Turning around in the air, she continued to flap away. Maybe it was time to find easier prey.

~ Fin.