Chapter 163: Mama Stella

Elise was using all her remaining strength to keep from snuggling the small chick. She was not at all upset to see that it had identified Stella as a mother figure. It made sense, they both had feathers. " Guess instead of big sis stella she will call you mother Stella." Elise softly bumped Stella with her shoulder. With her newly formed connection she could easily tell the cursed crow chick was female, another girl in the family.

Afraid to frighten the chick everyone whispered, "Congratulations. Do you two have a name in mind yet?" Su broke the whispers with her question. She couldn't hold back and wanted to hear what Elis and Stella had brainstormed.

Giving Each other a look Elise and Stella had already decided on one during their night watch. Often as a child Elise's parents told her many stories. Learning fairy tales and some history she had been enthralled by an angelic hero. The hero had pure white wings that could influence any being, her beauty was said to silence wars in a heartbeat. Known as one to stop conflict she quickly became revered by the people.Wanting the chick to follow her footsteps and have the ability to stop any violence they decided to name the chick after her. "We decided to name her Avela after the angelic hero."

" Hello cousin Avela, welcome to the world." Onyx greeted the new chick, it looked for the voice. Seeing onyx it jumped off Elise's hands and onto the ground, it quickly fell into the shadows at Elise's feet. Small chirping sounds came from here she was hiding in the shadow, onyx coiled up more a small his coming from him. " No I will not eat you, I'm not a predator." His pleas don't tone had broken any hope of whispering as everyone broke into laughter.

The chick rose from the shadow behind Stella still making small chirps. Stella just shook her head at it knowing it was completely convinced Onyx would eat it. Sadly it wasn't aware midnight was also next to Stella. Midnight moved slightly alerting the chick, this time it completely fell over in shock. " No sister Midnight will not eat you either, no one here will eat you." Clearly exasperated, Onyx unfurled from Su's shoulders, he slithered into the ground and wrapped around Walker. Slowly turning into his tattoo form it would seem he gave up.

"Awe I'm sorry Onyx, Avela was just born, I'm sure she doesn't mean anything by it. It's natural to be afraid of the world when you're little." Walker was trying to comfort Onyx but received no reply, he was sulking. The stream of chirps wasn't stopping as midnight was still sitting looking at the chick confused. Having enough of it steal used her wing to put a blocker between them, more head shaking.

"That's right Avela we are your friends and family. No one will eat you here." A hesitant chirp from the chick followed, "Yes you, your name is Avela, and I am Elise. That is Stella, she's my sister." Pointing to everyone else in turn, "This is Laurence my senior and Riley my equal. This is the party protecting us, Midnight who you think will eat you, Onyx who you made feel bad." She paused on this giving the chick a stern look. " Remey, Su, Gil, and their leader Walker. We will all protect you so no need to worry." No one was certain that the chick understood a word but it started to chirp happily. At the very least it felt the positive energy Elise was trying to portray.

After working this out the camp liveliness began to die down. Elise had settled by the fire chopping up dried meat into very small pieces to feed to Avela. The little chick was greedily snapping up the small pieces as if it was starved. Walker could understand this may be a result of its lesser nutrition as an egg and maybe it would have a growth spurt sooner due to its voracious appetite. Letting his thoughts wander Walker was fairly happy with their actions today, the splitting up of the team worked well and the plan was solid. The part that put him off was the field rats that had obviously been watching the territory. If there was any reason the warriors had warned them that the cursed crow was a bit more aggressive it was because it knew those field rats were there.

Hunting the field the cursed crow must have noticed them at some point. However as Su had told Walker they rushed past them the second the crow was disabled. Meaning they constantly must have tried to enter the territory to steal eggs. These pests were definitely something they should exterminate when they see, too smart to rush in and get hunted by the crow and too fast to be caught easily.

This experience showed how even their fastest party members were too slow. They needed to level up more! Leaving off on that thought he took his rest, waking up only for the last watch of the night.

The morning came fast as always, however this time everyone was greeted by the enthusiastic chirping of Avela. She had made a home on top of Stella's head, she was basically a black dandelion. Elise was already awake preparing meals for the two, seeing how serious she was about caring for her new cursed crow family member Walker could only smile. It would seem that through the night Avela had gotten more comfortable with all of them. Her fear being diminished after seeing them all sleeping near her without any attempt to eat her, a fear that was justified due to the fact that when cursed crows hatched they instinctively fought their siblings.

Conferring with Laurence, Walker mapped out the journey to the demi-human kingdom capitol, the city of Ordist. They should only need another two days of travel, one of which Walker was determined to use to take quests in the area. The tall dried grass that stuck out of the snow would be the only obstacle they faced when it came to terrain. Many monsters may hide away in it trying to ambush prey, however Walker planned to use that as motivation to improve his senses. Midnight would be the biggest advantage with this terrain because she could enhance her sneaking ability with the shadows. The tall grass and shadows combined would put her in the perfect position to crush any monsters the group managed to spot first.

Once they had eaten a good breakfast the camp was easily broken down. "Let's get moving!" Giving the go ahead to move forward Walker had everyone fall into the same formation they had been in previously. The only change was that Midnight was free to scout ahead instead of Gil.

The mornings in the plains were peaceful, the wind would blow softly and grass would rustle against icy snow. If monsters didn't roam them on the hunt it would be almost serene, but that was exactly how it was, monsters.

Midnight had snuck forward a few feet through the grass, her goal to find something to fight first. Lucky for her she succeeded, with a loud growl to alert the party she pounced on the back of a snow imp. The screech it let out as she shredded its neck caused its two fellow imps to rush away, directly to the party. Gil focused on the grass as the imp pushed it out of the way to flee, there was no need to hesitate so he used quick shot barely knocking its leg. The imp stumbled face first into Su's waiting shield. With a hearty clang and a bit of force Su managed to crush it in one smash.

Remey was after the second. The imp was unintentionally running towards where Elise was carrying Avela, this pushed Remey to move faster. " nobody touches our new fluff ball!!!!" Her battle cry piercing the air she used her hammer fist skill to rocket the imps head into the ground. Her anger taking over slightly she repeatedly stomped it until the system notified them of a defeat.

Standing in slight horror Laurence only had one thought, " let's not threaten cute things in front of Remey."

" Agreed" everyone who was witnessing this said in unison.

Midnight was dragging her prey back towards them, it was still barely alive only enough so to twitch. " sister wants to give the kill to Avela as a gift. She says she wants to see her grow strong so she can fly with her after her wings grow more." Onyx immediately translated.

For a human this would have been a strange gesture but for monsters this was indeed a great kindness. Seeing this any residual fear Avela had for the young dragon before her melted away. With midnight using her strength to perfectly pin the snow imp down Avela kept from Elise's hands. The chick pecked and chirped her own battle cry. Seconds later the imp stopped breathing completely, surprisingly the party still gained experience, this was a nice way to share some with their friends. Avela let loose a mighty chirp after defeating its first enemy, it may have been due to a lot of help but she was extremely proud. Stella and Elise could barely contain their gratitude to Midnight for being so kind.