Fledgling's Bluff

Fino came to the end of the path, viewing the bluff from where he stood at the bottom. Through the tree tops, he could see the top of it. He could also hear the river from here.

"I'm going to fly a bit. Stretch my wings. Then we'll see about training." He looked pointedly at Deniz for a few moment, then he set his backpack down and started walking closer to the cliff face.

Fino stopped once he felt the push of a strong enough current. In hardly a moment, he had transformed himself from human to hawk, and then he was airborn: he shot up the cliffside and soared off into the sky.

Fino flew around for a little while, riding varied currents and dodging between trees. But then he decided it was time to put his newly acquired Satellite to th test. He tucked his wings in and dove down behind the trees. Then staying as silent as could be, he shot through a break in them and headed right for Deniz, talons extended.

Fino shot back up to the trees, shifting mid-flight to land on a tree branch. He slowly turned to face Deniz, but there was something very wrong about him. For one, he still had wings. Second, the eyes were a bird's, not a mans. And finally, his fingers were talons rather than the usual appendages. "Very good," he said, rocking back a bit on the skinny branch, extending his wings to keep balanced. "First rule of guardianship: never let your guard down. Not even for a moment. An attack could come from anyone, anytime, anywhere. You trust no one. Not a single person, rock, or tree. You leave that up to me. But even if I trust someone enough to, oh, say, marry them," he paused. "You don't. You keep your eye on them. You watch my back. Always."

He noticed the look Deniz was giving him. "This is partial shifting, the next step up from maturity. Of course, you can partial shift already, but it will only deform you. Let's just work on one thing at a time though." He stepped back and dropped out of the tree to land on the ground. Standing up straight, he curled his talons into a fist, waiting for Deniz to make the first move.

Fino was pleased. They make them wait. A better strategy, sometimes. He brought his lg back and kicked a clod of dirt right at Deniz' face to distract or blind him, then launched himself at the Satellite.