Parker glanced at Teige, who was just staring at the scene near the fence without saying anything. "...Hello?"

They watched as the general hopped off the fence, waving angrily at the spirit who had been thrown to the ground and who had now limped over to lean on the fence. The general squared herself in front of the boar, who charged her--she grabbed it by the tusks, and in one fluid motion, wrenched its head to one side, slamming it into the ground.

"...Never mind," Parker said.

"...still have to repaint all the walls."

"Wait a tick," Teige said, "I thought this clinic blew up."

"It did," Parker replied. They were walking down another wide dirt path along a low shingled wall, over which the sun was splitting into golden rays.

"How'd the place not burn to the fucken ground?"

"Magic?"

"Pf."

"No, really," Parker said. "I guess Aetherians're really scared of fire. Everything's so heavily spelled, you couldn't burn down a building if you tried."

"Well ent that--" Teige start to say, and then stopped. A figure had just brushed past him heading the opposite way on the path, but something about her profile almost physically pulled his head round to look after her--and as he did, he heard, quite clearly, Hawk's voice--as they sat in the rain in the night, him smiling sort of sheepishly as he scratched his nose.

We don't actually look much alike.

We got different dads, see.

At first glance, just the shape of her face--

She's got light skin an' dark hair,

--and she did, sort of a golden olive-ish complexion much lighter than Hawk's, and dark ashy brown hair that was nothing like his--

An' she's human.

--she was shorter than Teige, even, with no wings and a slight build by comparison--it was really just her profile, out of the corner of his eye--

I guess we got the same nose, though.