Ødeleggeren

Venn felt the boy's startled reaction, and shot awake, launching into the air. Only, she didn't. Her wings were heavy, dull branches that let her fall. She swiveled her head around, looking for the danger. Everything looked different. Had they been attack somehow while she slept? Was she blinded? She couldn't see to her sides. Instead, she looked where her beak...wasn't. If someone had done this to her, what would they have done to the boy? Finally, she was able to swing her head around to see him. He had no obvious wounds, but he was frightened. She gave a concerned caw that sounded like village voice.
 
Eoghan backed up a little farther from the odd girl. Why was she flapping around like a bird?

Wait... Bird?

He looked around in a rush, Venn didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. "Venn!" He looked at the girl who he'd woken up next to. "What did you do with my raven?" He spat at her
 
Venn struggled to stand. Was the boy talking to her? Had he been his on the head? She managed to get both feet under her, but stayed crouched, as her balance had been stolen, maybe by what was confusing the boy. Using her branch wings to steady herself, Venn tilted her head to gaze at the boy. Why was he worried about her? She was right there, even if her wings were useless. "Ve-enn." she mimicked. Usually that would make the boy laugh. "My raven." The sound wasn't right. It was too soft. She screeched in frustration.
 
"Wait, Venn? Is that... Venn?" He looked at the figure standing (if you could call it that) before him and felt something click in his head. It made a twisted kind of sense that this black-haired beauty standing before him was the raven he'd known all his life. He shook his head and looked in her eyes. He saw the same soul that had been with him when he had started plowing earlier that day, the same soul that had flew at the villager without a thought for her own safety, the only difference was this same soul was now in a different container. A very attractive, very naked, container.

"Um... I think we need to get you some coverings." Eoghan said, turning away and blushing. He took off his outer jacket and held it out to Venn. "Put that on, it's cold out and you don't have... Feathers... Anymore..."
 
Now the boy was making more sense. Perhaps he had been dreaming. At least he wasn't afraid anymore. Venn stared at the cloth. She blinked. No...feathers? She stretched out her wing and cried out in shock, falling backwards. Instead of her glossy black feathers she saw pale skin and fingers. Before her were legs, legs like the boy had. This wasn't right. Silently she reached for the cloth. Her...hands were strange things that didn't do as she wanted, and wouldn't grasp the fabric.
 
Eoghan watched her flapping her arms around, trying to figure out how her hands worked. He moved a little closer to her and took a hand into his. "Like this" He said and closed her fingers around the cloth, "Now you try."
 
Venn copied the movement. She dropped the fabric in her excitement at being able to grasp it. She made the motion again, picking it up. Now that she held it, she didn't know what to do ​with it. She tried to give a plaintive caw. It sounded more like a child crying.
 
Eoghan chuckled softly, "Here, you do this with it" He told her as he wrapped the cloth around her. "It's supposed to keep you warm, see?" he rubbed his arms with his hands out of habit and smiled. "See? Now you can be warm too." He leaned back against a tree, "Can you talk? I mean, can you speak in my language?"
 
Feeling particularly vulnerable, Venn huddled beneath the boy's cloth. "Speak in my language." Her beak-no, she didn't have a beak. What ever she did have now felt strange. She ran her tongue over the sharp rocks that lined her mouth. The boy spoke all the time, and she understood him, mimicked his sounds. She thought a moment, tilting her head. "You... awake." The question didn't turn up at the end like when the boy spoke. She tried again. "You awake?"
 
He raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise, "That's a good start, Venn. And yes, I am awake. I just wonder if you know what you're saying." He took her hands in his, "We should probably start on towards the next town, it shouldn't be that far away." He told her while standing up.
 
Venn squinted at him. "You awake, boy? Yes. Who is sleeping?" She tried to stand. She managed too stay upright this time, but she was farther from the ground than she ever remembered. "Is... Venn sleeping? Yes. No?"
 
Eoghan laughed in spite of the situation when Venn asked if she was sleeping. "No, Venn. You're very much awake." His head jerked back a second as he had an idea. "Here," he said, turning his back to her "hop on, you don't have any shoes and I do."
 
The cold was sinking into her feet. She looked down at their new pale shapes. "Yes. No shoes." She tried to hop onto the boy's shoulder, forgetting that she couldn't. She ended falling in a heap. Her eyes felt odd. She blinked rapidly. Wet ran down her face. "Boy? Is Venn broken?"
 
"What? Broke...? Oh, Venn..." He knelt down next to the small figure and held her close, "Venn, you're not broken. You're just not used to... Well... Being human." He pulled away from her for a second, "You can call me Eoghan, I'd like to think that we're on a first-name basis by now." He gave her another quick hug and stood, helping her as he went up. "That was a misunderstanding on my part. I didn't mean go on my shoulder. Here." He turned around again and started to move her so she was in a piggy-back position, "Now, I'm going to lift you onto my back. Ok?"
 
Venn took in a deep breath. "Yes. Okay, Eoghan." His name tasted of warm and sweet. It was good, and she would call him that. She let him shift her onto his back. "Eoghan." Venn leaned towards his ear. "If Venn is not broken, then what is Venn? No feathers. No wings. No beak for snapping! Venn is..." She flexed her pale hands in thought. "Is Venn a boy?"
 
Eoghan chuckled to himself at her question, "No, Venn. I'm a boy. You're a girl. Boys are... Less soft." He tried to explain. Eoghan started down the trail, trying to keep the conversation going, "I suppose you're a human now... Eh?" He asked her, not really expecting a response. "I guess that means that you aren't going to eat bugs anymore." He said in a more cheerful voice.
 
From where she sat on Eoghan's back, Venn watched the trail. As strange as all of this was, she was starting to feel a sense of wonder. She felt things that she had never felt before, the brush of cloth along her...skin. In order to see things properly, she had to face straight at it. After a short while, she leaned forward again. "Eoghan? What do girls eat?"
 
"The same thing boys eat, I suppose. Food. Things like roasts or pudding. Really you can eat anything I can." The boy explained, "Just stay away from things like insects and anything on the ground." Eoghan smiled at his companion and shifted her weight so she was higher up on his back. "Don't worry, Venn. I'll help you out."
 
"Venn won't worry. Or eat insects." She felt her mouth stretch in a way she guessed was how Eoghan showed mirth. She laughed. Maybe being a girl would be fun. She watched in silence for a little longer. They were far from the village now, and they were not going to trade."Eoghan? Where are you going?"