Chapter 13

Now that Rochelle had a full soul and Su was on the way to having a full soul, it was time to go after my next element, Air.

I had the usual long complicated talks with Medes. Now the age old question popped up again. What gift do you give an Air Elemental. I pondered on this question for a couple of days, and the answer turned out to be surprisingly simple.

I went running one Saturday morning, as I usually do. I like to go out just before the sun makes it’s appearance on the horizon. The world feels so fresh and new at that time, and there is usually nobody else around. It feels like I’m the only person on earth.

I was running along the river bank when I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. I stopped to take a look. It was an eagle, and on closer inspection, I saw that it had a broken wing. An eagle I thought to myself. An eagle, the master of the sky, the symbol of Zeus, the Greek god of the air. Medes was always telling me there are no coincidences in magic, so this is a sign.

I squatted down and started speaking softly to the bird. It looked over at me but otherwise made no move. I kept up the whispering and started to slowly move closer. When I got to about two meters from it, it opened its beak wide and screeched at me. I stopped moving forward. I sent out a small strand of mana towards it filled it with thoughts of peace and friendship. The bird settled down. I moved closer. I kept the stream of mana going and moved even closer. When I was about a meter away I stopped moving. I, very carefully and very slowly, reached out to it. It focused on my outstretched hand but made no hostile moves. I moved closer and touched it. It shivered a bit then relaxed. Soon I was stroking it with no adverse reaction. I took of my T-shirt and it let me wrap my shirt around it, trapping its broken wing to its side. I took it back to my car and drove home.

I got home and took the eagle into the kitchen. I changed my shirt for some bandages. Then I looked through the fridge. What did I have that an eagle would want for breakfast. I had some steak that I had set aside for dinner. I cut it up into very small pieces.

There was no way I was going to put my hand anywhere near the eagle’s beak. I put the chopped meat on a small plate and pushed it in front of the eagle. It wasn’t very hungry, it only ate a little. I put the rest back in the fridge. It could have that for dinner. I threw some rags on one of my comfortable chairs in the living room and let the the eagle rest there.

“I looks like you have a story to tell me.”, Medes opened.

“Yeah. I was out taking my morning run when I found this eagle. It appears to have a broken wing. You have often said that there are no coincidences in magic. So I took this as a sign that it’s time to contact the air elementals. I’ll take him to the vet when they open.”

We spent some time talking about air Elementals. Then, when I thought the time was right, I put the eagle in a box and took him to the vet. The receptionist was surprised when I walked in with an eagle. She told me that this was the first time she had seen one. She took my contact information and we chatted a bit about my morning adventure. After a few minutes an old couple with a dog came out of the doctor’s office. The receptionist told me I could go in now.