In the early hours of the morning, both the avian and the human abandoned their carriage for travel on foot. They approached the border with caution, concealing everything they could in their bags. Lucy supposed that they wouldn't be allowed in with Ria's twenty odd knives, but the avian had defiantly refused to part with them.

"There is no need for this many knives." She'd argued.

"I disagree. Not only are they my only weapons, but they're also gifts."

"Who has knives on them as gifts?"

"An avian who is meeting his prince and needs to repay an old friend."

"But-" she'd tried to protest.

"No more questions. If you want to fight we can fight, but not over my knives. I'd rather use them to fight you."

With that, he took out a potion and held his nose, swigging it. He gagged with every swallow. He felt his body changing. His wings began to shrink, his face and neck feathers disappeared, and it left him unsteady on his feet. He was trained to go on missions without his wings, but it was still a hundred odd kilos that he was learning to exist without.

The most uncomfortable transition though, was the movement of his ears. They changed from feathery tufts on the top of his head to human ears, and they rung consistently.

"This reminds me of one of those makeover shows, though I suppose you don't have those."

"No we don't."

"Basically they take someone and change them into a completely new person."

"Sounds… interesting."

They didn't have time for chatter though, as they walked closer and closer to the border, they could feel more and more eyes on them. Ria pulled on a loose shirt, taking his other shirt off only when he felt securely covered. The chest of an avian was a sacred part of the body. Their feathers that usually resided there were extremely sensitive and important. It was habit, he knew, to make sure that only his family and mates saw his chest.

Ria put on a scowl, hoping that a less friendly demeanour would deter the guard from making small talk. It did, for the most part. They took both of them aside for testing. The man that Ria was with was cute, for a human. He had dark blue eyes and a charming smile that for a moment distracted Ria from where he was. He gestured for Ria's documents, and the avian gave them over.

"Name?" The human asked, sifting through the documents and bringing the passport up to Ria's face.

"Mio, Mio Riley."

"Date of Birth?"

"15th of October, 562."

"That would make you 23, yes?"

"That's correct."

"Now why are you visiting North Cambi?" His eyes bore into Ria's skull.

"I've come to help my brother move. His name is Elis de Carte. I'm married, hence the last name difference."

"Lucky bugger, your partner." He smiled.

"I'm the one who's lucky."

The human checked over Ria's body for any obvious signs of him not being human, but there was nothing. He checked his bags, too, and once again found nothing. There was contraband in his bag, Ria knew that, but concealment technology was on his side these days.

"Well, Mio. I hope you enjoy your short stay here in North Cambi. Be careful of curfew, 6:30pm, I wouldn't want a doll like you getting arrested for simply not abiding curfew."

"Thank you," Ria looked at the man's nametag, "Brandon."

The human pulled him close, snuck something into his bag, and muttered something small under his breath.

"Hiedan Derse, Ria Bedia. Safe travels. They've sure left the Prince in good hands, ey?"

Ria left the examination room with more medicine, and a smile smothering away his anxiousness.

-----

Lucy joined him in a minute or two, and they entered the city. It was different to what Ria knew. There was no trees here, towering buildings blotted out the sky, and it left him unsettled. He'd never been to Cambi before, either side of the river, so he'd never seen this many tall buildings in one area. His stomach churned. Already, he missed the sky. He wondered how humans could live like this.

As they followed the GPS Lucy had on her phone, Ria rubbed at the lines on his arm. One dark, warm to the touch. The other was cold, but when he rubbed it it calmed his nerves. He hoped that his mates, both his found one and the one that was out there somewhere, were safe. He looked up and found a bit of clear sky, and wished to all of his gods that his two mates were happy.

"What a place to live in, hey?" Lucy grunted. They stood outside Elis' apartment complex, worn down, but still taller than any building in the Avian capital. "I imagine that it's far different from what you're used to. They don't call Cambi the forest of buildings for nothing."

"I just don't know how people can live in a place where the sky is so dark and full of smoke."

"We humans don't care about our environment like you. We destroy everything that nature made for our own selfish desires."

That made Ria sick to the core.

The doorbell on the de Carte's apartment rung out through the hallway, making Ria flinch.

Muffled footsteps came from within the apartment, and then the door opened. Elis had opened it, body covered in a thick blanket and a beanie on his head. He looked tired, scarring covering his cheeks.

"May we come in?" Ria said, letting his meet Elis', and the wrap slip from his arm, exposing his marks.

"O-Of course." He opened the door wider so that Lucy could fit through the gap, though she still had to duck so as to not hit her head.

When the door shut, Ria pulled out the antidote of his changing potion, and excused himself quickly. He managed to locate the bathroom and changed back into his tight-fitting shirt, before sculling the antidote. It hurt, this part. Feathers and markings returned to his body, and his wings sprouted in one go. He fixed his hair and smiled, the feathers on his cheeks proudly showing.

He stepped back into the living area, causing the four members of the de Carte family to look at him with awe. The little girl ran up to touch his wings, her little hand reaching for his inside feathers, and he jolted, wings curling and claws out.

"I'm.…awfully sorry for my reaction," he knelt to be at the girl's level, "here, have a feel of these feathers." He stretched his wing so the outer feathers were on display, and she touched them. Her little face lit up with wonder as she stroked his wing gently.

"What's your name, mister?"

"Ria. And you?"

"Nessy. It's actually Nesia, but everyone just calls me Nessy." She smiled.

"Very pretty name. Did you know that in Avian tongue, Nesia means 'waterfall'?"

Her father spoke, "we named her that with the Avian tongue in mind. We speak some, for Lirian's sake, but nowhere near enough."

----

Later, after hours of discussion, Ria finally got some alone time with the prince. He had sat him down and convinced him to dress down so he could check over him. Lirian, Elis, obliged. He sat there, shaking - from the cold or anxiety, Ria wasn’t sure - and Ria could see the damage done. He had a single feather sprouting on his chest, but other than that what should have been his proudest part of his body was bare. Don't even get him started on the other's wings. He had no muscle mass attached to them, it was obvious that he concealed them using potions far too much, and otherwise had no support in grooming them.

"Now I don't have… enough materials to completely heal your wings, but I can help ease the pain of them, and get your feathers to grow overnight. Trust me, I can conceal them later, but they need to be healed."

"Will it hurt?"

"Yes, but it's in your best interests to get your feathers to grow."

Ria felt awkward, rubbing the cream onto Elis' chest. It was too personal, but he supposed that it wouldn't cause too many issues down the track. The other boy seemed to relax while he was doing it too, his eyes falling shut and a low, content rumble coming from his chest. When he was done with his chest, he hauled the sleepy boy over to his nest and lay him face down, taking another few hours to work through his wings. He groomed both sides of the boy's wings, knowing that he'd fallen asleep as soon as Ria laid a hand on his back. Already, the feathers on Elis' chest and cheeks were regrowing, they'd only be little - it takes at least a week for a feather to sprout and then grow to full size - but they'd be there.

He didn't usually nest with avians that weren't his mates. He nested with Ollivander, back at the base, out of an instinct to care for the young boy, and he found that same instinct coming into play when he looked at the sleeping figure he'd spent hours grooming.

He shifted himself and Elis, and held him between his wings and in his arms, with Elis' curled wings inside his protective circle. And until he fell asleep, he watched over the avian in his arms with a soft smile on his lips.