“You. Feri and Asinis!” Guard’s shouting down the street brought a strained smile to Noarwin’s face as his appearance shifted into a young, freckle-faced urchin. “Captain Fairwind!” the guards cried.

“Oh dear.” Noarwin looked at the others. “Time to run.”

They dashed into the nearest ally and rounded several corners. The sound of their pursuing guards encouraged them faster. The team slid down declined paths, batted around hanging laundry, and leapt over or darted around carts of goods being passed through narrow streets of the province they’d fled into.

“Why aren’t the rings working?” Asinis shouted at the others.

“There must be a flux in the ether powering them!” Noarwin said.

“What do we do?” Feri shrieked, her voice returned to a gravel pit of altering pitch.

“Stay out of Captain Fairwind’s range!” Noarwin warned.

“Why?” Asinis asked. A thunk ahead stopped him in his tracks. He gawked at the lance as the others skidded to a halt around him. Its whole head was dug into the cobblestone wall they faced. Then they heard a crackling sound. Noarwin pulled them back and shards of stone jutted outward at them.

"Whoa!" Asinis stumbled over his feet as he attempted to guard Feri with one arm.

“That’s why,” Noarwin said, his glower on the spikes pointing out of the wall. “Go, go, go!” He pushed them to the right.

“Mr. Noarwin, why is your disguise working?” Feri panted.

“I’m not using a magic ring!” he said as he searched the streets for occupants and a way out. He knew the city, but he wasn’t used to having to guide others with this amount of haste.

“What?” Asinis lowered his brow as he looked beside him at Noarwin.

“I used them so often, I decided it best to learn how to disguise myself. Without relying on the connection those cheap rings need to stay active. I use illusionary magic anyway, so it wasn't a difficult stretch.” He grunted as he scrambled around crates abreast a wall and pushed them further up one path.

“We’re going to die because you lent us cheap rings?” Feri shrieked.

“Do we just need to hide Feri and Asinis?” Silas asked, not a bit out of breath as he kept up with them.

A whoosh above made Noarwin dash to the side. The others, also hearing it, dispersed, barely missing the splash of water descending from somewhere above. Feri, looking over her shoulder at it, didn’t see the woman come out of her house to shake a rug, and raced straight into it. She screamed, arms flailing as she fought it off and the woman shouted.

“I can change them into animals,” Silas said as Feri caught up and raced ahead.

“You can?” Noarwin gawked, and Silas nodded. “And yourself?”

“I can change too if I need,” Silas said.

“Okay!” Noarwin shouted. “Here’s the plan. I’m going to switch to a residential farmer. Silas, I want that one a rooster and that one a hen. You turn into a shepherd dog. Understand?”

Silas nodded affirmatively. He flicked his hands out toward Asinis and Feri racing ahead. They popped in their new forms, both clucking and flapping as they fell. Silas ran at them and caught both. He turned to Noarwin now looking like an old farmer in a straw hat. Noarwin took them under his arms.

“They can still speak common, but their intelligence is the same as the animal they have become.” With that expedient explanation, Silas shrunk in a swirl of leaves and magical light into a light red and white herding dog. He tilted his head at Noarwin, waiting for further instruction. Noarwin, his brow raised and lips smashed, nodded his approval.

“Well done, Stag.” He heard the guards shouting behind him, so he bent, still clutching the chickens under his arms as he shuffled forward, Silas a loyal companion at his side.

“Momma!” A boy went into the house behind them. “I’m hungry. Is the pie ready?”

“Pu-pu-pie. Pie. Where’s the pie?” Feri clucked, her wings taut and legs flailing.

“We’ll eat chicken later,” Noarwin whispered to her.

“Chicken!” she shouted. “Where’s chicken?”

“Chicken?” Asinis mimicked. “I want chicken.”

Noarwin cursed under his breath.

“Eat chicken later? Where’s the chicken?” Feri squawked.

“He promised chicken!” Asinis cried.

“You there!” Noarwin shuffled to a stop and looked up from under the brim of his straw hat at the guard who’d stopped him. His companion hurried past into another street.

“Yesh, uh ye?” Noarwin said.

“Have you seen four people? A beast-bunny and carrot top among them?”

“Beast-bunny? No. Nah. No beasty save m’sweet Apricot here," he said indicating Silas wagging his tail beside them. "No carrots s’cept in m’garden.”

“Carrots. Will we eat carrots, cluck, cluck...?” Asinis gasped.

“Gimme carrots!” Feri screamed.

The guard looked between the hen and rooster in half alarm and half interest. “Curious creatures you have there.”

“M’sister fed em some beans and now they speak. Can't stand em, so I'm gonna chop em up for dinner tonight,” Noarwin offered in explanation.

“Don’t eat me!” Feri screeched.

"Yeah! Eat me!” Asinis said.

“Ah—yes. I see why you would. Excuse me.” The guard raced after his companion. Noarwin stared after him, pleased at how nicely that worked out, and then let out a long, defeated sigh.

He faced Silas. “I don’t suppose you’ve maintained your intelligence?” he asked.

Silas ruffed up at him, his tail still wagging.

“I’ll take that as you have. Good. Let’s get home. We can order chicken from Etty’s Din on the way,” he said.

“Eat me!” Feri screamed.

“I will if you don’t shut your beak.” Noarwin jostled her and Asinis for good measure and found his way into the main street. He looked left, right then wobbled toward the slums.

The approach of a white stallion and gleam of black boots forced him to stop. He lifted his head and found golden hair haloed by sunlight and a black eyepatch pointed down at him. He smiled as the clip-clop of hooves came to rest.

“Hello. How can I help ye?” Noarwin asked Captain Fairwind knowing he had no chance of deceiving him.

“Out collecting—chickens, Mister—?”

“Nafle. Mr. Nafle, good Captain,” Noarwin supplied.

“Nafle.” Fairwind’s glance passed over the chickens and then landed on the dog wagging its tail at him. He cleared his throat and looked sideways. “Hurry home and get your business taken care of.”

Noarwin smacked his lips. “Will do, Captain Fairwind, will do.”

“And duck around a corner. Get rid of that disguise before one of the Summit notices you wandering out of the farming province,” he warned.

“Ye do love me, Captain,” Noarwin said, eyes squinted in a cheeky smile.

Captain Fairwind grumbled and heeled the stallion’s sides, and Noarwin hurried away to a corner he could drop his disguise. Silas did the same and looked at Asinis and Feri.

“Shall I return them to normal?” he asked.

“Not yet. We can’t know if the rings have fixed themselves yet. Let’s get home first.” Noarwin jerked his head for Silas to follow, who accepted Asinis when Noarwin handed him over.

They stopped by a stand where a middle-aged couple stood under an awning. Flour seasoning piled in a bucket behind them, a pot of oil over a fire they made beside it. Noarwin went to them and ordered a bunch of fried chicken, which they presented while sending inquisitive glances at his seemingly carnivorous pets.

“Is it chicken?”

“Give me the chicken!”

“He promised chicken!”

Feri and Asinis clucked about eating chicken all the way back to Noarwin’s home. People stared, but they seemed less suspicious when they saw Noarwin carrying one of them. They'd seen him do—odder things.

Noarwin led Silas into the apartment then sighed and set Feri down. She and Asinis bobbed and clucked around until Silas ushered them into the center of the room. He nearly tripped over one, unable to tell which, and released his spell. They warped back into shape on their hands and knees.

Feri groaned. “What happened?”

“We were chickens,” Asinis said holding his head.

“I smell worse than before.”

“We already smelled pretty bad,” he said.

“But it’s worse,” she moaned

“Is that chicken?” Asinis asked.

“I’m so hungry. Why am I craving chicken if I was one?” Feri looked appalled at herself while also seeming to salivate over the smell of avian meat.

“Let’s not think about it too much," Asinis suggested.

“Alright, you two.” Noarwin helped right them. “It’s time to eat.”

“Wah!” Feri’s feet swept under her, and Asinis sat up. Silas joined them with the bucket of chicken.

Noarwin took the first piece. “Enjoy,” he grinned.

They dug in, and Feri and Asinis sighed in satisfaction.

“This shouldn’t taste so good after being one,” Feri said, hiding her mouth as she ate.

“This is... really good,” Asinis said.

“I’m glad you like it.” Noarwin lay on his sofa, his head cradled on one arm.

The sound of them eating replaced conversation. The scent of fried chicken urged their hungry stomachs to eat more. Asinis licked his fingers, Feri picked her teeth. Silas leaned against the sofa, and Noarwin shut his eyes.

“Today was fun,” Feri said after a while.

Noarwin’s lip twitched in a smile, and he chuckled. “It was. Did you enjoy it, Asinis?”

“Ah... I don’t care for being in the spotlight but. It was sort of enjoyable, being a part of something. Ridiculous as I felt in it.” He glanced at Silas. “You, Silas?”

“I’ve never been a part of anything save the tree or cave I slept in. Today I have decided that I prefer your company.”

Everyone smiled. “We worked well together. Especially for it being on the fly,” Noarwin said. “We’ll try once more before you all move on from the capital.”

“Sure.” Feri smiled and hugged her knees.

Noarwin stared out the window at the pinks and oranges of the sky. “Unless, of course,” he said, eyes growing heavy, “you decide to stay.”

Feri and Asinis exchanged glances. Noarwin’s soft breathing filled the room. Feri picked up one of the blankets and drew it over him. She pet his hair. “You know. I think, despite how happy he seems, Mr. Noarwin might be lonely too.”

“Maybe,” Asinis said. “I think I’m going to turn in. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Feri nodded, and she and Silas let him burrow under the blankets on the floor. After seeing to him being settled, Feri tried her ring. The form of Abby sputtered into view but did not take. Feri sighed and slid it back off.

“Maybe tomorrow,” she said.

“Tomorrow?” Silas asked.

“For the ring to work.” She fell quiet and Silas crawled over to her. She looked up when he brushed a strand of hair from the side of her face.

“Feri,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Hmm. I don’t know the words.”

“Oh.” She lowered her eyes. “Okay.”

They sat in silence and then he spoke, “A flower,” he said, catching her off guard. She met his gaze. “In Waywin, there are white and pink flowers. Small with many petals. I collected them because they made me happy. You remind me of them. When you are like this or with the other face you wear.”

Feri smiled, tears in her eyes. Beside her, on the couch, Noarwin’s lips quirked up. He turned onto his side facing the sofa’s back.

“Thank you, Silas,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Even if it doesn’t work. I will keep you safe.”

“Okay. Um...” she sniffed. “I think we should get some rest so... goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Feri shuffled away into the room Noarwin had leant her. Noarwin waited a moment before turning onto his other side. He considered Silas staring at the curtains Feri had gone behind.

“Nice work,” Noarwin said.

Silas faced him. “Oh. Did we wake you?”

“I hadn’t fallen asleep. Congratulations. For a six-year-old, you are far better at wooing than many, more experienced men.”

Silas blinked at him. “Wooing?”

“Does the ether not define it?” Noarwin asked. He thought it a useful feat. Being able to understand language by way of magic, but he supposed some things needed to be experienced. Something Silas had little to nothing of. Perhaps that was the reason for his sincerity and its success.

Silas paused to ponder a time. “It’s a concept I do not understand.”

Noarwin chuckled. “I suppose that will change. Goodnight, Stag. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Mr. Noarwin.”

And so, the small party went to sleep as the sun winked below the horizon.