“Did you find anything?” Sierra asked, standing amongst the rusted remains of a torn metal net tangled in reeds and grasses at the edge of the frigid lake.

“A few scared harpies, some kids with some injuries that have mostly healed, and a whole lotta not talking” Asema grumbled, “What’s that?”

“A net? I think? It has some feathers stuck in it” Sierra said, pulling out a long off grey feather from the muck, “It looks like it might have been Quispi’s if Finch’s current feathers are anything to go by”

“What’s it doing in this lake?” Asema muttered, watching as the crane harpy pulled the netting onto dry land,

“This is pretty heavy” Sierra said, all but throwing it at Asema, “I don’t think we’d be able to carry it back if we wanted to”

“It’s the only lead we have to figure out how this happened” Asema grumbled, lifting the metal to test its weight, “Was this the only one in the water?”

“It’s the only net I found” Sierra said,

“So they knew who they were after” Asema muttered, shaking his head as Sierra waded out of the water, shaking his legs free of the muck. Despite Arx’s longer nights, dawn was fast approaching.

“There’s one more thing” Sierra said, gesturing at a small crack of a cave above them, “That cave.”

“What about that cave?”

“Well you didn’t go in it, did you?” Sierra asked, Asema shaking his head, “And I haven’t seen anything come out of it”

“You think it’s abandoned?”

“That, or I think it might be where the men ambushed them from” Sierra said, spreading his wings and taking to the sky, “I’m going to go look”

“I’ll…deal with the net then…I guess” Asema grumbled. Sierra approached the cave with trepidation, landing on the narrow cliff side, grabbing at the rocks to keep himself from falling as he inched his way towards the entrance. It had definitely been abandoned if the dirt collecting around the cliff side was anything to go by.

“Ok maybe not…No way anything without wings could get in here” he said, peeking inside the entrance. He was met by a scratched wooden door wedged into the rock around it. Sierra had to throw all the weight he had just to get the thing to budge, months of staying closed in the damp mountain air had allowed it to swell itself shut inside its own frame, and the pitch black cave that waited beyond didn’t seem worth the effort. Sierra pulled out his phone, holding the light up to find his way around the room, carefully stepping over the objects strewn across the floor. Burnt out candles dotted the walls, the lingering smell of smoke filled the entire dwelling as Sierra made his way into the inner rooms, hoping to find some alternative source of light, and he wasn’t disappointed.

“Finally, and here I thought there wouldn’t be a single damn light” he grumbled, tapping the glowing crystal attached to the wall to turn it on, illuminating the room around him. Most of the floor in the room had been carved out, the indentation filled to overflowing with pillows and blankets, neatly tucked in at the sides save for one very well used corner. Sierra picked his way around the family-sized nest with a frown, picking up a few pictures strewn on the floor near the well-used corner, looking through them before stacking them carefully and tucking them into his bag, turning to leave as he dug in his pocket for his phone again.

“What’s this…” he muttered, finding a scrap of paper on the table he hadn’t noticed before. He couldn’t read the scribbled words, be it for bad lighting or it being written in a different language he couldn’t tell, but he figured he’d take it anyway, stuffing it in his bag with the pictures. This was all they could get from this place anyway. It was empty. Abandoned. The harpies were no help, and they still had that net to deal with.

“Besides” Sierra muttered, “Quispi deserves a bit of home”