No Harm, No Fowl

Chapter Two: Petit Oiseau

"So, who the hell are you, and why does Miss P care so much about you already?" A gruff voice sounded, laden with a thick Scottish accent. Jenny was taken aback for a moment, searching for the owner of the voice. All she had to do was follow the glares and mortified looks of everyone at the table to the end opposite Miss Peregrine, and she saw the grumpy boy she had seen in the picture.
"I- well-" She was trying to figure out how to respond when she was cut off by Miss Peregrine's hand on her shoulder, and she glanced at her to see fire in her eyes. She was visibly furious.
"Mr. O'Connor. You will not speak to our guests in that manner, am I understood? And watch your language, young man. If you haven't anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Her eyes flashed dangerously, but she otherwise remained composed and calm. "Miss Honey, I apologize for his behavior. He can be a bit... Unfriendly, at first." She turned to Jenny and spoke softly once more.
"Oh it's alright. I understand. I should be gone soon enough, so you won't have to worry about me for very long." She tried to cast a reassuring glance at the boy, but he only glared back at her. She missed the spark of disappointment in the woman's eyes.
"Oh no, please stay a little while! We've just met you. And speaking of, we should all introduce ourselves. I'm Emma Bloom, and my peculiarity is fire." Emma held up a palm and in it appeared a small flame, as everyone went around and introduced themselves. Jenny and Matilda learned that the grumpy boy's name was Enoch. He was something called a dead-riser, though he refused to say so himself, so Alma had to introduce him. The invisible boy from the picture, his name was Millard. There was a girl lighter than air named Olive, and another named Bronwyn who was as strong as ten men. A boy named Horace had prophetic dreams, and there was a boy named Hugh with bees living in his stomach, along with a girl who could manipulate nature named Fiona. And lastly, a very shy little girl named Claire. She would hardly speak, and Miss Peregrine explained that she was insecure about her peculiarity.
And then it was Matilda's turn, and everyone looked at her excitedly.
"Well, I'm Matilda, and instead of saying my peculiarity, I'd like to show you. Is that alright, Miss Peregrine?" She turned to the headmistress politely, who nodded.
Matilda focused in on an empty glass in front of Enoch, and without much effort it tipped right over and fell into his lap. He scoffed, while everyone else cheered and clapped. And when that had died down, the curiosity of the children turned to Jenny.
"I'm not.. well, I mean, I know that I must be, but I don't exactly know what, so I can't quite tell you all yet." Jenny tried to explain, but was only bombarded with more questions of things that had happened that might have been peculiar.
Miss Peregrine could tell that Jenny didn't quite know what to do so she took over.
"Now children, no more questions tonight. We'll clean up from dinner, and then go watch Horace's dreams. Go on now, plates to the kitchen." Alma stood abruptly, addressing the table in front of her. All the children sighed and grabbed their plates to take to the kitchen. The headmistress checked her stopwatch, then held out a hand for Jenny to stand. It wasn't until then that she noticed Miss Peregrine's nails. Long, dark, and sharp, they were almost claw-like. Realizing that she was waiting for her to take the outstretched hand, she quickly took it and stood. She was much stronger now, but she was still slightly weak, so they remained hand in hand as Miss Peregrine led her to the kitchen.
"Here, you can sit here while I clean up. You may ask me questions, and I will answer. There is rarely a question I can't answer." Alma motioned to a chair for Jenny to sit, but she remained standing.
"I'll help you." Was all she said, and without another word made her way to the sink and leaned on the counter for support. She felt hands on her waist and tensed slightly, hearing a huff from behind her. She was acutely aware of Miss Peregrine's sharp nails digging into her sides, though they didn't hurt.
"Are you sure, dear? If you're still weak I'd like you to rest, as much as possible. I'm used to doing this alone." The woman spoke warmly, and Jenny shivered slightly at her touch.
"Yes, I'm quite alright." She looked down at the hands on her waist and then back at her face, smiling reassuringly at her.
Miss Peregrine hesitated, then stepped back and looked doubtfully at the slightly shorter woman in front of her, but let it go. Though at any point she was ready to put her foot down if she caught Jenny stumbling.
"So, Miss Peregrine. You said... You said that you thought I was like you. So, what exactly does that mean? What exactly- well, who exactly are you?" She quickly changed the subject, plunging her hands into the water to wash the dishes.
"Yes. I believe that you're an Ymbryne, which is a very important type of peculiar. And I'm very rarely incorrect. An ymbryne's main ability is the manipulation of time. You'll see it in action tonight... assuming you're staying, which I do encourage. Another very well known part of our peculiarity is that we can turn into birds. My other form, as you may glean from my name, is a peregrine falcon. I adopted the name, as is customary for ymbrynes." She came up beside Jenny and began drying the dishes.
"Oh, so you- Okay, that makes a lot of sense now."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean, my dear?" Miss Peregrine paused and looked at Jenny, a playfully curious glint in her eyes.
"No, I didn't mean anything by that. I just meant... Well, some of your mannerisms, they're just sort of birdlike sometimes was all I meant." She swallowed hard, her face turning as red as the roses that Fiona grew in the garden. "And, er, your nails..." She cast a prolonged glance at the woman's hands on the counter next to her.
Alma smirked thoughtfully and decided to play with her a bit, cocking her head and donning an innocent look.
"What ever do you mean, darling?" She reached up and smiled, tracing Jenny's jaw with a single nail.
Her face turned even redder, getting very flustered. She took a step forward and tried to regain her composure.
"When you do that, you're very pretty." She breathed. The woman in front of her paused and raised an eyebrow, a slight pink settling in her own cheeks.
"Thank you."
"You're very pretty all the time though, I just meant that when you act like that it's very... Endearing." Jenny covered, realizing how it had sounded.
The pink burned a little brighter now in her cheeks, and she remembered to check her pocket watch. Most of the dishes still lay in the sink, long forgotten by Jenny, as Alma realized that she herself was fifty-seven seconds late for movie time. She stepped back and glanced at the dishes, then dismissed it.
"Come, we should be joining the children in the living room." She wrapped an arm around the other woman's waist to support her, and led her to the living room. Jenny didn't protest, though she was fairly sure she could walk by now.
"Miss Peregrine! You're LATE!" Emma said teasingly as soon as they arrived, earning a scoff from Alma and giggles from all the other children.
"Hush." She said simply. "I was just explaining some things to Miss Honey. We must have lost track of the time."
"Hmph. She must be really-" Enoch was cut off by a dark glare from Alma combined with her shutting the lights off. She guided Jenny to a seat on the couch, next to Matilda.
"Horace, go ahead." She leaned against a wall and watched as Horace, a very well dressed boy, settled a weird looking monocle into his eye and a bright light projected from it.
Jenny and Matilda looked at the screen, impressed. It began playing a dream about clothes, which Emma quickly explained was most of his dreams. Then it cut to something else.
It was a beautiful shot of a sunset, and the roof of the big house they were currently in was in the foreground. It zoomed in on a ledge, revealing a large bird perched there. It was blue, with both black and white details. It was beautiful, and Matilda didn't hesitate to say that.
"Woah, it's stunning. It looks like a peregrine falcon. It's so beautiful, and looks so soft. Did you all know that they're among the fastest animals on Earth?" Matilda said excitedly, and the other children grinned knowingly. "Is there something I'm missing...?"
The woman against the wall smiled warmly and bowed her head. It was suddenly very clear it was her, and all of her wards knew it. Jenny had guessed that it was.
Then, their attention was turned back to the projection as the bird shifted and lifted a wing. Everyone was shocked to see a second, much smaller bird pressed up against her side, previously hidden by the wing. This one was mostly brown, with a white belly and tail feathers. Alma leaned in, interested. She suddenly realized what was happening. At the same time, Emma realized too. A grin broke out across Emma's face as Miss Peregrine pursed her lips. The two looked at each other, and Emma wiggled her eyebrows, getting an eye roll and dirty look from her ymbryne.
The shot followed the two birds as they took off, shooting through the air, the falcon racing ahead and falling back to the mystery bird. Finally they landed in an area of the garden that was surrounded in hedges, and there was a topiary wolf in the center of it. The two birds were about six feet apart, and in the blink of an eye they were women. The children who hadn't realized the other bird was also an ymbryne lit up, excited at the aspect of meeting another ymbryne. It was near dark by this point, so they couldn't make out quite what the other woman looked like.
Except Alma.
She knew exactly which ymbryne it was, for the figure had become quite familiar to her by now.
The children leaned in to try to make out who it was, while Alma watched like a hawk, very intensely. The unknown figure took five steps forward and dream Miss Peregrine took one, closing the gap between them quickly. The two silhouettes examined each other. Alma shifted in real life, standing up instead of continuing to lean against the wall.
And suddenly, the lights came back on and the children groaned and complained- "It was just getting good!" "We still don't know who she was!"- when the projection stopped.
"That's quite enough of that, thank you dear Horace. Now there's a bit of time before reset, I will continue to teach Miss Honey while you all get ready." Miss Peregrine spoke, dismissing the children. They all crowded around Matilda to show her things and ask her all sorts of questions, all of which she was more than happy to answer. Well, all but Enoch, who went off to the basement to sulk about the visitors.
Alma sat down gently next to Jenny, who was still looking slightly down from where the projection had been. She looked at her, taking in her almost shoulder-length hair and sparkling eyes. Was she upset, or excited? It was hard to tell. Then, after a moment, she took the other woman's hand and spoke.
"Would you like to learn how to do it?"
"So it was me." She said almost so quietly that Miss Peregrine didn't catch it.
"Yes."
Jenny looked up at her, and smiled. Her face was still slightly red- or was it red again? "I'd love to learn it, Miss Peregrine."
"Alma."
"Hm?"
"You can call me Alma, if you'd like."
"Alright. Deal. Let me try that again then." She looked into Alma's piercing green eyes. "I'd love to, Alma."
The corners of her lips twitched up, and she stood, still hand in hand with Jenny. She led her outside, where she began to teach her how to do some of the things that ymbrynes do.
"We'll begin with the easiest part. This one should come more as an instinct. It won't be too hard for you, dear, I'm certain." She explained. "We're going to get you into bird form. Watch, and then try to copy. Remember to focus. And if you struggle, I'll come back and tell you exactly how. And to shift back, it's essentially the same. Just trust yourself." With that, she backed up and raised her arms, flashing a proud grin. She hopped into a flip, and when she faced the front again she was a gorgeous peregrine falcon. She flew over to Jenny and landed on her shoulder, met with laughter. She cawed indignantly as Jenny reached up to scratch her head, put didn't pull away. Then she seemed to remember the task at hand and hopped down, looking up at the still human woman expectantly.
Jenny took on a look of intense focus, backed up, raised her arms, hopped and... Flew into the air. She hovered unsteadily as a small brown bird. Miss Peregrine flew up to meet her and trilled, seemingly wanting Jenny to follow her as she flew higher and higher until she reached the roof... The same spot from Horace's dream. Miss Honey followed and landed right next to her. She raised her wings and examined herself in a decidedly unbirdlike way, then looked up at the significantly larger bird of prey beside her, who was watching with about as amused an expression as a bird can get. Now it was Miss Honey's turn to caw indignantly, at which the other bird nudged her. She fluffed her feathers and shuffled a little closer, and Miss Peregrine raised a wing almost instinctively. She lowered the wing over her and they sat like that for quite a while, basking in the warmth of the fading sun mixed with the softness of each other's feathers.
Miss Honey began to stir and Miss Peregrine lifted her wing to look down at her, startled when she took off like a shot. She followed, as for once the newer ymbryne led her somewhere.
Miss Peregrine was faster of course, being bigger, more experienced, and- well- a peregrine falcon. So she shot ahead then doubled back as they just flew and flew, having genuine fun. It was a wonderful feeling.
Finally they landed, in the same secluded garden spot as the dream.
Alma was the first to find human form again, Jenny found it naturally just a second later. The more experienced woman smiled proudly, and took a step forward as Jenny approached her with a wild grin on her face. They looked each other up and down, and then after a few seconds of eye contact the newer ymbryne broke out laughing.
Alma was caught off guard, but soon couldn't suppress laughter of her own. Jenny's laugh was infectious. She got the feeling the headmistress didn't laugh like this very often, and she was honored to witness it.
When they finally calmed down and regained their composure, Jenny let one more giggle loose and gazed at the woman in front of her. She hadn't realized just how close they had gotten. It hit her that Alma was gazing right back at her. Her expression was soft as she brought her eyes up to meet Jenny's, and her breath hitched just slightly as the brunette stepped slightly closer. Alma reached out to touch Jenny's cheek, and, as she was fairly sure she was turning a certain shade of scarlet, she was quite glad that it was getting...
Dark.
Alma started with a panic, checking her watch.
"Reset. I'm so sorry Jenny, I can't do this right now. Come with me though, I'd love for you to see it." She backed away and turned back into a bird, shooting off into the night. Jenny stood there stunned for a moment.
Had that really just happened? What on earth even was that? Was she about to... No, it couldn't possibly have been that. She was just kind to everyone, Jenny told herself firmly. When she finally was able to move again, she leapt into the air herself and shifted again to go find the other woman- well, bird.
Soon it began to drizzle rain, and she found the group of peculiars crowded near their ymbryne, who stood ahead holding her watch with a neutral expression, as if nothing had just happened barely a minute prior. Jenny landed behind the group and changed quickly, hoping not to create a ruckus when they realized that the bird was her. She succeeded, as they stood watching Alma they didn't even seem to notice her behind them. She made her way to the front of the group, and without saying a word or even looking at her Alma handed her a gas mask.
Jenny took it, a slightly confused expression on her face. She truly had no idea what was about to happen, but she figured it'd be very good from the way the children seemed to feel about it. She stepped back and Matilda came up next to her, taking her hand. The little girl had a knowing look on her face as she examined her mom's face.
She realized there was music playing, though it took her a moment to place the song. "Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run..." It played.
Within the next minute, they heard the planes fast approaching. Jenny's heart sank, afraid of what was coming even though she knew everything would be okay because she trusted Alma. A set of planes flew over the house, and Jenny ducked. She scooped Matilda protectively into her arms after they had put their gas masks on, sensing something was about to go down. The rain came down harder as a rogue plane flew overhead, the hatch below opening to reveal two bombs. One detached, headed straight for the house. A soft click rang through the air and time slowed, then finally stopped. The bomb hovered in the air, and the raindrops froze. Jenny set Matilda down gently, reaching up to touch a raindrop. Just as she did, the drop she was reaching for shot back up into the sky. The planes flew backwards, the bomb retreating back into the hatch. Alma was winding her stopwatch back vigorously, as the daylight cycle went backwards until it was finally night again. She tucked her stopwatch back into her pocket and removed her gas mask, turning back to the group with a proud smile. She caught Jenny's eyes with a wink before looking across the whole group. Matilda had a shocked look on her face as she tried to compute what had just happened. Jenny was stunned and amazed at the same time. She stepped towards the pretty woman and spoke in a low voice.
"I can do that too?"
Alma met her gaze and smiled, nodding. "With practice, yes, you can do that. Though I hope you won't have to..." She muttered the last remark under her breath, a wistful look crossing over her eyes for a second as she broke eye contact with Jenny.
"What do you mean by that?" She had heard.
"Oh, hm? Nothing darling, just that it can be stressful at times, that's all." She covered smoothly, having not anticipated that Jenny would hear her.
"Oh, that makes sense. A bomb nearly dropping on the house does sound quite stressful." Alma hummed at this, then turned back to the group.
"Alright children, go inside and get ready for bed. Matilda, Miss Honey, if you would hang back for a minute."
The children sighed and trudged back into the house, leaving the three standing in the dark outside, lit only by the lights of the house.
"Would you like to stay for the night? We have plenty of space, and I'd love to explain more things to you tomorrow."
Suddenly, Jenny finally remembered why she was here in the first place.
"The children." She looked down at Matilda urgently, and then back at Alma. "They're with Agatha."
"Who's Agatha?" The raven haired woman asked, her shoulders dropping slightly.
"She... I'd rather not go into it right now. I'm sorry." Jenny looked away.
"She's a very bad woman, who hurt my mom." Jenny winced at Matilda's words, they were all too true.
"I'm so sorry Jenny." Alma's voice softened as she wrapped her in a hug. Matilda joined as well, hugging both of the women. "You're welcome to stay for the night if you'd like. It's dark now, and present day Cairnholm is not the most pleasant place to be at night." She broke apart from Jenny and smiled at her.
"Alright. I don't see the harm. The children had her as a headmistress for a very long time anyways, so a night and a day shouldn't do too much damage. I hope." She gave in and finally, albeit halfheartedly, smiled back.
"Wonderful. If you would run along inside and ask Emma and Olive to show you to the room you'll be staying in, Matilda. Jenny, I'd like a moment to speak to you." At those words Jenny's heart fluttered nervously.
"I'll go ahead and leave you two to it." Matilda giggled and scampered off, ignoring Jenny's exclamation of her name.
"She's adorable. And so very smart." Alma noted, turning back to the brunette.
"She's brilliant. I'm so lucky to have come across her, if I hadn't I really don't know where I'd be."
"So she's not your biological daughter?" There was a slight note of hope in her voice that Alma did her best to tamp down.
"No, I adopted her a few months ago. She wasn't happy with her real parents." Jenny swallowed nervously.
"Then they weren't her real parents. It looks to me as though you are her real parent."
Jenny smiled, genuinely this time, and Alma touched her shoulder.
"Could you tell me about loops and resets?" Jenny asked, so Alma explained all about them, throwing in some information about wights and various other peculiar things too.
After she finished and had answered the questions that Jenny had, silence ensued, but it wasn't awkward. It was more comforting, actually.
"Alma, what exactly did you mean when you said 'I can't do this right now' when we were in the garden?" Jenny was the first to break the silence suddenly, for she couldn't exactly stop herself. When she realized what she had said she panicked. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said-" She was cut off by Alma's finger shushing her.
"Don't apologize, Petit Oiseau."
"Little bird." Jenny repeated, in English. "I don't know much french, but I know enough to be fairly sure that you just called me 'little bird.'" She crossed her arms as Alma smiled.
"And what if I did?"
"Then I suppose I'd tell you not to call me that."
"Oh, but it's fun to mess with you, and now I know it gets a reaction." She teased.
"Well that's hardly fair, you're too hard to mess with." Jenny complained, crossing her arms and stepping up to Alma. "How can I get back at you?"
"You can't." She chuckled and stepped away. "You're correct by the way, it does mean little bird." She said over her shoulder as she strode off toward the house.