The Sun Caught In Her Raven Hair

Meeting The Family

They flew into the hills and mountains and landed just outside a cave in the middle. Here, the Jay shifted back into her human form and walked up to the entrance. The hole was smaller than her form, she bent slightly so her frame could fit and walked in, motioning for Esmerelda to stay just outside where she was for the moment. As the jay walked in further until you could not see her, hushed whispers could be heard for a few minutes. The Jay then walked back out of the cave, bringing with her the man she had talked to earlier that day. 

Now Esmerelda could see the man in more clarity and detail than she did before. He had very pale skin and contrasting contrasting black hair similar to Esmerelda herself in her young human form. if you looked closer though you could see he had streaks of silver-white entwined in his hair, as if he had started to age at an early stage in his adult life, he looked older than Jay but only by around 10 years if that. his eyes were light, almost ghostly or otherworldly looking. He was tall, around 6 foot and had a fairly muscular build. He broke the silence by addressing directly down to Esmerelda, "My name is Jeffrey, but call me Magpie, that is my signature bird species and i do not want to be identified as my human, that life is over just as it had barely begun for me. We will help you child, give you shelter and ultimately give you a family you have been missing for the last few years. When you come of age to shift, we will teach you how to control your magic and use it for the good of our people" he paused before turning to the Jay in a more stern and concerned voice than he had talked to Esmerelda. Talking to the Jay he said " you weren't followed were you? nothing happened in the sky? we can't be caught out again". The Jay kept very silent but shook her head while listening. "There had not been an ambush, they have not found out about her existence just yet". 

They nodded to themselves before signaling to Esmerelda to follow them into the cave. She hovered a meter behind them before coming face to face with 4 other birds, all of the Crow variety. There was a Rook, a Jackdaw, a Carrion crow and finally a hooded crow. These 4 birds were also unable to shift yet into their humans. They were all of different ages and backgrounds. The Carrion crow was 16 years old and had managed to change himself accidentally when a spell he was practicing had rebounded when he was 11. The others were not there by accident, the Jackdaw was 14 and had been forced to drink a potion that had changed her at the age of 9, she was probably the most shy and introverted of them all, after all she was shaped and made that way by the things in her past. The other 2, the Rook and hooded crow, were twins, both 12 years old and had also been changed by one of their family members. 

They slept that night in the same cave, it was the first time in years that she had ever stayed with one group of birds for this long. Sleeping next to the 4 birds huddled up to conserve heat and to also strengthen the bond between them all. Esmeralda also noticed the Jay and Magpie had not joined the 4 of them, but had stayed together laying on the floor holding onto each other in their sleep. Bird shifters often find their soulmates, which is uncommon in humans although you feel a strong attraction and sometimes stay with someone the rest of your life, this is a different type of soulmate, one which will make their power stronger. Jay and Magpie shared a bond which enabled them to enter each others dreams and gave them a mind link to connect them together to speak if danger ever arose. And soulmates made all the difference in an existence such as theirs.

These would be the family Esmeralda clung to and were the people who would teach her and help her to grow and stay strong. 

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author's note: finally updated this story again, every chapter you see on wattpad will only technically be drafts and not final works. Being an author is something i would love to be and this is just for the fun of writing about something i imagine daily and that i would like to share as best i can with you all. for now this is all final work but gradually i may be rewriting this to make it longer and better but may never actually share the final book on here and publish one day. thankyou for continuing to read this story.