No place like home

NPLH part: 6 (9-11) "Tiny Village"

I'm not sure what went through my mind, but I laughed hysterically. "You-you speak to birds?" I asked out of breath. Soon I realized that their stern looks meant they were speaking the truth. "Alright, prove to me you speak for them." I was already close to believing them, but I wanted some sort of confirmation. The once armored one raised his fist, and called out something in a language I've never heard before. Only seconds after, the same chickadee chick I saw before, had flown this way, and landed beside him. The enormous chick started tweeting in a soft rhythm, that I've also never heard a chickadee make. It seemed as though they had a small conversation, and afterward turned towards me. "She says she saw you wandering the forest not too long ago, and that you were hypnotized." After saying that, they all geared up once again and began examining the trees with caution. I asked them what they were looking for, and with slight fear in their eyes, they told me "the hermits are here."

I had absolutely no idea what they were speaking of. Hermits? Like the crabs? And part of me seriously thought this was some sort of joke. If this was a joke, they would need an explanation for these 'Hermits', "who are these hermits anyway?" I asked. They looked at me like I was crazy, and shouted at me telling me to "Never speak of their name here!". That just ticked me off, they had just said the same thing. "If these Hermits are so dangerous, what are you doing out here?!". They seemed rather puzzled, yet slightly over edge, and one of them forceful grabbed me by the arm, and stood me up. Then the eldest spoke again, "Neither of us are safe here, we need to go back to our village". Most of me wanted to just run away and call this all a dream, but part of me wanted to see a tiny village, so I told them I would willingly follow.

Surprisingly, the village wasn't too far from where we were before. It was already a bit past dusk, but the scenery around the village seemed so serene. I was just at the entrance, but everything already looked so charming. Each fort home was made with moss covered wood, that gave it a really nice soft green look, each trail was made with the smoothest rocks there could be, and they were wearing the most gorgeous feathers I have ever seen(not that i've ever seen that many). They must've heard me gasp in awe, because the eldest smiled and said "beautiful isn't it, I get the blessing to wake up everyday to this.". Her words seemed almost downhearted, but she looked at everything with such glee. It made me worry, why would she say something so sadly like that? Are they not safe here? I didn't have the guts to kill the beautiful mood, and I wanted to explore all of it.