An Owl's Rise

Once Evelyn had finished testing out the new armor and weapons that Melisandre had gifted her, she confided in her master about her siblings.

"That certainly is quite the surprise. I thought that you told me that they had died? But the moment you gain a decent amount of notoriety they suddenly appeared." Melisandre said, suspicion in her eyes.

It was not unheard of for individual that shared similar traits to try and pass themselves off as relatives to those that had gotten famous.

Of course, these ploys were normally seen through, but sometimes they worked.

"No, I am certain that they really are my siblings. Both of them remember things that only we experienced. And I can feel it instinctually that we are closely related." Evelyn said, confidently.

Hearing this, Melisandre\'s expression softened somewhat, but she still looked at Evelyn intensely.

"Even if you are certain that they are your siblings their intentions are not clear, correct? This is why you are asking for my advice."

"Yes, we have been separated for years now, and while I cannot say for sure if I am being influenced by my own subconscious feelings for my brother, something seems off about him." Evelyn said, a conflicted look in her eyes.

"That is right, you told me he got caught in a trap set by humans and that led to your family ultimately being captured. I can understand some lingering resentment you might have, but I think you should trust your instincts. Until you are certain of their intentions try not to get too close to them. Take things slow and only meet with them in public spaces for now. You are generally cautious with new people so just do as you always have and you should be fine."

After talking to Melisandre, Evelyn felt less unsure of what to do in regard to her siblings.

She did not need to treat them in any special way simply because they were related and would instead get to know them slowly while keeping her guard up.

Them being her siblings did not mean she had to go out of her way to associate with them. They had gotten through what was essentially the front door of Evelyn\'s defenses thanks to their blood relations, but if they proved to simply want to use her or were dangerous in anyway, she could simply kick them out as easily as she let them in.

\'Still if we can work things out, I would not mind having some more allies I can trust.\' Evelyn thought, hopeful that she could forge a good relationship with her siblings.

With her new armor stored away and her mind settled thanks to Melisandre\'s advice, Evelyn headed to the kitchen where Anneli and Katrina had prepared a small celebration for her.

The four of them enjoyed a bit of merriment late into eh day, before Evelyn called it a day and went to bed. Feeling more exhausted than she realized and falling asleep practically the moment she landed on her nest.

…

\'What time is it?\' Evelyn thought, her mind still a bit groggy from just waking up.

Yet when she saw that she had slept longer than she had anticipated she woke up quickly.

She had promised to meet Aralee and Verrader at the Records Hall when it opened and she only had half an hour to get ready.

\'Damn I must have been more worn out than I realized.\' Evelyn thought as she frantically washed her body.

Once she was clean she easily used her wind and fire magic to blast the moisture off her body and then flew towards the estate\'s entrance at full speed.

Continuing to use her magic, Evelyn shot across the Roost far faster than she usually did and ignored the speed guidelines that all the owls were meant to follow.

Luckily since it was early, there were not as many owls out and she did not encounter any trouble despite flying recklessly fast.

\'Whew, I made it on time.\' Evelyn thought spotting that the Records Hall was just opening.

Heading inside she flew down tot eh lowest level where she was supposed to meet with her siblings.

When she arrived, she found that both of them were waiting for her.

"I hope I did not keep you waiting too long?" Evelyn said as she landed.

"No, we only just arrived a minute ago." Aralee said, a smile on her face.

She was clearly happy to see Evelyn had shown up since she had been afraid that she might decide to completely ignore them.

Verrader on the other hand had a frown on his face, but eventually approached Evelyn and bowed his head.

"I am sorry about how I acted yesterday."

Surprised, Evelyn had not expected to receive a genuine sounding apology.

"It is fine. I can understand that we did not meet last on the best of terms. It was a difficult situation for both of us. Let us try to move on and build up our relationship once again." Evelyn said, a slightly kinder expression unconsciously forming on her face.

Verrader for his part did not think that she would so easily forgive him, and for the first time wore a genuine smile on his face when she did.

"Now, what do both of you know about the Records Hall?" Evelyn asked, getting down to business.

Today she was going to be sharing a bit of her wisdom, but wanted to know what her siblings already knew so that she did not give them redundant information.

"I know that this is the place where all owls within the Roost are registered, and that it serves as a storage for other information of all manners. But that is about it. Other than when I first arrived, I have not been back here. Most of my time has been spent doing day labor jobs and going to my scheduled classes. I have not really had much time to come here and most fo the information is too experience for me to use." Aralee, said, a bit embarrassed.

Unlike Evelyn who had Melisandre\'s support right form the start, she was having to do everything on her own. And as a peak fiend beast that was pretty much at the bottom of the barrel she was just barely scraping by.

Even just a few hundred credits were still a large sum for her.

Verrader on the other hand was doing far better since he was already at the awakened rank and above the average in terms of strength.

This had landed him a job as a guard for one of the restaurants that catered to mostly fiend beasts and low tier awakened rank beast.

Naturally, he was making far more than Aralee was and was getting by just fine.

Unlike Evelyn who had pretty much been leaving the Roost from the beginning to collect credits, both Aralee and Verrader were staying within it and building up slowly.

Certainly, the jobs they were doing were not as lucrative as leaving the Roost to complete missions and collect valuable items, but it was far safer.

\'Nevertheless, at this rate they are never going to make much progress.\' Evelyn thought.

She then told them that it was fine to stay within the safety of the Roost and build up their strength for a while, but eventually they would need to get out into the world or they would only stifle their potential.

"Um, we understand that Evelyn, but before you are allowed to leave you need to complete the beginner classes. Which neither of us have yet since we only got here a couple months ago. I only just recently figured out how to control my magical energy at all and just keeping up the connection to talk is difficult." Aralee said.

Blinking her eyes rapidly, Evelyn was now confused never having heard of this rule before.

Of course, unlike most owls she had not gone to any standard lessons. Instead, Melisandre had taught her everything she needed to know.

This had allowed her to progress in certain areas exceptionally fast but had left her lacking a bit in common sense.

"Yes, it has been so long that I forget about that." Evelyn said, laughing it off and quickly changing the subject.

"Anyway, today I am going to help guide you in gathering information. It was a real struggle when I started out, but there are a few tricks you can use to make it easier. And while this may seem boring, knowing about where you are going and what threats you could face is important. Going somewhere ignorant of what you might face is a good way to die quickly."

After stressing the importance of collecting intelligence, Evelyn began showing Aralee to where the resources on areas that were suitable to fiend beasts were.

"As you can see there are a good deal of documents here, but you want to focus on this section. These are areas managed solely by the Roost and are generally safer. I made my start by going to a place like these, and it was an invaluable experience."