Chapter Two: Birds of Paradise
The next morning broke the peace of Olivia's journey. She had woken with the rise of the sun packed her things back into her bag while chewing on a handful of berries the small monkey had given her the night before. She had taken some extra time in the early morning light to fashion a kind of sling out of a spare shirt, which she then hung around her neck, tucking the phoenix egg into the front of it.
She had been walking for only an hour or so when she heard a loud, echoing scream that set birds of all kinds into flight. She thought, at first, that it might be some kind of monkey, as many of their calls did sound somewhat human, but she went to investigate when she heard thrashing. If it was a monkey, it was clearly hurt, and if it wasn't a monkey… well, any human this far into the woods had to be magical. Muggles wouldn't have survived so long.
The forest fell silent before Olivia found whatever was making the noise, but her animal friends in the surrounding trees directed her into a small clearing, where she saw that it was, in fact, a human who had screamed.
The girl was small, and very white, though Olivia saw that the color could be due to the four deep, bleeding gashes that littered her body. Her dark hair stood out sharply against her skin, and the dirt absorbed the blood that stained her clothing.
Olivia dropped her pack carefully onto the ground and extracted the vial of phoenix tears she had only just collected the previous day, then approached the girl, keeping a watch out for whatever had attacked her. She had her suspicions about a long, brown and red snake coiled above their heads in a tree, but for now she turned her focus to the human, carefully tipping the vial so that the smallest amount of tears fell to her skin. The liquid hissed as it hit the girl, and Olivia watched as the gashes shrunk and bright, pink skin grew over the wounds. After making sure the girl was still breathing, Olivia moved her so she would rest comfortably, then turned to talk to the snake.
The snake was angry, telling Olivia that the brown haired girl had stepped on the ground above her den and trapped her eggs there. The snake, nearly two feet in length, led Olivia to the edge of the clearing where there seemed to be a small crater of freshly moved dirt. Olivia carefully began moving the dirt away from the hole, slowly unearthing what had previously been the snakes home. She did not touch any of the inch long, white oval eggs she unearthed, instead letting the snake take care of them. One egg was crushed, but Olivia was able to convince the snake that the injury it had already caused was an equal repayment of the damage.
When Olivia returned to the clearing, she found the monkey and the iguana waiting for her.
"If you would be so kind as to find us some fruit to eat?" She asked the monkey, who chittered that he would try then scampered off into the leaves.
"And you, Mr. Lizard, would you be able to find wild rose petals?" The iguana flicked his tongue, which she knew to mean agreement, then she turned to pull other things out of her pack. She had dittany and nettle leaves, valerian root, fairy wings, and silverweed extract, but in order to make the blood-replenishing potion that the girl so obviously needed, Olivia would need to find rose petals and honey.
She collected small sticks and leaves to use to start a fire, then she set about finding something to use as a cauldron after sending some small, curious birds off to locate a bee hive.
Finally giving in to the need for magic, Olivia got out her wand and moved her pack to the other side of the clearing, then transfigured a metal earring she found on the brown haired girl into a small bowl that would be passable. She used large sticks and twine from her pack to construct a frame to hold the bowl above the fire, then she used an auguamenti charm to fill the bowl with water. She poked the fire to life, then carefully added the other ingredients, letting the mixture simmer until the iguana returned, two large petaled roses clasped in his mouth. They weren't the type of roses usually used in the potion, but Olivia knew they would work almost as well. She thanked the lizard, then added the rose petals. The last ingredient was honey, which the birds told her could be found halfway up a tree a quarter mile from the clearing.
Olivia walked quickly and climbed the tree with ease. Bees were a little less understanding than other insects, and Olivia had to use her wand in the end, shielding herself from their stings while she extracted just enough honey to be useful.
Back in the clearing, her small monkey friend had found a plethora of fruits and berries, making a small pile beside Olivia's pack. The girl was awake, trying to sit up against a tree, but her arms would not hold her strength. Olivia ignored her for the moment, adding the honey to the mixture, then extinguishing the fire. She strained the potion into the jar she had just emptied of fairy wings, using a piece of material from her shirt turned sling to keep out the larger bits of leaves and plants.
In the jar, the potion cooled within minutes, turning a bright red color, and finally, Olivia approached the girl.
Her eyes were open, dull blue and unseeing. Olivia helped her to sit up against a tree trunk, then tipped the potion into her mouth, making sure the girl swallowed a few mouthfuls. She filled the bowl with water, turning her back to cast the charm, then offered that to the girl as well.
The potion took a few minutes to work, but soon enough the girls eyes were open all the way, and she looked around the clearing in confusion.
"Are you hungry?" Olivia asked after a few moments, her voice cautious. "I only have fruit, but the sugar in it will make you feel better, I think," she continued when the girl looked at her. Olivia's cheeks flushed a pale red color and she looked down at herself, noting her dirty clothes and unwashed hair. She hadn't cared about these things when she had been alone in the woods, but now that there was another human here to notice them, she felt embarrassed. She was sure her face wasn't much cleaner than the rest of her.
She had come across many small ponds and streams, and had rinsed off the dirt her skin had collected in each one, but it had been at least a week since the last stream.
The girl tried to speak, but coughed instead, and Olivia forgot that she was embarrassed and went over to help the girl drink more water from the transfigured bowl.
"My-my camera," the girl began in a scratchy voice, and Olivia, kneeling beside her, sat back on her heels in confusion, head tilted to the side. "My backpack-"
"I didn't see any bags," Olivia said, realizing what the girl must have been talking about. She looked up into the trees as the birds above her head chirped that they had seen some things that didn't belong in the forest, only a short walk out of the clearing. Olivia stood to investigate, then came back with the two heavy bags the girl must have carried with her. She set them carefully onto the ground next to the girl, who immediately, but weakly, began to unzip the bag and shuffle through it. Finally, she sighed with relief as she pulled a large camera from the depths of the backpack and looked it over to make sure it was undamaged.
"How did you find me here?" The girl asked at last, eyes narrowing suspiciously in Olivia's direction.
"I heard you scream," Olivia said, shrugging as she sat on the ground on the other side of her temporary fire. She cradled the phoenix egg, still in its sling, as she spoke. It filled her with warmth again, even through the material, making her a little less nervous around this human girl.
"Oh right, there was a snake…" she said, trailing off as she looked into the branches above her head with fear, as though expecting the snake to still be there, then she looked down at her arms and torso with confusion, looking at the ripped clothing and bloodstains, then at the pink skin beneath them."I thought it bit me."
"You stepped on her den and buried her eggs," Olivia explained. "She was angry."
"Um, okay," the girl said, shaking her head in confusion. "But it did bite me?"
"Yes," Olivia said, her head tilted to the side again as she tried to figure out why the other girl was talking in such an odd, confused tone.
"But then… why am I not dead?" She asked. Olivia frowned.
"I healed you of course," she said, her voice patient.
"Healed me…" the girl repeated to herself. "How?"
"Phoenix tears," Olivia said simply. "You sound like you are from America. Did you attend Ilvermorny?"
"Ilver- what?" The girl asked, looking at Olivia as though she was speaking a foreign language. "And wait… did you say phoenix tears? Is this a joke?"
"Oh," Olivia said, her heart sinking as she finally understood. "You… you're a muggle aren't you?"
"A muggle?" The girl repeated, getting to her feet shakily. "No, I'm a photographer."
"Oh," Olivia repeated, getting to her own feet to back away. She had been very wrong in assuming a muggle couldn't make it so far into the woods. She hadn't thought that any of them would have the patience to come in here on foot, as it had taken her nearly four months to get so far. Though she had gone slowly… and she had spent a lot of time with various trees that she wanted to harvest wood from. And she had walked a very meandering trail, going where she wanted instead of making a straight line. She supposed it was possible for the girl to have come in this far on her own without the use of magic.
"Can you please explain what is going on?" The girl asked in a scared voice, bringing Olivia back to the present. She had already said too much, she would have to wipe the girls memory anyway, to keep with the statute of secrecy. But first she would help the girl to leave so that she wasn't attacked by some other creature. Now that Olivia looked at her, she noted that the girl's arms were covered with healing scrapes and bug bites.
"I came here to collect materials to make magic wands," Olivia said simply, almost smiling as the girls eyes opened wide with shock. "Why did you come here?"
"To photograph birds of paradise for a study," she said automatically as she was clearly confused by Olivia's words. "Magic… wands?"
"Yes, like this one," she said, holding hers up for the girl to see. "I wouldn't usually be breaking our statute of secrecy, but you look as though you will need help to get out of the forest." The girl seemed not to hear her for a few long moments, then she looked back at Olivia as though she finally understood something.
"You're one of those crazy hermit people aren't you?" She asked, taking a step back. "One of those people who live in the forests their whole lives and never meet other people."
"No, I'm from London," Olivia said, chuckling.
"Prove it," the girl said, and Olivia tilted her head to the side.
"That I'm from London?" She asked, frowning.
"No, that you aren't crazy," the girl said, still backing away.
"And how should I do that?" Olivia asked, kneeling down to take apart the frame she had used to keep the bowl over the fire. She set the sticks to one side and wrapped the twine up to put back into her bag.
"Magic… doesn't exist," the girl began, her speech halting. She didn't seem to know what to say after that though and fell silent.
"Oh, well that's easy enough," Olivia said, sitting back on her feet, legs folded under her. She lifted her wand and said 'accio' in a quiet breath. One of the figs that had been in the pile of fruit by her pack flew into the air. She caught it and held it above her head for the small tamarin monkey to grab. He had been watching from the trees, unsure of whether to trust this new human or not, but now he reached down to accept the fruit. The girl gasped, then sat down hard where she was, gazing back and forth from the pile of fruit to Olivia.
"What are you called?" Olivia asked her after another moment.
"Erin," the girl said, seeming to shake herself out of her shock.
"I'm Olivia. It's pleasant to meet you," Olivia said, smiling. "Will you allow me to accompany you out of the forest?"
"I… guess so," Erin said, then sighed, finally seeming to accept the things that Olivia had been saying. "But I can't leave yet."
"Oh?" Olivia inquired, her voice confused as she tilted her head to one side.
"I'm looking for this bird… he's called a Channel-billed Toucan. They only live in a small part of the forest, and I've been looking for them for weeks," Erin said, her voice growing more enthusiastic as she spoke. "If I could just get a few pictures… I'm a wildlife photographer for 'Discover'. If I could get a picture of the toucan, I'd be the first at the company to see one in its natural habitat."
"I see," Olivia said, nodding. She knew that photography, along with other kinds of visual art, were far more common and appreciated in the muggle world, though she wasn't sure what this 'Discovery' company did. "What does he look like?"
"Oh they are beautiful," Erin said, her eyes unfocused as she thought. "They have black feathers on their backs, but their chests are covered with white and gold, and sometimes green or red plumage. Their bills are almost as large as their body, and they are dark blue, with lighter blue rings around the base."
"I've never seen one like that," Olivia said, but looked above her head into the trees as she spoke. Most of the birds that had fled at the screams hours before, had returned as the sky began to darken.
"Well they nest in the very tops of the trees," Erin said, looking up as well. "Um, Olivia, there's a giant lizard right above your head." Olivia looked up to see the iguana who had been traveling with her sitting on a thick branch, his tail wrapped around it for balance.
"Yes," Olivia said, reaching up with both arms to let the iguana crawl down to her. "They fled when you woke up. They weren't sure whether to trust you or not."
"You talk to them?" Erin asked, coming closer to Olivia to see the iguana better. "Is that part of your… magic stuff?"
"Sort of," Olivia said, smiling. "It's something I learned when I was young. Most creatures will speak to you if you just take the time to listen to them." Erin let out a small squeak as the tamarin monkey finally left the trees, jumping down onto the top of Olivia's head, then crawling beneath her hair to peer out at the new human as Olivia bent to set the heavy lizard on the ground. The birds above her head, chirping between themselves since Erin had spoken, fell back into silence as one of them, a small brown hummingbird, flitted down to perch on Olivia's shoulder. It sat directly next to her ear as it chirped in it's almost silent voice, that a pair of birds like the ones Erin had described, nested at the top of a tree nearly ten miles west of there. Olivia smiled as the bird took off again.
"They just come to you?" Erin asked, her eyes following the tiny bird as it disappeared back into the trees.
"Yes," Olivia said. "I have already made friends with many of these birds. They remember me from my trip in. Why are you here alone? I thought muggles always traveled in groups."
"I was supposed to have a guide," Erin said, frowning. "But he didn't want to stay very long, so we split up abut a week ago and he went home." Olivia could tell from her tone that the full story was something different, but she let it go for now. "What's that word you keep using? Muggle?"
"It means a non-magical person," Olivia said, shrugging. "Like you. How do you survive here by yourself?" Olivia was just as curious about the muggle girl as the other girl seemed to be about her. Olivia could use an aguamenti charm, and her animal friends brought her food, so surviving here was easy for her, but she wasn't sure how Erin could survive without water charms.
"The toucans I've been looking for like wet areas, so I'm always near water," Erin said, patting her backpack, which probably contained a water bottle. "I have peroxide to clean it. And I have always been good at hunting. There are a lot of squirrels here, and its easy to rig up a wire trap for them."
"That's very resourceful of you," Olivia said. "The birds tell me that a pair like you described live about ten miles from here. We could make it there by tomorrow noon if we leave at dawn."
"That would be fantastic," Erin said, grinning, then she seemed to think of something new and frowned. "Wait, if you can use magic, can't you just teleport or something?"
"We call it apparating," Olivia said, her smile patient as she began untying her sleeping bag from her pack. "I can do that, yes, but the materials I came here to collect are more pliable when they are exposed to less magic. Besides, I prefer walking. There is too much in this forest to see, apparating would mean missing all of it."
"I guess that makes sense," Erin said, then frowned when she saw what Olivia was doing. "Don't you have a tent or something?"
"No," Olivia said, sliding into her sleeping bag after carefully removing the phoenix egg from its sling. "The bugs will not bother me and I am warm enough without shelter."
"Can you tell the bugs to 'not bother me' too?" Erin asked, chuckling as she began to pull things out of a bag.
"They have not touched you while I have been here," Olivia said, closing her eyes. The darkness here was never completely black. There were all sorts of glowing insects and stars that lit the ground.
"Oh, you're right. I guess I didn't notice," Erin said from across the clearing. "I'm still going to put up a tent, if you don't mind. It feels weird sleeping in the open."
"Do as you like," Olivia said, smiling as she felt the iguana crawling into her sleeping bag with her. The small monkey had curled up on top of her pack, and the phoenix egg was held in her arms, keeping both her, and the lizard warm.
She listened for a few minutes as Erin set up a tent, then moved her backpack and other things inside it. Finally it fell silent, and Olivia drifted off to sleep.