Lukas nodded. "Emil and I said so as well," he said. Tino grinned. "Great! We'll still help you find your family as much as we can. Where should we start? It'd help if you told us a bit more of how you were found."
Matthew shuffled a little. He and Al seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes, Alfred's feathers getting slightly ruffled. After a few seconds, it seems like the two finally came to a conclusion. Alfred shuffled closer to his brother, a wing brushing his brother's back.
Matthew shifted again uncomfortably, turning to face the other avians. "T-Tino, y-you mentioned earlier t-that hunters would go after avians to cut off their wings r-right?" The other avian's eyes widened and Mattie fidgeted a bit, his voice shaking.
"W-Well...when the villagers found us m-my b-back was covered in blood...T-The farmers that found us s-scared off the hunters right as they were starting to h-hurt Alfred. W-When they saw us they t-took us in because we were so little. It happened a really long time ago," said Matthew, quivering a little.
The other avians were pale as they stared at the twins. Alfred, not liking the silence and not sure if this will change how the other avians thought of them, balled up his fist. One of his wings wrapped around Matthew and the other stretched out tensely as if he was about to jump into a fight.
Tino was the first one to speak, covering his mouth. "I-I'm so sorry that happened to you boys!" He rushed forward to give Matthew a hug. Mathias was scowling. "Whoever did that was uncool. We should find them and beat them up," he said. Berwald nodded. Emil sighed. "It sucks but we can't go hunting people down Mathias."
Lukas looked at Matthew. "Then that means you're an avian as well...just as I suspected. That doesn't change anything. You may still have some of our abilities even if you don't have wings," he said. "Abilities? What abilities?" asked Matthew at the same time Alfred bounced up and down. "What? Like super strength or laser vision? That would be awesome!" said his twin.
Mathias grinned. "No silly, though that would be cool. Avians have the ability to heal each other or create bonds with each other. But we are harder to hurt than humans are and we are stronger than them," he said. "We can expl'n," offered Berwald.
"Before we do that, I'm going to contact the flocks I remember that lost fledglings around the time you two were found. Emil, would Mr. Puffin be willing to take the message?" said Lukas. Emil crossed his arms. "I suppose, but we'll have to save a fish for him as a reward," he said. "Who's Mr. Puffin?" asked Matthew.
Emil sighed. "Avians are close to nature. We can communicate with certain animals and if we get close enough to an animal, we can bond with them. The bond with animals is different than other bonds. With the animals, it allows us to call them to us and ask them for favors. They can also feel it if we're in distress. In exchange, they age like we do," he said, going to the ledge and whistling.
A puffin bird flew to him, landing on his shoulder. Emil gestured to the bird. "This is Mr. Puffin. Puffin, Lukas needs you to tell all the nearby flocks that two fledglings that went missing about fifty years ago have returned," he said. The bird sighed and tilted his head. "We'll save you a fish," offered Emil. The bird affectionately pecked his ear before flapping his wings and flying off.
"How did you bond with it?" asked Matthew, ignoring Alfred's rambling about superpowers. Emil sighed and shifted a little, not used to being the center of attention. "After Avians are born, sometimes their parents abandon them to find a flock. Mr. Puffin took care of me until Lukas found me and brought me to his own flock. After a certain age, you can either stay with that flock or find another one," said Emil.
"That's why you think it'd be hard to find our parents," said Alfred. Lukas nodded. "But you two may have been found by a flock if you didn't have a bond with an animal yet. Usually an animal takes care of a fledgling until it's found. I can sense that you two are bound to each other...but there's something else there as well. It could be that you two never officially bonded to your caretakers," he said.
Alfred raised a hand. "Can you explain this bond thing please?" he asked. "It's why only family, lovers, or really close friends can touch each other's wings," offered Matthias. The twins gave him blank stares. Lukas sighed and gestured that they sit down as Mathias and Berwald started preparing the fish.
"When you share a bond with another person, they can sense your extreme emotions and when you're in distress, in some rare cases, they can even sense your thoughts and even rarer, any pain you may be in. You two would have a slightly different version of this bond due to being twins. I'm not sure how much that would work. There's other details, but we can go over them later.
"We're able to use this bond to find each other or, if needed, send some of our own strength and energy to our bond-mate to heal them. You don't need to be bonded at the time you attempt to heal someone, but if there wasn't a bond before healing someone there's one by the end of the healing. The bond is a way that we protect each other and ourselves from harm," said Lukas.
"So if we were bonded with whoever was looking over us when we were kids, they'd have been able to find us? Why wouldn't they have bonded with us?" asked Matthew. "Some people build the bond over time to get used to the idea. It may have also been that you weren't with them for very long. It's harder to form bonds with children," said Tino.
The twins thanked them for the fish they were offered. "Do you guys remember anything about who took care of you before you were found?" asked Emil. Mattie and Alfred thought about this, Alfred's wings slightly shifting. "I remember people with accents different than our own. One was french," said Mattie. "The other was English," said Alfred.
Lukas raised an eyebrow. "What else do you remember?" he asked. "Eyebrows," said both twins at once. Mathias grinned and leaned forward excitedly. "That sounds like that other mage you're friends with Lukas. What's his name? Arthur?" he said. The boys' eyes widened. Alfred started bouncing up and down excitedly. Mattie froze.
Lukas hummed affirmatively. "It does sound like Arthur and Francis. They did have a couple of fledgling go missing...but we can't be absolutely sure it's them. I don't want to get your hopes up though. Arthur had been using his magic to try to find his fledglings for years. He's a good mage. It could be that they aren't your original flock," he said.
"What's a mage?" asked Alfred, not settling down any. Mattie rolled his eyes and put a hand on his twin's knee before he tried to take off. "A mage is an avian who can sense and manipulate the life energy of other avians and nature. There only three mages. Arthur, Vlad, he lives in the closest mountain range in the east, and myself," said Lukas.
"Is there anyway you can tell if we're from their flocks?" asked Matthew. Lukas shook his head. "They'd have to be here for me to be able to try to figure that out," he said. Tino gave them a reassuring smile. "I'm sure if they think you might be from their flock, they'll come and we can find out then," said Tino.
"What are Arthur and Francis like?" asked Alfred, not quite letting go of the idea that this might be their flock. "Francis is nice but he spends too much time trying to play matchmaker," said Emil a bit bitterly. "I thought you liked Miss Lilli. He was right in setting you two up," said Mathias. Emil's cheeks got red.
"Arthur is a nice and polite guy. He prides himself on being a gentleman but he's a force to be reckon with if he thinks his flock is in danger. One time this avian named Antonio started trying to hunt in the same territory Arthur was and they bumped heads a few times. They're friendly now though, because Antonio is friends with Francis," said Tino.
Alfred nodded. "How long until Mr. Puffin comes back?" he asked. "Later tonight or in the morning," said Emil. "Earlier, you guys said something about the animals aging like we do," said Matthew. Lukas nodded. "We age differently than humans. We tend to stay in our twenties or thirties for quite a long time and age slowly," he said.
"How long is a long time?" asked Alfred. "There's an avian, his name is Yao, who has been in his late twenties for four or five thousand years. Everyone ages differently and according to circumstance. Sometimes they come to us mages to have them stop aging at a certain age," said Lukas with a shrug. Matthew and Alfred's jaws dropped.
"I didn't know we were immortal," said Alfred. Lukas shook his head. "We can die or be killed. We haven't exactly figured out how that works. It's not too big of a deal. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if Yao is telling the truth. He sells healing herbs to other flocks so it might just be a scam," he said.
"How old are you?" asked Matthew. Lukas shrugged. "A little over a thousand years old. Mathias and Berwald are older than I am," he said. Both boys stared at him with wide eyes. Mathias grinned. "Don't looked so stunned. I'm sure you two are older than you look too. The first few decades of our lives are harder to remember because we're so young," he said.
The twins opened their mouths to ask another question but a small canary flew in, peeping as they did so. The small bird flew around Mathias's head. "Oh hey Gilbird! Did Gilbert send a message with you?" asked Mathias, holding a finger out for the bird to land on. Gilbird chirped happily and Mathias nodded.
"Gilbird says Gilbert is planning on dropping by tomorrow to see the new fledglings," said Mathias with a grin. Tino sighed. "He's still looking for Johann after all these centuries. I suppose it's okay if he behaves himself," he said. Mathias nodded, his face growing a little more serious. He muttered something to Gilbird who immediately flew away when he was done.
"Who's Gilbert?" asked Matthew. "One of my best friends. He's pretty awesome but not as cool as I am," said Mathias. "He lost younger brother a few centuries ago in a freak snow storm. He's convinced a hunter took his brother during the storm because he was "too awesome" to die in a snowstorm and there wasn't a body found," said Lukas.
Alfred and Matthew were quite at that. "That sucks," said Alfred. Tino looked outside to the sky. "It's getting dark out. We should all get some sleep. Alfred, Matthew, you two can sleep over here. Let us know if you two need anything," he said kindly. The boys thanked him and laid down in the sleeping space indicated.
In case you're wondering, the little brother Gilbert lost in a snowstorm was the Holy Roman Empire. I'm planning on getting as many cameos from all our favorite countries in here as much as possible without forcing any of their appearances. I'm planning on weaving as much cannon material as possible into the story so points go to anyone who can spot some of the more hidden details.