John walks up to Nasha and Kenta as they set up their campsite off to the side. John says to them “Sorry I didn’t ask you ladies before Grandma spoke to the other Harpies.”

Nasha and Kenta look at each other, then Kenta says to John “it’s not a stable.”

Nasha says “and I doubt the townsfolk would let us travel back and forth here with Papi.”

Kenta starts pawing at the hard ground with her front hooves. Nasha says to her “Here use my blanket” as she folds the blanket up in a pad big enough for Kenta to lay on.

Kenta says “Thank you. Where will you sleep?”

Nasha says “I’ll use my old one.” John realizes that Nasha couldn’t lay her new blanket out fully to sleep on. Nasha then starts looking around the nests for firewood.

Papi runs over to John and tries to hide behind him. He finds that the other Harpies have pretty much stripped her of her clothes and she is holding them in her wings. He looks at the Harpies who are watching Papi. John takes Papi’s clothes. He then moves behind Papi and gently nudges her towards the Harpies. Papi reluctantly rejoins the other Harpies.

Some of the Harpies have been watching Nasha nervously. But Nasha only takes wood from nests that look abandoned. Nasha returns once she has collected enough wood for a cooking fire.

Harpies gather at the edge of the campsite watching Nasha closely as she starts the fire. Nasha realizes she has an audience once she gets the fire going. John walks up to the Harpies saying “You seem interested in the fire.”

One of the Harpies says “We know of fire. We know it can be used to make food better. But we can’t make it and when we steal some to bring it back, it goes out.”

John says to Nasha “Can I have everything need to start a fire?” Nasha hands over all that is needed. John turns to the Harpies and lays the stuff out saying “Okay, You all watched her. Here is what she used. Why don’t you try making your own fire?”

The Harpies gather around to look over the items and talk amongst themselves. Soon one starts trying. She uses her legs to handle the tools. She gets close but the tools keep slipping. She gives up and leaves. Then another Harpy gives it a try. The new Harpy also tries to make fire using her legs, but she is very unbalanced and falls over. John watches them, even letting out a chuckle here and there. John can see that they use their legs more because their feathers get in the way and they only can use their thumbs on their wings, but he admires their determination. Soon one Harpy has almost got the fire started. He then realizes that it’s Papi. He watches her hoping that she will do it. But then Grandma lands nearby and scares the other Harpies away. Grandma looks down at the tools then yells at John “What is the meaning of this!”

John says “I’m sorry, I was curious and wanted to test a theory.”

Grandma says “A Theory!”

John crouches in front of her “I had a feeling on why Harpies have had a hard time making and using tools.” John holds up his hands with his fingers spread out saying “You don’t have these.” He then closes his hands with his thumbs still out adding “You have these” He stretches his fingers again while folding his thumbs down on his palms saying “but without these, you can’t grab and hold things easily.” He brings his hands down saying “I mean I’m amazed at what you can do with your feet and legs. But there are some things you can’t do with them. Using tools would be a sign to the other races that you are smart.”

Grandma says “and why did you want to test this theory?”

John says “I want to help. I want to know Papi is safe and if helping you find a way to coexist with the nearby town helps keep Papi safe. Then I will help you.”

Grandma says “Your heart is in the right place” and leaves.

Nasha starts cooking some meat skewers for the group. Soon a Harpy from earlier comes to the edge of the campsite with a dead animal in her mouth and lays it down on the ground. She then pushes the animal with her foot towards Nasha. She looks at the cooking meat. John walks over to the animal and picks it up saying to Nasha “do you mind?” Nasha pulls out her tools to start preparing the meat. Soon other Harpies gather with dead animals in their mouths.

After a bit, John and Kenta help Nasha prepare and cook the meat for the Harpies. The Harpies try to hold the skewers with their feet and are having a hard time feeding themselves. John finds Papi has rejoined the group. So he uses her as an example of how to hold the skewers with their wings. Grandma comes around again and gives John a stern look.

Grandma says “I know you want to help. But I don’t want my flock to become dependent on you.”

John says “I know and I will find a way to help your flock before we leave. It will take time for Papi to adjust to your way of life.” John then picks up some meat that he was saving for himself. He takes a piece of meat off the stick and offers it to Grandma. Grandma reluctantly opens her mouth to show she is missing many of her teeth. John puts the skewer back and starts pulling the meat apart. He then gives Grandma the torn meat. Grandma seems to savor the meat like she hasn’t eaten well for days. Grandma leaves after eating one full piece of meat.

John and the group start settling down to sleep. Papi joins them. John looks at the Harpies and sees that many share nests to keep warm. John tries to push Papi away and towards the Harpies. One nearby Harpy says “She can sleep with me.”

John says to the Harpy “try motioning with your wings for her to come over.” The Harpy does and John points the Harpy out to Papi. Papi looks at the Harpy and then tries to snuggle with John. John says to the Harpy “we’ll try again tomorrow.” He then starts to hum Papi to sleep. He realizes that she can feel the vibrations through her cheek.

John awakes to loud noisy cries of the Harpies. He then fears that Nasha has sleep coiled one of the Harpies and quickly looks for Nasha among the Harpies. He doesn’t see her anywhere. He then turns to wake Kenta and sees Nasha has partially coiled around her. He relaxes once he realizes that Kenta is closers and warmer than the Harpies. He gets up and looks around. Many of the Harpies are just making noise to wake the flock up. John admits that they are no songbirds and sound more like crows and parrots crying. Papi comes next to him. Some of the Harpies are moving towards the large opening and jump off the cliff. John moves to the edge of the cliff and sees the Harpies circling in the morning air. Papi watches them also and moves up the crevice wall.  Then she tries flapping her wings at the edge of the cliff. John steps back and realizes that Grandma has landed nearby.

Grandma watches Papi for a moment then says “She is of age. She should know how to fly.”

John says to Grandma “She was raised by land dwellers. We tried teaching her to fly. But it’s not something we can do. I mean she flew once, but that was because we fell off a cliff.”

Grandma yells to a Harpy near Papi “She doesn’t know how to fly! Teach her!”

The Harpy pulls back and gets behind Papi. She then jumps high towards Papi and grabs Papi by the shoulders. The Harpy pulls Papi off the cliff and with one swift movement throws Papi forward into the air.

Papi drops out of John’s sight. He rushes to the edge and sees Papi falling while trying to flap her wings with all her might. Another Harpy swoops down and grabs Papi right before she hits the ground. The Harpy flicks her legs and throws Papi along the ground sending her into a tumble. Papi doesn’t move once she stops rolling. John quickly starts looking for a way down to her. But then Papi stirs and gets to her feet. She shakes her head then looks at the crevice. She then looks towards the path and starts towards it. A Harpy lands in front of Papi to block her path and starts forcing Papi towards the cliff. John looks at Grandma. Grandma says to him “Her arms a weak. Climbing will strengthen them.”

John then looks at Papi at the bottom. He then leans down and starts yelling “Come on Papi! You can do it!” He stands up and starts waving and encouraging her to climb.

Grandma says “you know she can’t hear you.”

John says to Grandma “True, but she can see me” and goes back to encouraging Papi.

Grandma looks down and sees Papi focusing on John. She then joins in on the encouraging and so does other the Harpies up on the cliff. One Harpy lands near Papi and shows her how to climb.

John helps Papi up once she gets a wing on the ledge. He hugs her saying “good girl, good girl.” He then says to Grandma “Let’s only do that once a day.”

John finds ways to get Papi to climb the rock face in the crevice. He even gets the other Harpies involved to help Papi connect with them.

John sees Kenta preparing to leave. John says to her “where are you going Kenta?”

Kenta says “to get supplies. We were low before we got to town.” John realizes that in all the fuss of finding a flock of Harpies that he had forgot that they didn’t get a chance to resupply. John knows that Kenta speaks another language and can’t really move around in the crevice.

John says to her “Safe travel and while you’re there. See if you can find out more about how the town feels about the Harpies. Mainly the framers.”

Kenta says to John “Trying to think of a way to keep your promise.”

John smiles and nods to her. Kenta leaves.

John lets the ooze out to get it some water. He pours a blow of water for it. The ooze turns away from the water and starts heading for a nearby Harpy nest. The Harpy panics at the sight of the ooze when it starts trying to climb it. John quickly comes over to protect the ooze saying “Wait! It probably smells or tastes something on you.” He looks the Harpy over and says “Do you have any sores or itches caused by parasites?”

The Harpy lifts a wing to show John under it. John places the ooze to the Harpy’s feathers saying “This may hurt for a moment.” The Harpy yelps in pain as the ooze extracts a parasite from the feathers and then spits it out. John grabs the parasite and holds it up to study it. The Harpy bites the parasite out of John’s fingers and eats it. John sits there stunned for a moment at the action and even thinks he hears a whimper from the ooze. The Harpy shows another spot to John. John says to the Harpy “Okay, but don’t eat the parasite. It might not be good for you. This thing eats them once they are dead.” The ooze extracts the parasite then envelops it after the parasite is killed.