John and the group are walking along a road between two large fields of grain. It took them two days to get there. They are heading to a small village in the middle of the fields. It almost looks like the village is in the middle of a sea of gold due to the fields that surround it.

John says once they get into town “I’ll go look for a place to stay.”

But then a male voice yells towards them “get that thing out of here!” pointing in Kenta’s direction.

Kenta grabs the handle of her sword to ready it as she turns towards the voice saying “Excuse ME! I am no 'thing'!”

Someone else says “Not you! That thing!” pointing not at Kenta, but Papi. Someone behind Kenta throws something at Papi, but Nasha is quick to block it and draws her daggers to ready an attack.

John gets between the crowd and Kenta saying “Whoa, Whoa, Stand down Kenta!” He then turns to the crowd saying “Why don’t want the Harpy here?”

One of them says “She’ll attract the others!”

John grabs the person’s shirt saying “There are others! Where? How many?”

They look confused for a moment then say “a flock moved into a nearby cliff. They have been a pest to the farmers and the mill. They steal the food we make.”

John says “Where is the cliff?”

John is laying down as he is holding a monocular to his eye to look at a crevice in the cliffs nearby. He can see that Harpies are living in the crevice. He tries to get a good look at them, but can’t, even with the monocular. He lowers the monocular saying “They look to have Papi’s coloring” as he hands the monocular to Nasha “but I can’t get a good look at the feathers on the inside of their wings.”

Nasha looks through the monocular saying “I agree with the coloring.” John scratches Papi’s head as she is pinned under Nasha’s blanket while John and Nasha lay on top of it. John didn’t want any of the Harpies to see her. Nasha hands the monocular to Kenta saying to John “I think is see a path up to the second crevice. It might connect to the main one.”

Kenta looks through the monocular saying “I think I see the path. But I still think you are fool John to try this again” as she lowers the monocular.

John says to Kenta “I’m only a fool if I do the same thing I did last time and expect different results.”

Kenta says “and how is this different?”

John says “We’re going to try a different approach. Quite literally.”

John is putting his cloak around Papi. He then helps her up on Kenta’s back. They are at the start of the path along the cliff to the crevice. John adjusted the cloak to hide Papi’s head and wings once she is seated. John then says to Nasha “Okay Nasha, you take the lead.” John is hoping that Nasha will be able to sense problems along the trail through her tail. John adds “and remember, don’t attack the Harpies if they start attacking you. Just retreat and let me do the rest.”

John finds the path is wide enough for Kenta to walk along. At times the path does thin to the point that John worries about Kenta falling. But Kenta shows surprising nimbleness and can keep moving. John keeps an eye also on Nasha’s tail when she rounds a bend for any signs of her retreating.

John sees Nasha approaching the crevice when two Harpies dive down and start clawing at her. Nasha draws her daggers but starts pulling back. She only uses her daggers to block attacks.

John rushes forward and past Nasha saying “Hello!”

The two Harpies yell back “GO AWAY!”

John says “I said hello! I wish to talk with you for a moment.”

One of the Harpies says “No one knows our tongue” as they land “or… or tried to learn it.”

John says “I have magic that allows me to speak many tongues. I have a request to make of you if you will listen, please.” The Harpies nod. John motions Kenta forward. He says to the Harpies “We found a young Harpy on our travels. We are looking for her flock.” John steps next to Papi adding “If she is not part of yours, we will leave. But any help in finding her flock would be appreciated.”

John slowly lifts the cloak off of Papi’s wing to show them the outside of one of her wings. The Harpies both look at the wing with some intent. John then lifts and rotates Papi’s wing to show the underside. The two Harpies study it for a second, then look at Papi, then at each other.

One of the Harpies says to the other “Tell Grandma!”

The other nods and flies off yelling “GRANDMA!!!!”

The other one says “Come, Come!” motioning with her wings to follow then she takes off towards the crevice.

John looks at Nasha and Kenta saying “Well, this is a good sign.”

The Harpy yells “Come, Come quickly!”

John and others follow the Harpy into the crevice and walk along a narrow path. John looks up when they round a bend to find a dozen to two dozen Harpies nesting along the walls of the crevice with half a dozen empty nests. Papi pulls her hood off to look around. John can see a nest close to the ground has a sleeping baby in it. John approaches the nest out of curiosity. The mother lands and sweeps the baby up in her wings and then starts to climb the rock face with the baby in one wing. Another Harpy lands over the nest and stares menacingly at him. John slowly backs away. The Harpy that has been leading them yells “Come, Come!” John starts moving again but he also watches the Harpies move about. He sees that they don’t stand fully upright even when walking and crouch most of the time when they are not moving.

Soon John and the others are standing in front of a rocky outcropping that is about as high as Kenta is tall. An old Harpy makes a ruff landing on the outcropping, she then stands up and looks down at everyone. She opens her wings to show the pattern inside her wings. John looks at her not sure what to do, then he realizes she is not staring at everyone. She is staring at Papi. John quickly turns to Papi saying “Papi open your wings” as he motions her to open her wings. Papi looks at John then at the old harpy and mimics her pose.

John looks back at the old Harpy to see a response. The old Harpy’s stern look almost melts instantly as she yells while trying to hold back tears “GRANDDAUGHTER!!!” The old Harpy launches at Papi almost knocking her off Kenta’s back. Half a dozen other Harpies let out cries of joy and dive down. John and Nasha pull back to avoid their wings. They flutter around Papi until one can pull Papi off of Kenta’s back and set her on the ground nearby.

John steps up to Kenta saying to her “are you alright?”

Kenta waves her hands in front of her face saying “Feathers!”

John looks over to see that the Harpies have gathered around Papi and are stroking her. Papi is looking around at every touch. John sees the old Harpy has pulled away to let the others near Papi. John approaches the old Harpy saying “Hello.”

The old Harpy looks at John and says “Hello?”

John sits on a ledge near the old Harpy saying to her “I have magic that lets me speak your tongue.”

The old Harpy says “I know, I was told that a stranger who could speak with us had may have our lost flock member. I am called Grandma by many in the flock.”

John doesn’t want to let Grandma know how he found Papi, but he does want to know how she got there. So he asks “what happened to her mother?”

Grandma looks at Papi saying “We had just found out she was with egg. We were so happy for her. I didn’t think she would reach that age. But we were soon attacked by another flock. My flock has always been weak in numbers and strength. So we gave up the nesting grounds and fled the area. During our travels, she started to slow and need to rest more often. We knew the egg couldn’t wait. But we were still in danger. So as much as it pained me to do so.” Grandma starts to hold back tears “We left her behind.”

John says “You mentioned that you were surprised that her mother made it to egg-laying age. Why?”

Grandma says “she could not hear our calls. It is a curse on my flock that many can’t hear well or lose their hearing. Many die young because they don’t hear others warring of danger.”

John looks at Papi and suddenly sees it. Papi is looking around and not reacting to sound. John says out loud to himself “She’s deaf!” Grandma looks at John. John says “I was wonder why she hasn’t tried speaking. I thought it was a trauma and that she would eventually start. But now I see it.” John says to Grandma “We would like to stay until Papi has adjusted to life in the flock. If you don’t mine.”

Grandma says “Yes, Yes, You are welcome to stay.” She gets up and hops over to the outcropping. She starts calling out to get the others' attention. John realizes that the shape is like that of a megaphone. Grandma says “The travelers who have returned our flock member to us will be staying with us! Treat them like they are one of the flock, for they have given us back our family!” The other Harpies let out cries of joy.