Out of the woods

A warrior or leader, those seemed to fit him pretty well. At least as far as Aspen could tell. He was leading her around the city, and he had a weapon strapped to his back. It didn't get much closer than that. Aspen tress were one of her favorites next to Birch and Oak and Elm and oh, how could she choose a favorite? Despite the bit of harshness in his tone, Aspen smiled when he said he though he knew what an Aspen tree looked like.

"Oh how nice! Aren't they lovely trees? Of course, all trees are, actually all nature is. I miss living outside with all my animals, and us telling jokes late into the night. " She stopped. For some one who did know her or her powers, that was a very strange sentence. "Hehe, oops," she said out loud. She put a little bounce in her step, flapping her wings a bit before tucking them comfortably back in. She looked around her. She was not at all accustomed to walking around a city. It was all to new for her.

Aspen blinked when he said she was a strange creature. Then she giggled. Despite his strange nature, she liked this guy, he was funny. Aspen added a little bonce to her step. "Thank you!" she said enthusiastically. She took it as a compliment. It seemed to her that he was stating it as an honest fact, and surprisingly, she didn't feel offended. They turned down a narrow street and Aspen looked at it interestingly, not remembering flying over. Of course, she couldn't remember everything she saw. Suddenly, there was a terrible noise.

Aspen led out a bit of a scream mixed with a whimper, and bashed into the wall. She looked to see that it was the scary weapon colliding with the wall that was responsible for such a noise. "Sorry" she said "it scared me a lot". She breathed out a little as he put it to his side, and she forced herself not to look at the offending weapon. The bounce in her step was not quiet as high, but she still felt pretty good.

Aspen hoped she hadn't annoyed him by her scream it just made a horrid noise. Like nails running down a chalk board, or a knife scraping on a dinner plate. She couldn't help herself sometimes, and it didn't ever seem to bother people to much anyway. She wondered why he kept calling her woman instead off her name though. She wasn't about to object though.

She shrugged, all people were weird in their own ways, even people who seemed normal. Suddenly, she really wished she was back at the Academy. It was cold here, and although some one stood beside her, she felt lonely. She shrugged the feeling away, but it kept tugging at her life the cold wind did. Aspen wondered where exactly the small alley would lead to. Would she have to brave the cold winds, and try to get an overhead view of the Academy?

By now, Aspen really felt like she should say or do something. They were getting nowhere walking along random places, and it was getting later and later. She yawned, not realizing how tired she was until now. It had been a long day of classes, and she had felt so relieved when it was over. She'd never been to England, she wasn't even sure if that was where the most narrow street in the world was. She sighed wishing to get out of the cold.

Suddenly, however, she got an idea. "Maybe I could ask some animals around here if they know which way the Academy is." It probably sounded strange to some one who didn't know that she could talk to animals. She glanced around the place, hoping to find a squirrel or better yet, a bird she could ask. There had to be some kind of knowledgeable creature around the place.

Aspen was sure that Einar would be doubtful of her methods, but it was better than walking around aimlessly. She was sure that they could find some animal to help direct them back to the Academy. She was sure they knew how to get there, she'd led them from the forest to the Academy once, to show them where she lived. But, she was not far in the forest, and plus, she was an expert on forests.

"There is a bunch of pigeons by that man." Aspen directed her gaze to the old man feeding the pigeons. She sighed happily, she wished she could take a picture. But, now was not the time for art of any sort, she had to talk to the pigeons. She ignored his comment about them not being very bright, or she might launch into a whole lecture about pigeon's misunderstood intelligence. She walked a little closer, and knelt on the stone squares. She could talk out loud to them, but she only did that when no one was around, so she just talked to them in her mind this time.

'Why hello friends! My name is Aspen, and I can speak and listen to all animals. I'm sorry for disturbing your lunch, but I was wondering if you knew where the big building near a forest, called an Academy, is. You see, the man over there is lost, and I am too, and we can't find our way back.' One pigeon hopped forward, cocking his head to look at her, before he replied ' we're always happy to help a friend in need! Follow me,please.'

Aspen smiled delighted. "Oh thank you!" she accidentally said out loud. She turned to Einar. "He said to follow him, he knows how we can get back to the Academy!" She skipped forward, following the pigeon who was flying up and down, so they knew wouldn't lose him. "By the way," she said out loud again, " do you mind if I name you? The bird cooed a reply of "go ahead!" and Aspen smiled. "His name is Cobble", she said to Einar, smiling.