Side Story 4.112 - It's a Birb!

Lily's POV 

I didn’t mean to sneak off.

Really!!

But when a tiny, fluffy, heartbreakingly helpless owl drops out of a tree right in front of you, what are you supposed to do? Walk away? Let it get eaten by a fox or a snake or a squirrel with unresolved anger issues?

No.

You rescue it. Like a hero. Like a noble, powerful, extremely responsible almost-seven-year-old.

So that’s what I did.

Slipped out of the gathering circle after breakfast. Tucked my half-eaten bread in my pouch. Crept through the trees like a whisper.

No one even noticed.

...Probably.

The owl chick looked up at me with those gigantic, blink-blink eyes. Its