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The walls had held, for now at least, and the flights of arrows ceased assailing the tall, stripped tree trunks. The ancient pines they had felled were merely the first losses, and their dreampals had understood the necessity of the drastic action.

Set within the summit of a long-dormant volcano, the ritual site was as high as one could reach to the horizon and beyond, and had stood here, dominating the surroundings for generations. An altar of pure, painstakingly cut obsidian dominated the centre of the comparatively small crater top. It was here that the spirits and their flow of natural and mystical energy had gathered the strongest. The ancestors of his tribe had deemed it the best location for their kin to undergo their ritualistic transformations into the race of hulking, bird-like creatures known as Arvians.

Who one was before mattered little. When one was chosen among the tribe to make the change, it was an honour without peer. None had ever refused, even after hearing the effects. They would bear no children, but in exchange, would gain many boons. Connecting with the spiritual energies and being at the centre of their faith would come naturally. They would grow tall and broad, towering over the unchanged. They would gain senses as sharp as a hunting hawk, and talons sharp as any sword. The strength of the mighty pack beasts would be theirs to command, assuming, that was, the spirits themselves shone light upon their blessing.

From here, the twin moons were visible, high in the night sky. Esyon, shining her silvery blue light down upon the peak, and Cereth, glittering like an ember as her twin. Clouds seldom gathered here, providing a direct line of sight to their blessing patrons, where their influence could be most felt at the night. No ritual performed here had ever failed, or so it was said, making the location a rare and blessed one indeed, and one that Teyo's tribe guarded with pride.

Truthfully, it had been lucky they had discovered the Suntouched's plot to seize the location at all. Being distant and far from the tribe's homes itself, it was typically only occupied during the days of converging full moons and eclipses for rituals, when the spirits' powers were at their strongest. The rest of the year, it was as subject to the ravages of nature as any other patch of high ground, visited only by the occasional pilgrim or wanderer.

But when one of the fledgling scouts had returned with word of a force moving towards their sacred site, the tribe had acted quickly. Fighters and builders of their tribe had gathered and travelled the two days without rest it would normally take to reach the summit site in a single day and a night. There, they set to the work of making the sacred place defensible with gusto.

Of course, that had been three days ago. The Suntouched had no sign of reinforcements coming, but they were quickly running out of steam for a prolonged offence. They hadn't expected resistance at all, as it happened.

In a few more days, their attackers would likely tire and break for home. It had already cost both sides more than expected.

Still, Teyo had given a good account of himself. Among the tribe, the strength of his recurve bow was impressively renowned, a special piece from the tribe's bowyer. He'd repeatedly felled deer and larger game all the way out to half a kilometre and beyond. The Arvian scaled recurve bow was the height of the unchanged members of his tribe and shot an arrow like a bolt launched from a ballista. It struck with enough force to split the targets they made from tree trunks like a lesser being would have split a log with an axe.

"Ey Teyo! We pushed them back again. They gotta be giving up soon, aye? You did good, and that bow shot?" One of his tribemates, Hano, A black pelted Arvian a little smaller and younger than himself, raised his talons to his beak, before clacking his jaw, grinning from ear to ear. "Perfection. They running scared now. Soon, they'll piss off for good, eh? Why don't you go take a rest? Meesah is making stew from a deer down by the altar. Find you some food and rest while you can."

Relieved from their improvised wall, Teyo just nodded, and hefted his bow and quiver of arrows along with him, marching back down the rim of the shallow crater. Exhaustion from being on watch for so long followed his every step.

There were fewer of his tribemates now than when they had marched out to secure the sacred site, but, less still of their foes. At this rate, it would take either tactical genius or a miracle for them to lose. The Suntouched were faltering in their attacks and growing desperate, but desperation bred its own kind of danger to deal with.

Teyo was prepared for it, whatever form it took. Perhaps an advantage of not dedicating himself to any particular discipline within their tribe, the cocoa and white pelted male had always preferred his approach to his fledging lessons. Some threw themselves into the skill sets of the druids, learning rituals, herbs and medicine. He knew half a dozen important rites and could name and locate any herbs he needed to treat any number of common ailments.

Some dove into their history and the past, following the roles of loreseekers and keepers. And though it was indeed fascinating, the moment to live for was now. The lessons were important, but spending all of his time pondering the past simply wasn't for him. He knew enough to retell the important stories to his own fledges when he reached such an age.

Others took to hunting and war, mastering the spear, sword and bow. Well, he had spent enough time around each of those disciplines to know he could hold his ground if challenged and had proven it enough to be reassured of that fact. His bow was notched with marks of many successful hunts, and many fallen foes as well now.

The mountain breeze gently shook the tips of his long-crested feathers along the back of his neck as he took the offered meal in silence and went to find a solitary spot. Fortunately, there were plenty of those still within the crater. The entire backside had remained forested, and he had set his hammock between two mighty pines a distance from the rest of their camp.

Some brought tents or had made themselves lean-tos, but Teyo liked the stars. They were peaceful overhead, slow and quiet with the passage of the twin moons. Away from the quiet background chatter, it gave him time alone, to think, to work on his bow, to eat, and for... other things as well.

Combat was stressful. After a while, you had to find a way of dealing with that. There was no avoiding it, and certainly no getting away from it here. The fragrant pipeweed was always a good option, though it left the mind in a pleasant haze, much as beer from the few barrels they had brought up with them would. It was indeed relaxing, but if another attack occurred, having addled wits was a surefire way to end up dead.

But out of sight and earshot in the forest here, away from the frontline, there was a moment of peace. Laying back in the gently swaying hammock, he set aside his bow, and folding his arms behind his head, watched as the stars blinked far overhead in the pine needles.

Peaceful was a good word for it. It was a peaceful place except for all the violence that had been brought here. When it was all over, the trees would regrow, and the walls would fade. The spirits of the wilds always reclaimed what was theirs in the end.

As if reacting to the very thought of spirits, the air nearby made a geckering chatter. Teyo rolled slightly, and propped his head upon his talons, watching as motes of dust and energy collected into the figure of a shimmering vulpine that at once chased a nearby squirrel back up its tree. It circled the trunk, yapping up at the critter before it looked towards its bonded Arvian dopily.

"Away with you, villain. Go and keep an eye on the rest and the walls. Let me know if any approach." He laughed at the dreampal's antics, but it spun twice and vanished into the air with a dive like it was pouncing, fluttering between realms with no more effort than a duck swimming.

Finally alone, and knowing at least that his dream pal would alert him of any potential interruptions, he allowed himself to relax entirely. The tension of the last skirmish still made his hackles tense, and despite several minutes of trying to recenter himself, peace of mind was not forthcoming.

He shifted uncomfortably several times, moving through a handful of positions before with a frustrated hiss, he sprung from the hammock and fetched up the bag of supplies he had brought with him on their march in.

There was a spring not too far toward the edge of the crater, where water caught upon the lip and trickled down, filtering through fine sand and coarse volcanic charcoal to leave it as pristine as the day it had fallen from clouds. He made his way through the trees towards it, relieved to find it free of any others.

Bare as the day of his hatching, back long before his full transformation, Teyo let the waters rise to meet him, and allowed himself to fall forward. Silence engulfed him as he went under, replaced by the quiet, muffled gurgling of a dozen trickles that ran into the spring. With a few powerful strokes of his arms, he propelled himself to the opposite end of the pool. Water clung to his pelt and hackles as he emerged in the sun-warmed shallows, finding a seat just beneath the surface where his kin had long ago cut the rocky edge into a smooth bench.

Crickets chirped in the darkness beyond the pool's edges, and he lay back, stretching his digits. Nothing had disturbed the critters enough to silence them, and from that fact, he knew that now he was properly alone out here. It suited the hazel Arvian just fine.

Leaning back, one paw lazily trailed its way along his chest, tracing the faint scars and marks of his past battles and lessons learned hidden just under his pelt. Muscles tensed and relaxed as his fingers shifted lower still, and wordlessly, his head tipped backwards, beak parting slightly with a quiet sigh.

All warriors knew the value of finding relief under stress. It wasn't an uncommon thing to walk a line and find a male hunched over himself within a foxhole, enjoying his own company. Females either, for that matter, though the fairer sex was usually somewhat more subtle about engaging in self-pleasure. Warriors under stress needed relief, however, and as long as it kept them ready to fight, nobody saw a reason to raise a protest. Spirits help any foe that did interrupt that private time.

Of course, though, there were far more comfortable places to engage in that much-needed relief, and for Teyo, laying on his back with the water warming his back was as good as any other.

Stroking himself to full mast was easy enough, and his beak chattered with a nigh inaudible song as the first washes of proper pleasure in days raced along his enhanced nerves. Becoming Arvian improved all that one was after all. Size, strength, and sensation were improved, and especially that last one, simple touches and gentle motions grew intense. It had taken time to fully learn all there was to know about his new body after the change and to say he hadn't enjoyed discovering it would have been a baseless lie.

The tension and stress of the last few days left him as he relaxed in the spring, chuffing quietly in time with the smooth, gentle strokes of his hand. Far, far better than trying to work one's tensions off while still having to maintain alertness, he let himself sink into his thoughts and the sensations of his body. The cool of the night air, the warmth of the spring, and the electric jolts of pleasure that ran from his twitching hackles down to his toes.

What tightness had been in his muscles ebbed away with the lapping of the water and the movement of his clenched fingers, rhythmically tightening and relaxing about his maleness, working himself towards a blissful nirvana. This was what his body needed and had craved, why true rest had eluded him.

The peak came as a jet of off-white that left a messy streak across the stone with a few instinctive bucks of his hips, the kind of toe-curling pleasure that blocked out everything else while it lasted racing along the Arvian's nerves. When at last it subsided, he slouched backwards, letting the water envelop his torso and legs, allowing it to bear his weight.

True to form, he felt more at ease now than he had in days, the stress and tension of constant alertness and battles having taken its toll on him both mentally and physically. The sharp high of climax and working that pent-up energy out of his system served as a reset of sorts, a chance to collect his thoughts now and recenter.

But after resting. He'd do the thinking once he'd rested properly, and more than ever, his hammock called to him like a siren's song in the deep. He allowed the water to cover him entirely once more, and with a trio of broad, sweeping strokes, shot across the spring to where he had left his clothing.

It would take a short while to don the lightweight leather by himself, though the set of Arvian-sized armour would have been impossible for all but the largest unchanged to wear even poorly fitted. Dressing while he was still dripping wet wouldn't help him relax any further, however, and with a soft huff, he reached for the tinderbox among his pile of clothes.

He gathered some kindling and set a small fire growing nearby while he stretched out and shook himself furiously like a dog, down on all fours and spraying droplets everywhere. He stood and gave a more collected fluff like a sparrow having just finished a bath, leaving a perfect circle of dampness upon the surface of the stone where he had been standing.

The pleasant haze was still in his mind as he lay beside the flames, and let the heat of the fire dry and warm his pelt through.

It was there, lying upon the cool stone and watching the stars as they twinkled above that he began to understand just why his kin valued this place. Teyo's own transformation ritual into an Arvian had been completed at his tribe's closest site, following the guidance of the shamans, but it was not the same.

Up here, he could almost feel the spirits and their energy in the winds, their voices calling like a subtle whisper in the back of his mind. In this place, they were as alive and vibrant as he or any of his tribemates. He had felt similarly upon entering the circle of standing stones where his transformation had taken place, but it was as if comparing a river to the ocean. Both contained water, but one had a simple, natural grandeur in its scale that the other could never hope to match.

Allowing his eyes to flutter closed, and the hackles upon the back of his neck to relax and lay flat, he let himself get swept along with the soft ambience, the rustling of leaves and the trees. There, in that sweet space between dreams and wakefulness, he found himself floating. The spiritual energy of the place surrounded him like a cocoon. Distantly, he could feel his bonded dreampal harassing one of his tribemate's companions in a game of tag.

A chuckle escaped him.

The critter had been nothing but mischief since Teyo had met him as a free-floating sphere of energy, playing hide and seek among the trees until the spirit had begun to trust him more and more. To ask the playful spirit to keep watch was like asking the waves to remain still.

That was fine though. For now, here was safe. Here was secure. Here would be where Teyo found some proper rest, and with luck, their foes wouldn't be so foolish to launch another attack before first light. He could be ready by then, refreshed and rejuvenated, awake and alert and-

All of the crickets had stopped.

For a second, he held his breath, and then quickly sprung up, rolling along the rock in a summersault as the bow shot missed him by an arm's breadth. The twang of the bow firing again sounded, but Teyo had already dived beneath the water's surface, barely making a splash.

One stroke.

Two strokes.

Three Strokes-

The hazel Arvian broke the surface and hauled himself up and out of the water on the other side, seeking shelter behind one of the mighty pines. Any feelings of exhaustion fled from his body as his fight reflexes kicked in. Adrenaline replaced sleep, and his heart beat quickly in his chest, pumping energy around his mighty form.

Just five minutes. Five minutes to rest and unwind... He muttered angrily, the sound escaping him as a string of curses in birdsong. Looking about, he quickly found a long, broad branch that was roughly straight, and snatched it up in his talons like a staff.

He was downwind of his attacker now, and caught their scent at once; Ash and steel, but sweat also, no doubt exertion making the climb over the rim of the crater. Teyo laughed, almost mockingly.

"You nearly had me there. Show yourself. Let's make it interesting, Suntouched curr. None of my kin would stoop so low as to strike a warrior resting..."

"None of mine would be so foolish as to rest in battle, moon-fanatic." Another arrow thunked into the tree trunk, splitting a clean sheet of bark and wood the size of a tower shield from the tree's mighty frame. It was all for show, and Teyo couldn't help the grin that split his beak at the sound of steel being drawn.

"Well at least I won't have to feel what it's like getting shot by me..." said the gallows-humoured chuckle in his mind.

He emerged from behind the tree, staff raised as if to block an overhead blow that he fully expected to be waiting. The second he saw his opponent, he sidestepped instead with a hawk's cry of alarm, narrowly avoiding the claymore that came rushing down towards him, avoiding the whistling blade as it carved through the air like a machete through a bush.

His foe was easily a head taller than himself, golden of pelt and hackles, with a mixed coat of chain and padded hauberk protecting most of his imposing frame. A glimmering flame of ember had been emblazoned upon the front of it, leaving no doubt about his importance or allegiance. In stark contrast, Teyo was very naked, wielding a stick. He may as well have been a fledgling again.

"Ha! And you're not even dressed for a fight. How you people have held this long is a sheer fluke I intend to correct!"

There was no time wasted as he took two steps forward and closed the distance. Teyo fended the assaulting Arvian back with a swipe from the jagged end of his stick, which brought him a precious second to add more distance between them. Of course, though, diving into the pool meant he was now wet and cold again, as well as the more immediate problem of having a Suntouched brute between him and his weapons.

One thing about making the change, when one left their old form behind and embraced the ritual to become Arvian, was how terrifying one's own strength became. Teyo had broken more than a few small items just trying to pick them up in the days afterwards. Things that were once a burden became light and nimble, and weapons...

Well, the Arvian foe's claymore moved with a speed and grace that was simultaneously as elegant as it was utterly terrifying. Everything about Arvian's was enhanced, and it was fortunate for that, as Teyo's sharp reflexes managed to parry many of the lightning strike blows as the Suntouched wailed at him like the nearly eight-foot blade was no heavier than a kitchen knife. Each one met the branch with a resounding crack, and fractures quickly ran the length of his improvised staff. One swift movement and twist allowed him to keep the branch from breaking immediately, but it could not last under the sustained attack.

"If this is the best you have to offer, I'll have to make myself go easy on the rest! It wouldn't be sporting to kill you all too quickly!" The golden Arvian laughed, and with a swift, double-handed blow, cleaved Teyo's branch in two.

He pelted the branches right at the other Arvian's beak. For a normal foe, this probably wouldn't have been an issue, but a throw from a full Arvian hit like a rolling cart and staggered the Suntouched backwards with a foul curse of rage at his now chipped beak.

Teyo took the opening, and dived forwards and under his foe's guard, rolling out past him with a kick that sent the male reeling with a feral snarl.

But Teyo was already up and on his feet, claws digging into the rock as he sprinted to his pile of gear, and snagged up his bow and quiver, drawing and nocking the bow in a single, fluid movement as he spun, dropping to one knee. He exhaled his breath, taking aim. A heartbeat passed.

The other Arvian was still turning and drawing his bow when the arrow struck. The steel-tipped bodkin arrow punched clean through the Suntouched's chainmail with no more difficulty than paper, catching in the links coating his back. The broad crested guidance feathers, taken from his own hackles, quivered in the breeze as the arrow stood impaled in his foe's shoulder.

"Impudent fledge. Your kind is finished here." He growled, long tail lashing as his hackles bristled. He took an unsteady step, righting himself before raising his fearsome blade.

Teyo calmly notched another arrow, and without preamble or monologue, shot it into the Suntouched's breast. Unceremoniously, the golden pelted Arvian collapsed backwards, heart pierced, and lay still while his vitae pooled around his armour-clad form.

Teyo let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and finally sat back on his bare ass, tail flicking over the stone.

"Five minutes of peace and quiet. Is it too much to ask?!" He shouted up at the sky. Predictably, no answer was forthcoming from the stars but his own echo.

"Aye, remind me never to piss you off when you're takin' a break." Hano came scrambling through the bushes, stopping just long enough to prod the dead Suntouched with his sword tip a few times cautiously, the black Arvian chittering with amusement.

"How long were you hiding back there Hano?"

"Long enough to know you had it well in claw! I'd have jumped him if I thought for a second you couldn't handle him... big bastard though, 'innit?" As if to punctuate his question, the black Arvian prodded the dead Suntouched once more with his foot, as if to just make absolutely sure he was dead.

"I was comin' up to warn you we think a few snuck in over the rim, but... seems like you got it handled, even naked as a hatchling. There might be more though. They gettin' desperate."

Teyo rolled his eyes at his tribe mate's antics and walked back to his clothes, tossing his jerkin back across his broad shoulders, dressing once more. Hano helped him buckle the leather armour sections to himself, and tighten his straps, speeding the entire process.

His hackles flared for a moment, standing tall and proud, quivering as the rush of a fight ran through his veins once more.

Rest would have to come later. He tied the sheath of his long knife to his thigh, taloned fingers dancing around the hilt of the blade.

"Come on then. There's hunting yet to do while the moons are high. We wouldn't want to leave the Suntouched waiting on us."