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[Max of Vesper]

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Max had been staying at Ceinwyn’s house for a few days now, and as comfortable as she had made him feel, there was one of life’s simple conveniences he could not go on without for any longer.

Ceinwyn used wisps to send messages. Max, not knowing the first thing about wisps, was not about to try that. The traveling into Luna to rent pigeons worked, but had become an inconvenience. Leaving Vesper and his house as abruptly as he did several nights ago, he left his small pigeon coop behind, and decided it was time for a new one at Ceinwyn’s.

Heading into Luna for what he hoped was for the last time regarding pigeons, Max purchased the three pigeons the vendor in the marketplace told him were the best he had. Now it was simply a matter of training them to fly the routes he needed. The vendor offered assistance but Max (who is quite stubborn, although HE does not think so) felt he had enough sense to be able to train a pigeon.

Max also bought two different kinds of bird food for his first attempt at training pigeons. Dropping some sunflower seed on Ceinwyn’s roof and allowing one of the birds to eat, Max then used Sacred Journey to travel to his old house in Vesper with the pigeon. Once he was sure none of the ALV were nearby, he went to the steps and dropped some more sunflower seed…once again allowing the bird to partake.

Back at Ceinwyn’s, he did the same as he did the first time, although this time he used kernels of corn, and brought the pigeon to Brianha’s house to allow it to eat the kernels of corn off of her step.

“Now the bird will associate the sunflower seed with my house, and the corn with Brianha’s!” Max exclaimed victoriously.

Next came the big test. Once again, he dropped the sunflower seed on Ceinwyn’s roof, and let the bird eat. Feeling very good about what was about to happen, Max lifted the bird and released it into the air in the direction of his house. Just as expected, the pigeon took to the sky. Smiling at his own ingenuity Max watched in horror as a hawk, looking for a meal, snatched his pigeon from mid-air and headed towards the nearest mountain with his prey in his maw.

“Stupid hawk!” he snarled, “That was MY bird!”

Calming himself, Max went to the cage and removed the second of the three pigeons. Going through the same ritual again with the food, he once again found himself on Ceinwyn’s roof ready for the test flight. After scanning as much of the sky he could see, and confident there were no hawks nearby, he released the bird.

This time, there was no feeling of jubilation. The silly bird flew directly to the ground beside the house to continue eating the seeds Max had spilled over the edge. Promptly storming down to the ground he scoped the bird up, headed back to the roof, and tried again.

This time the bird flew, but the frustration soon returned to Max’s face as the bird circled around, and headed back to the roof landing on the pile of seed. Allowing the pigeon to eat a bit more, Max tried again. Same result. After a third attempt, he became so incredibly incensed, he lost control of himself, clenched his fists, and unconsciously muttered the words “Augus Luminos” (Holy Light), thereby frying the bird on the spot. Looking around, embarrassed, to make sure Ceinwyn had not snuck up and witnessed his loss of temper, Max grabbed the cooked pigeon and threw it down the hungry looking wolf below.

Turning around and facing off defiantly against the final pigeon, Max retrieved it from the cage, and once again put his seed method into practice. Lofting the pigeon into the air he allowed himself just a touch of excitement as it actually flew, and was not made the meal of a passing bird of prey.

A look of confusion washed over his face though as the would-be messenger made an about face in the sky, and headed over the house in the opposite direction. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he watched as the pigeon headed off in the wrong direction and out of sight.

“Perhaps it knows a shorter way than I thought” Max said as he tugged at his beard, “I will wait a while and see if it returns.” Taking a seat in the throne Ceinwyn had provided for him, he waited…..and waited……and waited some more. Finally shaking his head in annoyance, he rose and headed to Luna to buy three more, apparently inept, pigeons.

Explaining what had transpired to the vendor, he listened intently to what the man had to say about training the birds, and was about to purchase the next “best” three he had when Max noticed a very characteristic mark on the neck of one of them.

“Is that one of the pigeons you sold me earlier!?”he asked angrily.

Turning a guilty shade of red, the vendor shook his head vigorously, and offered the birds to Max at no charge.

Showing a bright hue of crimson himself, Max stormed out the door without the pigeons muttering “Crook!”as he exited.

Relaxing as best he could back in the throne on Ceinwyn’s roof, Max pondered his failure that day. Eventually dropping his head into his hands, he rose and looked around, hoping Ceinwyn was nearby and available to give him a swift kick to the head. Speaking the words of the Sacred Journey spell, he found himself staring at his old house in Vesper, and looked up to the roof. Running inside he stopped in front of his old pigeon coop, and saw three emaciated, but living old friends who simply needed a good meal.

Gently lifting the cage, he returned to Ceinwyn’s, fed his birds as much seed and corn as they could eat, and felt confident he would not be spending any more of his gold on pigeons for some time to come.
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-Max of Vesper, Super Pally Perma NoOb.