The green haired Moshi heard a whisper in the wind that gave her a question to research. Seems that the air kami wanted to play some pranks on the Phoenix tended birds. As the girl went to the fields she wondered if it was okay to conduct such experiment without proper authorization. Who could she ask for this experiment?

"Anoooo... etoooo... sumimasen..." The workers were probably to busy to help the girl out.

"After the race yesterday, Princess is looking right proud, don't you think?" Atsumori seemed to be addressing, not a person, but a small buzzy holorecorder drone which was hovering nearby as he led an especially large otori out of the stable yard. "I can't believe there's less than a week left in my stay here on Asakaze. I'm really gonna miss her!"

He ignored the drone for a bit to exchange a few words with the heimin stable hand, who swung the gate open for him. "Thanks, mate!"

Just as he was about to mount up, he noticed Atena lurking shyly nearby. "Oh, hello there. You headed out for a ride too, er..." he did a quick check of her plumage, "Mantis-san?"

She looked at the Shiba and blinked a few times. "Iie Phoenix sama, I the air kami want me to test something out." She bowed. "Moshi Atena, an Honor to meet you."

The Moshi, those weren't the pirate ones, usually... well, except that daimyo of theirs... but anyway this lassie didn't seem like a pirate.

It sounded like she was a shugenja, in fact, and Atsumori had a Shiba's ingrained deference for shugenja.

"Good day to ya, then, Moshi-san." He bowed, still holding his otori's reins with one hand. The huge bird bobbed her orange-crested head a half-beat behind, almost seeming to copy his gesture. "I'm Shiba Atsumori. Nice to meet you. The, uh... the air kami, was it? What do they want exactly?"

You never knew exactly what to expect when a priest told you the kami wanted something. It could be anything from raking the leaves out of the rock garden to dynamiting a dam, and the priest would be just as dead-set on it either way...

"Anoo this may sound silly but... they want to see an otori fly." She shrugged. "They are such gentle creatures you know. I just hope they react well to flying."

"... to see an otori fly?" Atsumori took a moment to parse this. "But they're flightless, Moshi-san." His tone was patiently apologetic. "Strong legs, little bitty vestigial wings." He patted Princess's pretty but inarguably stunted pinfeathers.

The big otori responded by preening the top of his heat with her beak, which was neither an improvement nor a dis-improvement to the orderliness of his hair.

"Anoooo... Shiba san... etooo... I just talk to the kami and the air want to see it fly... I can cast a spell on it... you know to make it fly." She looked at his otori. "I just need permission to do so."

"Oh. Well... it's not exactly a human's permission you need for that, is it?" Atsumori cocked his head, smiling. "Do you think otori want to fly?"

"I really don't know... perhaps you can read your friend if hew would like to fly." Atena smiled.

//I already did the spell before day change so I am good if you are good.

Atsumori scratched his chin. "She's a smart bird, but she can't talk. And I can't read her mind." He looked at Princess for a long moment, his brow furrowing in thought.

The otori reacted to his scrutiny by giving him a sidelong stare and mantling her stubby, utterly vestigial wings. "Kwek!"

"The air spirits think it's a good idea... they're not goin' to play silly buggers with her for fun, are they?" His fingertips drummed his cheek. "My sister's said more than once, air spirits are like that sometimes. Will she be able to come down right away if she doesn't like it?"

"It will be just one minute and her descent to the earth will be slow. It won't bring any damage to the bird. And yes the air kami like to play tricks and harmless pranks." The Moshi explained.

"What d'ya think, Princess?" Atsumori tapped a booted toe in the dirt and regarded the otori, who seemed as confident and unperturbed as a bird in the middle of her home territory could be. A minute could still be long enough to really spook her... but he didn't even know for sure that she *would* be spooked. And after persuading her to accept a rider for the first time, run headlong down blind jungle lanes, and all the other stuff she'd taken to since he'd started working with her just a few days ago, he doubted a minute airborne would ruin her temperament. "Wanna try it, girl?"

He turned to Atena and shrugged. "Why not have a go? Only a minute, though, mind." Rummaging in one of his many pockets, he found a handful of odoriferous dried insect jerky, which could fairly be called repulsive if you were a human but made a very persuasive treat for otori.

Atena clapped. "Great Shiba sama... Thank you!" She turned to the otori "thank you.... I hope you enjoy it." She placed her hand on the otori's head as she took out her holoslate and read the incantation. Slowlynthe air kami circled around the bird, slowly lifting if from the ground.


//D7 LM Making an otori fly Casting CUtW on Otori TN 15: 5d10o10k3 39

Princess flapped her stubby wings and scratched at the air with her feet as she slowly floated away from the ground, burbling and chattering. "Kweh! Kwak! WARK!" Some of the other otori in the paddock stopped browsing for roots to stare once they heard her calls, muttering amongst themselves.

Atsumori watched intently as Princess drifted upward until her clawed feet dangled at about his chest level. "Well, that's something, all right."

"Do you think she is enjoying it?" Atena looked the bird swacking. "I think she looks happy but I am bad at reading animals."

"She doesn't look scared or angry." Atsumori rubbed his jaw judiciously, tilting his head back to watch the bird's progress.

Princess had stopped rising any higher, but had now started a stately sort of pacing in midair, paddling her big claws in a manner somewhere in between her normal ground-bound gait and an oversized swan a-swimming. She floated forward at what would be a very slow otori walking speed on solid ground, meaning that Atsumori only had to lengthen his stride a bit to keep up with her.

He pulled something out of one of his many pockets as he did so; it rose away from his hand, buzzing, revealing itself as a holorecorder drone. "Damn. I should have been getting this from the start."

"Well at least you'll get some footage." Atena looked at the otori with a smile on her face. It is not every day that one can see an otori fly.