Chapter Text
One of the wonders of Tsar Erwin's palace was the huge orchard containing nearly every type of fruit and nut imaginable that could be coaxed to grow there. The orchard was so large that it kept the palace kitchens well-stocked throughout the year, and at the end of each harvest, any surplus beyond their needs was turned into pies or pastries or preserves and given out to the people of the city. The palace workers and the citizens both looked forward to these mini-festivals held throughout the summer and autumn, and so it caused no small disturbance one early-summer morning when the workers went out to find that something had been in the cherry trees during the night, taking all that were ripe and ready to be picked and leaving the rest behind. Both the guards and the youths hired to chase birds and vermin away from the trees swore they saw nothing
It happened again the next night, despite an increased guard, so the Tsar decided to take more drastic measures. He set the Captain of the Palace Guard, Nile, to watch the trees being targeted, but the man was found the next morning, dozing with his back against the trunk of one of the trees, and all the ripe cherries once again gone. He had no recollection of how he had fallen asleep, or when.
So the next night Mike, the Captain of Tsar Erwin's Personal Guard, was set to watch. But even though Mike made sure to sleep in the afternoon before so he would be alert all night, he too was found asleep the next day, the fruit gone.
Finally, Erwin called for Levi, the Captain of his Scouts. Before night fell, Levi settled in to watch, climbing up and hiding in the branches of one of the trees and taking out the items he had prepared - a small ball of soft beeswax and a long, wickedly sharp hatpin. He had talked to the two other men - well, mostly to Mike - and the two of them both recalled hearing an odd, lilting melody just before they grew drowsy. So Levi took the wax and divided it into two, warming and shaping each piece in his hands. He used this to plug his ears, and then he took the hatpin in one hand and waited.
It happened shortly after midnight. Muffled and distorted by the beeswax, Levi could hear a faint music drift over the garden. He watched as one of the patrolling guards slowed his steps and yawned heavily before sliding down to the ground. Even with the sound mostly blocked out, Levi felt his eyelids growing heavy. He tightened his grip on the hatpin and jabbed it viciously into his own thigh. The pain jolted him awake, and Levi looked up through the branches to see a yellow ball of light, growing larger as it approached the orchard.
When it was close enough, the glow resolved itself into the shape of a bird, feathers outlined in brilliant red and gold, as if each one was on fire, its eyes a blazing green like nothing Levi had ever seen before. The bird settled into the tree Levi was waiting in and started plucking at the ripe cherries with its long, thin beak. It was so intent on the fruit that it didn't seem to notice Levi peering at it through the branches. Levi gathered his feet under him and lunged at the bird.
It pulled back with a loud, startled squawk, its wings buffeting Levi about the head. Levi had to abort his grab for the bird lest he loose his balance, and the creature flew off into the night. Levi sighed and dropped to the ground. It was then that he noticed a glow beneath his feet, and he looked down to see a small, downy feather, no bigger than the pad of his thumb.
~~~~~
Erwin had listened to Levi's story, and that, coupled with the glowing feather in his hands, had allowed him to identify the mystery thief.
"A Firebird," the Tsar had said. "I haven't heard of one being spotted anywhere near here since my grandfather's time." He twirled the feather in his fingers. "Grandfather told me that whoever had in his possession a tail-feather from a Firebird was guaranteed a life of peace and prosperity. And the prosperity of the Tsar is the prosperity of the people." He looked up then, blue eyes blazing almost as brightly as the Firebird's had, "Levi, you are the best tracker I have. I doubt the creature will return now that it's been spotted. I want you to go after it, and bring back a feather from its tail, without harming it if you can."
And so it was that Levi found himself on his horse, staring at a stone in a spot where the road split into three.
"Son of a bitch."
Levi read the inscription on the stone to make sure he'd read it right.
Whoever takes the rightmost path shall live, but his horse shall die.
Whoever takes the center path shall wander cold and hungry for a year.
Whoever takes the leftmost path shall die, but his horse shall live.
Well, that ruled the left-hand road out. As for the center, Levi already knew, intimately, what it was like to be cold and hungry, and it wasn't an experience he ever cared to repeat. So, that left only one option.
He sighed, staring down at the spot between his horse's ears in contemplation before dismounting. He took off the pack, going through his gear until he had it sorted into a size he could manage, tossing aside what he could do without for now. Then he removed the chestnut gelding's bridle and cut the stirrups off the saddle so they would not catch on anything. He wrote a quick note, slipped it into a message tube to keep it dry, and tied it to the saddle. He grasped the horses mane to turn him to face back the way they had come, and then slapped the beast, hard, on the rump, shouting out the command, "Go home!" as he did so.
Levi watched the horse gallop away. The Tsar's mark was on the saddle, so hopefully if anyone managed to catch it, they would turn it over to the soldiers to take back. If not, maybe he'd make it back on his own. The note was meant to reassure Erwin that Levi had let the horse go on his own and was not in any danger.
Levi shook his head. He'd done the best he could, and hopefully not having a horse when he passed the stone would protect it from the curse or prophecy or whatever it was engraved on the surface. Shouldering his pack, he headed down the right-hand path.
He hadn't made it very far when a great wind came up, throwing up a blinding dust cloud and nearly knocking him off his feet.
"Well, I've always wondered if someone would take the left, but I never expected anyone to simply let the horse go to spare it. Clever. Too clever for your own good, perhaps?"
As the dust settled and his vision cleared, Levi looked in the direction of the voice to see a...person with brown hair pulled back in a messy tail, standing inside what appeared to be a great stone bowl on the edge of the road. They were leaning their arms against the edge to peer at him through thick glasses, and a wide grin stretched across their face.
They cocked their head as Levi wordlessly stared at them. "Or maybe just clever enough, hm? At any rate, you've rather messed up the story, so I suppose I'm going to have to lend a hand to get it on the proper path, as it were."
Levi frowned. "No offense, but what the fuck are you babbling about?"
The brunette giggled. "Oh, I like you. Not many with the balls to talk back to me like that. And I'm babbling about helping you." They patted the rim of the stone bowl. "Hop in."
Levi hesitated. It was highly likely that this person was simply mad and harmless, but it was also likely that they were mad and dangerous. Either way, his growing suspicions were screaming at him that it was better to humor them than refuse and possibly make an enemy. So, he took off his pack and slowly approached the bowl, setting it inside before gingerly climbing in after it. He sat down, wondering what nonsensical thing he'd have to do next.
The brunette grabbed a large stone stick and grinned down at him. "Ooh, sitting down, good idea." With that, they banged the stick against the side of the bowl, and the entire thing rose up in the air with a lurch and another cloud of dust, carrying Levi, his pack, and his erstwhile helper with it. Then it shot out to the east at an impossible speed, and the brunette stuck the stick - no, pestle, Levi realized - outside of the bowl - mortar - using it to steer like a rudder.
After a short but harrowing ride of skimming just above the treetops, they touched down in a large clearing with a teeth-rattling "thump." Levi gripped the stone edge of the mortar and pulled himself up to his feet, ignoring his shaking legs as he looked around.
There was a cottage crouched in the center of the clearing. Literally - there were what looked like huge chicken legs growing out of either side of the building. Levi's throat went dry, and he turned to look at the brunette. "Well, I was going to ask your name, but I don't have to now. You're Baba Y-"
"Shh." The witch pressed two fingers against Levi's lips with a frown. "I hate that name. You can call me Hange."
"Hange," Levi garbled out as best he was able with the fingers still in place.
It earned him that wide and slightly manic smile again. "There you go." Hange hopped out of the mortar and impatiently motioned for Levi to follow them. "Come on, come on; you want to get on your way before dark, right?" Levi grabbed his pack and scrambled after them. When they approached the house, it stood up, and Hange glared up at it, hands on hips. "Oh, don't play this game now, Bean!" They kicked at one of the chicken legs. "Sit!"
The cottage obediently crouched again, the door opening wide. Hange disappeared inside, and Levi followed with some trepidation. As he crossed the threshold, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being swallowed alive.
Inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was standing in a perfectly normal, clean kitchen, a fire blazing merrily in the hearth, bunches of aromatic herbs hanging from the ceiling, and a large wooden table sitting underneath wide window thrown open to the sun. Levi was just going to ignore that the room was at least twice the size of the small cottage and was walled with stone when the house had very obviously been wooden. Hange opened a door next to the hearth that, from the glimpse Levi caught over their shoulder, seemed to lead to another room. "Moblit!" they called out.
"Coming!" A moment later, a friendly looking young man with light brown hair stepped into the room. "Yes, Hange?"
"Be a dear and go get our other guest; there's been a slight change of plans."
Moblit nodded and disappeared, returning a short while later followed by another young man with sandy hair and hazel eyes. He looked at Levi curiously for a moment and then turned his attention to Hange.
Hange clapped their hands together. "Now that we're all here, let's begin. Farlan," they addressed the blond man, "if you carry Levi where he wishes and do as he asks until you return to the stone at the crossroads, you will have what you seek. Levi, if you keep travelling east and stay true to yourself, Tsar Erwin will have his treasure, and you," Hange grinned again, eyes glinting behind the lenses of their glasses, "will have what you didn't know you needed."
Levi ignored the uneasy feeling that he got from Hange knowing his name without him giving it as well as the myriad questions their cryptic words stirred up to instead eye the slender man skeptically. "And just how the hell is he supposed to carry me?"
Hange's grin stretched wider. "Show him, Furlan."
Farlan sighed. "I really wish you wouldn't call me that."
The next instant, there was an enormous grey wolf standing in his place. Levi was immensely proud of the fact that he managed not to scream.
He may have bitten the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood, but he did not scream.