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Chapter Text

Cassie didn't realize how much information her brain was filtering out until she had died and suddenly her bones were hollow. Being able to fly was an adjustment that she was having trouble with. Even more was that fact Cassie was currently falling from a cloud. "AHHH," she belted as the wind came speeding all by her.

She'd always been afraid of heights, more specifically the falling part, and this was her worst nightmare. There were a bunch of other bird things surrounding her that had seemed to get the hang of flying easily. They didn't seem to care to help her though. The wind did feel nice throughout the feathers and Cassie finally spread her wings.

It wasn't flying like the others were doing but it was better than hurtling towards an incoming ocean and the descent was noticeably slower. There was a nice rainbow nearby that was pointing to a close cliff. She'd tried just turning her wings to head towards the cliff but that didn't do anything. Eventually Cassie looked up at the flying birds, those are bird-women she noticed, and watched them dive and fly by turning at the waist.

Copying the other bird-women, Cassie managed to turn towards the cliff edge. She now had a different problem. It had taken her too long to figure out turning that she'd dipped to low and would have to climb up the cliffside. How do birds fly? The information was slow to slink into her head but slink it did.

Using her arms like she was mimicking waves Cassie soon found herself rising slowly, and painfully. Her joints had never been good before she'd gotten to her and apparently the change from human to bird-woman didn't magically fix them. Thankfully she hadn't fall to far and within a few minutes Cassie's feat had touched the soft grass.

"Thank fuck," she muttered to herself. Looking at her arms revealed that there were long, pale-yellow feathers that were at least four feet long covering where her arms should be. Turning around to look at the water was when she noticed her eyes were way sharper than they used to be considering she was normally basically blind without glasses. The water, despite being a good distance away, allowed Cassie to see what she looked like.

She had resembled the other bird-women in the sky but had kept most of her human features. Where they had dark grey to black feathers hers were lighter, they had dense, thick hair while Cassie's was still thin and sparse. She looked like a half plucked chicken,

Disgusted Cassie turned away and started making her way towards the dense forest. There wasn't much around that she could see in the sky, not that she was paying any attention for most of it. But she figured she could find her way to people if she could find a river since that's where people normally were. Thanks random YouTube videos she used to watch.

Figuring out what country she was in was gonna me next to impossible since she had only left her house to go to work and hated being in the wilderness. Cassie was going to miss her phone if this took more than a few hours to find a town. Whap!! Something hit her with a tree branch.

Far up a nearby tree was one of the other bird-woman. Seeing another closer than a cliff face or in freefall made it easier for Cassie to notice how much they looked like drawings of harpies she'd seen after binging Greek Mythology videos one night. But they were fictional. Not that it seemed to mean much considering Cassie had just flown without any vehicle and had feathers suddenly all up and down her arms.

"Hi?" Cassie waved at the other.

The other harpy stared at Cassie, "Food? Hunt?"

She must think Cassie is either hungry, hunting, or is food. Frankly Cassie knew which one she didn't want to be.  She tried to introduce herself, "My names Cassandra, Cassie for short. What's yours?"

It didn't appear to cross Cassie's mind that maybe the other harpy didn't speak English until now. 

The harpy in the tree just made a weird sound before taking off in a more graceful flight than Cassie could ever hope to manage. She'd been left alone in the dense forest. Could she even eat meat now was a fleeting thought and the thought of going full vegan made a full shiver go down her spine.

Cassie suddenly smacked her hand against her head. "Why doing you just fly you numbskull," Cassie said to herself. Climbing up the same tree the speckled harpy had just flown from was somehow both easier and harder than she'd ever remembered it being. Not that Cassie had been any good at climbing trees in the first place.

Her hands were a lot thinner and more boney. She didn't have five fingers instead just four that could reach around her wrist multiple times. Thankfully it appeared that one of the fingers was similar to a thumb. 

Climbing up farther than her fleeting friend had been allowed Cassie to get above a decent amount of the tree leaves. Either the branch was sturdier or she weighted a lot less considering it wasn't buckling at all. Bracing herself, Cassie have a few hesitant shakes off her arms, she couldn't bring herself to call them wings even in her own mind, and was surprised to find herself float a few inches off the branch.

With more confidence that she actually felt, Cassie pushed herself off the tree limb. She them immediately plummeted to the ground with a harsh thud. 

Groaning, Cassie pushed herself onto her knees. She'd managed to fly a little back at the cliff so why didn't that work. "Fuck!" she yelled, as it just crossed her mind that there had been a bad storm that was carrying her most of the way towards the land.

She reclimbed the tree and, sitting on the same branch, held her right arm straight out watching the peachy feathers. There was a light breeze almost parallel to the tree as apposed to the perpendicular Cassie had gone just a few moments before. Another flap of the arms, and Cassie fell sideways, catching the small breeze.

With harsh rotating of the shoulders, Cassie slowly rose higher and higher. Her eyes looking all around for any sign of life. She saw a bunch of streams that merged into a big river to her left and with a slow turn made her way above the water. The sun was shining almost directly over her but she seemed not to feel any of the painful heat from before her transformation.

"There!" Cassie cried out, spotting a humanoid looking thing sitting on a rock near the river. Slowly descending down next to the woman, Cassie noticed her uncanny resemblance to the water at her feet. "Erm, I don't mean to bother you," Cassie started to say. The slippery woman jumped, leaving behind a soft bit of mud. "What do you want? You can't eat me you bird-brain." The woman scowled.

"I don't want to eat you, I'm just lost. Could you tell me where I am."

"Your alongside my river you stupid monster," the rude stranger huffed.

Rolling her eyes, Cassie asked exasperated, "And what is the name of your river?"

"Amphrysus"

Cassie just nodded. A net zero of information. The name sounded vaguely Mediterranean. Maybe Cassie had somehow found herself in the sky around Greece for all she knew. Unless this was this persons name.

"Thanks," Cassie told Amphrysus before walking away.

"A harpy walking and soon the sun will turn blue," Thyamis mumbled behind Cassie

Continuing alongside the Amphrysus river, Cassie could hear the sounds of wolves howling. The sun was still up so she hoped that she wouldn't have to try fighting them any time soon. Her feat were slowly getting more and more sore however and the flight had left her shoulder joints feeling like they were on fire.

Knowing however if she stopped then Cassie wouldn't want to get back up and so on she went. Eventually she made it to a lake and found another person. This man looked more like a human than Amphrysus did so Cassie walked up to him. The closer she got over the more Cassie could see what looked like a golden mist surrounding him.

"I hope your nicer than the woman a few miles away was," Cassie said.

The man ignored her to play with some clay in the river banks. Cassie huffed before watching him work. It looked like he was making a doll except it seemed more realistic than any barbie doll that Cassie had seen before.

Quicker than Cassie thought it would take, the doll was complete and resembled a naked man that wouldn't be out of place at a art museum. Before she could ask what the doll was for however, the strange man blew on the doll and it seemed to grow and grow and grow until it was slightly taller than Cassie was.

She jumped when the dolls eyes opened and there was a pair of brown eyes staring at Cassie in confusing. The dolls mouth suddenly let out a shriek and it bolted into the forest to their left, leaving Cassie alone with the magic man. "How?" Cassie asked.

The man shrugged, "Life is a given to anything resembling the gods." He then seemed to actually look at Cassie, "Why does a harpy care so much about what Kronos wishes?"

"I didn't I just tried to figure out where I am."

He seemed to just stare at Cassie in a bemused bewilderment. "Your at the base of mount Othyrs." He paused as if looking for some recognition. Cassie just stared blankly, as she had somehow actually ended up in Greece. "The home of the king of the titans, Kronos."

Well fuck me sideways. Cassie was a huge mythology nerd and if Kronos was currently ruling than she was going to be skedaddling as far away form here as possible until Zeus showed up. Maybe even a few years later since Cassie had heard second hand that it was a few years of war until Zeus and all of them actually won the war.

"Well thanks for that. I'm gonna head off..." Cassie trailed off

"Prometheus."

Cassie gave a sharp nod to the future vulture food and ran away from the river. In the same direction the naked man had ran just a few moments ago

Chapter Text

Running was easy. Especially when trying to get as far from Othrys as possible. Cassie had given up finding actual human being to be around, especially after Prometheus had made a man from clay who almost immediately ran from Cassie.

Maybe she wouldn't have to actually eat anything Cassie hoped. She really did not want to experience food poisoning or even dying again. She did know how to use a bow maybe she could make one from a long, thin branch. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," Cassie called herself, lightly hitting herself upside the head," where would you get the string from."

No survival skills, no weapons and no idea how to make the only one she knew how to use, and an appearance that would cause many to flee. Cassie is certain she's doomed to die in a few days from hunger. "At least I won't freeze to death. Thanks feathers." she said to herself.

Plans to find hopefully a cave nearby were quickly put on hold however as Cassie heard a woman sobbing. First instinct was to run the other way. Unfortunately Cassie is unspeakably curious and instead made her way towards said bawling. 

Sitting upon a hill was a woman with long black hair that was partially obscured by some cloth, dark skin resembling the ground beneath the flowers she sat near, and hazel eyes like that of water washing sand away from the beach.

Cassie didn't want to approach and make whatever this persons problem her own problem. Unfortunately she had not choice in the matter as the woman, quicker than lightning, looked up and straight at her. "If he sent you then leave you wretched beast, I wish to be alone" the sobbing lady commanded

Well fuck you too then. 

"You might want to get farther away," Cass told this stranger, "if your husband is any of the titans your right near mount Othrys."

"I am well aware of that thank you very much."

Cassie shrugged, not caring if the rude woman saw her. A glance up at the sun showed it to be slowly going down and so Cassie looked at her hands at what could loosely be considered her new thumb and pointer fingers. She turned so the sun was hitting her right hand and made her way to away from the clearing. "Hope I'm not too far away from the sea," Cassie mumbled under her breath.

The trees she was having to walk past reminded her so much of home despite only having the barest resemblance to them. With their long but thin body's that seemed to stretch forever into the sky and there loose collections of leaves, Cassie wasn't sure if any of them were pine trees that she could eat. Hopefully she was heading in the right direction and reach the sea before sun set and Cassie could try to fish. She'd hated fishing but it was either that or try hunting wolves and Cassie wasn't suicidal enough to try that with only some sharp, claw-like fingernails.

Suddenly it dawned on her that she didn't know if there were any snakes in Greece. Cassie picked up two of the longest twigs she could find from the base of a nearby tree. Tying the two together didn't seem all that possible without any string or fabric. Thinking about it, Cassie lifted her arm and found two thin feathers and plucked them. The stinging was like she'd pulled out a clump of hair.

Combining the two feathers with a small knot, Cassie laid the two sticks on the ground and, leaving plenty to spare at both ends of the now really long feather, slowly wound the feather around the sticks tightly until the feather looked like tangled fishing wire holding two twigs together. Weaving the long ends into the makeshift net, Cassie tied the ends into more knots and gave the pieces of wood a shake. They slid slightly but otherwise held.

Cassie gave herself a fist pump. She is fairly certain that it'll come apart soon but it's only a temporary solution until she can come uncross a riverbed. Using the makeshift broom stick to brush leaves from her path, Cassie continued walking.  

 What is that weird smell. Ouch. Cassie slapped her back near her shoulder blade. Looking at her hand revealed a small cluster of mosquitos. "Of course, just my luck. What's next fleas?"

A growl came out from Cassie's left. A crunch of leaves and a small pack of wolves stalked up to her. "So that's what the smell is."

Slower than she thought, the wolves jumped at her. Cassie stumbled to the side and a few of the wolves went flying past her. One of them latched onto one of the feathers near her hands. Cassie clawed at the wolves eyes until it let go. Spinning on her heal, she slammed her makeshift broom into another wolf that was trying to sneak up on her. The wolf let out a high pitched yelp and ran back the way it came.

There was two left, each approaching on one side of Cassie. They both leaped in almost perfect sync. Cassie dropped into a crouch and, letting one fly over her head, instinctively grabbed the scruff of the other before slamming the end of the stick into its eye.

Throwing the corpse at the wolf, Cassie stared as it tried to get up. Must have broken something in it's leg. 

Thinking it was going to try and attack again, she let out a hiss. The wolf whimpered as it slowly limped away in the same direction as the other wolf. Instincts told Cassie to follow but all she wanted to do was take a nap. Breathing deeply Cassie picked up her damaged walking stick with the very edges of her fingers, "Eww eww eww, gross."

"Least I don't need to worry about food," Cassie cheered before remembering a scene from a tv show and frowning," unless you got maggots then fuck."

 Hauling the dead wolf carcass over her shoulder, she continued down her chosen path, whistling. Now that her blood was rushing, Cassie could her the sound of what she hoped was water moving very fast.

Breaking into a sprint, Cassie ran towards the sound. Leaping over tree roots as if they were nothing, twisting her body to get around branches without having to brush them aside, and then had to come to a dead stop as she reached a cliff edge.

A few rocks broke off and fell into the torrent of water below, "That's two for two on cliffs, good job me."

It looked to far away for Cassie to try jumping and she really did not want to try to fly with a wolf carcass over her shoulder, especially since just carrying it was starting to make her arm burn. Guess it's time to swim. She hopped off like she was going skinny dipping and, while digging her claws into the wolf flesh, plummeted towards the river.

Water went up her nose immediately and the saltiness of the sea burned her eyes. Floundering around, Cassie slowly made her way towards the surface until she finally broke free and could take a deep breath. The water didn't like that and a wave went over her head, and Cassie swallowed a mouthful of seawater.

Coughing due to the taste, Cassie made sure she still had a good grip on the body before paddling towards the small section of sand. She had to stop a few times to adjust her grip because her hand was starting to cramp in the cold ocean. Dragging herself onto the rocky dirt, Cassie collapsed into a pile of soaking feathers and the smell of wet dog. She'd have fallen asleep except she was laying on a patch of bumpy rocks.

Pulling herself into a sitting position, she took a slow look around. More mountains and forests. If she was lucky there'd be an empty cave she could set up shop in. 

Chapter Text

The good news is Cassie found a cave. The bad news is it looks deep and she doesn't know if there are any bears. Also the sun is going down and her wet feathers weren't helping at all. Giving her arms a sharp shake, a bunch of water was flung everywhere including back onto Cassie's body.

"Oh come on," Cassie said, frustratedly. Tossing what would be her dinner off to the side of the cave, Cassie huffed and went outside. The view outside the cave was gorgeous. Thicker, denser trees more resembling the trees back home rather than the trees that Cassie had landed in. Was just far enough away from the water that the sound of rushing waves wasn't overwhelming to Cassie's ears but was close enough that the smell of sea salt would towards the cave entrance.

She'd have more time to appreciate the view but with sunset rapidly approaching, Cassie wanted to get a fire going and start drying out the plumage. Picking up a few spindly twigs, she tried to remember how to start a fire. She'd never been particularly into the outdoors or any tv shows about out door living.

No lighter, no matches, no steel to make sparks. Cassie was fairly certain the rubbing sticks together thing was a myth but if was all she had and if Cassie could become a harpy then rubbing two sticks together should work, She didn't want to use her walking stick. The stinging from pulling those two feathers out was only just starting to fade.

Coming up to the closest tree, Cassie set the handful of twigs she'd gathered onto the ground and grabbed the thickest branch she could find. Thankfully, the branch right above her head was thicker than her head so Cassie reach up and yanked. SNAAAP. 

The branch came off the tree and slammed into the dirt with Cassie following shortly afterwards. "OWWW," yelled the woman who came out the tree. She resembled the tree except for the horns attached to her head that looked like somebody had made a fish net out of wood. "Shit I am so sorry, "Cassie, apologized, "I didn't think anyone would be in this tree." A weird sentence that she never thought she would ever say.

The tree lady huffed," Obviously I would be in this tree It's my tree.:

Right why did she think of that. Gesturing with her hands at the branch, Cassie said," look I'm sorry if that hurt you but i need the wood."

"Course you don't care if it hurt, your a harpy. Don't even think you can feel pain." 

"Rude of course I can feel pain." Cassie was done with this tree-woman. The name of what she is was rolling around somewhere in her brain but if she was always this rude then Cassie wasn't gonna expend the effort to remember.

Picking up the one end of the branch and the pile of twigs, Cassie started dragging. She hadn't had to go far from the cave entrance or had to go down the hill so pulling the wood wasn't as hard as she was afraid it was gonna be. Out the corner of her eye, Cassie could see the lady from the tree following her with a scowl on her face.

Back at the cave, Cassie dropped the wood near where she'd thrown the wolf carcass. Time to learn how to make fire, Cassie thought. Using her sharp claws, she pulled thin sheets of bark off the branch and pressed half of them as flat as she could against the cold stone in layers.. Looking around the cave, Cassie found some decently sized rocks and rolled them onto the tree bark in a circle like she'd seen of TV.

Feeling the gaze of the woman, Cassie sat on the floor next to her walking stick and positioned all but two of the sticks into a steady bundle. It took a few tries to get them leaning against each other without rolling but as soon as they were, Cassie started rubbing the final two sticks together. After what felt like forever, the smell of smoke started to appear. Her arms where starting to ache again but Cassie stomach was growling to much for her to give up now.

Finally, the twig in her right hand slowly went up in flames. As fast as Cassie could, she grabbed a few of the remaining tree bark and slowly wrapped the two sticks together until the fire was consuming most of it and making its way down towards her hand. Quickly but not to fast as to make it go out, Cassie lowered the fire into the rock circle.

"Fuck yes," Cassie cheered as she watched the bundle ignite the rest of the kindling.

"Why did you do that?" her annoying pest of a guest asked. 

Cassie slightly jumped as she was hoping the stranger would have left by now. "To cook the wolf," she said, pointing towards the animal.

"Don't you just eat them raw?"

" Saw someone get sick eating raw food and don't want that happening to me," Cassie explained. She wasn't going to tell the other woman that the person was herself eating an entire roll of raw cookie dough and getting sick afterwards.

The woman just nodded although Cassie could see she didn't quite understand. 

Standing up, Cassie could hear her knees complaining despite only being on the ground for a few minutes. She threw a few more pieces of bark onto the fire before pulling the wolf towards the fire. Slamming her claws into the wolf, Cassie slowly began to peal the fur away despite her growing nausea and desperate need to go back to the water to wash the blood off.

When the wolf fur was as gone as she could tell, Cassie pulled chunks off the meat off the bones. Not seeing another way to cook it, Cassie tossed the pieces of meat into the fire. She didn't know how long to cook it for but even just a few minutes in direct contact with fire should help.

Sadly the rest of the tree branch wasn't big enough to use as a chair. On a brighter side, her feathers were starting to dry off and, after giving them a good shake away from the fire, Cassie could see them start to fluff up.

"Names Amalthea," she said. It didn't ring any bells in Cassie's head but she wasn't raised to be rude so Cassie returned the introduction.

After a few minutes of standing around and waiting, when the smell of burning started Cassie snatched her walking stick off the floor and jabbed the pieces of wolf meat out of the fire. After quickly smothering the few bits of flame that tried burning her stick, Cassie took a good look at her dinner. It was a lot darker than any steak or chicken she'd eaten before but it didn't seem to have many charred spots. The steam rising off the food made her mouth drool.

Plopping back onto the ground, Cassie started to dig in. It was very dry and had little flavor but it made her stomach stop growling. She went to offer a few to Amalthea but the disgusted look dissuaded her.

After devouring a few pieces of wolf meat, Cassie could feel the stifling silence. Attempting to break said silence, she asked Amalthea," Are you like Amphrysus?"

The outrage on Amalthea's face made Cassie want to laugh. "No," Amalthea said, sharply," she's a naiad. I'm a dryad."

Cassie must not have hidden her confusion over the difference well because Amalthea went into a rant about naiads and how they think they're better than dryads just because they can travel farther than most dryads do. Must be a sore topic.

"Most?" Cassie caught.

"I've got a few goats around her that I can follow wherever they go." Amalthea gave Cassie a dark look. Cassie was glad she was eating wolf and not goat.

A yawn forced its way out of Cassie's throat. "I'm gonna get some shut eye but it was nice meeting you, Amalthea."

"Agreed, for a harpy your rather talkative."

Cassie didn't deign to respond to that backhanded insult. Instead she just curled up into a ball beside the fire and lazily threw a few scraps of the tree branch into said fire as Cassie watched Amalthea walk back towards her tree.

Chapter Text

I need to find a way to make a plate Cassie thought. She'd just woken up hungry and when she reached for some of the leftover wolf meat had disturbed some dust and dirt. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Cassie took a closer look and saw the entire bottom of eat of the few pieces of meat were coated in all sorts of grime.

She didn't know how to get or even make metal utensils. Cassie probably could have just tried carving some wood but frankly she was getting tired of being insulted by different dryads and nymphs. Running through different ideas in her head, Cassie remembered her 6th grade art class. They were making clay whistles and her art teacher had mentioned she'd gotten all the clay by the river bed near her house.

Not long after that memory crossed her mind, Cassie found herself back by the river she'd landed at yesterday. She didn't know what to looked like but she figured she could just find some clay by seeing grabbing a few handfuls and seeing if they stick together.

The island looked decently big from the cave entrance so there surely had to be some clay around here.

Sticking her hands into the coastline, Cassie grabbed a good handful of something under the water. It was dark looking and Cassie it had been a while since she'd been in 6th grade so she couldn't quite tell if it was just mud or if she'd gotten lucky. Of course luck wasn't on her side, as the handful oozed out of her hand the second she'd stopping pressing it together.

Getting back to her feat, Cassie realized in her rush she'd left her walking stick back at the cave. Cursing under her breath, Cassie took a look up at the sun. Seemed like early morning. She started walking alongside the water and stopping every now and then to try digging into the ground to see if she struck gold. "Oh come on!" Cassie complained as she rubbed her hands into the cool river, desperate to get the feeling of mud off her hands, "I better not have to go swimming to find any."

The sensation was probably the worst part of it, Cassie had never really liked swimming before and with all the new feelings that the feathers on her arms and fingers had given her she liked it even less.

She'd wandered for so long that the sun was now directly over her and the temperature was getting uncomfortable. Thankfully Cassie had found a cove with a cave hidden behind some moss and vines that she could take a small break from.

Sitting down on the cool rocks, Cassie scooped some of the water up and drank. She was happy nobody snuck up on her and saw her drinking like she'd gone days without water. The shadows of the cave in combination with all the walking she'd done made her sleepy. Cassie had to drag herself off the ground to get going otherwise she was gonna take a nap and she really needed to find clay.

After splashing some of the water on the back of her neck, Cassie began walking again. She started snapping her fingers in an attempt to remember more of that art class. The only memories that popped in were about work. I miss work and all the paperwork. 

Giving up on trying to remember for the time, Cassie started thinking of other clay things. Minecraft clay turns red when cooked was the first thing that popped into her head.

Whether or not that helped, Cassie really didn't care and just started searching for any patches of orangish red mud.

A quick glance at the sky told Cassie it had been about an hour since she'd taken that break in that cove if she was reading the sun position right. Which she probably wasn't but Cassie didn't need to be done at any precise time.

"Yes!" Cassie shouted when she spotted some brownish-orange mud beneath the water line. Jogging towards it, Cassie cupped some in her hands and let out a slight squeal when she was able to mold it into a ball without it falling apart. Laughing until it hurt, Cassie looked around and realized she'd walked halfway around the island. 

Quickly thinking, she didn't have any way to get the clay back to her cave so Cassie sat cross-legged and started flatting out the clay, occasionally grabbing more clay smooth out the cracks. Once it was nice and flat, she slowly made the walls of her soon to be jar. Red stained her hands and bits of clay got caught in the feathers but Cassie continued working on the walls. She made the jar wide but somewhat short.

Once all the cracks were filled in, Cassie took a closer look. It wouldn't hold up for long but it would have to do for now. Before she made her way home, she grabbed a small rock and dragged it across the outside of her pottery, making sure not to press too hard. Slowly twisting her creation, Cassie did little decorations to spice up the plainness of outside.

It wasn't much with some basic flowers dotted around, some cross-hatching on the bottom half, and some wavy lines near the top. "Too bad I can't fire you," Cassie muttered to her work, not caring if anyone heard her.

Cassie thought about trying to use her campfire to cook the clay, but without something to encase it she figured it would just burn.

There wasn't any wind for Cassie to fly so she burst into a sprint, determined to make it home quickly. Cradling her clay pot, Cassie didn't even stop when Amalthea called out to her from beside her tree.

Inside her cave, she tried to clear as much dirt, dust, twigs, and tiny pebbles from a section of the cave. Cassie didn't want any holes punctured in the bottom and when she finally cleared everything from the ground gently set her pot down, not caring how crazy she must have looked to Amalthea who followed her.

"What are you doing?" Amalthea asked, cocking her head to the side like an owl. Cassie had to stifle her laughter as she figured Amalthea wouldn't find the joke funny. "It's a pot," Cassie beamed, taking way to much joy in such a simple thing. She watched as Amalthea walked up to get a better look at the damp clay. 

"Why do you need a pot?"

"I'm gonna use it to collect more clay and make more pots!"

Amalthea gave her a deadpanned look. Cassie shuffled before explaining further, "The other pots I'm gonna use to cook."

"That makes sense," Amalthea acknowledged.

Cassie gave her a grin before rambling about all the different things she was gonna do with the clay. She noticed that Amalthea seemed confused at certain times but Cassie was talking so fast she couldn't tell what part had confused her.

Once Cassie ran out of things to say, Amalthea gave her a nod before strolling out. Must have talked too much. 

Shrugging, Cassie turned and sat staring at her creation, well aware of the clay in between her fingers, clumping her feathers together, and drying into a crustiness on her skin. She didn't care about any of this at the time, just taking in the way the setting sun hit the side of her creation.

Chapter Text

"Is this one," Cassie asked as she grasped another limp branch from Amalthea's tree.

"YEs," Amalthea replied and Cassie plucked it with ease. She'd been hanging out with Cassie and, when Cassie started complaining about finding wood for her fire without dealing with nymphs, had mentioned needing some of her bark pulled. Something about the wood starting to separate from the trunk.

Cassie had, after a little hesitation and a lot of questions later, agreed and found herself near the canopy of leaves. She'd pulled already a handful of twigs that should last her at least another week or two if she didn't use it for any crafts. Cassie had already used lots of small bundles to make her clay creations sturdier. Her hand was starting to cramp so Cassie called down, " Was that the last one?" 

Amalthea gave her a nod that would have been unperceivable had she still been human. Cassie let out a sigh of relief. She'd been up here for hours if the sun was anything to go by and the lighter air was starting to bother her. She sat down and that she was relaxing could see a slight issue.

If she was holding all her wood stock then she'd just plummet to the ground and Cassie really didn't want to deal with a broken bone. She'd broken her ankle once and had been so miserable not being able to do anything for two months and that been with modern medicine. She could drop it but then they'd break and wouldn't last as long. Amalthea was looking a bit cross at her and Cassie asked, "If I drop these, do you think you can catch them?"

The voice that answered wasn't Amalthea's. "What is all the for?"

Cassie jumped. Thankfully she didn't fall but it was a near thing with a lot of her arms flailing about trying to gain her balance. It was the spotted harpy from before that hadn't said more than two words to Cassie. "Fire," Cassie scowled.

"Why do you need fire?," the spotted harpy asked, tilting her head like an owl. Cassie counted to three in her head before answering, "For warmth, obviously."

The brown eyes starred at her in confusion and Cassie didn't feel like explaining. Glancing at Amalthea revealed her to be way too amused for Cassie's taste. She easily pulled some leaves off the nearby branch still attacked to the bark and dumped it where Amalthea was standing. Unfortunately, they floated down slowly that Amalthea just stepped to the side.

Suddenly, the wood was snatched from her hands. Her fellow harpy had stolen her wood and quickly took flight from the branch. Cassie went to follow but the wind wasn't strong enough to actually lift her up and she drifted down to the ground.

The thief was flying in circles above their heads. Amalthea from Cassie's right asked, "Why do you not just fly up their?"

"Wind's not strong enough to make me fly."

Missing Amalthea's look of confusion, Cassie grabbed some stones and rocks before scaling the tree a lot quicker than she'd climbed the first time. She got up as far as the branches could hold her and took aim. The first two throws missed the harpy by a long shot and another throw didn't go far enough.

Realizing an easier way to do this, Cassie used her feathers to check the wind. It was blowing toward Cassie and to the left of where the thief hovered.

A few hops and glides later, Cassie got to the other side of the clearing. Lining up the shot, she made sure to be a few steps into the breeze and threw the biggest stone she'd picked up. The rock went flying and a few seconds later a yelp of pain sounded out and the spotted harpy plummeted to the ground. Cassie followed suit and as soon as her feet hit the grass rushed to her twigs and branches and snapped them up.

After getting out of range of snatching distance, Cassie took a look at the downed bird. Her arm didn't look broken so Cassie wasn't upset at forcing her to land but the tears streaming down the other harpy's cheeks made a small bit of discomfort settle in her stomach.

Cassie gave her bundles to the approaching Amalthea before approaching the crying person. She was never good with people before and her death had not changed that.

She did a few uncomfortable pats on the head, "There, there, stop crying." It did not work and if anything seemed to make it worse.

Giving a plea for help at Amalthea, Cassie grabbed the wing the rock had hit, and ignoring the yelp of pain, took a closer look. It wasn't embedded in the thin skin so that was a plus. She did grimace at the darkening web of lines covering the thin skin.

All of a sudden, Cassie was pushed to the side. Amalthea had taken her place and holding a handful of leaves and a goat horn filled with water. Cassie watched as Amalthea dipped a small ball of leaves into the water that she then placed on the impact sight. The tears didn't go away immediately but the sound of sobs did get noticeably quieter.

Cassie shifted on her feat, desperate to get away from the scene. For what felt like forever, the group stood there until the tears dried up and the sobs turned into hiccups which turned into sniffles until the stopped. Amalthea stood and helped pull the thief up off the ground.

I won't apologize. Not for any reason.

The thief gave her what would have been a heated glare had her eyes not been rimmed with red. Cassie returned the glare in equal measure and the harpy flinched.

Amalthea, seeing the interaction between the two, shot her own glare at Cassie. Cassie looked away, suddenly feeling way more embarrassed. She would have been twenty-five in a few weeks had she not died and yet here she was acting like a toddler.

They all started walking and Cassie realized they were heading towards her home. She didn't want to speak up and reveal that info to someone who had already stolen from her but she also didn't want to just lead them directly to her home. Before she could decide what to do however, they had already made it to the entrance and all Cassie's hard work was easily visible to see.

Thankfully, Amalthea didn't lead the spotted harpy inside. Unfortunately she did turn to Cassie and ask the one question Cassie didn't want to hear," Can she stay in your home until the swelling goes down?"

A grimace tried to force its way onto her face. Cassie almost said no until she caught another glimpse of the swollen, red-stained face and she muttered an unhappy yes.

Pointing towards the clay bed, Cassie told her unwanted guest, "You can sit there."

She didn't seem to want to argue and just trudged inside. The bed wasn't the most comfortable thing to sit on but it beat the ground and was a lot less sloped than the cave entrance.

Cassie pinched her nose in frustration. She was enjoying spending time with Amalthea but this entire situation had drained her of any dire to be around people. It seemed Amalthea felt the same since she gave a quick goodbye before making her own way home, leaving Cassie and the injured harpy alone.

Said injured harpy then spoke up and asked a question, "Why did you not chase me?"

The question made no sense to Cassie since she very much did. Her face must have shown Cassie's confusion since the spotted thief did a playful flap of her wings and the question made a lot more sense. Cassie explained why she didn't fly after her and it was the others turn to look confused. The playful flaps of her wings turned into more forceful ones and a strong gusts of wind filled the cave until she was hovering over Cassie's bed.

Chapter Text

Cassie was done with this. She'd been pushed off Amalthea's tree so many times her arm was starting to have a permanent indent from the stones. 

Somehow, her unwelcome housemate had decided that she needed to fly without using the wind and had taken the tried and true method of birds. Which was to say shoving Cassie out of a "nest" until she learned to take off.

She'd tried explaining to the other harpy her thought process but all Cassie had gotten in return was a blank stare, a scoff, and another attempt from the tree. "I'm done," Cassie finally let out from where she was laying as the sun beat down on her. She'd lost track of the months and even the days since she'd been turned into a harpy but Cassie was sure it should have been at least fall or winter by now. But the trees were still holding onto their leaves and she'd seen no snowflakes are even a hint of a flurry.

"You can't give up now, I have another way," her tormentor whined, sounding way to much like a toddler who was told she couldn't go swimming until she ate.

It hurt to much to even raise her head. Instead she just threw the small pebble that was digging into her ear in the general direction of the spotted-harpy. "Amalthea wouldn't treat me this way."

"Amalthea would not care so long as we let her stay connected to the earth."

Unfortunately for Cassie, she knew that was true. Amalthea was very much like her tree, stubbornly connected to the ground in such a way it would take a bulldozer to pull out the roots. "Where's she at anyway?"

A spotted, feathered face appeared above Cassie and, blocking out the harsh sunlight, gave a unnerving grin. "Nowhere you need to know yet now get up I want to shove you off the nearby cliff."

At the beginning of this little waste of time, Cassie tried to get out of this by explaining her very first day here yet that only seemed to make the younger harpy more eager. Groaning, Cassie sat up and gave her best glare. She'd been glaring so much recently her face was going to get stuck like this.

"Here," Cassie was told before a sharp talon began running through her feathers," Need these all clear so you can focus."

Cassie pulled away quickly, "I can do that myself thank you very much."

"Well get on with it," she was told as Cassie's arm was wrenched out of it's socket and she was pulled onto her feet. "If you can fly by the end of the day Amalthea and I have a present for you."

Bribery was always a good way to motivate Cassie even before her death. Figuring out how to fly without the wind pulling her up was going to be hard if she wanted whatever they were planning but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to figure it out now.

The walk wasn't far and she'd taken it so many times it was almost second nature now. Cassie was almost certain that the spotted harpy had chosen a non-windy day specifically to make it harder for her. She'd just gotten the final twig out of the small knot it was in before she'd suddenly found herself falling. It almost reminded her of how she'd come into this new world but with less rain and harpies above her.

She tried the way that birds did and, while it let her rise a little a little, she mostly just glided down to the sandy beach below. Cassie barely had any time to react before her trainer dropped down beside her. "Are you even trying? I want to actually chase you not just climb trees."

"Obviously, but you haven't explained anything other than flap your wings." 

Her anger was easy to spot and the spotted harpy cottoned on immediately. "You have to use your magic. Just watch me."

As if she hadn't been watching for the last couple hours. Now that the other harpy was actually explaining it, Cassie could she where she'd been going wrong. Despite the wings she still have the normal body and more importantly the bone density of a human so she'd have to actively focus on "controlling" the wind currents around her. That was how the spotted harpy had been able to make a gust appear out of nowhere in Cassie's cave. She really needed a way to refer to the other harpy.

She'd had noticed that she was more sensitive to the breeze but had figured that was just because of the feathers had come with more sensations not that it was because she had magic.

Focusing on just the wind was hard. Cassie had to try and tune out all of the bugs and the rushing water around her without any headphones to help dampen the noise. Slowly, Cassie found her feet lifting off the ground unsteadily. Occasionally she'd wobble and Cassie wanted to just drop back down to the sturdy ground but the promise of a reward pushed her forward.

Her acquaintance was slowly ascending alongside Cassie. Her grin looked like it was trying to split her face apart and Cassie gave her a playful scowl.

Suddenly, Cassie lunged. She missed and to steady herself before she could carefully turn around. The adrenaline rushing through her would have given Cassie a hop in her step had she'd still been on the ground.

The spotted wings were coming at her with a quickness and Cassie hurled herself to the side. She wasn't quick enough and her fellow harpy grabbed her wrist. Suddenly she was dropping towards the sea she hadn't even realized she'd flown over. 

Cassie must have been too heavy for the spotted-harpy to fly with and was quickly abandoned. With the rush of wind around and an actual but short lesson, Cassie caught a rush of air and she surged into the sky. 

She made it back to the cliff edge with her trainer hot on her heels. Amalthea had somehow gotten there without Cassie noticing and was holding something behind her back.

"Ooooh, what's that?" Cassie asked, as she rocked back and forth in the dirt.

Amalthea didn't answer until the spotted harpy gave a cheerful nod. "It is the gift I am sure she told you about."

It was a couple of medium sized squares. They looked like an awful rocking chair Cassie's grandmother had owned and at first she couldn't figure out what this was for. 

She could finally add a pillow or two to her bed.