"He saved us. Crow, he--" Killed them. Just thinking about it stirs up an anxiousness that he has to force back down. "He got us out. He and a couple of the others killed all the priests who were keeping us locked up."

His mood seems to lighten with every word. He's never spoken about this before, but now he does so with the utmost freedom. "And we couldn't just leave, since no one knew where to go, and some of us were barely old enough to travel, so... we stayed there." He laughs a little, remembering, "We took care of each other. We taught each other how to read or cook or hunt things or sew up our old clothes... And after a while, we were building forts out in the forest together or seeing who could jump the furthest into the river, or making up stories to get the little ones to fall asleep..."

"Finch was the one who first said that we were like a family. We started calling each other brothers and sisters because it was better than being alone out there, and most of us never really had family of their own. We renamed ourselves after birds to show that we were finally free of all of that. We were new people. That was Finch's idea too."

He looks up at Euri, smiling. "They were the best family I could have asked for. I loved them more than I can say."