Jon was going through each and every single stage of a small trauma in rather rapid succession baring of course… acceptance. Nothing could really take her to that stage yet after that experience. It wasn’t just that she laid -freaking- eggs- no it wasn’t just that. She felt like she was stupid.. ignorant and more embarrassed as she thought about it happening in the public bath house of all places. She felt like she could never show her face there again…
While everyone had been helpful it felt like she ‘should’ have known better. Something like this was utterly alien but was it unexpected? She was a harpy! Though trying to think of how she was both a bird and a woman just put in her head an egg with an omelette; an image that really hit home now.
So she had gone through fear denial rage… what else was there? Mostly now she was just feeling very depressed. The very idea that this was happening again… eventually. That in a few weeks she would experience this again, and again, and again… She looked at her wings no longer seeing the benefits of flight but the cold reality of her biology as a female harpy. A reality that she was doing everything to deny.
She tried to practice her music but.. it just wasn’t working.
There was a knock on her door. Jon didn’t want to deal with anyone… where the heck was Maggie? Reluctantly she carefully opened the door Extending a talon from under her robe. A motion that she still struggled with at times.
“Hello Jen?” Bill, the innkeeper of the Rooster was at the door with a bit of a surprise look at how the Harpy-girl looked. “Uh, I wanted to let you know there’s no need to perform tonight- room is on the house,” His voice a little quiet and uncomfortable.
“Oh? Oh! I was.. well- I wasn’t feeling-” Jon started. Damn it- she had a job to get on with!
“It’s fine really,” he said. “Maggie said you were feeling a bit under the weather you don’t really need to say much more. Your music is.. rather different from what most know but people seem entertained by it. You must have listened to a lot of music in your time.”
Jon thought about that… “Perhaps that is true.” In her world one might take it for granted but there were literally thousands upon thousands of songs that one could hear.. memorize.. and simply know by heart. In this world which was a bit more oratory with the absence of recordings or indeed an internet to play and share them.. Jon was practically a musician with far more songs in her head then most- though probably ninety percent of then would mean nothing to someone from this world.
“You are quite the lady of mystery Jen,” Bill smiled. “Though really, take the next few days off. I absolutely insist…”
Jon thought about it. She thought.. really hard about it. On the one had she guessed Bill had been told she was ‘unwell’ and she hoped Maggie had been able to code the message without actually saying what it was. Yet if she didn’t go and perform it would almost feel like ‘giving up’ to this body’s needs. What about her own needs! The only thing she had since getting here was her music… She didn’t want to give up the only things that allowed her to express.. who she really was. “It’s fine,” Jon said after an eternity of thought. “I can still perform. I just.. have to get a few things.”
“Well.. alright,” nodded Bill. “You are doing pretty well. I mean nobody has heard of these songs you sing but people enjoy them. It’s a bit.. too odd for some folk, but then people seem to like your novel approach.”
Jon nodded. She had a good audience. She wasn’t a star by any imagination but people seemed to like her well enough.
“Have you seen Maggie?” Jon suddenly asked.
“Your uh.. little friend was flying around last I saw. She seemed to be looking for something to cheer you up? Maybe she’s gone to the market.” He shrugged. “I’ll leave you be now… take care. Got a few barrels to fill in the basement.”
Jon nodded… she was left back in her room... “Where could she be… what could possibly cheer me up?” She wanted to make sure she hadn’t just went and told her boss about the freaking eggs! If she had the harpy would die of embarrassment.
She looked out the window and was surprised to see Maggie flying towards the inn. “Ah- Maggie?”
“JEEEN!” The girl cried out happily as she flew into the window. “Phew I’m back!” She ruffled her feathers in an excitable motion. “How are you feeling now? All better? You look better.”
“Maggie!” Jon cried out. “Where have you been? You shouldn’t just go off without telling me!”
“Why not?” Maggie asked genuinely surprised.
“You’re too young and this is a town!” Jon- Jon wasn’t really sure why she felt this weird… feeling to protect Maggie. Maybe it was that instinctual thing to all children but it seemed really strong to the new harpy. Perhaps it was because of her earlier egg laying- crap could that be it?
The younger harpy suddenly got up hoping on one talon. “I got something for you!” On her other talon was a book.
Jon instinctvily tried to grab it with her winged appendage- causing Maggie to giggle. “Ha ha… okay I’ll put it on your wings.. this is kinda funny to see you hold it like that.”
Jon groaned as the book was placed flat on her winged surface. She tried to turn the pages with her other feathered wing though it seemed nearly impossible. The book seemed to have some strange words written in it. “What kind of book is it?”
“Well… you know how I like to try and solve problems...”
Jon arched an eyebrow. “Uh… uh huh?”
“.. and well.. you seem really upset about a lot of stuff lately. Stuff that I thought only a magic could fix. You told me what happened when you asked the witch for help so… I thought maybe a wizard could help.”
“A wizard? You talked to a wizard?” Jon asked surprised. “You mean about a way to get me home?”
“Well- none of the wizards would actually ‘talk’ to me.. exactly.” She said coyly. “However- I found this perfectly useful spell book and thought- you know how to read! You could use this to help yourself!”
Jon raised an eyebrow. “You- you stole it?!” She looked at the book like it was on fire. “How- why- what are we going to do!”
Maggie looked at the older harpy with surprise. “Silly. You can’t steal words! They are just there..” she pointed in the book. “Maybe the right words will help you?” She looked at her hopefully. “I just thought you needed magic… so… here’s a book all about magic!”
“Maggie you can’t just steal a magic book!” The harpy looked at her exasperated. “I can’t even read any of this! It’s gibberish.”
“Oh...” The harpy looked downward very sadly now. “I’m sorry Jen.. is there.. isn’t there anything I can do?”
Jon tried her best to calm down. Maggie had no idea how human societies work.. and maybe harpies just didn’t have books? What were words to them… “Okay- we’ll just.. return it. Show me where you got it..”
“Oh- that’s easy. We just fly up to the wizard tower.. through a window. That’s where I saw it.”
