With eyes round and full of awe I stared at him, the beloved creature before me. Though he was not what I had expected I still saw the beauty in him, and the faint life in his feathers. Beneath the twilight sky I let my lips part and excitement grip me as I watched the creature I had now been chasing for more than six hours gaze right back from the neighbouring hillock.

Bold. Strong. Courageous. By the way he held himself and bore his spear I could tell he was a warrior. He wore something akin to a loin cloth, with tight leather gloves, and that was all. Overall, he was the right shape, structure, with that marvellous beak and sharp claws and those angled legs. His feathers ended in the right place and the tough skin began, making me smile in glee, ignoring the huge obvious dissimilarity he had to the memories I had of his people.

His colour. From his head to his toes, from claw tip to tail feather he was not black, but rather, light grey and in some places, white. His black eyes were all that remained of his past kenku - tengu - self.

Gently I straightened, pulling myself up to my full height and looking at the beautiful creature right in the eyes. For so long he had been racing, forcing me to go into the form of Unicorn and race. Still he had kept ahead, disappearing and then reappearing in the distance, knowing the landscape when she - Unicorn - did not. I had chased and chased - until he had quite suddenly, stopped. Then he had turned, right on that hill. And my heart had hammered as I moved into my natural form.

Naked. Which was awkward in the fact I just wanted to talk to him. Quickly I pulled the wolf pelt that was wrapped over my shoulder and tied with the rough rope, slinging it over my body. It was odd, did not fit quite right but it would do. I smiled at the being, the bleached kenku, and lifted my hands, as he stared back at me, unmoving, from those two hundred metres that separated us.

“He-hello …” I whispered gently to him, extending the gesture of peace. “It is an-”

His big black eyes blinked, before he suddenly turned. Hefting up his long spear he twisted his back to me and began to stride away again. Pausing, stuck there in my simple wolf pelt, I was suspended in shock as he began to leave. My breathing was fast, tight, and I was entirely confused - but I had no other choice. Leaning down I grabbed the rope that had been bound around me and immediately began to follow.

As we went I untied the small bone knife I had from the rope, then used the rope itself to bind the pelt around me - I now had a rudimentary form of tunic. Now clothed better I began to run on my bare feet, following the kenku as he went down the other side of his hill.

Quickly I chased him, smoothing back my hair, trying to make myself perfect for the ultimate meeting because he had to stop for me soon. He was so close …