"... Your pet?"

Master Pompadomp, Protector of the Shimmering Valley and grandest of all the Arch Mages, shook his head. "No more my pet than you- well, actually, less of a pet than you are. This owl possesses the very powers you were seeking when you knocked on my door seven years ago. Her name is Appilbeak, by the way."

Poor Alfred didn't know what to say. He stared at the hatted owl, helpless. Maybe, this was one of Master Pompadomp's pranks? Like that time he gave Alfred the task of finding his clothes, which he had hidden somewhere in town, in the middle of the night? He said it was an exercise to practice his stealth, and that there wouldn't be that may people about in the dark of night anyway. Well, shortly after he turned the moon into the sun.

But no, he looked much too serious now. And thinking back, he *did* always seem to pay more attention to the owl's health than his own. Always gave it - her - the cleanest bowl, the biggest meat chunks in the broth, the softest blankets to cuddle into, although the owl was so small it would get lost beneath the fabric and hoot angrily, until the Master helped her out. And that hat did seem too... sophisticated? It was black and shimmered like the rivers of the Shimmering Valley, like the night sky made liquid, with gems in a thousand different colours buried underneath. Had it always been so beautiful?

"Hoot- I mean Hoow!?" Appilbeak buried her head beneath her wing and began to snore. Master Pompadomp watched her lovingly. "It is a marvel, is it not? When I was a boy like you, she was already a legend. The Moon Bird. The beak that dug the valley. The orange eyes that outshone the sun, and see all."

"So, is she a polymorph? A phoenix, maybe, or a dragon? Or a wizard like you, cursed and imprisoned in this form?"

"Um, no. As far as I can tell, she's just an owl."

"That is..."

"Even more fascinating?"

"Yes! But how could you know? If that bird is older than you, I mean?"

"You know of the Decade of Death?"

"Yes, Master. My parents told me of it. When they were small, the wizards vanished from the Valley and left the simple folk behind. They told me of the terrible monsters that emerged from the rivers in your absence when I didn't want to brush my teeth, saying the smell would make them return. They told me the monsters killed and burned everything and everyone they could get their hands on. When you returned, my parents said, many had grown to hate the wizards. You... You left us. And you only ever told the people that you had no choice, but would not say another word."

"Yeah. So, there's this mushroom that grows in a far-of land, hidden in an illusion that takes the combined powers of hundreds of mages to clear away. Its taste is magnificent. Actually, we should maybe take another trip there. The mushroom grows once every 33 years and next year-"

"Master."

"Ah, yes. The mushroom was the last ingredient I needed for a ritual I had been working on for seven hundred years. Just like you, I suspected that Appilbeak had another form, hidden beneath this body. The ritual is supposed to reveal the true nature of a being. And, well, it appears that Appilbeak's true nature has brownish feathers instead of speckled grey, and possesses a very dashing hat."

"Master, please tell me you're lying." Alfred clutched at his heart, where his love for his master clashed with his compassion and his past.

"You do not find it dashing?"

"MASTER!" Alfred did not think that he had every raised his voice against Pompadomp - he did not think anyone had ever dared - but right now, he didn't care. "Do you mean to say you *abandoned* us, put the village - no, the whole *Valley* through the horrors of the Decade, took away all who could have protected us, because of *one owl*?"

Alfred could see Pompadomp purse his lips beneath his scraggly beard. A frown creased his forehead into a thousand folds, and, for a moment, the young apprentice did not sit across the most powerful creature in the visible realms, but just an old man. It scared Alfred to see him like this.

"I made a mistake", Pompadomp admitted. "After all those years... I was no longer myself. I had become maddened. I don't expect anyone to forgive me, but if it helps you to understand... I had heard all those stories of a powerful being. Back then, I was a mere knight and my lord had turned out to be an evil abomination. He had imprisoned my dear friends and my little brother out of despicable, low reasons and threatened to kill them. I was desperate. So I went on a quest to find this mythical bird. I presumed it to be a divine thing. In my dreams, its wings covered the night sky, and its feathers crushed mountains when they fell. I thought the Storm of Centuries was the wind it caused when it flew off. And then I found..."

His gaze drifted towards Appilbeak, who was no longer sleeping, instead trying to to eat the hat firmly attached at its head. When that didn't work, the owl - perhaps attempting to bring the hat into a vertically lower position - flipped upside down on its bird bar thingy, clinging to it with little yellow claws. It turned its head and looked indignantly at Alfred.

"Anyway, of course I thought I was mistaken. But when I walked past the bird, it followed me. I ignored it, at first. When it woke me up the following night, I did not think and tried to hit it with my sword, and my damned arm simply fell off."

"It *fell off*?"

"Yup. I knew then that this was no normal bird, but was still convinced that the Moon Bird had to be somewhere else. So I continued my quest like the fool I was back then, until I walked right into the nest of a Dragon Worm, deep inside the Jaw Mountains' caves, and the two inhabitants, each five times larger than our town, came right at me. I was still inexperienced then, so I thought it was over. Next thing, I heard an angry hoot, and Appilbeak flew right towards them. I called it back, but it listened to me back then as much as it does now. So I just watched. And I saw how the worms' hundred tentacles reached for her, and, right as they touched the owl, became grey and rigid. In the blink of an eye, the monsters had turned to stone. They tumbled and fell down towards me. I blacked out, but when I woke up, I was lying outside, wet feathers in my face and beak rubbing against my nose, almost tender. The moon shone right behind the bird, illuminating the silhouette of my saviour and it was then that I knew I had found the Moon bird, and it was then that I knew its name was Appilbeak.

It took only days to learn that whatever Appilbeak touches is either destroyed or gifted magnificent power. Depending on whether the bird likes you, or not, I assume. She gave me the power to defeat my old Lord and save my brother. And when her gift threatened to corrupt me, made me want to control everything around me, or else... Let's just say she took me down a couple of pegs, or rather pecks. Still hurts, I tell you..."

Appilbeak croaked, and it sounded a whole lot like laughter.

"And I still don't know much about Appilbeak. Just that she is the greatest force in the visible realms, probably in all other realms as well. My magic is a splinter of her forest. And, thankfully, she is truly benevolent. And adorable, too."

Alfred was speechless. But his heart thrummed with emotion, for he knew what was about to come next.

"Oh yeah, sorry Alfred! You're sitting there, and I'm blathering on and on and on... Of course. Your friends are awaiting you. Well, your ceremony is complete, and I have told you all I know, except for that mushroom, which we will come back to. Gods, it was delicious...

Ah. All that is left for you now, my once-apprentice, is to step into the moonlight with Appilbeak, and let her touch you. Let her determine whether you carry a true hero's heart, or whether you are to be destroyed. Any questions, my friend?"

"Yes Master Pompadomp, just one. Do you still have one of those owl treats left over?"