An Owl's Rise

Spotting Rehni and Bylur, Evelyn headed on over to them.

They were sitting around a relatively small table, though since it was made for owls that could grow up to twenty feet tall it was not actually tiny by any means.

As soon as Evelyn made her presence known, both Bylur and Rehni turned to look at her and had relived smiles on their faces.

Seeing this, Evelyn was taken aback a bit, since she had not expected them to be so happy just to see her again.

'Perhaps I made more of an impression on them than I thought.'

Joining them at the table, Evelyn hopped up onto a stool that had been prepared for her as she was a bit too short to sit on the ground and reach the table comfortably.

Even after going up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank, she had barely increased in size and was only around six and a half feet tall after growing six inches.

Yet while she was considered short for an awakened rank beast, Rehni who had been small before had also shrunk down when she evolved and was only around four feet tall now.

It was quite surprising as most beasts got bigger when they evolved in order to gain greater physical power, but sometimes certain evolutions had them getting smaller.

On the other hand, Bylur had certainly followed the established trend, and was easily two feet taller than before and looked quite a bit bulkier.

Other than that, he did not seem much different. Though his feathers seemed to have a glossier luster to them.

Once Evelyn had taken her seat, both Rehni and Bylur were quick to extend strands of magical energy to her in order to communicate.

Nodding her head, she accepted them, and the connection was made.

"I am glad to see that you are alright, Evelyn. It truly seemed that you were going to die after being attacked by that monster." Rehni said with a glint of fear in her eyes.

She had witnessed the entire battle after being blown away by the shockwaves of fierce magic being thrown around and was nearly killed just by being in the area.

"I wanted to help you like Bylur did, but I just could not get my wings to work. That thing was just too far beyond me." Rehni said while trembling.

The appearance of the empress dryad that was far stronger than any of them even now had naturally paralyzed her with fear. Even if she wanted to help Evelyn, she had been too gripped with terror to move.

"I already told you not to let it get to you Rehni. I barely found my own courage to move and bought only a couple of seconds despite getting fatally injured. If Lady Melisandre had not shown up, we all would have been dead no matter what we did." Bylur said to reassure Rehni.

Watching this exchange closely, Evelyn could tell that the two of them were far closer than they had been before.

During the expedition Rehni had been more reserved, and Bylur had mostly paid attention to Evelyn despite her finding it annoying.

'I suppose living through something like that does forge strong bonds. It is in a way similar to how Mason and I grew closer the more our father beat us.' Evelyn thought.

Of course, she felt a closer connection to them as well, and even though she had not really cared for Bylur before, his saving her had endeared him to her a bit.

It took a long time or a great act to gain any amount of Evelyn's trust, but him nearly dying for her had won not a small amount of her trust. Even after all she had been through in both of her lives.

"There is no reason for you to feel down Rehni. When the Empress Dryad initially attacked, I was gripped with fear as well and fled without worrying about anyone else. The only reason I did not leave all of you behind is because it set up some sort of wide range barrier. I also only fought because I felt it was the only way for me to survive. It is not cowardly to run away if you believe there is no chance of winning. Once you die, that is the end. Your life is over, and everything you fought for and hold dear is taken away."

As Evelyn said this, a dark grimace formed on her face. She was remembering her first death and all the pain that came along with it.

Thankfully, her words and expression helped Rehni to shed the bit of guilt she felt for being unable to do anything in the face of the empress dryad.

"Bylur, I also need to thank you. Your intervention saved my life. Without your help, there is no doubt I would be dead now. I know I have been cold to you in the past, but it is because I do not trust easily. And to be honest, how pushy you were made me annoyed and wary. However, I now believe that you are unlikely to harm me." Evelyn said as she bowed her head towards the snowy owl who had saved her.

Bylur, receiving such praise and genuine words from Evelyn, looked away bashfully and gratefully accepted her thanks and acceptance.

After they had everything regarding the incident with the empress dryad behind them, they all began relaying what they had been generally up to for the last several months.

For the five months that Evelyn had been unconscious, Bylur and Rehni became friends and started working together.

Having witnessed what kind of absurd power was out in the world, they began working as hard and fast as possible to advance.

Nevertheless, they did not cut corners and made sure to attain the highest quality evolutions that they could, and just like Evelyn they had needed to gather three items as catalysts.

At the very least, while both of them actually were fairly rare species of owls, the requirements for their evolutions were still known. And after several months of hard work, they had obtained what they needed.

"Except it seems that you must have come across something truly spectacular Evelyn. Even though you were unconscious for five months, you have already shot up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank." Rehni said with awe.

Both her and Bylur were still only at the low tier despite having evolved before Evelyn.

This proved that some sort of anomaly must have happened, or Evelyn never would have been able to make so much progress in such a short amount of time.

'Should I tell them about the magic spring?' Evelyn thought, considering allowing them in on one of her secrets.

She was feeling indebted to Bylur for saving her life and she liked Rehni quite a bit. Perhaps then allowing them access to the spring might make a good gift to reward them for their help.

'No, it is too soon for that. I trust them to a degree, but one can never be too careful. I have realized that I need allies, but I cannot show them one of my best cards yet. Perhaps later I can use it as a test of their loyalty.' Evelyn thought, contemplating how to make Bylur and Rehni her allies.

During her time in the gorge and desert she had found herself needing help in both places. With Lucia rescuing her in the gorge and teaming up with the burrowing owls to take out the ospreys in the desert.

In either of those scenarios, she would not have been successful alone. And while she still did not like the idea of working with others, she knew that it would become a necessity.

That was where Bylur and Rehni came in.

Both of them had shown through their actions that they were to be trusted enough to not stab her in the back at least.

'I guess I can win them over more by handing out some of my lower quality alchemical items for free and going out on missions with them.'

Satisfied with her conclusion, Evelyn was going to make her suggestion, when another opportunity to work together was presented to her.

"I know this may be forward of us, but we actually asked you here for another reason other than just confirming you were okay." Bylur said with a bit of hesitancy.

"I am sure that you have heard of the Ranking Hall, right?" Rehni added on quickly.

Racking her brain, Evelyn tried to remember what that was, and recalled when she was still fairly new to the Roost Anneli showing her around and mentioning the name.

'I believe it is one of the halls she glossed over and said was not really important for me at the time.'

After recalling what little she knew of the place, Evelyn nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"Yes, I have heard of the place but never actually gone into it. What does it have to with the two of you?"