"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity"

  - Sun Tzu

  The good news was that there didn't seem to be any spiders nearby.

  Aurelia, Thessa, and Junia swept the area, making sure to stay close together and keep their eyes peeled. Junia's sword only wavered a little with shaky hands, but her eyes were hard and resolute. They carefully edged their way around the perimeter of the clearing, making sure to look both above and below. Aside from a few scratches on the trunks of some trees and some smaller webs, there was no sign of the spiders.

  Returning to centre of the clearing where the main web was stretched, they gathered below to get a closer look at the catch.

  "That's a lot of birds." Aurelia said dryly. At least now they didn't have to worry about catching any Razortails today.

  "We're after the feathers, right?" Junia asked, looking at the flocks of grey-green birds trapped in the rge web. "Do you think they're still intact?"

  "They should be." Aurelia replied. "Most of them, at least. I can't imagine they've been damaged much."

  As they stood there puzzling, Thessa had a thought.

  "How were they caught anyway? I mean, I get normal birds, but we just saw branches that had been cut because of the Razortails. How could they be caught by a web?"

  "Hmm, good idea. I hadn't thought of that." Aurelia replied. She walked closer and reached out with her spear, prodding one of the pearly white strands with the tip of her spear. It held. Aurelia poked harder, and made little sawing motions, rubbing the webbing along the edge of the small bde. Still, it held firm.

  "Junia, do you mind if I borrow your sword for a second?" Aurelia asked, lowering her spear.

  "Not at all." Junia said as she offered the weapon pommel out to Aurelia. Her eyes never left the web.

  Aurelia took a step away from her lovers. Then, using her height and reach, swung a mighty overhead blow. When the sword contacted the strand, a dull twang! rang out through the clearing. Aurelia had to catch herself as the sword rebounded back at her. The web held firm, though if Aurelia shifted her head she could see that it wasn't wholly intact. As the light shimmered off the surface, she could see a small cut where the strand had begun to fray.

  Twang! Twang! Twang!

  On the fourth strike, it finally broke. With the strand gone, the main web drooped enough for Aurelia to reach up with her spear and prize one of the Razortails from the web. It took some working, and a few minutes, but eventually she was able to knock it down. At first gnce, it looked almost unharmed. It's feathers were still glossy and pure, and Aurelia could smell no rot. There weren't even any flies. The only evidence that the bird was dead rather than sleeping was the dry, cracked look of the soft tissue around it's eyes. As Aurelia picked up the bird from the ground, she let out a hiss of pain. She had grabbed it carelessly, her rge hand encircling most of it's midsection. Where her hand met the edge of it's feathers, she had cut herself. She quickly dropped it again, cursing herself and shaking her hand as the cuts bit. They were shallow, cosmetic at most, but they still stung.

  Thessa hurried over and began to fuss over Aurelia and her hand. Aurelia didn't think it was very serious, but she humored her Tauren lover. Junia was more careful when she tried, and managed to gingerly pick up the bird. She was careful to avoid the edges, and was able to find a position where she could cup it in her hands without touching any of the sharp parts. As Junia looked closer at the bird she held, Aurelia felt a line of slick warmth on her hand. Looking down, she saw that Thessa had finished assuring herself that Aurelia was alright and had decided to "clean" the small wounds with her tongue. Her eyes were closed, and she had an expression of rapture spread across her face as she thered all the spots where Aurelia's ichor had spilt. Aurelia decided to have a little fun with her Tauren lover. She grabbed a hold of Thessa's head with her hands, interrupting her from her reverie, then covered her mouth with one. She slowly eased her fingers into Thessa's yielding mouth. Her slender digits were long enough that their tips dipped into her throat, but Thessa was sucking them too devotedly to gag. Aurelia began slowly thrusting them in and out, fingering her lover's mouth and throat.

  Looking over, she saw that Junia had begun to slowly prize the feathers out of the bird, not wanting to stray too long from their objective, Aurelia decided to hurry up her fun. She lowered her head until she met Thessa's gaze. The Tauren's eyes were unfocused, but quickly met Aurelia's when her face drew near. Looking at Thessa now, Aurelia couldn't help but reminisce about their previous evening. Seeing Thessa's lips spread around her fingers, feeling her tongue pping. The looks they gave each other were full of heat, and held a promise to be fulfilled ter.

  Aurelia suddenly stopped her thrusting fingers, and used the hand to pull Thessa even closer. Her eyes widened slightly at the sudden change. Aurelia brought her lips closer to Thessa's, ensuring she could see both her eyes which pierced her, and her lips which demanded her. It was in this position that Aurelia staked her cim.

  "Mine." She said in a low purr, almost like a growl. With her fingers still down Thessa's throat, she couldn't reply, but she did freeze. The tongue which moments before been showing her affection stilled, and Aurelia could see in her eyes that there was a decision of great import going on behind those brown irises. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Thessa nodded eagerly, her movements hampered by Aurelia's hands. Her tongue quickly restarted it's work, and Aurelia leaned down to pnt a fat kiss on her head, sealing the words.

  Looking back over at Junia, Aurelia found the woman stared back at the pair with a bemused expression. Aurelia couldn't help but pink an little at the attention.

  "You two lovebirds done?"

  Aurelia looked down to see that Junia had wedged the bird's body between her sword and knife, and had squeezed the two together. Such was the desiccation of the body that all the soft tissues had crumbled at the force, leaving the feathers separate and intact. Seeing her look Junia answered her unspoken question.

  "It's better than plucking them out individually and turning your fingers to ribbons, eh?"

  "That it is." Aurelia said with a small frown, looking from the single bird they had, then to the huge web above their heads where the rest of the flock was stuck. She pulled her thrusting fingers from Thessa's mouth and approached Junia to get a better look at how to get the rest of the birds down. She ignored the small whine which escaped her Tauren lover when she withdrew her hand. Looking down at it, the small cuts were still there, but they were clean and barely visible.

  Standing directly below the web, she puzzled for a bit. Then she exchanged her spear for Junia's sword once more, and marched from the centre of the clearing to the edges. Following the thick strands to the rge trees to which they were attached, Aurelia realized she would have to climb a tree for the first time since her infancy. Back in Rome, her rge form had barred her from climbing as she grew up simply because of the density of branches. But here, with the trees so much rger, she found that there was enough space between the limbs for her to navigate her way above the forest floor.

  Snap!

  A branch she had stood on broke under her considerable weight, and she plummeted to the ground.

  Or, she would have if her wings hadn't snapped out and arrested her fall. She hovered there, dumbfounded for a moment. She heard hurried footsteps approach below her, and gnced downward to see Junia and Thessa rushing over with worry painted across their faces.

  "Are you all right?" Thessa began before she saw Aurelia hanging in the air. "Huh."

  Frankly, Aurelia couldn't believe it either. She hovered below the broken branch, but still many feet above the ground. Looking over her shoulders at her rge white wings, she was struck at the sight of them fully extended in flight. Pure, glossy feathers cascaded down her wings ranging from tiny coverts near the shoulder to mighty primaries more than two feet long. Staring at them, she realized something else.

  They weren't moving.

  Though she was stationary midair, her wings were still, only shifting slightly up and down with her breath. Nothing like the frantic beatings of a bird in flight. Taking deep breaths, she steadied her racing nerves, and pondered how to get down.

  Slowly, she began to flex her shoulders, feeling the seldom used muscles which stretched along the fine membranes of her wings. She began to drift downwards ever so gradually. As she approached the ground, the realization of what she had done caught up to her, and her etion caused a momentary pse in her focus. She began to fall faster, and impacted the ground with a loud thud! She heard a light oof! from beside her, and gnced over to see Thessa on her back looking slightly dazed. She quickly got up, however, and dusted her robes off with a look of chagrin on her face.

  "That was somehow one of the coolest, and one of the dumbest things I've ever seen!" Junia said helpfully.

  Puffing out her cheeks at her, Aurelia winced at her pained ankles and stepped over to Thessa.

  "I didn't nd on you again, right?" Aurelia said with a some concern and more than a little exasperation at herself.

  "No! Not really, I mean. It was more me not getting out of the way. It was only your wing that touched me!" Thessa said emphatically, nodding her head at the same time. "I barely felt a thing, I was more startled than anything else."

  "Wait wait wait. Again?!?" Junia interjected. "You mean you've fallen on Thessa more than once, Aurelia?"

  Thessa pipped up. "I mean, it was worse the first ti-" "Well talk about this another time!" Aurelia skillfully deflected, her face turning red. "We have feathers to collect, right?"

  Junia fixed her with a raised eyebrow, but didn't ask anymore questions.

  "You bet your fat ass I'll ask you about it ter." Junia promised.

  The second time Aurelia tried climbing, she faired better. Falling out of tall trees while carrying a sword hadn't been the smartest thing she'd ever done, so she was gd she was able to successfully ascend midway up the tree where the thick strands of spiderweb were anchored. Gncing at Junia and Thessa back in the middle of the clearing, they gave her a thumbs-up sign, indicating they were ready for her to start. Making sure her footing was secure this time, Aurelia brought out Junia's sword and sized up her options. Simply choosing the neared pearly white strand, Aurelia began to swing in a rge chopping motion.

  If only they had brought an axe.

  Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!

  The sounds of Aurelia at work filled the clearing, and much of the surrounding forest. With each thick cord she managed to cut, the web drooped lower, closer to Junia and Thessa's waiting hands. When she moved into the final one, she waved Junia and Thessa back form where they had been standing near to the web. With a heavy strike, the st strand was sundered, and the great mass of birds crashed to the ground. It was almost musical the way the metal feathers of the Razortails clinked and sung off each other when they collided with the hard earth beneath them.

  Junia and Thessa went to work carefully prizing the metal covered birds from the webbing which entangled them, and Aurelia began to make her way gingerly down the wide trunk of the tree. There was no more drama this time, and she was on the ground and striding towards her lovers in short order.

  Using the bdes of their weapons, and some ft stones they had gathered from nearby, they began to extract the feathers from the small bodies. Each time they pressed down, the birds colpsed inwards and crumbled into dust. Soon there was a pile of the stuff nearby the trio as they worked. It smelled slightly musty, like rotting leaves whenever a gust of wind blew by, but the women worked quickly to extract their cargo.

  Thessa worked to arrange the gathered feathers into sheafs, and them bind them together into bundles with hardy cloth and rope. It was precarious work, and she had to take her time to ensure the feathers cut neither the bindings or her fingers. But so long as they made no sudden or jerky movements on the return trip, they would be able to carry the feathers.

  After some time, the sun had shifted to disappear behind the high treetops, beginning to cast deep shadows across the open meadow. Thankfully, they were just wrapping up, and they soon set off on the return journey to camp. Determined gnces from Junia and heated lust from Thessa prompted Aurelia to believe that the evening ahead of her would be filled with equal parts embarrassment and pleasure.

  With a douse of caution, and a flutter of tiny wings. The tiny creature followed the three female bigs. Oh how she had felt pangs of longing in her heart at the sight and smell of more of that golden ichor. She had nearly lept out and revealed herself to the bigs right then and there, so overcome was she.

  She fluttered from tree to tree, from bush to bush, undetected by all things. She froze when the big with the white wings stopped in her tracks, and cast about herself with her eyes. Peering into the surrounding brush in search of something.

  "What is it? The human female asked.

  "I thought I heard something." The winged one said. She looked around for a moment more, before starting to walk again "I guess it was my imagination."

  Surely it couldn't have been her they detected? She was too stealthy for that, right?

  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she had been caught. Maybe she should just reveal herself now? The winged one had given gold to the cow-woman. Surely she could spare some for little Iri?

  She continued to follow the bigs, flitting along behind them all they way to camp.