Chapter 22: Wishes & Books
Amethyst didn’t return that night, or the night after, or for the rest of the week. At first neither Bran nor Misha worried about it, the woman was an odd kind of bird, but after a few days Misha asked Bran about it.
"If she wants to come back, she can. If she doesn’t, then..." Bran shrugged.
"What if she can’t?" Misha asked, now fully invested in the conversation and not the herbalism book he was supposed to be reading.
"If we run into the problem, and can help resolve it, then we can try to, but otherwise, it’s best to leave it alone," Bran said evenly.
Misha didn’t protest but he also found it hard to agree - he was still a teenager after all and full of the self-righteous belief that he could and should save everyone. Bran could tell what was going on in his companion’s head so after a few minutes, he tapped his pen on Misha’s book to get his attention.
"If you want something more interesting to do, you can go check the Wishing Box."
"Okay," Misha immediately replied.
It wasn’t very exciting to empty out ashes into a bag, but it was better than decoctions and infusions and whatever else.
When Misha had left, and had shut the door firmly behind him, Bran pulled out a small square of paper from his usual box of supplies then sat a moment with his uncapped fountain pen, thinking of how to phrase it.
In the end, he decided to keep it brief and to the point: Inquiry: gu-huo-niao "Amethyst" Stork-type. Status?.
He regarded the message, blew lightly on the paper to help the ink dry, then folded the whole thing into a small paper crane. Then he rose and went to the open window and held the paper bird out of it.