12 years later...

The sun was shining brightly through the trees, glowing a light green color dotted through the leaves as they blew gently in the wind. Not a cloud was seen in the sky, the birds were chirping marrily, singing their songs to each other as they did. Laying on the ground was a small girl wearing a pale yellow buttoned shirt, black boots and brown pants, listening to the birds sing out to their loved ones with her eyes closed. She looked to be about 12-years-old, from her height, but her frame wasn't bad- not too thin, she had some muscle to her, but not overly muscular, you could tell she was still a young girl. Her pitch black hair was laying on the ground behind her, getting it dirty from laying on the grass. 

"Cattaleya! Cattaleya!" A strill voice screamed out into the forest. Wincing at the sound, the young girl opened her eyes. A stunning shade of nordic blue shone in her eyes, making them pop out compared to her darker tanned skin and dark hair. Standing up she shook her hair and dusted herself off. 

"Coming! I'm here!" yelled the girl, walking towards the voice. As she walked, she was sad that the voices scared away the birds. She loved to listen to them sing, she even tried to whistle and join in sometimes, but that would always be met with silence before they started again. The new, very rough voice confused the birds. As the girl walked, she came out of the woods, staring at the back of the houses that were built next to the forest. She was met with the mad face of a stout woman. Smaller in size for most adult women, but she was all muscle, one could tell from just looking at her. Even at twelve, Cattaleya was almost as tall as the woman in front of her. 

"What are you doing out here!? You need to be either helping with the wooding or helping Mr. Fredrickson with the books, you hear? No lazing around for you!" the woman yelled. The little girl just stood there, a dumb smile on her face and nodded her head. 

"Yes ma'am, right away ma'am!" the little girl saluted her jokingly before running off around the house towards the street. The older woman would have hit her on the head if she kept calling her that, but as a joke. Even though she wasn't her mother, she would do anything to protect the girl, just as she promised twelve-years ago. A small Lepri climbed onto the woman's shoulder. A Lepri was a small lemur looking creature, but it was dark green, and instead of fur, it had a rough leather hide, and had no thumbs, just four toes, but it was great at climbing because of its tail.  

The girl wearing pants got strange looks from people as she crossed the street. There were many people passing now, since the kingdom was having their annual masquerade ball in the castle. No peasant was invited, of course, only the rich from other kingdoms were passing through. But even for a peasant girl, pants were not something she should wear, at least a dress would have been better. Crossing the street safely, she started walking towards the library before she heard a voice call out to her. 

"Cattaleya..! Cattaleya..!" It was barely above a whisper to hear. Stopping in her tracks, she looked around before slowly starting to follow the voice. She knew this was a bad idea, but she couldn't help that she felt like she heard the voice before. Long ago in her memories, before she was old enough to remember. 

"Cattaleya…!" The voice was getting louder now as she walked farther into the woods. Leaving the small bustling town behind, she was drawn in by the voice. It sounded like an angel, a soft woman's voice. 

"Hello!? Is anyone there?!" Cattaleya called out, looking around before here, the voice louder now. 

"Cattaleya!" It was almost completely in her ears now, screaming loudly. She held her head, shaking it and trying to get it to go away. Swatting the air like it would do anything. She kept walking forwards, then started to run, hoping it would go away. But it wouldn't stop, it kept screaming her name. 

Then it stopped, opening her eyes she didn't know she closed earlier, she found herself near the edge of a cliff, looking down into a dark ocean, the waves crashing into the rocks below. But there was something in front of her. Staring into her eyes were the dark blue eyes of a Thurntoder. They were like eagle eyes, one black pupil completely surrounded by the darkest blue before it could be considered black. The bird itself was the size of a normal horse, it towered over her, but it bent over to look into her bright crystal blue eyes. It had a long black beak, it looked like a giant eagle, but it was colored light blue and black, or match the skies. 

The little girl gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. This was a Thurntoder, so few of them existed, they liked to be kept hidden from humans most of the time. But why did it appear in front of her? It was like God himself stepped in front of her, she didn't know what to do. 

"Cattaleya." Sounded in her head. But it wasn't her voice, or the woman she heard before in the woods, it was a deep rumbling voice that sounded like thunder in her mind. 

"Iesurdrar." She spoke back softly. She didn't know where the name came from, but she had felt like it was right. It came from her heart, it felt true. The bird, feeling satisfied, awkwardly hopped closer to the girl. It was awkward for a bird as big as them to walk, so it hopped more towards her. She was taken aback, taking a couple steps back before looking back at the beast. It spread his wings out, showing the intricate blue, white and black patterns, it really was beautiful. 

Then the thought came into her mind. It was- no, no wild animal had come up to a human in 300 years to ask for a bond. Most of the time, people bought their bond-animal from a pet store- well the rich did anyway. Then the poor started doing it, doing it with the leftover animals, the Royals and Nobles, Lords or Dukes that didn't want any animal. The animal was forced to bond with them because they wouldn't live long if they didn't, which was sad, but how it worked now. Staring at the beast, placed her hands out to the side, trying to mimic what the bird was doing. 

Then she fell to the ground, yelling in pain. The bonding process hurt, it was binding the souls of two creatures together. If one died, they both died, but they shared the power the animal did. That's why most elites had powers, the most powerful ones- like control over the seas, bringing the earth up from the core, or even killing anything they wanted with a look. 

Iesurdrar also felt the pain, but didn't react as much. For a wild animal, pain was expected, but it wasn't that bad, pain was something that he was used to now. After a couple of moments, the pain stopped. Standing up from her curled place on the ground, she blinked a couple of times, looking back at the Thuntorder, "Was that the… is…" she couldn't think of the words. 

'Binding, yes. I choose you, over everyone else, because you have strength. Power to show that no one else has.' the bird spoke in her mind, that same deep rumbling voice. Shocked, she took a deep breath. It was a lot to take in now. Looking down at her left palm, she looked at the new mark on it, it was a bird. It was a simple looking bird on her palm, she felt it did no justice to the creature standing in front of her. 'To hide myself, I do not want to be followed. Or to let others know who I am bonded to. Or who you are bonded with.'

Cattaleya was confused for a second before realizing something, they now could talk through a mind-link. She would have to get used to that. There was a way to have private thoughts, but she would need to learn about that. 

'We should go back, your mother must be worried.' Iesurdrar thought to her, changing his appearance. He got smaller, changing into a small bird that looked like a mockingjay. They could share memories, she knew about him as much as he let her, which was his name pretty much. But he could look into her mind since she didn't know how to block let. Which was a nice little playful trick for now. 

Nodding her head, she started running back, the small bird now following along with her, flying quickly with her. It was almost night when she returned home. Her mother was fuming, but with explanation- with guidance with Iesurdrar, she explained what happened.