Wiggling

Aos now alone began to memorize the tome. She read the words on the first page over and over again until eventually, she began to blankly recite them. She sat on the stump but before she flipped the page and began on her second collection of words she repeated the last word on the first page but instead of blankly stating it she mistakenly uttered it with the same intent that resounded inside of her. The word had power instilled into it. The very air honoured the words by carrying them with force. Surprised at this, Aos attempted the set of words on the first page again but instead of blankly reciting them, went over each and every word with their specific intents. Aos marveled at how each word seemed to cause a reaction within the surrounding nature, seemingly reacting causing the few blades of grass that peered through the snow to slightly wiggle. Without noticing Aos' nature energy was quickly depleting. She only realized when she felt deeply fatigued soon after finish the page. Noticing this she noted that to maximize efficiency she would rather blankly memorize the words instead of practicing them with intent to prevent useless exhaustion.

Once the sun reached high noon, Aos followed the old man's instructions and began to meditate upon the wooden stump. Aos realized that although she couldn't maintain meditation for even a minor fraction of the time that she could maintain her individual siphoning, the rate of which she recovered was vastly superior. The fatigue from siphoning also greatly increased with meditation. Neither of these two factors deterred Aos as she pushed on well into the night.

Aos eventually decided it was enough for one day and headed back to the wooden cave to rest. On the way back to the cave she noticed a large black bird watching her from one of the trees. Aos curious about druidic decided to attempt to communicate with the bird through druidic. She presumed that since the bird is part of nature and has nature energy it may respond to her words.

Aos paused and thought of what to say. She had only so far memorized the most basic and conceptual words. After no less than a few minutes of contemplating she finally decided to "(my) (friend)" in druidic followed by "(no)(hurt)". The large black bird seemed confused as if it had been the first time it had understood a human speak. The words in the air affected the black bird and it flew down and perched itself on top of Aos' head. Aos' was greatly surprised at the black bird's actions and although slightly scared continued her way to the wooden cave with the black bird.

Once they arrived at the cave Aos told the large black bird, "(home)". The black bird responded with a few short *kraa* *kraa* noises. Aos watched as the black bird flew down from her head and landed on the floor of the wooden cave.

Aos then approached the large black bird and in a moment of curiosity, Aos reached out her hand and instead of siphoning energy, she attempted to channel energy towards the large black bird. Aos felt as an invisible connection formed between the black bird and herself. Through this bond, she could understand the basic thoughts of the bird such as 'happy' and 'friend'. Reading these thoughts Aos was content and decided to go to sleep.