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Eventually, Shura says she wants to be alone.

And she goes off alone.

Nicoa stays.
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Kalavar snuggles him some more.

There's not really much else she can do.
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Yep.

Shura and Nicoa are next seen together - with him sitting in his place on her shoulder - a few days later. They don't seem to be talking to each other much, and they're still subdued, but not miserable or standoffish anymore.
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Helen smiles tentatively at them.

"Are you okay?"
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"We'll be fine," says Shura.

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"Okay," says Helen.

"Want to go flying?"
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They go flying.

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When Inkeri is twelve, almost thirteen, she settles too. Her Veravia is a barred owl. She makes the separation on her first try, and Veravia is not nearly as resentful as Nicoa was, although he's away - whether on errands or because he wants the space isn't clear. Inkeri is always perfectly happy to see him when he comes back to her.

"You're next, I guess," Nicoa tells Kalavar when this happens.
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"Guess so," says Kalavar. "Unless I just - don't."

She shifts to a condor again. She is condors a lot, especially for long flights, but the rest of the time too.
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"If you don't settle I wonder if you have to separate anyway?" wonders Shura.

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"I don't know," says Helen. "I don't think it's happened before."

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"I wonder how come you're last. You'd think Inkeri, since she's younger than us."

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"I dunno," says Helen. She sighs. "Maybe we really won't."

Kalavar says to Nicoa, "What does it feel like?"
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"Like - glue setting," says Nicoa. "I was fewer and fewer things, and then I was this thing."

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"Weird," says Kalavar. "I can't imagine."

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"It might be different for different people."

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"Yeah, maybe," says Helen.

"I wonder why Petaal never settled," muses Kalavar. "I mean, because she's peculiar, but - why?"
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"We don't know," says Shura.

"Maybe she isn't any things. Or she's kind of like in that book where there are aliens whose daemons settle but only to a color, not a shape. Except she's all kinds of colors," Nicoa says.
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"Maybe she's all the things," says Helen. "Sometimes she's really strange things. She was a human with big fluffy bird wings once."

"They were soft," says Kalavar.
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"I've never heard of that," laughs Nicoa.

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"It's peculiar," says Helen, giggling.

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"He's super, super peculiar. He should be in superhero movies. Super-Peculiar!"

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Helen cracks up.

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"Actually having an unsettled daemon and being a grownup would be a pretty good superpower," muses Shura.

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