"Uh, you can just farm the meat instead. Or buy it from someone who does. Hunting's not obligatory. Also it was absolutely not clear to me that your kind of folks wouldn't be upset if someone went into the forest and nabbed a deer for supper, so, I guess I learned something, maybe? - are druids or whatever you are that numerous? I didn't think there were 'so, so many' to begin with, let alone dying in whatever skirmishes are happening over where the forest ends and pasture begins..."

"Druids aren't the ones who die, it's the ordinary people who always suffer! The smallest and weakest and most numerous. And we absolutely understand hunting! I hunt myself!" (Mostly voles these days.) "When I was helping defend the forest, humans came in and hunted deer and pigs and so on a few times, and that was fine. And one time a lot of humans came in and we thought they were hunting, but they began leaving the dead deer behind, so them we killed, because they were just there to hurt and kill. But even that we wouldn't do - we wish we didn't have to do - if there wasn't a war and we didn't have to defend the forest, because there are so so much more important things that we should be doing! Druids aren't meant to be fighting! We're meant to be growing plants and, and helping people! But we have to spend almost all our time fighting to defend the forest, because you - the humans just won't leave us alone!!"

(Greystripe hoots sympathetically, and wraps her head in a wing-hug. "Thanks," she mutters in Sylvan, and takes a few rapid breaths before going on.)

"Most humans who go into the forest and die, or something bad happens to them, it's just that they run into a dangerous creature, someone who decides to hunt them or is defending its lair. Or they just get scratched by a poisonous vine or fall into a pit or something. The forest is dangerous, but it's not - angry, or evil, or organized. It's not the druids going after you or wishing you were dead."

Feather feels she's not making much progress, and she's too emotional to be a good listener and to learn (and being visibly emotional near Chelish people never helps, in her experience). But she doesn't want to give up on this. Maybe it's just because he's the first person she tried talking to, and by the time she's met ten different people it won't feel as urgent and painful, but - she really really wants to get through to him. To make him understand where she's coming from, so he can maybe explain where he is coming from as well.

"You're very... excitable. Who are these ordinary people who live in forests? I didn't think any ordinary people lived in forests."

"Um? They're - everywhere, you can't miss them? Even if outsiders aren't used to the forest it's full of people, you can hear the birds at least anywhere you go?" She stares at him in confusion.

..wait. Is this that thing where - oh no.

"I was taught once," she says numbly, "that the outsiders - the humans who live outside the forests - don't think anyone is really people, other than humans. And I guess maybe elves, or devils. Is that... Do you really think I'm not a person? Or, or that I wasn't one before I became a druid?" 

Please, please don't let him say he doesn't make the words, Feather thinks. Please, let him give her a clear answer so she can understand something, even if it's the most terrible thing in the world.

"Uh. - you kind of sound like maybe Chelish isn't your first language so I don't know if this is a problem with what you learned 'people' meant or something else. I think humans and elves and devils are people, and probably so are... angels, and dragons, and halflings I guess, and - most things that can talk are probably people. You seem like a person. Are there a ton of... kobolds or something, in the forests, that I didn't know about, or... fairies are probably people, I guess there's probably fairies? But not birds. If you mean like, regular birds, and not... monstery birds, or familiars, or wizards who have turned themselves into birds, or whatever."

Right, alright, fine, this is a language problem. She can solve language problems. Fine.

"You're right. I learned Chelish from - Chelish humans - my first language is what you call Sylvan. The language of the forest. When I say people I mean - those who can feel. Those who can be happy, those who can be hurt, those who can do things and make choices if you let them. If you're Good, you want to help people and not to hurt people. If you're Chaotic, you want people to be free, only people can be free. If you're Lawful, maybe you want to make a law for all people, although not all people can understand every law. And if you hurt and kill and torture people, just because you enjoy it, that is Evil."

"Nobody cares if you kick a rock, or a dead body. It's not Evil, it's not Good, it's not Lawful. Nobody is going to stop you. But if you kick a people, the people wants to stop you, their friends and family want to stop you, or to take revenge. Because a people is someone who hurts with pain when you kick them."

"If you find an owl - just like Greystripe - and you kill them, then their friends will be sad and hurt. Most owls don't have friends who can take revenge on a human. If you kill Greystripe, then I will hate you and probably take revenge, and if you kill me, then my friends - not just Greystripe - will hate you and take revenge. But the only difference between Greystripe and most owls is who their friends are. All the owls are the same people. If you don't care when you kill people, unless they have powerful friends who can take revenge, that's - really just saying you don't care about killing anyone, I guess."

"Also I still don't understand what you mean by 'monstery birds'. If one day I become a very powerful druid, and learn spells to make Greystripe so strong that he could kill most humans, would you then call him a 'monster'? Is it just a word for strong creatures after all?"

"I think instead of 'people' you want 'creatures' or something for that if you're really not making a difference between a totally normal bird and a human or a dragon or a fairy... 'Monster' is a really vague word, it kind of means - some but not always all of bigger, meaner, scarier, more magical, less social I guess, than a regular animal or person is. So - I guess you're gonna tell me owls all have the same number of friends and it's just that you happen to be the kind of owl-friend I can talk to, but I can talk to you, and that makes your familiar not as monstery as he would be if he was just flying around by himself being gigantic and terrifying, yeah? Sort of the same way a bandit isn't a monster. I could talk to a bandit, I could talk to you about your owl. So your owl is more social-to-me, than a regular owl, so less monstery, though you could sure magic him up enough to make him more monstery.

"- also take half a care about kicking dead bodies, some are sensitive about that when they liked whoever lived in it."

"Are you saying that - if you could speak with everyone - you'd need a spell, I don't know if you have the right spell but - if you had it, or telepathy or something, then you would - treat everyone as people and not want to kill them or destroy the forest they live in?"

It can't be that simple, right? The older druids wouldn't have missed a solution that was so, so stupid. But - it's obviously important, important enough to ask insistently about while ignoring everything else he says for the moment, like that humans aren't 'normal' (???)

"Does telepathy even work on animals? I thought you needed, like, druid-y-er magic to get anything out of an animal... anyway it would not necessarily help if we thought birds were people, we know humans in other countries are people and that doesn't stop there from being wars. Tons of folks shipped out to the Worldwound, before it closed, to fight demons for leaving the Abyss where they're meant to go, and those talk. Also you - said you hunt? Apparently you hunt stuff you think is people? That's, uh. Us not druid types usually do not hunt and eat each other, that's crazy serial killer stuff."

"That is a good point. If we had met before I learned Chelish I could not talk to you. Why would you think I was more of people than Greystripe, if you couldn't talk to either of us? Just because I look more like a human? I look like an owl for half the day! You're a wizard - no, sorcerer - you know looks are, are only the surface!"

"And yes, telepathy works on animals, why would it not work? Maybe there are different kinds, I don't know, maybe wizards have a bad version of it, just like wizard language spells don't work on animals. One of my best friends is a giant owl and she has a telepathy that works only on animals."

"And - hunting is, well, Neutral. Anything you have to do all your life in order to live, it is not Good or Evil. Everyone has to eat, and for people who eat meat that means hunting, and yes, hunting people! Even when you eat plants you eat people sometimes! Only in Nirvana can everyone live without hurting anyone ever! Most races don't eat each other, and humans don't normally eat each other, you're right that it's not natural and a human would probably have to be pretty crazy to do it. Or very desperate. But - it's not unnatural for an owlbear to kill and eat a human, just like a human can kill and eat a deer. If you're very very Good, I don't know, maybe you refuse to ever eat anyone and just go to Nirvana already. But not doing that, and eating people, does not mean there is no right or wrong in the world anymore! It does not make it alright to go and kill the forest!"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to learn from you, and I'm talking too much about what I think. I - really do want to understand how you think about it, and I don't understand yet. Is the thing about being able to talk to people not it?"

Feather feels there was something else important he said. There was a lot of stuff she ignored, to be honest, she can't respond to everything weird he says, she can barely keep track of everything... 

...wait.

...waaaaait a minute.

"The Wourldwound closed?!"

"- yeah, I'm pretty sure the new Queen and her adventuring party finagled it. You might need to - calm down or at least slow down, if you want to cover lots of stuff and remember any of it."

Calm down, he says! This is the best news she's heard all year! It might honestly be the best news of her lifetime, depending on how the new Chelish rulers end up behaving towards the forests. 

...she should still verify it somehow, before throwing a party. She doesn't even have anyone to throw a party with except Greystripe! But still! The Worldwound closed!!!

She'll do her best to calm down, though. He's right. The Chelish humans don't show emotion and don't respond well to seeing it, and she needs to become more like them in order to understand them.

She's not really sure what to ask now, though, the conversation really got away from her. She'll ask other people later, to check if the theory about people being only those you can speak to (or who look like you? or aren't scary monsters?) holds any water.

"...All right. Um. That did help me some, I am still confused but now I'm more" - she doesn't know how to say productively - "more profitably confused, I think. Maybe I'll think of other questions later."

"Is there something you'd like in return? I can cast a cure spell, or give you three magical berries that are enough food for a day and also cure you a tiny bit when you eat them, those are good for three days from now. I don't know which other spells you might want. And of course I can tell you more about myself, if you want to - exchange understanding."

"I don't know what spells druids get! I can cure myself, but the berries sound good to me, food's never been pricier in these parts. Which forest're you from?"

Oh, did she not say? "The Ravounel Forest, in the west. And I know many spells. Ignoring those only useful for fighting, and those that last only a few minutes -" and those that are slightly secret - "I could... let you carry a lot more weight or move a bit faster or not leave any tracks for a few hours. I could talk to an animal for you, or check which if any disease someone has so you know how to treat them, or... hmm... dig or move some earth quickly."

"Huh, some of those sound like ones clerics get but not all of them. The berries still sound best to me."

She counts out three goodberries from her pouch. "Each one's good for a meal, so no need to eat them all at once. If you don't eat them in three days, counting from... a few hours from now probably, they'll stop being magical."

"Gotcha. Lasts better than a raspberry, at least!"

"It does! So - I don't know if we'll meet again, maybe when the convention starts? If you see me you can ask me more questions if you want." 

And with that she'll leave and try to - arrange everything she's heard in her head, for later, because she doesn't think she can make much progress understanding it right away. Maybe she can find someone else who'll make more sense to her, or maybe after talking to enough different people she'll see some pattern.