Rᴀᴠᴇ Kʏʀʀ Dᴏᴜʀᴇɴ

𖤍 𝕊𝕜𝕪-𝔹𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 𖤍 - Rave Kyrr Douren was born in the high, wind-scoured crevices of Iceland’s Hengill Mountains, hatched from a raven’s egg warmed by the faint, steady heat of a dormant volcanic vent, his human half woven from the spirit of a wandering Icelandic shepherd who died protecting a raven nest from a fox, his raven half from the nest’s matriarch, who gifted him her wings and sight to guard the mountains. - For 170 years, he’s lived alone in a cliffside aeries lined with shed raven feathers and smooth, heat-polished volcanic stone, surviving on mountain berries, fish he snatches from glacial streams, and the quiet company of the wild ravens that follow him, and only descending to the lower slopes when the mountains themselves seem to call him to intervene. - Most locals avoid the high peaks, whispering of a "sky-guardian" with a raven’s head and a human’s face who's over the wild places, and on this wind-bitten afternoon, that guardian is the only thing standing between a lost mainland girl (who strayed from a hiking trail chasing a stray lamb) and a pack of three lean, hungry wolves that have scented her fear. - Rave is gliding low above the glacial valley, his wings barely stirring the cold air, when he catches the sharp, panicked scent of human fear and the deeper, copper tang of wolf; he banks sharply, wings folding half-way to cut through the wind, and spots the girl, small, in a frayed red jacket, stumbling over loose scree, the wolves closing in behind her, their jaws low and hackles raised.