The day before Eloise was discharged from the hospital.
Everyone was busy, so Eloise was alone in her hospital room, reading a picture book in bed.
Suddenly, a large raven landed by the window.
Just as Eloise was about to get out of bed to get some fruit to feed the bird,
the raven flew into the room and started tap-dancing on the small table at the foot of her bed.
The sound of its claws tapping on the wooden tabletop was quite loud.
"Wow! Amazing!" Eloise stayed in bed and watched the raven dance.
After about a minute of simple dancing,
"Thank you for watching. Remember to tip with an apple!" the raven suddenly spoke and gave a simple bow.
"Okay~ A talking bird is amazing." Eloise clapped her hands and placed the apple on the table where the raven was.
"The reaction is a bit different from what I expected. At least be surprised that I can talk."
"It's amazing that a bird can talk."
Although little Elo added this,
the overall reaction was still different from what raven had imagined.
"Okay, it's alright." raven flew aside and transformed into human form.
She was a fair-skinned woman with black and white hair, wearing a cloak.
"Don't be afraid, little Elo. Look, I have this."
She took out a small gold metal tag, meant for Elo's verification.
After all, there were too many family members; it wasn't practical for a child to remember them all in a short time.
So only trusted family members were given this metal tag.
It had a lot of anti-counterfeiting features added; one of the uncles in the family was very skilled at this.
They seemed to have gotten a little carried away with it, making it quite formal, like some kind of currency, with family crests engraved on it.
This was all to prevent someone from impersonating a family member and taking Eloise away.
The raven sister held up a badge engraved with a sun and feathers.
She handed the tag to little Elo for confirmation.
"Ah, it's the family identification tag. Who is your sister?" Eloise asked curiously, having learned to recognize the tag's anti-counterfeiting design as her parents had taught her.
"Me? I'm Ava. Butterfly Dance. Vinaka."
She struck a comical pose, trying to look cute.
"You look much better than the intelligence report said."
She then scratched little Elo's cheek.
This made the little girl giggle.
It seems the intelligence report needs a slight revision.
"Let's go out and play. Come on, get in."
Because of the special circumstances, the little girl couldn't be out alone.
But there were exceptions.
She carried her little girl on her back and leaped out of the window.
"Eh!? Whoa~!"
She transformed into a raven again, only larger, easily carrying little Elo in flight.
After flying for a distance.
The raven landed in a garden.
"This is Grandpa Haider's garden. You can run and jump around as much as you want here."
Even family members aren't allowed to come here casually.
The local residents quickly noticed the new little visitor.
Two blue-capped mushroom sprites curiously approached from behind a tree.
"Hey, that's not fair! I've never seen you show up so quickly before. How come you appear so soon after I've only been here a short while?" Ava grabbed one of them in protest.
"Hi, hello, new friend! I'm Elois, and you are?" Elois greeted the little friend.