A little girl, shrieking, tried to climb the statue to escape the mob. A boy who might have been an older brother pushed her from behind, trying to get her to the top, the only safe place he could see. A handful of other children splashed through the fountain. One of them was pushed into the water toward that bit of safety, by a woman who fell then beneath a man's club.
Light blazed from steel. Down came the Stormwings, deflecting the rare arrow with a sweep of deadly wing. The first seized the girl in her claws; the second grabbed her brother. Others came for the remaining children, carrying them up to the balconies that overlooked the square.
Aunt Daine wasn't joking, thought Aly with awe. They do like children.
Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce
First book of The Immortals quartet, Stormwings are evil, enemies.
Second book of the quartet, we meet Rikash. Daine observes that he doesn't order Maura around, he tries to reason with her. And Maura tells Daine that the Stormwings take her flying. When Daine asks Rikash, he says they bear young with difficulty, so they value the young of others, especially if they're neglected, like Maura is.
In the third book, Rakish becomes a bantering companion, not restrained by diplomacy. Daine finds him refreshing among all the politicians. And it's Rikash's trick that ends up deposing Ozorne, paving the way for Carthak to improve.
In the fourth book, Rikash becomes an ally. He helps Daine and Numair in the Divine Realms, and in the mortal world at the Battle of Legann. He dies for the cause, and it's because of him and his clan that Daine argues with the great gods to let Stormwings stay in the mortal world instead of being confined to the Divine Realms.
In the Protector of the Small quartet, Stormwings are neither ally nor enemy, more of a nuisance than anything. Kel deprives them of the dead for the most part, but at the very end, she lets them at the bodies in Blayce's castle; the Stormwings aren't the monsters--Blayce, Stenmun, and any other child killers are. The Stormwings are just fulfilling what they were made for--making war more horrifying.
In Trickster's Queen, Daine names her second child after Rikash.
And it's all because he showed kindness to a neglected child.
Stormwings enjoy battle and destruction, chaos and fighting, but if there's a child endangered? No. They won't stand for that.
