Iron-bound wheels clattered against cobble-stone pavement, their axles creaking and moaning with each meter the wagon rolled forward along the street. The mighty biruburu snorted and glared at passer-bys while pulling the vehicle forward. Each of its massive steps landed onto the stones with a loud thump. The driver sitting atop his wagon lifted his hand and exchanged a greeting with a cooper who was busy at work before his shop. A group of housewives chattered and laughed together as they headed for the marketplace with baskets and bags hanging from their arms. Somewhere, a little further away, loud shouting could be heard as a peddler encouraged people to come and take a little closer look at his goods.

In other words, it was a typical, peaceful day at Hometown.

A leather pouch flew upwards, made a beautiful arch in the air and fell back again, its plentiful contents jingling as it landed onto Aryn's palm. The protector smiled as he hefted the pouch in his hand, feeling the convincing weight of the coins inside. Then he tossed the pouch into air and caught it again.

Toying with his well-earned money, Aryn strolled down the street with a pleasant pace, whistling quietly as he went. He had a reason to be in a good mood, for a mission well accomplished was always worth of a little tune.

The merchant who had hired Aryn to protect his caravan had been more than satisfied with his services and had been very generous with his reward. This money would tide Aryn over until he would find someone who would really need the services of a protector.

Now he could afford giving a discount for that next assignment. Aryn always dropped his prices remarkably when the client truly needed his services.

"Well, it's been a good day", Aryn said as he tucked the money pouch into the wide sleeve of his leaf-green shirt. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he added: "Don't you think so, Nina?"

The black cat that had been silently padding a few meters behind his back halted and lifted its blazing yellow gaze. Its snow-white-tipped tail swayed lazily back and forth as the little animal answered: "Meow."

Aryn snorted and continued his stroll, his little shadow trailing after his every step. Walking into the shade of a tall, grey wall, the protector tilted his head backward to look at the large building rising behind that barrier. His pace began to slow down and an absent smile made its way to his lips.

The enormous, angular shape of the Great School of Magic had changed not a bit since the last time he had seen it. Oh well, perhaps that black stain up there was a pretty new one and somebody had probably repaired that window hatch in the second floor just a little while ago, but such little details were tolerable, considering what kind of people called this building their home. The roof bathed in the afternoon sun, the eaves still glimmered wet after a recent rain.

"You know, Nina", Aryn began, "That's where your namesake lives in."

"Meow", Aryn imagined Nina to reply quietly.

Aryn furrowed his brow as a single swallow arched down from the skies and made a graceful landing onto the School's eaves. "I wonder how she's doing." Halting before the beautiful, ornamental iron-bar gate leading to the School grounds, the bodyguard rubbed his chin. "How long has it been since I last saw her?" he wondered to his pet, "Three -- no, I think it's four years already. Those definitely were crazy times."

Pushing his hands into his pockets, he watched how the swallow suddenly took into air and fluttered out of sight. Reflecting to the days long gone, Aryn added absently: "She must have grown into a beautiful young woman by now… I wonder if I should go and actually see her…"

"Meow", Nina replied in its superior manner.

Chuckling, Aryn shook his head. "Nay. She probably has enough friends over there anyway." Turning away from the gates, he resumed his idle walk down the street. As he slowly proceeded forward, he raised one of his hands and absently caressed a single black feather that had been tied into the leather band that kept his ponytail together.

"Say, Nina", Aryn said after half-a-dozen steps or so, "I wonder if it was such a great idea to tell that little sister of hers, Mina, about where our black-winged princess lives. Now that I think about it, it was sort of dangerous…"

"Meow."

Aryn nodded at that. "Yeah, both of them did deserve to see each other, but…"

The bodyguard had finally walked to the end of the wall-shaded street. While turning around the corner, he almost bumped into a pair of passerbys who were coming from the opposite direction with remarkable hurry.

"Whoops!" Aryn exclaimed, holding out his palms in an apologetic gesture, "Excuse me." With those words he made a graceful sidestep, exchanging a little nod with the travelers as they went past him.

"Say, Ryu", one of the travelers, a slim yet wiry Woran girl with short, fiery red hair, began in a lively manner. Even as she spoke, she shifted the staff she was carrying from her left hand to the right. "Do you think I can learn magic in that school, too?"

"I… guess so", replied her companion, a well-built young man with blue hair that had been gathered into a ponytail. He was carrying a long sword strapped to his back.

"Oh, great!" exclaimed the Woran girl, barely able to keep her eagerness in check. Her long tail swayed back and forth with excitement. "C'mon, Ryu, c'mon c'mon c'mon! Let's hurry!"

The blue-haired man said something, but the pair had already walked too far for Aryn to hear the exact words. Running his hand through his hair, the protector gave the travelers one more glance and then turned to resume his own journey. "Well, if you discount my Grandma", he mused to his cat, "That was the third full-blooded Woran I've seen. I hope they won't cause too much of trouble at the School." Hesitating, he looked over his shoulder with a little concerned mien on his sharp features. "You think I should check it out, just in case?"

"Meow."

"Yeah", Aryn laughed, shaking his head and resuming his stroll, "What on earth I'm thinking? Nina's perfectly safe within those walls. What could happen to her there?" Letting out a long sigh, he smiled and tucked his hands into his pockets. Walking along a sunny lane, he closed his eyes to enjoy a pleasant breeze that suddenly began to tug at his ponytail.

"Come on, Nina, let's go and get ourselves something to eat."

"Meow", Nina replied.

So, it's finally finished.

After almost two years and what must have been hundreds of working hours, I have finally written those last two words to my story… The End. I have no idea exactly how much of my time I've poured into this baby project of mine, but I do know one thing: despite all the troubles, despite all the delays and slumps, I enjoyed every single moment.

After all, as Terry Pratchett has said, writing is the most fun anyone can have by themselves.

While writing this story, I have learned many things. My knowledge in English grammar and glossary expanded remarkably from what it was in the beginning. I honed my skills as a narrator and learned new ways and styles to tell a story. To put it short, I think writing this story has taught me more about the exploration of imagination and the wonderful skill that is the magical art of writing.

I would like to give my special thanks to all those people who read my story this far and have actually let me know what they thought about it. Thanks, people! There aren't very many of your kind, but without your existence, I doubt this story would ever have been completed.

The story of Just a Little Bird was finished on Sunday, 22^nd of July in 2001. It wasn't only the very first of my stories to ever reach the line of a hundred pages, but its length of 207 pages also broke my personal record as the longest story I have ever written so far. It had originally been meant for only about a hundred pages, but few things ever go exactly as they are planned, do they?

Thank you very much for reading my story. It has been a great pleasure to entertain you. If you haven't already done so, please let me know what you thought about this tale. All comments, compliments and complaints are equally welcome.

-- Arcahan the Silver Sage

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