The Crow and The Dog

Mutt grins and pokes at the rock. "That's a good wish. I don't think this one's a dwarf, though."

 

"Me either." She decides, poking it again, then giving a mighty hop and scrambling to the top of it. "Awcaw~!" She gloats, spreading her arm-wings wide.

 

"Hey! Wait for me!" They try to make their way up after her, but it's not as easy for them. "Can you see any dwarfs?"

 

She braces her feet and reaches down to give them a hand. "C'mon! I didn't see any, but it's not as easy to see stuff down here."

 

Mutt takes her hand and manages to get on top of the rock. They take in the view, but don't let go of Munin's hand.

 

She looks out with them, and doesn't pull away. After a while, she points, across the grassy slope, to a twisty bush. "That one looks like a horse."

 

"More like a cow," Mutt says. "That one looks like a horse. And that one over there looks like a weird hat."

 

"It does look like a hat!" She bounces on her long toes. "With a feather on it."

 

Mutt grins. "A feather - like yours? Do they ever fall out? What do you do with them?"

 

"Uh huh, all the time. We gotta clean them up so it doesn't make a mess. Sometimes Odin keeps one for a little, though!" She holds her arm out, peering at it, then roots through the feathers with her beak, coming out with a small one clutched in the tip. "Fee?"

 

Mutt reaches out to touch it, fascinated.

 

She lets it go, poking it off her lower beak with her dry black tongue, so it sticks to their finger instead.

 

It's so small. They almost drop it before they can get a good look at it, but it stays just long enough. They glance over at Munin, and then blow it off their finger and watch it float towards the ground.

 

She laughs, watching it with them, then slips her vest off and gives herself a mighty ruffling shake, feathers thrumming in the air. Several more feathers shake free, scattering around them. She looks proud and fluffy.

 

Mutt bounces and spins, trying to catch the feathers. They're not paying too much attention to staying on the rock, but it's big enough that they don't really need to.

 

Munin hops back, giving them space and crouching on the rock, eyes bright as she watches them and shrugs her vest back on. "Don't fall! You don't glide!"

 

"I won't fall," Mutt promises. "I'm okay." They slow down, and then sit down next to Munin.

 

She gives her beaky grin again. "More exploring?"

 

"Mhmm. We still haven't found a dwarf."

 

"Yeah!" She stands and spreads her arms, leaping off the rock. She doesn't really glide, as she claimed, but she lands lightly on the ground with a tiny thump. "C'mon, let's look in the forest!"