The tavern girl awoke in a strange place with the bright morning sun filtering into her eyes. She froze suddenly, realising she was outside somewhere, sitting uncomfortably against a hard tree on the dewy forest floor, wet leaves were stuck to her arms and she had dribbled all over her shoulder. She heard voices nearby, glancing over to see two woman and a man she couldn't identify, and suddenly remembered where she was. Her heart filled with elation and she pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, she was not awaking to be faced with another day of serving customers, but instead was on a grand adventure. Cora shuffled awake at her sudden movement, the poison seemed to have mostly worn off, he gazed with glazed over morning eyes up at his companion, and nuzzled her affectionately with his beak.
The tavern girl picked up Cora, who was still unable to fly from the effects of the poison, and slowly stood up, supporting her weight on the tree and stretching her sore muscles and stiff back, wondering how on Earth she slept the entire night in such an uncomfortable position. She slowly made her way towards the direction of the voices, and opened her mouth to greet them when she felt a sudden movement from Cora and as he raised his feathers in a very agitated way. She suddenly looked in the direction where his eyes were fixed to see two limp pigeons strung together, with a third in the jaws of a fox. The image was unsettlingly reminiscent of Cora's own predicament, which was clearly understood by the tavern girl as he fearfully pressed his body into her dirty, oversized shirt. Without hesitation, she ran over to the pigeons and put her ear to their tiny chests, listening for a heartbeat.
