Aodhan set his woodcarving tools aside and looked up at the trees as the first of the birds started their songs. Dawn was still about an hour off, the inn behind him quiet after a long night of song and dance. Sheepishly he looked up at the dark window of his room where one of the maids still slept. He sighed. That would be another child. Spring was so hard to keep in check. Hopefully he'd be in another season soon, one more fitting to their predicament.

He picked up his woodcarving tool and continued working swiftly and smoothly on the dragonchess figure. Yesterday he'd been much clumsier with the carving tools. Once again he wondered how humans ever got by without access to the shared memory of a race. Then again, their little group was currently victim of the very way humans usually did get by: They simply murdered each other. Maybe they figured their lives were so short anyhow, shaving off a few dozen years wouldn't make a difference.

As the birdsong continued to rise in volume, Aodhan put aside the knife. He'd finished three figures since ending his trance, and they'd turned out great. He didn't even need to look at the result of yesterday's work to know that he'd need to do those again. He really should have waited to draw on his memories before starting on the set, but Spring was not known for patience. Once more inspecting the work of this morning he had to admit, though, that it was great for inspiration.

For a moment, he thought about his companions resting in the inn. Once dawn hit, he'd have to wake them. They'd have to start early to put as much distance between them and the new count's pawns as possible. The new count. That was a worrying situation. As of now there was still a Rabenzwist line ruling in Rabenzinne, but given recent events he didn't trust that to continue on its own.

On the other hand, there was precious little he could do about it in the next hour. Tomorrow's worries were, after all, tomorrow's. He pulled out a small flute and joined the birds in their song. A grin twinkled in his eyes. When it was time to wake his companions, he'd give his flute of conducting a try.