They do not permit us to fly, are oversensitive to contact in most, cause an inordinately large amount of pain when damaged, make one ill when too many feathers or lost or if feathers are pulled free, removal of one makes one deathly ill, removal of both means death. Their connection to the human body is odd, and their connection to the spine is arbitrary at best. There is no physiological reason as to why they behave the way they do that I have been able to find.

But.

I and several other physicians are working on sorting it out. As soon as we know more? So will the rest of the village.

[She smooths his hair out of the way to better examine the cut. Shallow enough, but head wounds always bled and stung like a bitch.]

Bruised, scraped, but otherwise unbroken, yes? Nothing grinding when it shouldn't when you move?