Thought-Steered Birds

Overview

The birds of the Sky Isles navigate by thought rather than by instinct. Everything on the Isles rises and falls by belief, and the birds there have learned it as their way of life: they fly where they mean to go, and stay up because they expect to.

Appearance

They are small to middling birds, swift-like and lark-like for the most part, with long narrow wings and pale undersides that take the blue of the sky. Many have small wings for their bodies, as if they needed them less than other birds, and some hang in the air with their wings folded, quite still, before tipping into a dive. They sing a clear, carrying song that blends with the faint chime of the drifting islands. They nest in the roots that hang beneath the islands.

Habitat and Range

They live on and around the islands, feeding in the grass and among the high flowers, and are common there. They are found nowhere else.

Behaviour and Temperament

They are bold and curious, and come close to visitors who sit still. They never get lost, even when an island drifts in the night, and they seem to know where an island is going before it moves. Flocks turn together as if of one mind.

Abilities

They steer by intent: they rise, sink, and hold still in the air by their own focus as much as by their wings. Taken from the Isles, they fly like ordinary birds, and poorly.

Life Cycle

They nest, hatch, and fledge as other birds do, and the chicks are said to fall from the nest a few times before they learn not to.

Uses and Dangers

Sky-Walkers follow the flocks to find where the islands are bound. Travellers lost in the mist between islands are told to follow a bird. They are harmless.

Lore and Belief

People below the Isles say a bird that hangs still overhead is listening to your thoughts, and keep their thoughts kind. It is listening to its own.

Where It Appears

• Overview: Resonant Zones
• the Writers' Guide chapter The Resonant Zones