Shrug.

"We should probably get back to town, then, see if we can figure anything out. Library's always a good bet."

"Yes. I'll scout ahead." So he takes flight, and—

—she cries out—

—he falls out of the sky—

—she runs after him (bloody backpack why are you so heavy go bugger yourself she drops it and continues running) and sweeps him up in a hug. "Oh, Luca, my Luca, that, oh."

He makes a few noises in her arms, with his eyes closed.

She snuggles him. "That was horrible. What was it?"

"It seems," he says, keeping his voice level, "that we have a maximum distance. How peculiar."

"Some sort of magical spirit animal. You fell. Are you hurt?"

"I am not, but thank you. It wasn't that high a fall." He shakes his feathers a bit and preens himself. "But I think I'm going to stay around you."

"Yes, that's a good idea," she says, and wipes a single tear from her cheek with her sleeve. Still cradling him, she returns for her backpack, and then puts him gently on the ground so she can grab it.

"I can probably fly if I stay close enough to you. It's better than being cradled around."

"Yes. That sounds like a good idea." She inhales deeply, then starts making her way to town.

Luca takes off and follows, flying in circles around her, zigzagging and making sure he's within the not-in-horrible-emotional-pain radius.

Eventually they reach this world's mirror of the town they'd just left. It's more different than town-mirrors usually are—they'll probably need to ask for directions to a library. She looks up at Luca. "I don't know if you'll have that much space to fly around me here."

"...what's your suggestion? My talons would probably hurt you."

"I could carry you like a baby!"

He sighs and lands on the ground. "And here lies my dignity. At some point you should find and purchase falconry gloves or pauldrons."

She scoops him up. "Eventually. You're really fluffy, and it's cute how you look all grumpy all the time."

Luca does not deign to respond.

She hugs him and then starts exploring a bit of the town.

There are people! All sorts of people, and more relevantly with all sorts of animals! The farther into town they go, the more people they see, with all sorts of animals everywhere. Notably, however, almost none large enough that they'd be effectively inconvenient to have around.

Both Sadde and Luca find this terribly fascinating, and look around at everyone. They're a bit closer to the town centre when—

—a little girl, a toddler, appears, looks up at Luca, and says, "You look grumpy." She looks at Sadde. "He looks grumpy."