Something was wrong with the birds. No, not Miss Heathershine's strangely robotic and overly glorified peacock, but all of them. Specifically, the ravens.

Since she had been placed in Quarter A, they seemed to be haunting Eight. Going nearer to her than any other person, congregating on the trees that she sat under, constant bird-song and the pitter-patter of quiet feet following her every move.

Zero-Sixteen noticed this too, his striking green eyes surveying the environment every time a bird magically ended up next to her. He made a joke about her being the queen of ravens, and she scowled, dubbing it as her curse.

Another odd thing was that ravens weren't particularly common where they were situated, wherever that was. She's only ever seen one once before in Quarter D. The memories came back to her as smoothly as honey trickling down a comb.

-----

She clutched the book in her tiny hands, peering up at the tree she was under. Every so often, soft scratches would come from above and she'd glare upward, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature causing the noise. Again, the noise came, but as she looked up it stopped. She let out a frustrated groan. Suddenly, an idea occured to her. She buried her head in her book, pretending not to notice when the sounds came again.

The scratches started becoming more insistent. She dutifully ignored it.

They started to sound nearer, but she still ignored it. Not yet.

Finally, the scratches sounded close enough, and she whipped her head upwards with a triumphant cry. She caught it! The creature was seated on the lowest branch of the tree, fidgeting with jts tail feathers in an agitated way. It startled when it heard her victory screech, and peered down curiously at her.

Blue eyes stared back at her, curious yet somehow knowing at once. Was that a hint of approval she caught? How could an animal approve of her?

It fluttered down the tree to land a few meters in front of her. Not too close, but not too far either. She noticed that its feathers were a striking white, sleek and well taken care of. She wondered if the other ravens were jealous of this ones coat.

It took two steps towards her before freezing, its eyes gazing right past her and into her soul. It jittered with its wings for a second before taking off, leaving her alone.

She couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks.

-----

Now the ravens were appearing in ridiculous amounts. Their mournful cries outweighed that of the regular birds, driving them out. Currently, she was cross-legged, leaning on a tree on the grounds and watching a particularly mean raven bullying a small skittish bird. What was most astounding was that all of this was taking place only a few meters in front of her. The mean raven plucked at the smaller birds tail-feathers. Whether it was for entertainment or other means was anyones guess. The skittish bird ended up fleeing. It wasn't a surprise. She sighed in contentment and closed her eyes, glad that the angry chirping ceased, even if only for just a moment.

She didn't know where Zero-sixteen was, but if she had to guess he was probably with Enzo, the big fighter than won yesterday's match. Year two's were scheduled to begin training tomorrow, so Zero-sixteen's stress made a lot of sense. He made her promise that she'd cheer him on tomorrow, and she dutifully agreed. Thruthfully, she should've been training with him. Year one's were going to train the next day, but she couldn't find it in her to care. For once in her life, she was relaxed when she shouldn't have been.

The raven in front of her began screeching again, and she opened her eyes. There were two this time. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all; they looked as if they were having a conversation in squawks and cries.

Suddenly, they flew off.

Crack.

She startled as a large white pile of feathers tumbled down in front of her. She stood up quickly, leaning backwards and slamming into the tree. It moved.

She cried out as a bird suddenly materialized from the pile. It stumbled to its sharp claws, and she noticed it's lovely white coat drenched in dirt and mud. Blue eyes stared at her, knowing and Intelligent. It reminded her too much of a human's eyes. It reminded her of the raven she had seen when she was small.

She shook her head violently, clearing the thought away. There was no way that it was still alive. Rationalizing, she quickly identified it as an albino raven.

"....Albinism is a congenital disease that causes the loss of pigmentation in an animal."

Her lessons from Quarter D suddenly reared their ugly head, materializing in the form of her lecturing a bird as to why it was white.

The raven seemed almost offended at her words. It was acting like it understood her.

She spontaniously decided that this was too much, even for her. Whirling around, she passed her tree and began her trip back to the main area of Quarter A. Maybe she'd join Zero-sixteen and his training.

An indignant squawk sounded from behind her. A few more squawks, then something climbed onto her shoulder.

She froze, cringing as claws snuck into her shoulders. Well, I wasn't expecting that.

Its beak was dangerously close to her neck.

She didn't like that.

She clamped her hand strategically over her neck, eyeing the white bird from the corner of her eye. It pecked at her hand, and she involuntarily flinched. That beak could peck out her eyes if it got upset enough.

It pecked at her again, its tail feathers flicking impatiently every time it failed to reach her neck. Her hand was bleeding now, and she was sure her shoulder would have deep scar marks from its claws. She couldn't shake it off or move too wildly either.

She was screwed.

The large bird suddenly decided to have mercy, messily unlatching its monstrous claws from her shoulder and hefting itself into the air. She instinctively shut her eyes against the storm of dust it created, stumbling backwards.

Not one second later, the claws were on her chest, digging in like vices. She looked down, staring right into the birds hauntingly blue eyes. A paper was tucked neatly into its beak. Where did it get paper from? Did it want her to read? Write?? Colour???

The bird cried out impatiently, striking it's beak into her chest. She jumped, nodding quickly. "Alright. I'm sorry, I'll take the paper," she stumbled, hoping that it wouldn't decide to rip her heart out. Was that possible?

She wedged the paper out of its beak, holding it as carefully as possible.

"What's thi-"

The bird took off before she could finish her sentence, leaving her all alone in the middle of nowhere. She groaned, the sting in her shoulder and hand the only indication that the bird was ever there. She sighed in defeat, inspecting the folded paper. It was rough and frayed at the edges, a yellow hue the only indicator of its age. It seemed like it was torn from a book.

Carefully maneaurvering her non-bleeding hand around the paper, she straightened it out and read the print.

----
16. Caree
----

It was written precariously and the paper seemed dented, like someone used too much force to shape the letters. A strange black substance was used to write it, and she unconsciously knew that she was better off not knowing what it really was.
What? What in the gods names did that mean? What sixteen? Caree? Take care?? Sixteen of what??

"-Eight!"

She startled, shoving the paper into her white top. She recognized that voice. Zero-sixteen?

"Hey!" he called again, running towards her through the trees, "you've been missing in action for an hour! I was worried sick." he cried out, putting a hand on her shoulder. She suddenly felt guilty; Zero-sixteen didn't need more stress than he already had, preparing for the training tomorrow as well as taking care of her. She noticed a faint line of sweat lining his forehead, his usually bright eyes dulled with something she couldn't name.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, shooting him a reassuring smile, "I was occupied with the ravens." It wasn't a lie, not fully.

"Are they that troublesome? You should stay in places were there's many people, then. The main square should be good. They won't bother you there," he frowned. She realised that this was the first time she seen him frown. She scratched her hand uncomfortably, and his eyes zoned in on the dried blood on the hand that the raven pecked. Shoot.

He quickly picked it up, his frown deepening. "We'll have to go to Miss Heathershine and ask her for a few bandages." Zero-sixteen hissed, gently prodding the area.

Her eyes lit up. Miss Heathershine! Finally. She could get treated and ask her about her Quarter.

Suddenly, the raven seemed like a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because of the opportunity to finally see Miss Heathershine, and a curse, because of getting Zero-sixteen upset.