I had heard plenty of the terrifying harpies before. Stories of the large, looming shadows from above quickly make their way to the south, becoming more distorted and less scary the closer you get to the desert, where such wilful devourings are considerably more uncommon. These stories fascinated me as a young girl, leading to my dream to travel north and observe these strange and fascinating giants.

Oh, how happy I was when the day where I arrived at the Amator mountain ranges finally came. So many new things to see, so much to learn! My little group of like-minded friends and I set off in high spirits to find our first harpy. As our eyes were fixated on the sky, we almost didn't see the huge person nary 100 meters to our side. Nor did we initially realise that what we saw was not a person, but the exact thing we'd been searching for: A harpy!

We were starstruck. As our gazes wandered up from her talons to her feathered tail, she stood up straight. We didn't even think of why she had been bent forwards as if she'd been doing something near the ground as our eyes followed the curvature of her back, past the wings, up to her two tone hair. As she noticed our presence, she quickly turned around, piercing us with her sharp eyes. Now that I think about it, I could swear I saw the slightest bit of hesitation in her movements back then. As if she had quickly reevaluated her course of action. But this small detail did not matter to us in the moment. We were simply too fascinated.

"Hello there little ones," she cooed in a melodic voice. "It's rare to see a group such as yours around here." We were too stunned to speak. This friendly approach was not at all what the stories told of. She chuckled, "Not used to speaking with one of my kind, hmm?"

"M-May we make a record of you?" I finally blurted out. A brief flash of confusion came across her face. "And maybe you could tell us more about your kind?"

"Very well then!" she said, after a short pause. We got straight to work, noting down approximate height, feather pattern, grip strength and more. The harpy seemed rather amused watching us scuttle around her, trying to capture every detail. After a little while we got started with our questions, veritably stumbling over ourselves. "You know," she said, "I could bring you to my nest if you wish for a firsthand experience of harpy living." Those words were like honey to our ears. So sweet, so lovely and oh so tempting.

But now that I am staring down at my fate, I can't help but think about what incredible fools we were.

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The September Patreon Poll ended up in a tie! And so, since Syla was really overdue for some attention, I opted to finish her piece. This is the end result of that!

You may have also noticed that there's a short little story accompanying it! As people seemed to like the little bits of writing I used to add, and I personally find them to be worthwhile additions, I thought I'd put in that extra effort again. As before, any criticism is more than welcome!

I hope you guys like how the whole thing turned out and a big thank you to everyone who voted on the poll!

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