Alice stood watching the crow. It seemed puzzled that she hadn't answered. After circling once, it came closer and said again:
"Hello?"
This time, it spoke in Loenese.
"...Hello?" Alice replied tentatively, trying to work out what sort of bird she was dealing with.
Of everyone Alice associated with crows, Amon came most readily to mind. She especially remembered mentioning a seven-colored crow to him.
But if it really was Amon, what would he do?
Alice studied the bird before her and decided to start with what puzzled her most:
"What did you mean by what you said earlier?"
The Seven-Colored Crow answered from the air, "That's a greeting. It means something like 'hello,' I guess?"
"?" Alice stared at the crow, baffled.
A rush of possibilities crossed her mind. It had spoken Chinese, so someone had probably taught it that phrase. Which meant...
Who on earth would tell someone that was a greeting?!
Of course, Alice had an answer in mind. It reminded her of the half-blind Daoists in stories who liked greeting people that way.
Things like, "I see darkness over your brow. Bloodshed awaits you today"...
Then again, whoever taught the crow might have done it for fun... or might not have known what the phrase meant either.
Alice let out a breath and asked the crow:
"Who taught you that?"
She couldn't read the crow's expression. Even if she could, she doubted she could read its emotions. All she could go by was its voice:
"My previous contract partner... Oh, right! You're looking for a messenger, aren't you?"
Alice nodded hesitantly. Realizing she ought to get to the point, she paused, then asked with due ceremony:
"Would you be my messenger?"
Naturally, it agreed. Theoretically, they should sign a contract next, but Alice had one more