Zarya was collecting all her Stryx after the fight against the Griffon, the Gryph that invaded the mountain region, dangerously close to her home. Not all of her Stryx joined the fight due to previous injuries or being busy with evacuating the nearby villages, but those who did made it out mostly ok, spare for some bloody scratch or a bald patch of feathers bitten away by the beast. The one who got it worse was Etesian, who got knocked out during the fight after being brutally thrown into the forest below. Zarya jumped off the back of Nebbia even before touching ground and run towards the tawny Harpia, who gladly was awake and had enough strength to complain about Shamal’s nibbling her feathers. A quick inspection revealed that other than getting various mostly superficial injuries all over her body she was fine and nothing was broken, so in a few minutes she was up and ready to avoid Shamal’s unwanted attentions.

Suddenly a painful cry was heard not too far from their location and Tule Eir noticed a black Stryx taking off with difficulty over the high trees in the direction of one of the highest mountains. Zarya called for Nebbia, who was taking care of her daughter, and followed in the air the visibly not healthy Stryx along with Tule Eir, giving the others the order of staying there until her return.

The black Stryx was not flying well and kept whimpering, to the point he didn’t even notice he was being followed. Zarya’s heart jumped a beat when he tried to land but roughly crashed into the fresh snow, only to crawl a few footsteps and then stop moving. Nebbia landed nearby and Zarya carefully started to get closer, trying to control her movement to not make a sound. Whether he was dead or not, a wounded Stryx is as dangerous as it can get and, despite having an equally big Stryx behind her, she didn’t want to risk her life. Tule Eir flew above him and, after getting near his face, gave Zarya a nod to indicate he was still breathing, but then disappeared behind the nearby rocks.

To test his current ferocity, the girl touched a feather of the big Stryx’ wing, who gave a spasm, coughed some blood and growled at her, opening his scratch-crossed eye just slightly enough to keep her under control.

“Hey… We don’t want to hurt you, we are here to help you” softly said the girl “Can I look at your wounds? Did you get them from that big mean Str-”. The Stryx didn’t let her finish, giving a stronger growl mixed with a painful hissing sound. He tried to move from the poll of frozen blood below him, but he couldn’t even move his wings, panting from the effort. The girl noticed two of her Stryx taking off from the forest below, probably Shamal and Etesian, judging from the colors.

Zarya didn’t know what to do, surely the presence of two more Stryx wouldn’t help, but before she could try a more physical approach she heard Tule Eir calling her. “I think we have more than one problem!” she said, as a young dark Tyto appeared from behind the rocks, scrambling and crying loudly at the sight of the bigger Stryx collapsed in the snow. Shortly after, Tule Eir appeared too, carrying another Tyto, probably the sibling of the other one, who was staring in horror with the few strength he has left.

“I found them laying over there. The girl seems fine, but her brother is not. He was barely moving and she didn’t want to leave him there until I picked him up, then she run here. He has some blood on his head and I think his legs are broken...” said the mist spirit in an much unusual joyless tone as the dark Tyto darted towards the wounded Stryx, whimpering while smelling his wounds. The Harpia didn’t react badly to the sudden approach and even made a reassuring sound, so they were his children, siblings or something like that. The black and white Tyto looked like he had just fallen down a cliff, but he was still reactive and even complained when Zarya inspected his legs (who gladly were only fractured and no hemorrhage was to be seen), much to the Harpia’s worrying since he growled at the girl. Zarya finally had an idea.

“Hey, little girl. You’re worried for him, right? Do you want us to help him and your brother?“ she as she approached the young Tyto, keeping a safe distance from the Harpia. The Tyto looked at her with a mix of interest and fear.

“Do you trust me? I won’t harm you, I promise.” softly said Zarya again, as the Tyto made a step towards her. The little fluffy dragon sniffed the girl’s hand and nibbled it, like she was trying to move it closer to her wounded friend, who made a distressed hiss.

“Listen” Zarya firmly said, looking at the giant Stryx “I know you’re scared, but as I said we won’t hurt you. Now… You need to trust me.”

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Trust Training for Winter 3146, Aria 3157 and Brendan 3166, featuring also 3 of my other Stryx.
The fight with Gryffon didn't go that well for the fluffy dragon, but luckily Zarya noticed him in time.