"Exactly," Ajax replies, tone slightly triumphant. "And yet I don't think anyone other than you and I have ever noticed it on their own."

"I am fond of birds as well, have envied them their wings." His smile turns fond, wistful. "I have studied them, observed them in the wild, learned their songs as well as a human can."

He chuckles. "I built myself a set of wings once, when I was younger. Broke my leg in two places with the fall when they didn't work, but those few seconds in the air were glorious."