A measuring tape unfurled. A pen scratched against a notebook. A small needle pricked against the frog of an hoof, held out willingly. A small clipping of tail and mane samples were taken. Samples were lined up neatly in a box and sealed away for further monitoring. Rubber slapped against skin as gloves were pulled taught, fingers flexing as they made their way across the body, feeling for lumps and irregularities.

Johan Richter's forehead creased very slightly as his hands made their way rearward, and he formed his lips into a thin line as he completed the second-to-final phase of his inspection. After noting down a thing or two, he removed his gloves before taking out a paper and laying it against Anna's naked, right flank.

"Hmmm..." he muttered, taking out a pen and squinting. Through the thin paper, he could see the edges of the mark that had spontaneously formed on her flank. A circle had been drawn on the paper, marking its outer edges, "Very slight growth of the mark since last time, but it's still within the size that you have grown overall between our visits."

"Is that good?" Anna asked, looking back over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"It may just mean that such a mark is natural to your species," Johan shrugged, stepping back and gathering his medical tools, "Still no sensitivity, pain, or anything else in the area?"

"No," she muttered, walking over to where her clothes had been stripped off.

Johan spared a look over his shoulder to Indiana, who watched with casual curiosity. The other man just shrugged as well.

"Then it's nothing to be worried about," Johan smiled, throwing his surgical gloves into his briefcase, "You are otherwise keeping your adipose tissue down, your musculature is healthy, and you are growing at an impressive rate."

"How tall do you think she'll end up being?" Indiana asked, pushing off of the wall and walking over towards the window, opening the curtains to let the sun back into the lounge.

"Well, it's speculation since all we have to go on for bone extension and hardening are the X-rays..." Johan said, zipping up his doctor's bag and hoisting it up to rest it on the coffee table, "But perhaps about three feet and some change? About to hip height."

Anna squinted, raising a hoof above her head and making it level with Johan's hip. Looking up at the height, she nodded to herself and began to walk towards the doors leading towards the dining room.

"Where're you going?" Indiana asked.

Looking back, likely thinking she had been caught in something, she nervously said, "The Morrisons?"

"Have fun!" Indiana wished, walking over and slumping into an armchair.

Johan gave a polite wave towards her as she bounded out of the living room and towards the front door. He too sat in an armchair, across from Indiana.

:The mark on her flank appears to simply just be growing with the rest of her body," Johan began, going through their regular debrief that they had after the conclusion of every checkup, "The shavings I took of one side have simply grown straight back."

"Even the hide underneath was colored?" Indiana asked, reaching up to scratch his jaw.

"Yes, very fascinating..." Johan muttered. Usually, the shaved hide of a furred animal would be pinkish-white, as its appearance would usually be completely shielded from sight by the hairs covering it. This was the state of Anna's usual hide... in every place except the two, identical pictures on her flank.

"Otherwise? Everything else is normal?" Indiana said, a hint of boredom coming into his voice as his eyes wandered.

"Even by a measure against a horse, who by no means gets a deficiency of physical activity, she is fit and strong. Firm musculature, powerful wings," Johan listed off, reaching into a pocket to pull out his notepad to review his various observations.

"Well if she were a horse, she'd be an adult by now. About halfway through her life expectancy," said Indiana, still looking away as his mind obviously wandered.

"Well, speaking of adults..." Johan cracked a slight smile, "If she were a human, do you know what phase of life she might be reaching?"

"Uhhh," Indiana hummed, tapping a finger against the arm of his chair. He thought back to what he was doing at the age of eleven. Meeting Leo Tolstoy, Harry Houdini, Pablo Picasso... "I mean, I dunno Johan, when I was eleven I was still kicking around with my dad in the lecture tour."

Johan paused, eventually narrowing his eyes and lifting a finger towards him as he said, "And a year or so later, you would notice hair growing where it wasn't before?"

"I was more busy noticing my mother dying," Indiana snarked darkly, before eventually ceding the point, "But yeah I suppose so."

"Well in girls it usually starts a year earlier," Johan said, tilting his head forward and raising his eyebrows, "I have noticed the basic signs cropping up over my last several inspections. Anna is becoming an adult of her species."

Indiana's face morphed between phases of confusion, then to realization, then to an almost look of... terror as he raised a hand to his cheek and brushed a thumb across his jaw, "Oh," was all he could say.

"It's nothing to be afraid of, Indy. It's just a natural part of growing up," Johan chuckled, cracking a smile at the other man's distress, "As long as she doesn't start weaving a cocoon or something like that, I am expecting the process will be the same as many other mammalian species, including ourselves."

Indiana stuttered a bit, "U-Uh, well- the thing is, Doc, cause of my mother's passing and all... uh, they might've never gotten a chance to tell me about how it is... for girls."

Giving a sympathetic nod, Johan rolled his shoulders slightly as he leaned forward, "Well, Indy, I can recommend some medical products for you to buy, some things to look out for, and perhaps a book or two you can read," Johan said, "But just... in general, for both boys and girls this is a time where they will be experiencing a lot of new things. They will need greater amounts of attention. Dare I say, it is likely your relationship with her in general will change."

The first thought to cross Indiana's mind was the abyssal drop in opinion between him and his father when he entered his teenage years. Granted, there had been more factors than just puberty, but still... he let out a nervous breath.

Johan paused, opening and shutting his mouth a few times before eventually finding the courage to speak, "Indy, I am afraid I will have to also bring you some bad news."

"Great, as if all of this wasn't enough already," Indiana rubbed an eye.

"Are you aware of the German economic situation, right now?" Johan asked, voice lowering.

Indiana shrugged, "I don't pay much attention to international news."

"The war debts from Versailles have been dire for my fatherland ever since the close of the Great War," Johan admitted, clasping his hands in front of himself, eyes lowering down towards the carpet below, "The United States has been keeping German industry afloat with loans, but the crash has caused lenders to recall all their money. If you think the unemployment and the bank runs are bad here, you should try and see how it is going over there," Johan gave a dry chuckle, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry," Indiana muttered, voice also low.

"It's the politicians, Indiana. Britain and France, seeking to avenge themselves upon Germany," Johan waved a hand in weak dismissal, "The Weimar Republic is in a state of political failure. People are desperate."

"I assume this is more than just you telling me about world politics, though?" Indiana asked softly.

"My family is in Germany, still," Johan said, raising his head and meeting Indiana's gaze, "We have never been very rich, Indy. I was lucky to have met men like Brody, to get me through education and go to America. I have been very lucky to find you and Anna. I do my work with her for science, but studying the second discovered form of intelligent life has netted me much fame in scientific circles...

"Indy, it's time for me to return home," Johan eventually intoned, reaching up to rub a watering eye, "Visits are no longer enough. I am going to immigrate back to my home country and stay there for the foreseeable future, keep my family off the streets and use the wealth I have collected to shield them from the worst. I've already been offered a position in Berlin."

"Yeah, fair enough," Indiana nodded soberly, "I wish there was more I could do to help."

"You can continue inspections of Anna's health yourself," Johan sighed, voice shaking slightly as he reached into his briefcase and withdrew a binder, "I have written step-by-step instructions on how to perform medical inspections on her. You can send the reports to me or my colleagues in Princeton. I will also spend more time in Bedford this year, working with the local general practitioner. I will make sure he is equipped to advise and deal with any medical emergencies."

"When do you move out?" Indiana asked.

"August," Johan's lips formed a thin line, "If it's not too much to ask, I would also like to spend as much time as I can with her before I need to leave. I am... not a young man, Indy. Depending on how long I am away, this may be one of my last chances to see her while I am in good health and of firm body."

"Yeah, of course, you don't need to ask," Indiana said, standing his arms and smoothing out the wings of his coat, "I hope you won't need to be gone long."

"I hope so too," Johan said, standing up as well. For a moment, the two of them stood there, before Johan eventually spread his arms for a hug. Indiana, with only a hint of reluctance, moved around the coffee table to accept the embrace.

Johan had always been a man who enjoyed a few walks through nature. Fortunately for him, Anna seemed to enjoy it just as much as he did. The fresh forest air filled his lungs as a pair of binoculars bounced against his chest, his eyes aimed up into the sky, constantly searching.

With a walking stick to help support his leg, Johan tramped down the trail next to the rambunctious filly as she rattled on and on about every other thing. She talked about how a few miles west of them, she fought treasure hunters in a mineshaft. She talked about how she would sometimes just fly free from her house to the forest to just rest on a random tree branch.

"-But you know, walking on the ground is a bit more boring than just flying back and forth over the top. But it's pretty okay, especially since I need to walk in order to talk with you," Anna finished, finally stopping to breathe as they reached the top of a hill.

Johan stopped, raising his binoculars to his eyes as he looked skywards, "Look at that bird, Anna."

Anna reached down towards a similar, smaller pair of binoculars and raised them to her eyes, squinting into them. Eventually, she sighted the same thing as the zoologist - a striking, red bird, "Hey I know those ones. I raced and caught one once."

"The Northern Cardinal, a male specimen," Johan muttered, "I would bet it will be nesting at this time of year..."

"Want me to go grab it?" Anna asked, lowering her binoculars and shifting on her hooves, flaring her wings.

"No, no..." Johan held out a hand to stay her, binoculars still fastened to his eyes, "Let's just watch, quietly..." he said, sitting down.

Anna shrugged, raising her binoculars again and tracking the bird as it flew around. She could hear its song, mixing in with the variety of other chirps and whistles echoing through the forest.

"Ah! There! See that one? With the greenish plumage?" Johan said, jabbing out a finger.

Anna re-centered her vision, watching as another bird fluttered between the boughs of trees, occasionally swooping close to the ground then back up into the air. The other, red bird continued to fly around the area, the two occasionally losing sight of it behind the leaves.

"That one is a female," Johan whispered, "In birds, females will generally have duller feathers, you know?"

"Why's that?" Anna asked, watching as the bird landed, hopping around and gathering twigs from the base of a tree.

"We think females have duller plumage to protect themselves from predators. The female must build nests and incubate eggs, which leaves them more vulnerable. The male is more brightly colored, as they are more... expendable," Johan whispered, eventually regaining tracking of the male as he landed on a branch nearby the female, "...These two are mates, I believe."

Anna watched, silent as she watched the two hop about, doing their duties, unaware of the two watching from a distance. Or... perhaps they were? Occasionally, she saw the bright red male giving glances towards them, its beady little eyes constantly darting back and forth across the forest. Forehead creasing, she asked, "What eats these birds?"

"Other birds," Johan shrugged, "The falcon, eagles, owls... you."

"I don't eat the birds!" Anna retorted.

"You may as well have. If you chased and caught a bird, you likely injured or exhausted it. It would have been less likely it could've fended for it and its nest," Johan said, clinical detachment in his voice as he passively watched.

Anna's ears fell. She had killed birds before. Ever since she was small and learned how to fly, she'd been chasing birds around. They were just fast moving, little balls of competition trying to take the sky from her. Occasionally, when barreling into them, they hadn't gotten back up and flown away.

"Don't feel bad," Johan said, reaching over a hand to drape over her shoulders, "You didn't know. I imagine it might even be natural for you to chase birds."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, voice cracking a bit as she imagined the two birds, constantly watching each other's backs, suddenly being separated by a mean, old rat-horse fooling around in the sky.

"Well, when you were young and just learning how to fly, you could never catch the birds. Perhaps competing and racing birds was how you were meant to learn to fly," Johan posited, lowering his binoculars and looking over at her with a smile, "Just keep watching, I bet we can find out where their nest is."

Anna reluctantly turned her attention back to the birds, watching as the female took the stack of twigs in its beak back to a small hollow in a tree. Her ears perked as she watched it disappear out of sight, the male still perched and alert in a nearby bough.

"The female will mate and lay a clutch of three eggs. She'll then sit on them, incubating them until they hatch while the male goes out to collect food. Seeds, small fruits and berries, grains.. it will even predate on things like grasshoppers and beetles. They will usually save those insects for their hatchlings," Johan explained, adjusting the zoom on his binoculars as the male took off, fluttering between shrubbery, "They are ground-feeders. That means they will land and search for food laying on the ground."

"Huh..." Anna muttered, lowering her binoculars as she lost sight of both the male and female birds, "Do they have the same mate for life?"

"No. Sometimes, the female will have a different male depending on the season. Sometimes she has the same one all year," Johan said, "Many animals don't have the same norms as we do. The ones that do mate for life, though... it is always quite inspiring to see."

Suddenly, Johan pointed again, urging Anna to raise her binoculars again as he said, "Look! Look there! The American Crow!"

Anna raised her binoculars and aimed into the sky, where she saw a flight of medium-sized, black birds.

"The Crow is one of my favorites," Johan said, smiling widely, "This is a great spot for birdwatching. I am disappointed in myself that I haven't come out here sooner."

"My Uncle Rich once said that crows meant bad luck," Anna mused, watching as the birds flew overhead, quickly disappearing behind the canopy and breaking line of sight, "But Dad says that bad luck doesn't exist."

"Humans think of a lot of silly things like that, Anna," Johan said, a wistful tone in his voice as he lowered his binoculars and reached for his walking stick, "In reality, if I hadn't discovered you, Anna, I likely would have studied crows instead."

"Oh?" Anna asked, getting to her hooves.

Johan grunted as he used his staff to raise himself to his feet, before eventually saying, "Yes. My dissertation was on an experiment I performed with them. I created a puzzle, the reward for which was the crows' favorite food. Over time, the puzzle became more and more complicated as I added more components and challenges. One by one, the crows overcame them all. They were even capable of using tools, you know?"

"Really?" Anna asked, enraptured as they continued down the trail.

"I think if humans didn't exist, crows would have eventually figured out how to take over the Earth," Johan paused, before his lips pulled up at the edges and he gave Anna a glance, "Or your people would have."

Anna frowned, looking away into the forest, "You know, one of these days I think we should go looking for more of me."

"More of your kind?" Johan asked, before immediately moving on, "We did try. We couldn't find anybody."

"Why?" Anna queried.

"We don't know," Johan shrugged, "All of our searches came up empty-handed."

Anna scrunched up her muzzle, narrowing her eyes for a moment, before eventually nodding to herself, "You know, in 1929 my dad went and found out that the world was hollow?"

"Really?" Johan asked. He had, indeed, read her childish novel about her father's adventures through the so-called 'interior world'. Her father had told her that it was a fictional bedtime story he'd told her that she'd taken and spun into a full novella.

"Well I think my people are kinda like that," Anna said, bobbing her head slightly, "Hiding away somewhere magical, that no humans know about."

Johan turned that over in his brain a few times, before shrugging and ceding, "Maybe."

The sound of rushing water grew in the distance as they made their way to a shore of a lake. A small waterfall rustled on the far side of the lake, the result of the river that ran all the way up from the mountain past Camp Hadley. Once again, Johan braced against his walking stick and lowered himself onto the ground by the shore, taking a deep breath as he rested in the shade of a tree and took his hat off.

A shrill, ear-piercing call rang through the air from a trail of wood ducks, paddling through the fairly stagnant water in the middle of the lake. Johan raised his binoculars, Anna mirroring him as she sat down next to him.

"The Wood Duck," Johan identified, "They are one of the only types of ducks that can nest in trees."

"What do other ducks do?" Anna asked.

"On the ground, usually," Johan muttered, "Once her eggs hatch, the mother duck will lead its ducklings into the water."

"How do they fly after getting all wet?" Anna questioned, lowering her binoculars and gazing out on the ducks without the magnification, "When I try and fly after getting out of water, my wings don't work very well."

"Your feathers don't possess much waterproofing," Johan explained, "Ducks have glands that secret a certain kind of oil that waterproofs their feathers. All waterfowl have the same waterproofing. Some will dive down to catch fish, so they would be in trouble if their feathers got waterlogged."

Something splashed in the nearby water, causing Anna to jump slightly. Her eyes warily watched the shallow water as a dark figure moved around, going back deeper underwater. She shifted a bit towards her uncle.

"Don't get me wrong. Your feathers do actually have some sort of waterproofing," Johan said, "I haven't been able to observe exactly how it works, but if you didn't have them you wouldn't even be able to fly in the rain."

"Do all birds have some kind of waterproof feathers?" Anna asked, wrenching her eyes away from the water.

"All birds do, yes, but usually they need to use their beaks to take oil from a gland and spread it across their feathers," Johan muttered, finally taking his eyes out of his binoculars and looking over to Anna, "Birds will generally use their beaks to pick out dead feathers as well. But you just use that brush I gave you."

Anna unfolded a wing, raising it to her muzzle level. When she was young, she would sometimes chew on her wing idly, in a way that her father had said was 'just like sucking your thumb', whatever that meant.

"Back in Germany, my home, we had a forest next to my village. I would go and play there all the time as a boy," Johan reached down, patting his right leg, "I was born with a leg that was shorter than the other. So I always had to walk around with a crutch or a cane."

Anna took her eyes off of her wing, looking down at her uncle's leg. The sole of one of his shoes was always much wider than the other, and when he didn't have his staff he always limped around slowly.

"So while the other boys would play tag and run through the woods, I would always need to slowly totter along. I hated it at the time... but then I eventually learned to appreciate the slowness. To take time to sit and look around, observe the birds, the bees, the critters darting between the bushes..." Johan took a deep breath, looking up towards the clouds, "I think there are very important things we need to learn from nature, Anna."

"Like what?" Anna asked, tilting her head.

"A lot of people like to portray nature as innocent and pious. Predators hunt and kill because they need to eat and keep the prey animals in check. Without the herbivores, weeds would grow and choke the trees. Without the trees, there would be no shelter from the wind and the rain. Yet, despite this balance, there is evil and good in the wild," Johan said, voice wistful once again as he drew his legs in and wrapped his arms around them, "Some predators will play with their food, just to watch it suffer. Some prey will betray and cannibalize each other. Mothers will sacrifice their young to save their own skin. Mates will kill each other and their young over perceived unfaithfulness. Colonies of ants have been perfecting the art of war for much longer than humans have.

"Yet, there are also animals that will fight relentlessly to protect their family, even to the point where it is... illogical for the continuation of their species. There are certain species with the capacity to show love and empathy, even for those not of their kind," Johan smiled, "People who say 'that is simply the nature of things', discount the true beauty of it, I think. The beauty of animals that have the capacity to do right and wrong, and those who choose right... despite not having the laws, the morals, the teachings of humankind. I think that speaks to a spirit that is present in us as well."

Anna's eyes finally wandered back over to the lake, to watch the tiny, yellow ducklings following the adults as they swam around, looking for food. Eventually, she nodded to herself, "I think I get it."

The two fell into silence. Hours passed as they simply sat by the shoreline of the lake, gazing into the sky as the clouds scrolled past and the birds flitted between the trees. Soaking it all in, until it was finally time to get back up and journey back to the road to rumble back into town. Though, it was definitely not the last time that year that they would be there. Every month, they returned to that same grassy embankment, watching as birds nested, eggs hatched, and new species flew in. All the way until the leaves turned orange and the wind grew cold, and they got to watch the birds migrate away for the winter.

The day eventually came for the Joneses to see the good doctor off at the port. Johan had bought Anna an extra deluxe artisan creation of ice cream, before they slowly and regretfully walked down the boardwalk towards the docks where the passenger ships would be departing from. A large crowd bustled around the one of the liners heading out towards Europe, creating an escalating feeling of dread in all as they neared the edge of the crowd, within which Johan would be lost as they boarded the ship and headed off.

Johan gave a deep sigh, reaching under his arm towards a brown package, trapped between the side of his chest and an arm carrying a briefcase. Taking it out, he held it towards Anna, who was hovering near him and licking her heavily-adorned iced treat, "I cannot be around for Christmas, Anna, so I am going to give you your present early."

Indiana gave a wistful smile as he watched Anna grab the package with one hoof, before staring down at it cluelessly. Taking it from her, he assisted in unwrapping it, revealing a large, hardcover book inside. A fresh smell drifted from its pages, and on its cover was an artist illustration along with the title: "AMERICAN BIRDS: An Intermediate Ornithologist's Guide".

Anna took it, before sniffling and reaching up to awkwardly rub one of her eyes, "T-Thanks Uncle Johan..."

"Keep an eye on those ducks for me, okay? You can write me about it when they return from their migration," Johan asked, reaching up to wipe at an eye with the cuff of one of his sleeves, eyes watering.

"I will," Anna promised.

"Get your pictures! Final photographs before leaving New York City!" a voice called from up ahead, emanating from a pair of men standing around a professional photo-camera, mounted on a tripod. Instantly, the one calling out locked eyes on the tearful three as they approached, walking over, "You! How do you feel about immortalizing this very moment? Only a dollar and a half for two pictures!"

Indiana, Anna, and Johan all shared a look towards each other. Eventually, Indiana reached into his coat pocket, taking out his wallet and fishing out a dollar bill and a silver coin, holding it out towards the photographers. Anna reached into her pocket, taking a handkerchief to wipe her muzzle free of ice cream as they were ushered over to the railing bordering the boardwalk.

"Allllright!" the photographer said, helping the camera operator, "Just a bit to your right! Gotta get the Statue in there, eh?"

"Yeah..." Indiana muttered, interlocking arms with Johan behind Anna. She continued to hover there, holding the ice cream by her side and giving her best smile, past the tears forming in her eyes.

There was a bright flash as the camera fired. Gingerly, the photographers adjusted their camera before calling out, "One more! Try and keep your eyes open!"

Anna blinked rapidly to try and keep her eyes clear before wrenching her eyelids as far open as they could. The camera flashed again, the photographer gingerly fishing out a pair of film sheets to hand over towards Indiana. Indiana took it, before tipping his hat politely to them and moving on.

A horn blew through the air up ahead as the crowd around the gangplanks began to move. It was clear that it was boarding time, which ushered the group to move forward with a bit of urgency to move to join the crowd.

Johan, limping slightly despite his cane, gave a side-eye towards Indiana, "Indy, you are one of the best Americans I have met during my stay here."

"You're one of the best Germans I've ever met," Indiana said back, giving a slight smile, "I'll make sure to hit you up whenever I'm in Europe next."

Johan nodded, before looking towards Anna, "Anna, you are one of the most brilliant things I've ever come across in my life. I can't wait to see you all grown up, teaching and uncovering the past just like your father."

"Hey... we'll see each other before then, right?" Anna asked, lips beginning to quiver as they reached the periphery of the crowd of passengers.

Johan nodded, a tear rolling down his cheek, "I-I am just... sad that I will not be able to come and see Connecticut any more. It- It's a beautiful place, Anna, your home town."

"I bet Berlin is just as nice," Anna said, breath choking in her throat as she raised a hoof to rake away some tears away from her eyes.

Johan reached forward, dragging the hovering Anna into his embrace. Her ice cream, held in her right hoof, smeared across the side of his head, but he didn't mind. Eventually, Indiana joined in, hugging his daughter from the other side. Eventually, they pealed off.

Indiana waved the undeveloped film, as he held it it between his index and thumb, "Send us some photographs with your letters, okay Doc?"

"I will," Johan said, rubbing out more of his tears with his thumb, "Goodbye, Doctor Jones, Miss Jones."

"See you in a bit, Johan," Indiana wished.

"B-Bye, Uncle Johan..." Anna blubbered, hovering close to her father as her wingbeats grew unsteady and uncoordinated.

She eventually leaned fully into her father's shoulder as Johan finally joined those climbing up the gangplank, being one of the last in line as sailors ushered him up the ramp. They stayed ashore, waving from the boardwalk as the ship eventually cast off and began to steam towards the horizon. Anna flew up to those waving from the side of the boat, staying with her uncle until she eventually needed to peel off to come back to land.

Author's Note

Next: Marcus Brody