"Not in any professional sense," Bella answered immediately. "Birds have always been a passion of his side of the family." And that passion had beaten the odds of passing to an earth elemental daughter, at that. Her own familiar had come on wings.
Then it occurred to Bella, how had Odin known that? The interest was a safe guess - immaculate cages, some decorative and some not, were always near by, and one couldn't escape the sound of birdsong in the house. What was interesting was that he had known that it was an interest primarily founded in her father. He had brought her up to share that interest, and she was practically as active in the care of the birds as he was, but it wasn't the same. Had she told him of this before? She couldn't remember. "Wounded wild birds have a habit of turning up here. The animal shelters know my dad, and it's the sort of thing that spread through the neighborhood. We always have birds." Now was the time to tell him about Flora, perhaps, and yet her throat felt dry at the idea.