Coming up onto the deck Alloran takes a few minutes to morph kafit bird, an eagle-sized predator with six wings, a long tail, and a heavy beak. He acquired this animal himself on his homeworld, almost thirty years ago, and it's a shape Esplin rarely had him take. Not dangerous enough, at least not to anything larger than itself.

He takes to the air in a clatter of wings and circles. The bird's instincts don't like the rain or the diminishing light, but it's not enough to really worry about yet.

Someone's clambering about like a tiny Hork-Bajir. The bird's instinct encourages curiosity and there's something comforting about following that. Alloran flies over, peering down out of the eyes on one side of his bladelike borrowed head.