Tengu

Tengu is a Fae: a mountain-dwelling trickster spirit that wears the silhouette of a bird and the posture of a stern ascetic. In field notes one records it as equal parts avian briskness and old forest will—sharp angles of beak and blade, movements that seem to measure the world. Smell: a clean, resinous scent of cedar bark warmed by a distant hearth and a metallic tang like damp iron. Sound: a high, reedlike whistle and the rustle of huge feathered wings that pass through the pines like a gust; sometimes a dry, human chuckle from between the trunks. Temperature: the air cools where it lingers, a sudden, keen chill that bites the cheeks and leaves breath pale under the canopy.