"He is Astrid. An owlbear. Have you really never seen an owlbear before?" The surprise in her voice was evident. "Then again, if you're from one of the smaller, southern towns, I guess you wouldn't see them that often."

That, and they tended to like their forest. Nora grunts as she frees herself, but Astrid's big head swivels towards Rose and he hoots at her sorrowfully.

"He's trained, so he isn't going to bite you," she adds as mostly an after-thought