When asked about his past, Ilya will reply that his childhood wasn’t the most eventful one. He has no stories about journeys or great achievements to boast about after all, with his greatest feat being landing without crashing- something what apparently he didn’t manage to do more than once. He would most likely tell you about his adoptive sisters- Eloise and Jeanette, but considering how close those three are he might tell you his own story along the way.
Ilya’s childhood was, indeed, quite uneventful. As a small child, he was sold to a witch who was looking for angel feathers- the most common base for most of her spells and crafts. Unsurprisingly, since she lived far away from a nearest city, such ingredients were extremely difficult to find. Living with the witch, in the middle of a forest, Ilya spent most of his time daydreaming, playing in the garden and observing forest animals. Despite his many walks in the forest, he couldn’t find the way out- its paths and trails were too complex for a little child to find a right way in their maze. He couldn’t leave his room after the sunset, according to the witch’s warning. And of course, having his feathers pulled out regularly wasn’t the most pleasant experience either.
The witch who bought Ilya, was living up to her name and all the beliefs surrounding her chosen profession- as she was living with two, rather smart cats. Eloise and Jeanette, because that’s how they were called, at day explored the forest however they pleased- they were sure to know every part of it by now- or just luxuriated in the simplicity of cats’ life. And even if in the process they might have lost few hairs, they seemed to like playing with Ilya.
Ilya truly loved playing with the cats- all animals in the forest surrounding the witch’s house were surprisingly intelligent, but Jeanette and Eloise stood out from the group. They seemed to know more mysteries of the witch’s house than he ever hoped to discover. But the cats mostly slept during the day, curled up together in the attic- a habit fairly common amongst felines.
But in the child’s mind, is it a logical to sleep during the night, not the other way around, and such solution is surely a biggest mystery on its own. One day, just before the sun set, instead of falling asleep, Ilya waited for the witch too close the door to her workshop , Ilya took an oil lap and stepped out of his room. Despite witch’s warning nothing happened. Ilya, ran to the attic, hoping to see Eloise and Jeanette.
But as ran up the stairs, in the spot where the cats always lied, sat a girl, much older than Ilya, with Jeanette curled up in her lap. The girl was indeed Eloise, who as well as Jeanette and all the other animals in the forest were people who used to live in nearby villages and cities. The witch lured them to the forest and then cursed. At the time she used to work on new spells she would sell later, and she practiced them on people once they stepped into her forest, on the grounds of trespassing. The spell placed on Jeanette was stronger- the witch didn’t have as much strength when cursing Eloise- so she didn’t maintain the ability to change her form.
The sisters used to live in the city, and they truly missed their life there but also enjoyed the simplicity of their current situation- apart from cleaning the attic they had few worries.
For a long time Ilya hid in the attic every night, listening to the sister's stories, first about their family, then about the city and about everything they saw during their journeys through the forest. And finally about what the witch had in mind for Ilya- the witch hoped to sell Ilya’s feathers instead of using them herself.
True to the cats’ words, the witch increased the amount of feathers she was taking from Ilya each time she did so, and so increased the time she spent in her workshop. The result of her research was a spell, which was supposed to change Ilya’s feathers- increasing their price, of course. The spell was supposed to make his wings mirror the color of the sky at the moment, changing with the time of day, weather and season. But as the spell was casted- some parts of his wings started losing feathers , which didn’t re-grow like used to.
That year, once the snow melted and forest trails were once again passable the witch left for the nearby village, hoping to spend some time in her shop. The same night she stepped out of the forest, Ilya and the two cats flew away. Together- on Ilya’s wings and with sisters’ knowledge of the forest they escaped the maze easily.
They flew to the city- where Eloise’s and Jeanette’s elderly parents lost the hope of ever seeing their daughters again. They adopted Ilya, who took over the bakery after their deaths. Eloise traveled overseas- hoping to pursue her interest in art, and Jeanette, still content to live her life as a cat, continues to explore the city which changed over the years.