The Transitory Bird-Elves

Raptoran do not keep a written history. It is simply our way; we would prefer to discuss the nature of things as they are rather than as they were. There is even an idiom (oft used at my own expense) that the past is in the clouds, and that your head will be as well if you dwell on it. There are other logistical issues with Raptoran marking history as well; even our names are transitory. I was hatched not as Arwel, but as a different Hatch-Name, and we are given Flock-Names later that suit our nature later on in our life. For example, "Arwel" is a name we associate with our much-distant cousins, the Elves, much akin to a "John" of humankind, and I was called as such because of my androgynous elfin face. Our hatch-names, afterward, become something we only share with those we have formed a very close trust with, as siblings, and only if we decide the name even worth sharing. A Raptoran can have as many as two, three, or four different flock-names throughout their lives, and each newest one becomes, effectively, their formal name. Thus it is likely that any number of names could be referring to any number of Raptoran, depending on when the record is written.
 
I digress, though.
 
I have met only one of my people interested in keeping some form of continuity in print: my mentor, Astel, our Star-Chief and de-facto head cleric. She was hardly orthodox, even by the standards of Star-Chiefs. Astel insisted that part of her duties to the tribe, as prescribed to her in dreams by our gods, was to be the Lorekeeper of Hertrind. Since we kept no libraries of history, of course, this meant the lore was to be kept in the form of correspondence--letters received by our flock either between one another or from outside sources, usually those on the Walk of the Four Winds or from other flocks near enough to the Quartz Cliffs for such things.
 
It was her belief that the letters, usually written in the borrowed elvish lettering of Tuilvilaunne, held the most honest version of our history: they provided both important temporal context and intimate insight in the daily goings-on of the tribe and flock. Indeed, having read some myself, the openness and expressive liberty often traited to my people did not stop at the page. Among the collection are love notes, lengthy back-and-forth dialogues continued as letters from a previous debate, reminders to friends left upon departure, messages received from homesick Raptoran on the Walk, and a number of less prominent examples. They contain, so Astel believes, the truest reflection of the soul of the Raptoran people. I do agree with her, though perhaps not in the exact same way, which is why I carry with me a small binder of letters to provide guidance and remind me of my roots while I am out on my own Walk, on this quest.
 
There isn't much else to determine anything of the history of my people, apart from what others have wrote of us (what Astel deemed as "dry and soured by distance and ground-headedness"). We carry our oral history, of course, which--given the nature of magic and the divines--may be literal or metaphorical. Perhaps I should look into what historical records have noted about my people. For instance, I'd like to verify a claim that Astel holds, from one of her prophetic dreams, that Raptoran were once (or at least indistinguishable from) a race of true elves known as Avariel; winged tel-quessir that appeared much less avian than modern Raptoran, and may now be nearly extinct. If such was the case, the records of histories much more diligent than the Raptoran's might hold such knowledge.
 
I wonder what Olive would make of such a thing, resembling the storied Avariel as she does.