Rainbow Bird
A species unique to Vaina, the beautifully vibrant and varied plumage of these birds gives them their name, but it is their intelligence for which they are prized. Since time immemorial, rainbow birds have been used to send messages between the noble families of Vaina. Most rainbow birds can recall up to a dozen different locations. Most astonishingly, they can memorize and repeat short messages, with the brightest among them following complex descriptions of specific people to whom they must speak.
Though most rainbow birds are carefully bred and trained from birth, even those caught in the wild can be taught to deliver messages between two places, and those that cannot speak messages can still carry the written word tied to their legs.
Rainbow birds can eat fruit, nuts, and even meat, but by far their favorite food is the fruit of the Lindarel Tree, another species unique to Vaina. Because of their abilities and the advantages they grant, it is considered an act of war to take a rainbow bird outside the Vaina border. There is a famous tale of an Eysch trader stealing one such bird to show to his ruler back home. The ruler admired it heavily and praised the trader, yet still extradited him back to Vaina for execution. Whether the bird was returned changes with the telling.
