Aitvarai {Kites-if translated directly}
I found many descriptions of these creatures and even more stories with them. I tried to make a sketch while reading, maybe in the future I’ll make an art print from it.
Aitvaras may have been the god of water and clouds. Aitvarai may take a form of a bird, a serpent or a tornado. They bring riches to the needy people (yet may take them from the greedy). Aitvaras’s riches can be useful but rarely bring happiness; furthermore, Aitvaras may start droughts by drinking rain. Aitvaras presence at home may be unnoticed but such a home would never be poor; however, the prerequisites of “creating” an aitvaras may also be bought intentionally.
Aitvarai were once considered nature spirits because they roamed the wilds. They live in heavily wooded areas or forests, though their ability to fly often inspired the idea that they lived in the sky.
Though technically never tamed, many of the stories of Aitvarai refer to them as household spirits or guardians. A single Aitvaras resides within a house, usually behind the stove or oven, where it nests.
Aitavarai are territorial thus, once they select a home, removing them is quite difficult. This is also why more than one Aitvaras in the same house was very rare.
An Aitvaras is an enigmatic and curious being that can take on many forms, usually based on its current environment. Inside the house, an Aitvaras may look like a black cat, black rooster, or black cockerel. When outdoors, an Aitvaras resembles a black crow, a flying dragon, or a serpent with a fiery tail. As a serpent, the Aitvaras has the head of a grass-snake. Aitvarai can fly regardless of their current shape, and when seen in the night sky, they appear to be wavy lines of fire, which are sometimes interpreted as meteorites or comets.
As creatures of good fortune, guardian Aitvarai bring wealth, and abundance to anyone they favored, an Aitvaras brings in grain, dairy products, money, coins, meal, corn, and, in some cases, gold, into the household. Little is known about Aitvarai reproduction; however, like the Basilisk, one can be hatched. though by no ordinary means. A seven-year-old cockerel or rooster must lay an egg, which then must be kept warm under the armpit until the Aitvaras emerges. Another method is to incubate a boar’s testicle.
Household Aitvarai subsist off of leftover food, though they prefer omelets, and some will only accept such meals from the family they live with. An Aitvaras has the miraculous ability to heal itself by touching the earth.
