As the Draconae have insisted that none of the Summoned should venture into the Ashlands alone, Steve isn't going to make a point of doing these tasks solo. Especially when there are plenty of capable Summoned who he can team up with, Diana chief among them.

The Featherhive is a splash of color, a stark contrast to the desiccated Cinder's Core, and yet he suspects that it's going to have its own dangers and obstacles. At least it seems that neither he nor Diana are struggling to breathe. Then again, neither of them are strictly human either, so they're not the best people to test out this kind of thing.

The birds seems like little more than nuisances at first, with how they circle around and make a racket. Steve's more concerned about what other creatures their noisiness might draw toward them, and he's keeping an eye out around them when the birds start talking.

They do not deserve you.

He blinks up at the one that spoke, briefly startled at how well it can imitate human speech. Usually birds just mimic what they've heard in the past, but there's something different about this. He glances over when he senses how Diana's tensed up at those words. But the thing is, the birds just don't know when to stop. Almost as if they're feeding on Diana's negative reaction, they keep on with it, the words becoming more and more mocking until Diana shuts them up with a quick fling of her knife, which destroys the offending bird and then embeds into a nearby tree.

Steve watches her with concern, even as he moves toward the tree to guard her as she retrieves the knife. He keeps an eye out for any other birds, but they've dispersed for now.

"You all right?"

Clearly there's a story here, but he doesn't expect her to explain. Not unless she wants to, that is.