Jabberjay
It was terrible being abandoned.
He didn't know what it was at first. He just took his orders, traveling far across the forest to a distant district, sat and listened and learned like he always did. It was only when he tried to return to his masters that he realized something was very, very wrong.
The air itself threw him back, singed him and sent an electric fire straight through to his heart. A shriek, his own, an otherworldly sound, ripped from him, and it was all he could manage to cling to a nearby tree to catch his breath.
He knew anger, even if he didn't know the words the district people used, and he spat at the wall of rippling energy in a rough male voice, "I hate the Capitol! If I could tear the President's face right off, I would!"
The burst of hatred helped his rapidly beating heart slow slightly, but he still didn't quite understand what was wrong. The electric walls were supposed to be up only at night, to keep the other creatures out. He could see his tree, his brothers' trees, just across the chain link fence; still, silent, empty. He wondered where they were, if they were stuck outside like he was.
A shuffling on his left side made him jump, and he clung to the branch he perched on with apprehensive claws. He glanced over, expecting to see some kind of predator, but no – instead what had made the sound was the most gorgeous creature he'd ever seen.
She was a soft blue-gray, breast the purest white he'd ever seen. She gazed off toward the distance, black eyes and beak exuding a mystery that sent tingles down his spine and through his flight feathers. It was almost as if she hadn't noticed him at all. Well, he'd have to change that in a hurry, but it was almost as if she had him in a trance.
She shifted slightly, tense and hunched as if she were going to take flight again. Panicking, he stepped toward her, puffing up his silky black feathers to look bigger and more attractive. Again, he didn't know the words, but he knew the feelings behind them, and he whispered with gentle affection. "Hey, you, it's your birthday, isn't it? I got you a ribbon. Won't that look pretty in your hair?"
A fluff of her feathers and a curious tilt of her head in his direction was her reaction. He felt his blood grow warm as she finally looked at him. An intrigued 'chewk' trilled from her throat, and he was certain that this, right here, was love.
The night was warm and muzzy with his new Lady Mockingbird tucked under his wing. Bugs flitted around their heads lazily, and they dined without moving, a magnificent feast to mark the beginning of a new life. The ripple of electricity keeping him from his past home was nothing compared to the thrum now deep within his breast. Even though he could never return, even though he was an outcast, he had a beautiful mate, and that was all that really mattered.