Hour of Need
Aldora, a beautiful snowy white hawk stood at the edge of a forest beneath the leafless skeleton of a towering pine. For hours she had been standing there, numb to the gelid winter breeze that blow over her body as she gazed mournfully upon a bloody tangle of twigs and feathers that had once been her nest, and her four beloved children.
She had gone out to hunt after being on nest-watch for five hours while her mate had been away seeking his own snacks, whereupon his return Rowan had urged Aldora to take some time off for herself to seek a well-deserved lunch and leave him in charge of protecting the nest. Upon returning she had found her nest on the ground in a similar state to that in which it was now only then the blood had been fresh, running into the snow like crimson water and staining it a deep, ominous red. Although he was missing Aldora was certain her mate must have met the same fate as her chicks; Rowan was not a coward and would certainly have fought to the death to protect them, from a male like him she could expect nothing less and hold close to her heart a bittersweet certainty that the staggered trail of red spots which led away from the scene were from an injury he had inflicted upon whatever beast had done this.
Aldora looked toward the sun as it slowly began to fall behind the distant glaciers in clear admission of defeat to the ever encroaching evening darkness and the lethal sub-zero temperatures that were sure to accompany it.
'Not long now,' she thought, and her eyes began to glisten as the tears caught the shimmering, golden rays of the sunset, 'I'll be with you again soon.' And with that final thought all that was left of her broken mind was sent crashing down into irrevocable oblivion and her entire body began to uncontrollably as tears of lament began to pour from her emerald green eyes.
She almost didn't hear the soft rustling of the bushes behind her, and even in her grief-stricken state she could tell it wasn't the wind, but she didn't care, nothing mattered anymore.
"Why are you crying?" a small voice asked, and apparently noticing the shredded remains of Aldora's nest it continued, "Oh that, I bet you could put that back together. Yeah, with a few new sticks and some tree sap it would look great."
Either because of the apparently unintentional cruelness of what had just been said or the somehow uplifting innocence that only a voice like that could contain, Aldora decided to answer.
"Some things can't be fixed, now leave me," she answered.
"My mom says that sometimes," the young newcomer continued, seemingly oblivious to Aldora's intolerance to its presence, "She says 'some things you can't fix but you can always start again.' I bet you can make a whole new nest and even get some new eggs if you lost some of them too."
That was too much, hanging around long after its welcome had worn was a bad move in itself, but to continue to lecture her in such a manner and even dare to bring up the simple replacement of her darling children was enough to push her into a state of anguished rage, giving her new strength if only enough to silence the insensitive little pest. Gripped by the sudden murderous intent she quickly turned to face the unfortunate fool who so far lacked the common sense to tell when they were no longer welcome, and was now going to pay for their disrespect in blood, but as her eyes fell upon her would be victim they were met by a most unexpected sight that so quickly drained her of her fury that it might as well have never been felt. Knee deep in the snow barely two feet from her, stood a small, very young, possum bearing a kind smile and staring with a strange mixture of compassion and curiosity showing in his small but gentle brown eyes.
"Tell me, what is your name?" Aldora asked the young possum.
"It's Edward, but my mom calls me Eddie, everyone does, you can to if you want to," the possum answered, "I'm ten if you want to know, my brother too, we're twins you see only he's definitely the evil one."
Aldora couldn't help giving a small laugh.
"Tell me Eddie, what drives you to comfort me?"
"What?"
"Why are you talking to me? I thought you're kind were raised to fear animals like me," Aldora asked, "Yet I see no fear in your eyes. How is that so?"
"I dunno, my mom tells me to be nice to people so I thought… what?"
Eddie stopped, noticing Aldora's smile.
"Nothing, I've just never spoken to a possum before, it is a new experience. What is your family like," She couldn't help noting it but didn't know why she was beginning to feel warmly of Eddie, like he were a child of her own, " Your mother sounds very nice, what is she like, can you tell me her name?"
"It's Sandy, she's great," Eddie began, now standing right in front of her, "She keeps us happy all the time but she does cry sometimes, I think it's because of dad. He's dead you see, something killed him when my brother and I were really young. I don't even remember what he looked like, but he sounds cool from what mom's told us. It makes me sad when mum cries, I think Crash ignores it. Maybe that's why he's so crazy sometimes, he doesn't like it when people get all emotional, he just goes off and plays around with stuff and then there's our sister…"
Eddie sat in the snow next to Aldora and proceeded to describe his family and his life, from his very big sister to his friends. He even suggested some interesting ideas about how predators and prey could get along without anyone needing to be hurt, although they did seem pretty far fetched.
"… and that's the last time I saw him." Eddie had just finished explaining about the apparently, highly preventable death of his closest friend and cousin Wilton.
"That sounded like Marcus," said Aldora.
"What?" Eddie asked, "Who?"
"That hawk you described, the one that ate your cousin, it sounded like a young hawk I know named Marcus. His family lives over by the tree line of the forest but it's a little strange that he would be hunting at all, I thought he hadn't left the nest yet."
"I guess he did." Eddie said.
"Probably, it's about time he learned how. After all he's nearly eighteen for heaven's sake, he's got to leave the nest sometime," Aldora paused for moment, remembering exactly what she was talking to, "I'm sorry about your cousin."
"Don't worry about it, that kinda thing happens all the time," Eddie replied, "You never really want to believe that the next one could be you; then it happens and next thing you know a hawk's eating you for lunch..."
Eddie paused. Aldora noticed that he was gazing thoughtfully at the snow drift in front of him.
"...You just have to get over it and live like everyday's your last, coz it probably is," said Eddie, still staring at the pale snow before him, "Boy, it's getting cold."
Aldora, for the first time since she had begun listening to Eddie's stories, took a moment to look around and noticed that the sun had already set. The night had almost completely set in and the temperature was beginning to fall rapidly and hearing his teeth beginning to chatter from the cold, Aldora quickly placed a protective wing around Eddie, who's shivering slowly began to calm under the gentle warmth of her feathers.
"Thanks," Eddie said, grateful for some relief from the cold, "But I have to get back to my family, they're probably awake by now. I bet mom'll be really angry that I left so early."
Aldora had temporarily forgotten that possums were nocturnal and that Eddie must have left before any of his family members had been awake to stop him, which actually presented a puzzling question of why he'd want to slip way unnoticed. Then again it wasn't really that much of mystery given what she'd just heard.
"How am I going to get home?" Eddie asked, as he gazed around at the freezing landscape.
It was pretty obvious to Aldora why he was asking; even though this may have been Eddie's equivalent of day-time hours it was far too cold for him to go wandering, no matter where his family might be and Aldora pulled him closer with her wing.
"But we can't stay here, it's too exposed," she thought, before saying aloud, "Come with me."
"What?" Eddie asked.
"We need to find somewhere safe," Aldora answered, grabbing Eddie in her talons.
He immediately began to struggle vainly to free himself from Aldora's powerful grip, as she spread her wings and launched herself into the freezing dusk sky. For a few moments she soared level through the darkening atmosphere clinging tightly to the furiously struggling little possum in her talons while staring down toward the trees below in search of a good, safe place for herself and Eddie to spend the night. It was hard for Aldora to see very much in the fading light but she was still able to spot a small cluster of tightly packed trees, and she dived toward them, landing at the base of a particularly thick one that appeared pretty much devoid of any leaves just like the others that surrounded it.
But it wasn't leaves that Aldora had been looking for, it was height and this tree was more than tall enough.
"This seems reasonable," said Aldora, gazing into the leafless canopy.
She immediately released Eddie from her talons and he fell limply on his back in the snow, panting as though he'd just outrun a hungry saber. Aldora smiled at the possum, grateful that he hadn't attempted to run away, which would have meant a lot of wasted time trying to catch him but Eddie didn't smile back; he just lay in the snow with a look of wide-eyed surprise.
"I'm sorry, I probably should have warned you first," said Aldora.
She lowered her head to examine Eddie for any injuries that her talons may have inflicted on him; thankfully she didn't see any obvious cuts but it was hard for her tell in the fading light.
"How do you feel?" She asked, standing up straight, "I didn't cut you did I?"
"I'm fine," Eddie answered feebly, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet.
Aldora watched as the possum felt himself over, most likely to check whether or not all of his limbs were attached.
"Phew! I thought you were going to eat me," said Eddie.
He reached over to his tail and began running his hands up and down its hairless, pink surface. Although Aldora was still mildly relieved to see that the young possum was completely unharmed, she hadn't truly been worried, knowing all along that Eddie was easily small enough to fit inside one of her clenched talons without any risk of injury.
"Do you think you could climb up this tree?" she asked, using her right wing to indicate the trunk next to her.
"No problem," Eddie answered, "How high up?"
"I'll fly up and choose a safe branch, then all you need to do is climb up and follow my voice, how about that?"
"Okay," Eddie answered.
Aldora turned away toward a gap in the trees, spread her wings and took off. She felt one her wings just clip the edge of a tree as soared through the gap; it was definitely getting too dark if she hadn't seen that.
She had intended to turn back and land in one quick flight but her close call just a few seconds ago was reason enough for few extra circles just to be sure there wasn't anything that might get in the way. Even in the near complete nightfall she could see that her chosen tree rose well above most of others, fortunately providing a clear flight path with no special considerations necessary and she carefully glided toward it, landing neatly on one of the highest branches. She quickly edged her way to a tightly packed cluster of leafless twigs where several branches appeared to meet; testing its strength carefully before climbing on. The cluster itself was strong enough but Eddie would definitely have to lie on it instead of hanging upside down by tail as none of the individual twigs looked to be appropriate for this.
A few minutes later Eddie managed to find Aldora by following her calls; she knew that he had claimed to have no problem climbing the tree but he did seem to panting a little as he gingerly climbed onto the twigs after she had assured him that it was strong enough.
"What do we do now?" Eddie asked.
"Sleep?" Aldora suggested, although she didn't really feel like she could never manage it again without the soft chirps of her chicks.
"Nah, I'm not sleepy," said Eddie, "know any fun games?"
"I Spy?"
"I said fun games."
Aldora laughed.
"How about you tell me more about being a possum; what about your brother, yes, what is he like?"
"Oh, where do I begin!" Eddie exclaimed with a smile, as he launched into a story about his twin, who he almost seemed to idolise.
Aldora again draped a wing over Eddie as he huddle closer to her in the freezing night air and she soon found that she began to relish the warm, soft sensation of his small furry body pressed against hers, it almost made her feel like...
'I'm a mother again' she thought.
True to her word, when the surprisingly warm, morning arrived and after showing Eddie to a nearby patch of something resembling strawberries for a chance to grab a snack and allowing him to eat some snow as a drink, she took off, clutching a the very excited possum firmly in her talons. Although she did require some directions from Eddie, whose ability to pick out landmarks from the sky turned out to be pretty woeful, Aldora was eventually able to fly him to his supposed home; apparently a snow covered tree that looked curiously like a mammoth.
"Are you gonna be alright?" asked Eddie, as she released him from her talons upon landing in a snowy white clearing that separated the Mammoth Tree from the rest of the forest.
"I'll be fine Eddie," she answered reassuringly, "Thankyou."
Eddie gripped Aldora in a full arm hug before he started a four legged run toward the tree, pausing to say one last thing to the hawk whose life he had unknowingly saved from a slow and tragic conclusion.
"What's your name by the way?" he asked curiously, obviously surprised he hadn't thought to find out earlier.
"Its Aldora," she answered.
"I'll remember you Aldora, I promise I'll never forget it," Eddie called back to her.
Aldora couldn't help smiling.
"I'll never forget you Eddie. That I promise."
She flew up to a low hanging branch in the nearby tree and watched the young possum give a last wave goodbye before running over to his home and being greeted by a clearly relieved mother, another bouncy young possum who must have been his brother and, wait a second! She watched as what appeared to be an oversized, orange puffball fell out of the tree and shook itself off before leaping over to join in Eddie's greeting. Was this the peculiar sister he had described to her; a baby mammoth?
She chuckled with amusement at this latest surprise, before taking off in the opposite direction, staying low to avoid frightening Eddie's family, wondering just what she was going to do now. Should she take young Eddie's advice and try making a fresh start, was it worth the risk of yet another tragic heartache? Well it was better than spending the rest of her life alone, that was pretty obvious but she couldn't help wondering how she should go about it; how did someone start their life again?
At least Aldora was sure of one thing; she was going to miss that young possum, it was hard enough on her just to fly away from him, it felt like she was just leaving him exposed to all the dangers that just seemed to go along with being a possum and she yearned so desperately just to turn back and take him, to protect him from everything that could possibly happen. But it couldn't be that way and she knew it, she just had to hope that the forces in this world, if any, would keep him safe and maybe someday she could meet him again, and on that day he would keep his promise. Aldora knew that she would keep hers no matter what.
'I guess I'll just have to find out?' she thought, as she soared over the powder-white, woodlands below.