The Kiwi and the Pukeko

The pukeko wandered in late that night, into unfamiliar territory.

She had never tried before to stay up late since she normally slept until dawn.

It was unfortunate that she chose this night to be exploring in the dark because on this night she happened to meet, or rather, step on a kiwi. A kiwi's foot to be exact, and she regretted it all too much when it happened.

It was unfortunate because that pukeko is me, and of course this is the tale of how I met this bouncy flightless bird.

That day was when I realised, totally by force, that being alone isn't all its pecked up to be.

"Every blade of grass and pile of rocks looks the same, no matter how you look at it," The dark blue bird grumbled, staring at the offending pile in front of her from every which way she could think of. She even looked at it upside down, before giving up completely and continuing on her way.

She wasn't lost. No way! She never got lost. Pukekos had a sense for keeping on their chosen path, and she was no different.

Crack.

"What was that?" She asked the darkness beside her. It didn't answer.

The little bird glanced all around her, trying to pick up where that strange sound came from. Just more black, and more piles of annoying rocks.

"Pfft. Whatever." She shrugged and kept walking, one eyebrow raised in case something tried to jump out at her.

She heard another crackling sound, like a blanket of leaves being rustled. The bird spun herself around to face what was following her.

Nothing.

Nobody was there, and she didn't really feel like talking to him right now. Not to anyone.

Pukekos preferred to be alone, but still among their own kind. It wasn't because they were shy or anything, they just wanted to do things their own way.

She was definitely no different from that.

By now she had begun to walk again, but backwards. She could have sworn she heard the noise from behind her.

It was waiting for her to turn around so it could jump on her, but she never did. So it never jumped or noised or did anything of the sort that she had thought it would do.

What she did however.

Crunch.

"Owww!"

The pukeko clenched her teeth together and shut her eyes from the anguished yelled from below her.

Whatever it was, it didn't like to stepped on. So, being the nice feathered fowl she was, the pukeko removed her clawed foot from the whatever it was and proceeded to apologise for what she had done.

It went something like this, "Ahh! What? What did I step on?"

The leaves rustled again, but she couldn't see through the blanket of black all around her. Her eyes weren't developed enough to see in the darkness, but they seemed to be getting better now.

She spotted a trembling bush off to the side and decided to check there first.

Peeling back the leaves to see through it, her purple eyes met with bright eyes.

She could see it quite clearly through the blackness, those large circles showing what a surprise her arrival was to the poor creature.

The pukeko knew instantly who it was, or at least what it was. She had never met one before, because she was always awake when they were asleep. But she knew it was a kiwi.

She seemed to be her age, on it's own too. It still wasn't late enough for her to be up, but the pukeko guessed that wasn't the problem anymore.

"Uh hey," She began a little hesitantly. The kiwi wasn't looking at her anymore. His tear soaked eyes were on his injured foot. "sorry…about stepping on you I mean. Guess I should watch where I'm going."

At this the kiwi looked back up at her, but this time he raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Stepped on me?"

"Yeah…well didn't I? That's why you screamed. I was just trying to say sorry." Not very successfully, the pukeko thought. She shook her head and ruffled her feathers in dismissal, "Never mind, I'll just get outa your feathers-"

"Wait!" The kiwi shouted, interrupting the blue bird and making her look back. "You didn't step on me. Just sort of…at me. On my toes at least, they're really sensitive."

"Really?" The pukeko replied, just a little sarcasm lingering in her voice.

"Yep. It runs in my family unfortunately, but what are you gonna do about that?" He was bouncing now, hopping off branches and through leaves, until he landed in front of the blue bird smiling away.

The pukeko stepped away slightly, "Uh, yeah. Well sorry about your foot then."

She began to walk off, trying to find her footing in the deeper darkness. The pukeko tripped suddenly over a fallen log and landed on something soft and fluffy.

"Oh no, that's okay. It was actually really good that you woke me up." Came the little kiwi's cheerful, but slightly tired voice from under the pukeko.

"Oh really?" The blue bird rolled her eyes and lifted herself off the kiwi's surprisingly strong back.

The kiwi nodded happily as he stood back up from supporting the other bird. "Uh huh, because I REALLY need to get somewhere super quickly and sleeping on the job and through the midnight won't help me get there."

"I guess not." The pukeko replied absently, trying to ignore the flightless bird bouncing lightly around her.

The kiwi bounded in front and stopped the bird in her tracks. "And I could really use your help." He said, smiling brightly into the pukeko's eyes.

"…my help?" She echoed the kiwi in confusion.

"Aren't you a pukeko? You'd be awesome at finding which way I'm supposed to go." He answered quickly, hopping lightly from foot to foot.

"Well yeah, I am…but I'm kinda lost myself." The pukeko finished that last bit in a whisper to herself as she walked around the bird.

"You are, but…?" The little kiwi repeated from behind her.

"But I'd rather be alone," The pukeko said, pausing in her walk and turning her head to the side. Her stern expression softened a little and she sighed. "Sorry. Nothing personal." She turned back and continued walking.

The kiwi hesitated, seeing the strange look in her eyes as she answered him. He started bouncing up to her, but at a slower pace than usual. "Oh, well you just sorta seemed lonely."

"Oh yeah, and why do you think I'm lonely?" She responded defensively, looking back at the kiwi. The pukeko flapped her wings and flew up to a low branch. She walked along the trees now, jumping from branch to branch when one ended.

"Because you're all alone." The kiwi hopped clumsily onto the first branch, and nearly fell when the violet eyed bird stopped from what he said. He tilted his head to the side, "What's your name?"

"…let me get this straight," The pukeko said after a minute, turning her head and looking into those velvet colored eyes. "If I take you to where you need to be, you'll stay there and I can leave?"

The kiwi looked a little sad at the quick question. He nodded gently, "Well I…I suppose."

The pukeko's expression stayed the same, but she didn't make eye contact with the kiwi anymore. "…it's Andrel…Nova, now let's get this over with." She jumped down and made her way out of the underbrush.

"Ooh, that's a pretty name." The kiwi replied happily, finding the spring in his step again. "My mom calls me Little Kiwi, but my friends just call me Red Velvet. It's sort of a nickname I guess, 'cause of my feather and eye color. My last name's Solar."

The kiwi wiggled his rump and crouched down in preparation and jumped from the last branch, landing softly on the ground. She continued along walking with the grumpy red winged bird.

Morning rolled by when they finally made their way out of the woods, and still Red Velvet continued chatting.

"So were you born this awesome or did you need to learn it?" Red asked, bounding along beside Andrel as they neared a clearing in the bushes. "I mean there has to be a reason that you can never get lost, does it ever bother you that you can never not know where you are?"

The blue bird stopped and rubbed her forehead with a wing as she was met with a gorgeous sunrise. She walked out of the forest and looked up at the sky in silence.

Red seemed to be wrapped in the sight as well, stopping her rapid fire questions to gaze at the bright ball. Andrel glanced over at the flightless bird and managed to smile at the look of awe on her face.

"It's pretty great, isn't it?" The pukeko asked, getting a gentle nod as an answer from the kiwi. She snickered softly at the bird's reaction and kept walking.

Red shook his head and hurried along to catch up with the violet eyed bird. "I've never seen something so beautiful before. Is this what you get to see all day long?"

"Have you never seen the sun before?" Andrel replied, amusedly raising an eyebrow at the little bird. "Well yeah, it goes all across the sky throughout the day. It's sort of a way to tell the time."

"I've never seen anything like that, I'm always asleep." Red sighed softly and stopped, hanging her head sadly.

Andrel turned around, not hearing the red bird's tracks behind her. She stepped in front of the kiwi and looked back at the forest. "Well that's okay. Nighttime has good things too, probably. I couldn't really see anything in there."

"Nah," Red said, shaking his head. He still didn't look up from his feet. "night isn't as good as what I've heard about the day. Mom always said that right at the crack of dawn, the sun looked so peaceful and shiny. I never knew what the sun was only being awake at night, but now that I do…I can see what she meant." The little kiwi gazed up again at the sun as it rose over the mountains and into the clear blue sky.

Andrel tilted her head in confusion. "Your mom told you that? I thought all kiwis were nocturnal." The bird said, looking over at Red.

He nodded quickly and turned to look at the blue bird, "Well we are, usually. But somehow she stayed awake long enough to see the sunrise. Ooh, hey, since you're always up during the day…I was wondering if you could tell me about it."

The pukeko started walking again. "What would you like to know?" Andrel asked before thinking.

Red started bouncing again and answered, "Abslotively EVERYTHING!"

At this the red winged bird rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She watched her feet as she walked along the path. This was why I'd rather be alone, she thought.

As the day went on, so did the flightless bird's questions about such a time.

Questions like, "do you think the sun has a little switch someone can turn on and off when it's day or night?" Or such inquires as, "do you think grass tastes different in the daytime?" after which a few moments and a few nibbles of green, she answered herself.

"Nope, it tastes the same all the time."

The scenery changed as the two companions made their way up the South Island, and so did Andrel's take on this situation.

Changing from a 'it's nice to be alone' sort of situation to a 'why does this always happen to me' situation.

Over hills and down dales; across mountains and marshes, and still the little bird talked. It was beginning to weigh on the pukeko.

At nearly dinner time she had had enough of Red's blabbering and cheerfulness.

"That's it! Don't you ever stop talking? I wish you would because I am done listening to you, and helping you. I don't even know what I'm looking for! So just…just…" She paused and looked at the teary eyed kiwi as she backed away.

Red bumped into something and leaned against it for comfort as she stared at Andrel with sudden fright. "I…I was just…looking for my way home. I need to…because my mom's probably worried about me and I thought you could h-help." He looked up and smiled weakly at the blue bird. "You seemed nice."

"Oh." Andrel's anger almost melted away. He was just trying to find his mom? Well why didn't he just-?

"Ouch!" The little kiwi jumped forward suddenly, being startled by a cracking sound and a kick to the hind-quarters. Whatever he was leaning on a moment ago, it didn't like to be leaned on too much.

When the two birds looked at the object in confusion, a crack formed in the oval shaped rock. Red peered closer, his curiosity winning out over the strange situation. It was getting dark by now, night was rolling in and also some storm clouds were moving in overhead. But the velvet eyed bird could still see with his developed eyes.

More cracks formed and the rock began to…rock. Back and forth. "What the?" The pukeko asked as she watched the bizarrely shaped rock move.

Red stepped forward and nudged the rock with her beak. The rock broke open at his touch, and out popped what seemed like another kiwi. But unlike the cheerful bird, this bird was already the size of Red Velvet and it was only just born.

"Is that a kiwi?" The little bird wondered, tilting her head in confusion.

Andrel shook her head and stepped closer to the newly hatched bird. "No, I think it's a-"

"Momma!" The baby bird called out.

"Momma?" The two birds repeated in unison. They thought of saying something, but before either of them could a single drop of rain fell on each of their heads.

Red and Andrel turned their beaks up to the sky and saw the clouds. Black and dark. Thunder clouds.

"Uh oh." The pukeko mumbled as the rain started pouring down on them. She looked up again at the sky and a rather large raindrop fell on her eye. She grumbled irritably, "Great, now we've got to find shelter." She looked on ahead and saw a small cave big enough to ride out the storm in.

Red Velvet now huddled with the oversized kiwi, the hatchling starting to shiver from the cold and rain. Andrel stared at the two together and ruffled her feathers to get their attention. "Come on, I see a cave."

She began to walk, but she didn't hear any feet behind her. Andrel Nova glanced over her shoulder and saw that they hadn't made a move to follow. "Why aren't you coming? Come on!"

Red sniveled and looked over at the soaked pukeko. "You said…you were tired of being with me…because I talk too much, just like everybody else."

The blue bird looked taken aback by the lonely look in Red's eyes. "What?"

"I don't have any friends to call me Red or Velvet okay? None of them want to be near me because I never…seem to stop talking." His eyes were soaking wet now, but not from the rain. She wiggled closer to the baby bird to try and warm him up. "I…kinda thought you'd be different, being alone too I thought you would get it. Me I mean."

"I…I…" Andrel didn't know what to say. She felt horrible for what she said earlier, but right now more important things were on her mind. "Come on, we need to get you and this guy in that cave…quickly."

Andrel stepped up to the kiwi and lifted him and the baby bird up, draping a wing over each of them. She rushed them into the cave just as the first clap of thunder hit their ears.

They huddled together for warmth inside the cavern, and Andrel still felt bad for yelling at the flightless bird. She wanted to say something to her, to make her feel better.

She opened her beak to speak, but closed it. Andrel sighed softly, "No…I wasn't born this awesome."

"Huh?" The kiwi replied, turning his head to look at the violet eyed bird.

"What you asked before. I'm not that awesome, just lonely." She wrapped her wing around the red bird a little tighter, and smiled softly. "I guess it wasn't too bad…having some company today."

The kiwi seemed a little shy now, but he smiled back at Andrel with his velvet eyes.

After a moment's silence between them, the pukeko looked over at the baby bird. A small smirk formed on her face. "So what are you gonna call this guy, mommy?"

"I was thinking of calling him Nelson." The little kiwi answered, smiling at the bird.

"Well that's not a bad name…Red Velvet." Andrel rested her head on the ground, a small blush staining her cheeks. She wasn't really a sappy kind of pukeko by any means.

Red's cheeks burned a little as he lay his head down. "Thanks Andrel." He checked that the baby bird was sleeping soundly and snuggled up next to the birds comfortably.

As the storm died down, the three birds of all colors and sizes fell asleep safe in the small cave.