This is my new story…were going to leave Eli for a time and see what happens to bird…

Chapter one: Birds Story

Birds threw herself back on the grass and watched the receding ball of light fade and then disappear completely.

"Great… Great… Great!" She shouted at the now small wink of light in the sky. "I know you can hear me!" She shouted again, arms gesturing wildly. "You can't just leave me here!" Bird took a breath and sighed. She dropped her arms heavily on the grass and looked like a petulant teenager. After a few more minutes she got up and looked around.

Bird realised she must be in a glade, which meant she was either in a wood or a forest. The grass was a luscious and surrounded by leafy green trees. The air was warm and sultry and she could hear the buzzing of insects. She looked around her to see if there was any sort of path that she could use but there wasn't. Bird took a breath, which meant that either she was away from civilisation or there wasn't any at all. Great, she thought to herself, so she really was on her own. She stood with her hands on her hips wondering what her next move should be. In the glade she was protected but she had no food or water and those were her first priorities. She looked up at the blue sky, at least that was a familiar sight, of sorts and looked at the sun. It was high in the sky so she decided it must be the middle of this planets day, however long that was. She guessed then that she had a few hours at least to find shelter, food and water. She was going to find it hard though, she could no longer rely on her abilities to help her. Bird struck out towards the tree line and listened before walking a little further around stopped and listened again, still not happy she walked a little further again she stopped and listened, finally hearing the thing she was listening for. A smile crossed her face and she began to walk through the trees. The sound she had been listening for became louder and louder… the sound of water. Bird rushed through the forest. She stepped through a clump of trees and became aware of nothing but fresh air and just a few feet ahead of her was a sheer drop. Bird stopped where she was with a sudden intake of breath, realising how close she had come to going over the edge. A cold sweat enveloped her and a trickle rolled down between her shoulder blades making her shudder. Not having her abilities was going to be tough going and she would have to take more care and thought. Slowly she inched forward and looked over the edge. With dismay she could see it was a long way down and she was going to have to either traverse the cliff… not an option… or work her way down slowly following the edge of the path and the forest. Well that was decided for her, it was going to be a long walk and looking up at the sun, and it wouldn't be too long before the evening would approach. Bird needed to get down to the water, find shelter and food before nightfall. She turned back into the forest to follow the lie of the land until she reached the bottom of the cliff and her precious water.

Bird pushed through branches and scrub, each twig seeming to be deliberately scratching and grabbing at her clothes. Bird was frustrated and annoyed along with hot and bothered. She battered at the branches as they tore at her delicate skin, each inch a struggle to gain. Finally after an hour of thrashing and fighting her way, she suddenly came out of the trees onto a small grassy bank. She looked back at the innocent looking trees and decided she wouldn't be going that way again. Following the bank she eventually came to a part of the small river that formed a pool of slow moving water and looking into it Bird decided she need to wash the grime and sweat from her skin. She looked around to see if anyone was watching and she began to remove her jacket followed by the rest of her clothes and shoes and folded them in a neat pile on the bank finally she stood in her underwear and slowly began to wade into the water. At first she took a great gasp of air as the water was amazingly cold but after a few minutes she began to swim around in the pool, enjoying the delicious feel of the cool water against her skin. She spent a few minutes cleaning off the dirt and grime and made sure all her scratches were clean before swimming a little while longer. She realised she would have to get out at some point; she needed to find food and shelter before dark. Bird got out of the water and carefully dressed. She sat for a while on the bank deciding what she needed to do and decided to follow the river and see where it led to. Dusting herself down she got up and began to follow the small river downstream hoping she would find some sort of shelter, she didn't relish the thought of having to build one. She was exhausted after fighting the forest trees and her swim had made her even more tired. Feeling like she could fall asleep where she stood, she carefully picked her way down the bank. She walked and walked until finally finding a small sandy embankment where she could see around her and be sheltered by the bank itself. A fire was needed next, not knowing how cold it was going to get, a fire was necessary. It might even keep predators away although to be honest she hadn't actually heard much wildlife apart from birds chirping and insects buzzing.

She went into the edge of the forest and found herself some small saplings which she pulled up and took down to the river bank and began piling them over the embankment and burying the ends in the sand forming a sort of lean to and then she collected branches and placed them across giving her some shelter. Next she collected some kindling and dry branches and twigs to feed her fire for the night. Last but not least she searched the under growth for berries , these would have to do for now as these trees didn't seem to be the fruit kind, hoping she would find food the next day Bird set about sorting her camp fire. She collected some large boulders from the edge of the river and made a large circle. Then she went about putting kindling onto the base of the fire with some dried grass that had had found. Satisfied with that she then sat by the unlit fire and took off her boots and socks. She then reached for two small branches. One she snapped in half and laid it between her feet, cradling it. Bird then took the next branch and between her hands began to twist it back a forth in her hands creating a hollow in the halved branch.

"Ok" Bird said out loud "Now comes the hard work". She stretched her arms and then began the same motion twisting the stick in her hands, but quicker than before, her tongue appeared between her teeth as she concentrated on her task. After five minutes and no result she sat back.

"I'm really out of practise" She said out loud again. Then bent back down to her task rubbing the stick into the other. After another five minutes a small amount of smoke began to appear. Bird quickly reached into the ready fire and picked up a few bits of dry grass and placed them on the part of the branch she was rubbing and tried again. She carried on until finally smoke appeared again and she began to blow softly. A small bright orange ember appeared and she fed it with more grass. More thicker smoke appeared and more grass was added and then as if by magic a small flame appeared. Bird quickly placed it with the other kindling at the bottom of her fire and she began to blow. The small flame glowed and then a fire appeared. Bird blew on the fire and finally it took hold. A small fire developed and Bird fed it with small twigs eventually adding small branches. Bird looked at her hands, they were red and small blisters had appeared in the centre of her palms. This would have to do for tonight. She would have to find something to protect them with tomorrow. Barefoot she approached the water and washed her hands in the river. Night was not too far away as a sunset bled through the tops of the trees turning the water in to a flowing ribbon of oranges and pinks. Bird returned to her makeshift shelter and sat at the entrance. Watching the sun in the sky she ate a few of the berries. They tasted ok so she hoped she wouldn't end up poisoned, that was all she needed now. Bird yawned the excursions of the day were catching up with her and she felt weary. On all fours she climbed into her shelter and got herself comfortable, using her jacket as a blanket. She felt safe in her little den but then her thoughts turned to Eli and Destiny. She had been so preoccupied during the day she hadn't had time to wonder how they were. She missed her little garden and the gelms. Most of all she missed the new friends she had made. Her face became sad and she turned over onto her side. Tears began to slowly make their way down her cheeks. She loved Eli and she missed him. He had done so much for her and given her a chance when others wouldn't. She wondered if he felt the same way about her. Then she wondered about Lisa and if her sight had returned. Franklyn's face suddenly entered her thoughts and shattered any good feeling she had.

"One day" She said to herself "One day." She closed her eyes, tired and weary she nestled down into her pillow of grasses and moss. Tears escaped from her closed eyes and her lip trembled, she was determined to get back to Destiny one way or another. That was her home and there was no way she was letting Franklyn win. She tossed and turned on her rough bed until finally she began to drift off to sleep.

Crack! Bird opened her eyes but didn't move. She could hear movement on the embankment above her makeshift shelter. Crack! Another twig snapped. Bird slowly turned her head towards the noise. Whatever it was, it didn't sound very big. Well at least that's what she hoped. She could hear whatever it was sniffing around in the shrub. Bird slowly let out the breath she had been holding. She turned her head again trying to locate exactly where the animal or whatever it was, had gone.

All of a sudden the animal exploded through the roof of Birds refuge and landed square on her chest. "Aaaaarggg!" screamed Bird. At the same time the small animal screamed "Wwwwaaarrrrrgh."

Then they both stopped again at the same time. Bird looked into the dark eyes, of a furry animal about as big as a small dog. But in the dark couldn't make any features out.

"Nice animal" She said in a sing song voice, trying to reassure the animal that she was harmless and hoping at the same time, it was too. "I'm just going to move over here"

She slowly rolled over onto her side letting the animal roll off and it scuttled into the corner and looked at her. Slowly, ever so slowly Bird knocked the door open on her hide away and began to inch her way out bit by bit, keeping her eyes on the animal as she went until she was completely outside and she ran a few feet away and sat on the sandy bank. She looked back to her shelter and saw the animal beginning to emerge slowly, only peeking at first, and then beginning to emerge further into what was a night lit by a full bright moon. Bird turned away slowly and hoped the animal was moving away and leaving her in peace. She looked across the river and watched the water for a while before turning back and seeing that the animal had gone. She let out a sigh of relief that was echoed next to her, on the side that she hadn't been looking. Bird took in a gasp of air and looked slowly to her other side. There sat the animal copying the way she was sitting, and looking across the water. Then it turned to her and looked her straight in the eye "Warg" it said simply and then began to snuggle up to Bird. Bird instinctively held up her arm and the 'warg' nestled in and Bird wrapped her arm tentatively around it.

Bird sat there not knowing what to do. As a farmer she knew to cherish the animals she looked after but she had no idea what this fluffy thing was. She looked down and inspected the creature. It was the size of a small dog and came to just under her armpit, where it now seemed to be sleeping. It looked to be a tan colour in the moonlight and it was covered in short fur. It had sticky out ears that sat on the side of its head like a dog, but it didn't have a long snout like one. Its face seemed to be round like her own, with a small button nose and around its closed eyes were extremely long lashes. It had a very small snout on which perched the button nose and under that a small mouth. She looked at its hands. The forelimbs carried talon like claws which jutted out from longer fur on the end of its fingers or paws she wasn't sure which and couldn't see the hind limbs at all. She didn't know whether it walked on all fours or whether it was bipedal because she hadn't even realised it had walked down the bank until it had nestled into her side. Now Bird wondered what to do next. Did she disturb it? Or did she stay where she was. She looked back at her shelter and longed for sleep. That decided it. Still supporting the creature/warg she began to get to her knees. Then slowly she slipped her hand under its back legs and cradled it like a child, before getting slowly to her feet, her thighs screaming at the exertion, and slowly walked to her shelter. Slowly she bent down and made her way inside and just as carefully she laid the poor creature out. Like a child it never moved and when she put it on the other half of her bed it simply turned over. Bird replaced the door way and lay down beside the creature/ warg and nestled together Bird put her head on her pillow and closed her eyes to finally rest. Within minutes she was asleep.