"Fight, soldiers, fight! And don't stop until the winds have died!"
Ginger called to the rest of the group. They had been caught in a particularly strong storm, stronger yet than the one they had run into on their way to the Amazon. Their wings soaking and their gizzards in despair, they struggled just to stay above the water. Ginger attempted to keep up everyone's spirits, but the gusts only grew stronger and more frequent, and the rain seemingly came down in buckets, drenching them.
It was then that they were confronted by another gust, this one stronger than the others they had faced, that nearly blew them apart. Unk looked behind him. All he could see were the faint silhouettes of the birds following him.
"Let's do a head count!" he screamed. "Felipe!?"
"I'm in the back!"
"Mario!? Caesar!?"
"Here!" Felipe's two brothers announced simultaneously.
"What about Aloiso!?"
The third macaw gave a squawk to announce his location.
"How's Nigel holding up!?"
Felipe eyed the cockatoo on the small, wooden raft. He tightly clutched the preserver, but it was obvious that he was beginning to lose strength.
"Still aboard, but probably not for much longer! We need to find a way out of this!"
"Right! Uklah!?"
"I'm here!"
"Phillip!?"
"Intact!"
"Vaygar!?"
"Present!"
"Kludd!"
"Unk, she's gone!" the Barn Owl responded.
"Who!? Who's gone!?"
"GINGER!"
...
"This CANNOT be happening!" Ginger flew on, desperately trying to locate the rest of the band, but with no success. She was overwhelmed by emotions; infuriated that she had lost her comrades in this cursed monsoon, horror-stricken that she wasn't far from being considered helpless in the weather she was in, and in despair at the thought of failing to return home, and to be consumed by the raging ocean not far below. The young general only feared the worse, but still she flew. She refused to surrender to the mercilessness of the storm around her. She fought, she screeched...and she remembered.
Ginger remembered the first time she had been caught in a storm like this. It was the time she had left her hollow in Georgia, and when she had been rescued by Jatt and Jutt. She remembered awakening from her near-death state, to be greeted by the Tytonic Union. The bittersweet memories flooded her young brain, and they overwhelmed her even more so than the storm. What if she never laid eyes on any of them again? What if this really was...the end?
...No.
Ginger felt a surge of energy course through her veins, and she flapped harder, faster, more determined than ever to find what she had lost. But a flash of lightning interrupted her search, darting across the sky mere feet in front of her. The harsh crack of the bolt in her sensitive ears paired with the blinding light proved to be just as deadly as being hit, and the Barn Owl's wings refused to respond anymore. She was going yeep.
So this is what it all comes to, she said to herself as she watched the waves draw nearer with each passing moment. This really is the end of Ginger Wingren.
Ginger stared at the waves, solemnly accepting her fate. One crest, nearly the size of an oak tree, rose and collapsed over her, dragging her into the seas. She pushed herself upward to get one final look at the world around her before she san into the depths, thrashing helplessly about. She stopped not long after starting, knowing it was useless anyway. And yet, she could have sworn she saw the figure of a bird hovering over her, and grabbing her by the wings before lifting her out of the water.
The angels have come to take away my scroom. Soon, I shall be in the presence of my ancestors and Glaux.
