The addition of Leanne meant the addition of a new heron for me to corrupt. Every time Nealuchi would visit Serenes he had to bring me along because I wanted to see Leanne. We went there twice a year, and every time I saw her she had grown bigger. By the time she could walk she could come with Reyson and me on our little adventures in the forest. She followed us everywhere. I wonder if Rafiel or Lillia were ever jealous...

Chapter 4 -- Forest Adventure

A year and a half had passed since Leanne was born. Naesala was now able to fly short distances, and he often showed off his new skill to anyone who was standing nearby. He also took it upon himself to teach Reyson how to fly using the rigorous methods used by ravens.

"Come on, climb up!" Naesala was perched on a tree branch about six feet from the ground. Reyson and Leanne were staring up at him in awe, though Reyson was more filled with fear.

"It's so high!" the heron prince protested. "What if I fall?"

"You have to fall a couple times in order to get used to it." Naesala jumped from the branch and flew to another tree. "You know how many times I fell while learning how to fly?"

"How many?"

Naesala grinned triumphantly. "Fifty-seven! I flew better than most of the others. Nealuchi said that I'm a prodiddy."

Reyson frowned. "What's a prodiddy?"

"Someone who's really good at something at an early age," Naesala explained. "You'll probably fall more times than that. I would guess about seventy."

Leanne cooed excitedly and waved her arms. Like all babies, she was attracted to anything that was potentially life-threatening, and she wanted to climb up into the tree, too.

"No, Leanne. You can't go up in the tree," Reyson told her. "You're too little."

Naesala fluttered to the ground. "You won't even go up into the tree, Reyson. You'll be fine. Trust me!"

"I don't think it's a good idea..."

Suddenly, Naesala picked up Leanne and flew up into the tree again, this time to a branch that was eleven feet high. Leanne giggled at the rush of air and glanced around in wonder at this new view of the forest. Her hair was growing, though it was still fairly short. Lillia had tied in two green ribbons. Tiny white feathers were also beginning to sprout on her wings.

"No, Naesala! Take her back down! If she falls she'll get really hurt!" Reyson was waving his arms frantically, but Naesala ignored him.

"How do you like it up here, Leanne?" he asked her in a sweet tone. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Ah!" she agreed. Then she grabbed onto his jacket and playfully tugged at it.

"See, Reyson?" Naesala called. "She likes it up here. You should join us."

"This is not safe! Oh, no, what will I do?" Then Reyson frowned up at him. "If you don't get down here I'll get Rafiel to fly up there and take Leanne from you!"

"You won't do that. I'll just fly away then," Naesala replied casually. "I'm faster than your brother, you know." He started playing with Leanne's curly hair.

"You'll get in trouble!" Reyson warned.

Naesala finally sighed. "Okay, I'll give you a deal. If I take Leanne back down there, you have to climb up to the branch closest to the ground and try to fly off of it. Deal?"

Reyson watched helplessly as his sister was climbing around Naesala so high up in the air. "Okay. I'll do it."

The raven grinned and held onto Leanne. Then he jumped off the branch and fell for a moment before flapping his wings and landing safely on the ground. Leanne was laughing in delight.

"Don't do that!" Reyson ran over to them and took Leanne away from Naesala. "That's so dangerous! You have to be careful with the baby!" He began inspecting his sister to make sure that she was still unharmed.

"All right, Reyson, your turn. Climb up onto that branch and jump off." Naesala pointed at the branch that stood six feet off the ground. "You know you want to!"

Reyson sighed in defeat and put Leanne on the ground. Then he followed Naesala up the tree and carefully climbed out onto the branch.

Naesala leaned forward. "First, you have to crouch down a little so that you can spring forward. Then you jump off and flap your wings. Watch me!" He demonstrated by flying around in a circle and then landing next to Leanne. The heron princess clapped happily. "Now you try!"

"Naesala, I'm going to hurt myself! What if I get really hurt?"

"Then you'll know what it feels like. Everyone falls on their first try. You might as well get it over with," Naesala explained.

Reyson took a deep breath and dove forward. He hovered for a moment before falling toward the ground. "Hellpp mee!" he screamed.

Naesala ran forward and caught him just in time. "Haha. See? It's not so bad."

"Oh, Naesala, I could have killed myself!" Reyson jumped out of the raven's arms and leaned against the tree so he could catch his breath. "I'm never doing that again!"

"Don't be a chicken. I could have just not caught you," Naesala told him.

Suddenly, Reyson looked past Naesala's shoulder and asked, "Where is Leanne?"

"She's right the--" Naesala's eyes widened as he realized that the spot formerly occupied by Leanne was now empty. "Where did she go?"

"Oh, this is terrible!" Reyson ran around, looking for any sign of his sister. "She must have crawled off somewhere! She must be so lost and alone!"

"She lives here," Naesala replied calmly, though inside he was growing anxious. "Someone will find her eventually."

"Naesala, we have to look for her now! If she gets lost I'll get in so much trouble!"

"Okay, fine." Naesala sighed. "We'll split up and then meet back here. If you find her then call out or something."

"Please hurry," Reyson pleaded. "I'll go this way." He ran off in a frantic rush.

Naesala went the other way, hovering above the ground so he could move faster. "Leanne? Where are you, Leanne?" he called. A few minutes later he spotted her crawling toward a stream. He flew over to her and picked her up. "You really crawl fast! How did you get so far away?"

Leanne cried in protest. She wanted to go play in the stream.

"No, you have to get back. Reyson will get worried." However, she would not let up. Naesala glanced over at the stream and noted that it wasn't that deep. "Okay, but just for a little bit."

He carried her over to the edge and let her down so she could crawl in the mud. Being a boy, he didn't really seem to care that her snowy white dress was now covered in brown splotches. He started piling mud up into a sort of mud castle and stuck a stick in the top to be a flag.

"Look, Leanne! It's a castle!" he exclaimed. "This is what my home looks like."

Leanne smiled and threw some mud at it.

Naesala sat back and watched her play some more. "You know, Leanne, I bet you would like Kilvas. Someday I'll take you there. It's by the sea, and there are lots of strong rocks so no stinky humans can attack us. Maybe one day you can go on a raid with us!"

Leanne, of course, could not comprehend half of what he was saying. She was more interested in the squishy mud. She picked some up and opened her mouth.

"No, Leanne, you can't eat that!" He grabbed her hand to keep her from sticking the mud into her mouth. "It tastes nasty."

Leanne threw the mud away and crawled over to the water. She began patting it and giggled whenever she caused a splash. This helped to clean her off somewhat, but her dress was now permanently ruined. After another minute Naesala decided to take her back before Reyson could go tell an adult what they had been up to. He picked her up and stepped away from the stream to head back. However, something across the stream about two hundred yards off had caught his eye.

"Humans," he whispered in disgust.

Sure enough, two cloaked beorc were walking around. They both had their hoods up, but Naesala could tell that they were much older than him, almost Nealuchi's age. One of them was carrying a peculiar staff, and he was carefully examining the layout of the surrounding area.

Leanne cooed softly.

"Shh! Leanne, be quiet!" Naesala covered her mouth.

It was too late. The two men turned in his direction and saw him. The one with the staff grinned maliciously.

Naesala decided it was best to follow the old raven tradition and run. He held Leanne tight and flew away as fast as he could. Once he reached the tree where he and Reyson were supposed to meet he stopped to catch his breath. He looked behind him and sighed with relief. The beorc hadn't followed him.

"Leanne, you can't make noises when we're trying to sneak around," he scolded the little heron. However, Leanne was still excited from how fast he had been flying while carrying her. She waved her arms happily and giggled.

"Leanne!" Reyson came rushing into the clearing. "Oh, thank goodness, Naesala, you found her!" Then his eyes widened at the sight of her dirty dress. "Wh-what exactly was she doing?"

Naesala put the squirming heron girl down so she could crawl around. "She was playing in the mud. She was having a lot of fun, too!" He didn't want to tell Reyson about the beorc he had seen, though a sliver of fear was beginning to creep into him.

They returned to the center of the forest, where the adults were all waiting. Lillia shrieked when she saw Leanne's ruined dress.

"What did you let her do! Oh, she'll never be able to wear that dress again!" She took Leanne out of Reyson's arms and rushed away to change her sister's dress.

Rafiel shook his head. "Our sister is going to turn into a raven if this keeps up."

"Oh come on!" Naesala protested. "She was the one who wanted to play in the mud. I tried to keep her from crawling into it but then she whined so I just let her play. Doesn't every fledgling want to play in the mud at least once?"

Reyson blushed in embarrassment as Rafiel chuckled softly.

"Reyson used to always try to crawl in the mud, but Lillia would not let him. It isn't particularly a common habit among herons, though," Rafiel explained. "We spend more time near the plants than we do by the streams and rivers, unless we are looking for fish to eat."

The mention of fish caused Naesala's stomach to rumble. "So, when is dinner?"

"Right now, Nestling!" Nealuchi walked up to them with a large smile on his face. "Are you all washed up and ready?"

Naesala glanced down at the dirt that covered his clothing. "Aw crap..." He quickly washed his hands and face and ran back to the dining area, where Reyson, Rafiel, Lillia, and a freshly cleaned Leanne were sitting. Lillia was feeding Leanne, gently pushing the spoon into her mouth as she giggled and waved her arms around excitedly.

"Can I try to feed her?" Naesala asked.

Lillia hesitated. "Well... please do not get her dirty, little one. This is the only clean dress she has left at the moment."

Naesala smiled playfully. "Of course I won't get her dirty! Unless she wants me to!"

Lillia reluctantly handed him the spoon. He scooped up some of the food, some sort of mashed up fish, and held it toward her face.

"Here you go, Leanne! Yum yum!"

Leanne tried to swat at the spoon, but Naesala pulled it away just in time.

"Now, Leanne, if you get yourself dirty then your sister won't ever let me feed you again." He slowly put it into her mouth. She greedily sucked the food off of the spoon and then laughed, causing half of it to fall back out of her mouth. Lillia quickly swooped over and cleaned her face off with a napkin.

"You know, in Kilvas we use bibs," Naesala told her. "We also wear dark colors so that it doesn't matter if we get dirty."

Lillia sighed. "Little sister, you are the messiest heron I have ever seen!"

Dinner continued much in the same pattern, though Lillia succeeded in keeping Leanne's dress clean. Naesala was having so much fun that he completely forgot about the beorc he had seen earlier. Instead, he was more preoccupied with discovering further ways to corrupt his heron friends.

I am having a lot of fun portraying Leanne as a baby! Babies are just so attracted to trouble...