Hello, everyone!

I want to thank Anonymous Noob the 2nd, Luthyx, Varghul, Crysist, and anonymous reviewers for your kind words on the last chapter!

Here's a little tidbit for you all. Make sure to stay tuned—there's more to come!


Stormfly

It's a rough life, having a pet human.

"Look, look!" I clucked at Hookfang. "I'll show you what I mean. Watch!"

My human was busy talking to her playmates, taking us through another tour through the nest. It was like they thought we didn't live here? It was very strange, but I liked to get out and see all the quirky little things humans did. Besides my nestmates and human, there was the very loud male, the two humans who were like a Two-Head, and also the quiet chunky one. They were all chattering away with their weird, flat human sounds.

I turned and darted away.

I had barely made it even a few winglengths before my human cried, "Stormfly!"

With a smirk, I trotted back over to our group with my tail high. "See? See what I mean?"

"No…?" Hookfang hummed, tipping his head and his eyes big and thoughtful.

"Of course you wouldn't—that's why I'm the smart one!" I snorted, lowering my head swaying back and forth in challenge.

Hookfang scoffed and swatted at me. I ducked aside, flared my wings, and leapt onto him. Hookfang was too slow, and in just a few seconds, I had pinned him to the ground. There was a really loud sound, too, but I still lifted my head triumphantly.

"Hah!" I crowed. "See?"

"Storm-flyyy," Hookfang whined, twisting around to no avail. "I wasn't ready!"

"Sure you weren't, just like every other time, right?"

"Yearlings!" The right head of Barfandbelch scolded. The left added, "Be more careful—there are not just humans underfoot."

Hookfang and I blinked up at them and scrambled to our feet. When Hookfang rolled over, bits of smashed wood came off him and fell into a bigger pile on the ground. He'd landed on…something…and a human was standing next to the pile and making loud angry noises.

Our humans began talking to them. After a bit of going back-and-forth, my human turned and said something to the two of us.

"Huh?" I asked, looking at Meatlug. She was super-smart, and she always paid attention for all of us when we were together.

She scratched behind her ear with a hind paw. "They seem upset that you've broken their object."

"Perhaps an apology is in order," The left of Barfandbelch said. "Go on, have good manners! Apologize!"

"Sorry," I said to the wood bits.

Hookfang watched me and craned his neck, nosing the broken thing. "Um, sorry?"

Meatlug chuckled. "Well, at least the thought is there."

"No, young ones," Barfandbelch's right hummed. Both of him nudged us by our rumps towards the angry loud human. "Apologize to them."

"No, they're mad!" Hookfang yelped. He backed away submissively and stepped behind his pet human. Poking his human with his nose, he said, "You can yell louder! Talk over them!"

I turned to my human to see if she wanted anything more, but she was busy talking to the angry one. The angry human pawed at her, and my human hung her head guiltily. She backed away, ushering me with her. I caught my name in her flustered, apologetic sounds, but that was all.

"Well, looks like they fixed everything!" I chirped.

"Did they?" Barfandbelch's right asked Meatlug. They brought their tail around their own two humans, just like they would to their fletchlings.

She grimaced and shrugged. "As well as they could. It appears to me that humans quite enamor their material possessions. Even my own human carries objects around with him." She snorted, shooting the chubby one a look. "I must say, for such interesting little creatures, humans certainly are difficult to study. They create such grandiose machinery and artificial constructs, but they haven't the slightest inkling of basic philosophical thought—all but for mine, of course." She lifted her head and tail snootily.

"Well, you can't study humans…right?" I said, turning my statement into a question when I remembered that she was the eldest so that meant that she knew more. "They're like little hatchlings—we take care of them!"

Meatlug eyed me with a grin. "Oh?" She asked. "You are conscious of the fact that your human companion is quite older than you, are you not?"

I reared back and flapped my wings in shock. "W-what?!" I gasped. "No, she isn't! I would know! Look, watch this!"

I turned tail and scampered further into the human nest. A bunch of humans jumped out of my way, and many of my nestmates who had been watching began to admonish me.

"Be careful, yearling!" One nestmate shouted.

"Stay away from the humans, the Kings aren't here to calm them!" Another added.

"Oh, let her have some fun!" One more snorted. "She's doing no harm, and neither are the humans."

I ignored all of them until…

"Stormfly!"

I hopped back over to my pet human and wiggled with excitement when she extended her paw. Humans were so weird when they groomed, but it felt so nice! I loved it the most when she ran her tiny, tiny claws just under my neck. Besides that, it was really cute when she groomed me, poking and prodding like a little hatchling. Which she definitely was.

To my disappointment, my human dropped her paw once she realized that I was here to stay. She turned to her playmates and began making her strange, flat sounds. They all responded to her in turn. I had no clue how Meatlug could even begin to understand that dull, wordy language. I did catch the words they used for our names, and it filled me with pride to be able to know some of it.

"So, Stormfly, what is there to see?" Meatlug inquired.

"Oh! Right!" I fluttered my wings a bit, embarrassed that I had forgotten my point. "Well, what wasn't there?" I pointing my nose at my human. "She gets so scared without me! The moment I leave, she cries and cries for me until I come back. She's definitely younger than me!"

"My human does that too!" Hookfang chirped. "Is he little, too?"

"No," Meatlug and Barfandbelch laughed.

I glared at them. "I'm serious!" I said. "She's just like a hatchling! She's got that…that...what is it called again?" I asked Barfandbelch. "When little hatchlings get scared without their mother or father? That happened to yours, right?"

Barfandbelch looked at each other, frowning in thought. "Hm…ah!" The left said. "You're thinking of separation anxiety. And yes, many of my young have had that when they were hatchlings."

"So does my human!" I said. "She has separation anxiety from me! I've been trying to make her better by walking away from her more, but she only gets more and more worried each time." A thought struck me. "It won't be permeant, will it?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Meatlug soothed. "Your human simply cares about you, nothing more." She paused. "But she is undeniably older than you."

"No she isn't!" I cried. "I'm the eldest!"

Hookfang snickered. "To who? I'm older than you!"

"Oh, by a few days!"

"Still makes me better!"

"Oh, does it?" I launched myself at him again.

This time Hookfang was ready. He slipped just out of reach, twirled, and snapped at the air above my wing. I jolted away and rattled my spines at him, pretending to throw some at him. He jumped away from the imaginary spines and circled around me, stalking me like I was a deer.

"I swear, I'm not sure which ones act the most like fletchlings," Barfandbelch's left said. "You two, or my little humans here."

I glanced over at the humans in particular—they really did act like fletchlings—and was bowled over by Hookfang. He knocked me to the ground, but didn't pin me.

"Not fair!" I gasped, getting back up to my feet. My human rushed over to me, mewling and worrying. "Oh, don't worry! I'm fine, I'm fine!" I soothed her. "…And you're definitely younger than me," I added with a pointed look at Meatlug.

Meatlug rolled her eyes. The chubby human put a paw on her head and said something, and she purred and gave a casual shrug.

My human began speaking, and this time I caught the loong word she used for "the Kings". She talked about them sometimes, and every time, she seemed so sad and submissive. I couldn't figure out why. We'd only seen the Kings a few times and the past couple of days, since they'd been spending more and more time doing…

…actually, I didn't know what they were doing. King stuff, obviously. Although from what I've seen of them, I had noticed the transformed King seemed tired all the time. I hoped that he wasn't sick, but whenever I'd asked the elders about him, they'd told me to be mindful of him. Whatever that meant.

My human called out to me. I jerked back to attention and almost groaned when I realized that this time, she'd been only a few steps away from me before she'd gotten too nervous again.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you!" I told her. Meatlug chuckled and I sent her a playful glare.

Our humans suddenly changed the tones of their voices, and a few of them began to walk away. I looked between them, confused, and then to Meatlug for explanation.

"Well then, it seems our humans are parting ways," Meatlug explained. She bowed politely, which all of us returned. "Fair adieu to you all."

"Good luck with your studies," the right of Barfandbelch said. The left added, "Let us know if you learn anything that can help us with our little fletchling humans here!"

"I shall. Until next time!" Meatlug turned and gestured with her wing at the chubby human to start walking. He blinked at her. With a patient huff, she trotted away. Her human stammered something and ran after her.

"Oh, no, no, no—no, little human, you can't eat that!" The right of Barfandbelch gasped. In a sudden burst of speed, he gave chase after his own humans. Both of them began shouting playfully and running away.

I turned to Hookfang. "Well, have fun with your loud human! Mine's better, by the way."

He snorted and cuffed me over the head. "He's not so bad when he's not showing off."

"Uh-huh," I said. "Anyways—"

"Stormfly!"

I moaned. My human had wandered off again, only to cry out to me when she realized I hadn't followed.

"I really have to work with her on that. I haven't flown for fun in days!" I said. My human called me again, and I reluctantly stepped towards her. "Well, bye!"

"Bye! Good luck training her!" Hookfang said with a teasing grin, like he thought I couldn't do it.

I clicked my tongue in thought. Maybe I would ask the Kings the next time I saw them. For now, though, I was happy to spend time with my human.

Even if she was clearly younger than me.