Chapter 5—-Birds Must Fly

The next morning, word of Shibu's near legendary kick had spread to every Boufball player in the village. Even a few of the traveling merchants who had stopped off overnight in the village heard the repeated tale the boy with the super kick.

But Shibu's attention the next morning was no longer focused on playing ball.

He and Cici had gotten up with the sun that morning, and crept away toward a small glade on the edge of the village. The spot was perfect for practice, mostly because it remained unknown to the villagers themselves.

One of the gifts given to the young boy at his edge of spring birthday celebration had been given in private.

Cici had watched along with Felice as Shibu had grown into a fine and sturdy boyhood. But together, the two adults waited to see something beyond age in Shibu. Their waiting had been rewarded in ways that matched Cici's best hopes.

The Cra Ranger had seen more deeply into Shibu's character.

Shibu was quiet, introspective and studious. Some of his peers in the village were much less so, and had tried to bring the wild side out of the young boy. But Shibu had remained steadfastly true to his own nature. He was always ready to help anyone who needed it. This was the first and most important, common lesson for both healer and Ranger.

Shibu could be contented for hours on end reading any one of the venerable old books which lined his adoptive home. And because he enjoyed himself while doing it, Shibu had also absorbed a good many of the old books not only into his head, but into his heart as well.

Shibu had a naturally gentle and helpful disposition. He was also inclined toward surprisingly deep thought at times.

Not long after that, while the winter snows were still melting, the first of the birds nests in and around the village welcomed their first young peeps.

Shibu was nothing less then captivated by the natural magic present in the continuation of life. There was a stand of huge, ancient trees on the edge of the village green. The elders told the young lad that the trees had been there before the village, so the elders and the people had left them alone.

By springtime, they were practically sagging under the weight of all the new nests in their ancient branches. Shibu would go out almost the first thing every morning after sunrise to hear the birds serenading the coming of the new day.

On one such daily ritual, Shibu had seen something that brought him racing back in the house, shouting cries of alarm that wakened Cici at once.

"Cici!" The boy said with a raised voice as he came around the corner and stood at the edge of their shared bedroom, where the two girls still enjoyed a restful slumber.

Cici was up and out of the bed by reflex. Her second reflex had been to grab her bow and quiver, and come running.

"What's wrong Shibu?" Cici wanted to know, trying to push her own voice down into a soft whisper, as Felice was sleeping nearby. "Are we under attack?"

"No, big sister." Shibu replied as sheepishly as a Gobball.

"One of the birds... It fell out of the tree!" Shibu explained with real urgency both in his eyes and in his voice.

Cici almost dropped her bow as she nearly fainted back into being asleep on her feet.

"Shibu!" Cici said, suddenly sounding quite sleepy again. "You woke me up for something like that?" The Ranger wanted to know.

"But we have to help it!" Shibu replied urgently. "If we don't, the poor thing might-" Shibu's voice dropped away as his head sunk down toward his chest. The thought that crossed his mind was too terrible to finish for the young boy.

Through her traces of slight sleepy annoyance, Cici felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Shibu. Cici had been brought up as a Ranger. The ways of nature were as familiar to her as the sight of her own face. But sometimes, some of those lessons could be very hard indeed.

Her little brother had a gentle heart, and he hadn't seen enough of life yet to understand the brutally simple ways in which nature sometimes worked.

Then she remembered her own experiences as a little girl, and Cici's heart melted for her gentle little brother.

"Oh Shibu." Cici said once more, this time with more understanding. "Since I was almost awake anyway, why don't we go see what we can do?"

Shibu seem to brighten up like the sunrise that had come only a few minutes before. He was suddenly filled with energy and urgency once again. He grabbed Cici's outstretched hand, and the redheaded Ranger swung her little brother up onto her shoulders, as Shibu enjoyed his usual fit of giggles. They walked out of the door together and quickly across the village green, Ranger walking toward where Shibu pointed to a spot near one of the oldest trees in the village.

"He's right down there!" Shibu interjected. "Do you see him? There! On the ground near the roots." Shibu informed Cici urgently.

Cici took a moment to stand still, and look at the sight with a Ranger's trained eye. Sure enough, almost lost in the massive roots of the tree, there was a small shrinking ball of purple feathers and yellow beak. Cici gave Shibu credit. Only someone with the sharpest of eyes, and the most caring of hearts would've seen the fallen baby bird at all.

"Yes Shibu, I see him." She replied. "Let's see what we can do."

Cici's training had taught her the same rough lesson as a young Ranger which she was trying so hard to keep from Shibu's tender heart right now. The baby bird was too small, and had been pushed from the nest in the branches high above by its stronger siblings.

This was how nature worked. The strong survive. But it could be a cruel and heartless lesson in the worst of moments.

Cici picked up the practically lifeless bird in one gloved hand. The warmth of her touch seem to restore some of the life which was quickly ebbing away.

Shibu's face and his bright blue eyes seemed to flash with traces of renewed hope.

"We have to put him back." Shibu said with the direct simplicity of anything more easily said than done.

Cici had to fight to keep an optimistic expression for Shibu's sake.

The tree in question would need six villagers with linked arms to form a circle around it. The oldest tree in the village was also one of the tallest, and the massive limb on which the lowest bird nest sat was almost lost in the leaves higher up than most people could see.

But there was simple, goodhearted Shibu, with all the faith in the world in his big sister and her ability to do what the young boy knew in his heart was the right thing to do.

Now it was Cici's turn to face one of the hard truths of both herself and life on the edge of the forest.

"Shibu.. ", Cici replied slowly. "I'm sorry, my sweet little brother, but not even I can climb this tree. It's too big, and too tall, and there are scarcely any places to grab onto before the bottom branch where the nest is." Cici replied, genuinely sorry and hurt that she had somehow let Shibu down.

The young boy craned his neck, looking up, up, and up some more, toward where Cici had looked a moment before.

Shibu had to admit to himself that it was the tallest place he had ever seen. And in the same moment, he also understood somehow that if Cici climbed up there, she might fall and hurt herself.

This thought mixed quickly with the inevitable thought of what was waiting for the baby bird, and Shibu started to cry.

Cici held him close to her shoulder for a moment, trying to ease the pain of having to learn one of life's painful lessons.

"It's okay Shibu, it's okay." Cici whispered to him gently as she shed a tear along with the little brother that she loved.

"You're so brave, and so sweet for wanting to help everyone. Even the smallest ones with so little hope." Cici told him as Shibu looked up from her shoulder. She gently wiped away the tears that stained his face with a finger of one of her soft leather gloves.

"Come on little brother. Let's take him inside and take care of him while we can." Cici suggested to Shibu. But all of a sudden, Shibu brightened, and there was a new sort of light in his vivid blue eyes.

"Hey! I know!" Shibu interjected. "You can't go up there, but I'm smaller. Maybe I can, if-"

"Shibu! Oh no, little brother! It's far too dangerous." Cici replied using the tone that Shibu understood meant something decided and final.

"No no!" Shibu replied in an urgent tone. "You don't understand."

Shibu very rarely argued or talked back to anyone he knew. But there was something in his voice this time that intrigued Cici.

"What do you mean, little brother? You're not climbing that tree, you'd fall for sure."

"I don't want to climb. I need some steps." Shibu explained quickly. "You have your bow. Use the arrows, make them like steps, going up." Shibu said, making it sound as simple and common as daylight.

"But you can't walk on arrows, Shibu." Cici protested.

"Not walk, but I can swing." Shibu replied quickly.

Cici was taken aback. The idea was absolutely brilliant. Shibu had spent endless days across the springs and summers past doing exactly the same swing from branch to branch in the forest trees as he helped Felice gather leaves, and buds from new branches to be used in medicines. It was something that came as naturally to him as walking on the green grass far below.

For a moment, even Cici was won over to the unorthodox idea. But then the Ranger in her reasserted itself firmly. There was still danger, and a lot of it, in what Shibu proposed to do.

"But it so high up, you still might fall." Cici replied firmly, now sounding quite unwilling all of a sudden to take the risk, especially with someone she loved.

"I've been up every tree around here." Shibu protested. "Now I have to go up this one-Please." Shibu implored.

Cici looked down at the baby bird, still alive somehow in the warmth of her hand. Then she looked into Shibu's blue eyes. Cici swallowed once, hard.

"Okay, little brother. Let's try. But if I say you come down, you come down, understand?"

"Yep-Yep!" Shibu replied enthusiastically.

Still fighting her own better judgment, Cici stood up, and knocked an arrow into her bow. Getting to the right spot around the circumference of the tree proved to be the next problem. Her first steps were back and away from the tree before she started a slow circle around it. She fixed her eyes on the branch where the birds nest was sitting.

Cici whispered silent hope that the forest spirits would forgive her doing harm to the ancient and majestic tree.

Then her bow was up, and she was firing. Not at the base of the tree, where no one could possibly miss, but just below the branch itself where the nest was, working down toward the ground and angling her arrows so that each was lower than last by just a bit on a steady descending serpentine curve that wound its way down to the base of the tree.

It took almost her full quiver of two dozen to place each one exactly where she wanted it.

Almost as soon as the last arrow at the lowest point had sped from her bow, Shibu held out his cupped hands toward Cici.

Her walk around the great tree trunk, had brought Cici back almost exactly to a soft tuffet of grass where she had laid the delicate baby bird. Cici scooped the tiny feathered ball into Shibu's hands.

This presented a momentary problem, as Shibu would need both of his hands-free in order to reach the tree branch that the baby bird called home.

Shibu thought for a moment, and then stripped off the soft linen pullover shirt he wore. It was one of many that some of the ladies of the village had made for him as he had grown up. This shirt in particular had long sleeves, which would solve Shibu's problem.

Laying the shirt down, he slid the baby bird into the shirt pocket on the right side of the upper chest. He quickly folded the remainder of the shirt into a loose bundle secured in part by the two sleeves. The bundle trailing the sleeves was small enough, and the sleeves long enough so that they met at the back of Shibu's neck, where the boy buttoned them together at the cuffs, securing the whole bundle around his neck so it fell just below his chin.

Now both his hands, feet, and legs could be free to move without worrying about anything spilling from the pockets of his trousers or from anywhere else.

"Ready, big sister!" Shibu said with confidence as he broke for the tree with an easy trot.

There was a small notch carved near the base of the great tree. Long ago it held the initials of a pair of long forgotten lovers. Now, the notch carved in the great tree was all Shibu needed to get a toehold, that let him brace and make a fine balanced hop step and jump up and out, so he easily caught hold of the first of the arrows set deeply into the tree.

From then on, it was the same continuous motion. Tuck, a short jump and a rolling catch that led Shibu further upward each time.

While Shibu made each of the motions seem almost ridiculously easy, Cici found herself watching Shibu climb with increasing concern. She had made certain that these had been her best cloth-yard shafts and arrowheads. Each arrow was now very nearly permanently set into the trunk of the great tree. And each of the shafts seemed to support Shibu without sign of a strain, as the sprightly young boy wound himself up each time and swept upward to the next double handhold.

Almost before Cici could take it in, Shibu was halfway up the great tree trunk. To her hunters sight, Shibu's motion was more like the familiar squirrels who lived in all the great trees of the forest. Almost before she could draw a second surprised breath, Shibu was reaching not for another arrow shaft, but for the branch itself on which the baby birds nest sat!

Shibu made one last easy leap, his actions smooth and without any sign of worry or distress at his now considerable height!

Walking along the tree limb more than twice as wide as both of his feet was a simple and easy trick for the limber young boy. It took only a moment to unbutton the shirt cuffs behind his neck, and slowly lower the woven bundle that carried the baby bird down into the nest. The nest itself contained two other somewhat larger birds, both a dark shade of purple, with the yellow beaks, and large eyes common to Piwis.

Shibu quickly pulled the shirt up and out of the way, leaving the baby bird untouched as he slipped back into the nest.

For the moment, he could not put the shirt back on without risking his balance on the tree limb. So he simply re-buttoned together the shirt cuffs and slid the loop of fabric around his neck. It wasn't quite as good as wearing the shirt, but at least it was out of the way for the climb down.

Shibu waved good-naturedly to Cici far below, whose eyes were riveted on the tree limb itself. Shibu smiled as he saw his big sister salute with two fingers, in typical Ranger sign. Then she brought her hand down slowly toward the ground, until it touched the soft grass again.

Shibu understood what this meant. Cici had taught him Ranger sign since he could remember, and the two of them could have long conversations between them in the sign language without Felice hearing a single word. His big sisters sign was definite.

Come down, right away.

Shibu turned and stepped lively back toward the tree limb, to the point where it met the trunk of the tree. Cici's first arrow now became his first step down, where before it had been his last step up.

Reversing the hop-step spring that had taken him up the tree was smooth and natural for Shibu. He had indeed climbed most of the trees within sight of the village. He had also climbed down all of them.

Below him on the village green, Cici kept a nervous count as Shibu came down. Just as he was ready to make the gliding jump and grab that would put him halfway down the great tree, there was suddenly a gust in the rising morning breeze!

Cici could sense it almost before it happened, but by the time she could call out a warning to Shibu, the sound of a voice from below was lost on the wind.

The wind seem to ripple across the tree and through the branches. Flowing through the great tree, it gave Shibu a gentle push at exactly the wrong time, and suddenly he was falling!

Instinctively, Shibu seemed to spread himself out on the gust of wind, hoping to slow his fall. He could see the ground rushing up to meet him. He threw out his arms in front of him hoping to soften the impact.

But in the next moment, there was no hard impact, even with the soft ground.

There was only a gentle circle of blue light. Light as blue as his own eyes. He seemed to fall into and through the circle, and he lost all sense of motion.

On the village green below, and instant after cold fingers of sheer terror squeezed Cici's heart, she also saw the blue flash of light. And she also saw her little brother disappear from sight completely in the same instant, vanishing into the center of a circle of blue light which seem to float in midair!

Instantly, Cici was too shocked to breathe, or to call for help. All she could do was sink to her knees, as her legs gave out beneath her.

A moment later, he seemed to be moving again. Not falling, but moving more slowly than before. And then, just below his feet, there was another soft circle of blue light. Looking through the center of this one, Shibu could see the soft green grass at the base of the tree.

Almost before he could think, He seemed to drop through this second circle of blue light, and land with a thud on the soft grass.

Something made Cici get up and run toward him, toward the second Circle of blue light which hovered just above the ground, and through which Shibu had reappeared a moment before falling a short distance onto the grass.

Her bow was back over her shoulder with her quiver, in a move of pure reflex that left her hands free to scoop up Shibu from where he had fallen.

"Shibu! Shibu! Answer me, talk to me, please, Shibu!" Cici implored as she swept the crumpled figure of her little brother up into her arms and held him close.

Just then, there was a soft whisper that only Cici could hear.

"Lemmie go, Sis! I can't breathe!"

"Shibu!" Cici gasped, as she found herself barely able to breathe all of a sudden. "Are you all right? What happened, those lights, what were they?"

"I dunno, Sis. I'm just kinda tired right now, and my stomach h-hurts. May-be we ought to go home now." Shibu told his big sister with a sigh just before he went completely limp in her arms!

Cici turned quickly, and running as only a woodland Ranger could run, she raced back toward the house, calling for Felice at the top of her voice.

Felice awoke when she felt herself alone in bed. She decided that the most useful thing she could do for the moment was to cook breakfast for the three of them. When she heard Cici's unaccustomed shout of alarm, she literally dropped the eggs into the skillet.

Felice flew around the corner in a blur, and met Cici in the doorway, her arms full of a decidedly worse for the wear Shibu.

"Stars and planets Cici!" Felice interjected. "What's going on? Why is he like this?" The Enripsa wanted to know urgently.

"Our goodhearted little brother was helping a baby bird get home, and he ran out of tree before he ran out of gravity." Cici explained quickly, being sure to leave out selected details for now, as they might require too much explanation.

"Starry skies!" Felice said, in surprise, but not quite in shock." I'll get my brushes. Put him down on the sofa, where it will be easy to reach him."

Cici set her little brother down as softly as another ball of feathers. She let go of Shibu's hand long enough to sit on the sofa at his feet. She took a moment, and put her face into her palms. The shock of what almost happened had begun to set in. But that brought Cici back to the other thing that she had not mentioned to Felice.

Those strange blue circles.

Whatever they were, they had saved Shibu's life, or at the very least spared him serious injury and pain.

But the Cra Ranger had never seen or imagined anything like them before.

Shibu had managed not only to defy gravity, but to use it somehow to slow himself down as he was falling.

Whatever skill or magic this happened to be made little difference for the moment. But when her little brother was both well, and conscious again, Cici decided that the two of them would walk a short distance into the forest and have a very, very long talk.

Felice floated back into the room carrying something which looked like a small toolbox used by one of the village artisans. But rather than tools, the wooden tray with a long handle on it was filled to overflowing with a large selection of magical brushes.

Cici understood that for the Enripsa, these were tools as surely as hammer and nails were to many of the craftsman around the village.

"Here Cici." Felice said shortly. "Hold these for me, while I see which one of them will do the best work." Felice continued.

"As I caught him, Shibu said he was tired, and that his stomach hurt." Cici added, trying her best to describe the symptoms to the doctor.

"That's not much to go on." Felice answered slowly. "But from what I see and sense, there are no broken bones or fractures. A few scrapes and bruises is all I see." Felice diagnosed quickly.

"Thank Cra for that!" Cici said with relief. "Shibu is lucky to be well built,with a good deal of strength. When he fainted in my arms, I was surprised. It's the first time in his life that I've ever seen him so completely still. I got scared." Cici confessed quietly to Felice.

Felice was listening, but she was also working. She picked up a small brush at first, and it immediately shimmered with the magic of natural energy that flowed through it when healing was done. She passed it gently over his slightly barked knees and elbows, also being sure to touch all the major joints above and below Shibu's hips, to make sure everything that she could not see was healed as well as everything she could see.

"There now!" Felice said calmly as she put the brush back among the others in her toolkit. "As far as I can tell, he's had a good scare, pulled a few muscles, and the tree bark skinned him up pretty badly. For now, all he'll need is a lot of rest, and no strenuous activity for a few days."

Cici knew the tone Felice was using. As the healer for her village, Felice had lasting respect among all citizens. When she told them to do something associated with medicine or healing, the villagers were smart enough to listen and heed what she had to say.

"If that's the case, I'd better start weaving some trapper's rope, because you'll need a hold spell to keep this boy in bed for anything longer than one night." Cici's tone carried the relieved sensation that came with the medical diagnosis.

But both of them knew Shibu all too well. Felice understood that in spite of the humor of the moment, Cici was as right in her assessment as Felice had been with the medical diagnosis.

"He won't feel a lot of the pain from his wounds." Felice replied. "I made certain of that. But I do have a feeling that when he wakes up, he may listen to his body, if he won't listen to us." Felice replied.

"I hope so." Cici replied with relief. "It may sound strange, but I never loved Shibu more than in that moment where I thought he might be-"

Cici paused, and let her voice trail off. The thought itself, along with the fresh memory of the fear was a wound that not even Felice could treat.

"I know my dear." Felice replied. "Moments like that are made more intense by the deep love that we share for one another. I'm glad you love Shibu deeply enough to be so scared. But don't worry, everything will soon be right." Felice consoled as the two of them sat down on the sofa at Shibu's feet to watch over their little brother, who was now resting easily in the deep sleep of healing.

Cici considered Felice's counsel. There was a fine clear truth at the core of them, but what Cici couldn't bring herself to tell Felice was the entire truth of what had happened.

So even as her own fear from the moment of Shibu's fall faded further away into time, Cici knew as no one else did that Shibu's problems might require far more than love and a magic brush to solve.

But whatever that meant for Shibu, Felice was resolved, as she was his big sister, to stand by her little brother no matter what would happen in the future.

A wave of subdued happiness washed over both Cici and Felice the next night, as Shibu's intense blue eyes fluttered open, and he whispered their names. Shibu's first impulse was to sit up and move around a bit. He began to move, but a strange look crossed his face, along with an impulse of pain from his stomach muscles which made the naturally impulsive boy slow down more than a little.

Cici grabbed a pair of the plump comfortable cushions that were accessories to the sofa, and propped Shibu up a bit against one arm of the long seat where he had slept soundly for most of a day.

"Take it easy Shibu." Came Cici's gentle whisper to her little brother. "It's still going to hurt for a while, and after that scare you gave me, I'm not at all sure you don't deserve it." Cici told him half playfully.

"Ugh!" Was all Shibu could manage to say as stiff muscles made it feel like he had an iron chain manacled around his stomach.

"I'm really sorry,Sis." Shibu replied with a sad tone in his whisper. "But I was falling, and I didn't know what to do, and then-"

"Shhhhh!" Cici interjected suddenly, cutting him off.

"That part of things is between just you and me." Cici answered somewhat sharply. "And when you're feeling better, my little tree climber, you and I are going to have a very long talk. But for now, it can wait until you're well. I didn't want to worry Felice about it. You rest, and that means stay still for now, and you and I will talk later on. In private."

Shibu understood, and looked off in the direction of Felice who was totally absorbed in preparing lunch for the three of them, with an extra big portion for her healing patient.

"Okay big sister. I've got a lot to think about, I guess." Shibu replied with a faint touch of regret in his voice.

"It wasn't your fault Shibu." Cici replied. "But we've got to know more about what happened after you fell, and before you made me make an unscheduled catch landing." Felice whispered in return. "For now, you be extra good for Felice and keep still. I know it's hard for you, but you're going to have to heal, and that's going to take time, medicine, and lots of good food." Cici told him as she rested a gloved fingertip on Shibu's button nose. The smile that came with a gesture lit up Shibu's intense blue eyes with a wave of happiness. "I think Felice has that part well in hand."

"Okay, big sister." Shibu replied. "I'll be good, I promise."

"That's my little brother!" Cici responded with a brighter smile still.

"Cici?" Shibu asked again, returning to his quiet voice. "Can you bring me something to read?" Shibu asked.

"Now I know you're feeling better!" Cici answered. "Tell me which one, and I'll bring you any book in the village. I promise."