birds of a feather (grow apart, come together)

"Lori, would you please stand still?"

After ruffling her feathers, Lori turns to face her brother. "Sorry, Grey," she chirps. "I'm just very restless. You know how it gets."

"Yes, I do," Grey agrees. "It's a shame Caw doesn't really do anything but perch there." Lori realises that this was just a jab, something to force their older companion into speaking. Calling him by the nickname he hates isn't going to go down well, either.

And Macaw rises to the bait. "Don't call me that, Grey."

"Well, what am I supposed to call you then, hmm? You're not secretly a Macaw, are you?"

"No, I'm not. Look, what do you want, anyways?"

Grey mumbles a complaint under his breath. Lori knows that both her brother and Macaw are annoyed by the fact that all three of them were named after different birds. To her, it's just a name. That's all.

At least Grey is actually gray in color. Her brother is a stunning, cool gray while Lori is only green, like most budgies. Lucky him, as she's often thought. Lori tries not to be jealous, but Grey gets more attention than her. It's bad enough that during the day there's nothing to do, but when their owner comes home, everything is still boring. Because the owner doesn't pay attention to her.

"Anything," Lori says. "Anything to stop this boredom is fine with me. Tell me about before we came here, maybe? Did anything interesting happen then?"

"Well," Macaw says, "Before you two came, there was another budgie in that cage. Her name was Velvet, and she told the most interesting stories about these budgies from far away. Said they were called Clans."

"Were they interesting stories?" Lori asks. "Can you tell us some?"

"Lori, don't encourage him," sighs Grey.

"You wanted to hear them too!" squawks Lori.

Ignoring their arguing, Macaw dips his head. "Oh, yes, they were very interesting. And if you'd like to hear one...well, I can't stop you from being curious, can I?" He shifted his weight. "I'll tell you about ThunderClan, the Clan that Velvet stayed at, the Clan of the forest. Listen closely, young'uns…"

Grey snorts, but has the decency to not say anything – though that was partly because of the glare that Lori gave him.

ThunderClan was the biggest of the four. They lived in the forest, and their leader was Firestar, a former caged bird – which is what they called birds like you and me. He had two daughters, Squirrel and Leaf, who had not yet earned their names at the time that this took place. And life was good.

But it wasn't always to be that way. Humans came, and there was the fear of discovery. The fear of captivity. Four budgies, from the different Clans, were sent out to find a new home for the others, before they would report back.

But two more sneaked along – Stormfur, from RiverClan, and Squirrel. She was desperate, wanted to be a part of something. And both of them were allowed to stay, for fear that they would be lost if they were sent to find the Clans.

They found more budgies, as well as other creatures, on their journey. But they made it safely to the sun-drown place, their final goal. And as they looked, they were stunned by its majestical beauty. For the water swallowed the sun at night, and set the water ablaze in a stunning display of oranges and reds. It was, to say the least, a miracle to someone who had never seen anything like it before.

They went back, reported their findings. Life went on for the six of them, and they served their Clans above anything else. Squirrel and Crow received their names, Squirrelflight and Crowfeather, after the journey they went on.

But Squirrelflight always felt a calling, back to the sun-drown place. She knew she had to go there, go back to where she felt she belonged. And after time, she did so. Nobody in her Clan trusted Squirrelflight, they thought she was incompetent. And she flew away, for some time by herself – not forever, mind. For a short time only.

And there, she met someone, someone she barely remembered from before. Her name was Midnight. She was not a budgie – instead, a badger. Squirrelflight was overjoyed to see her old friend, and told her of all her troubles. Midnight listened, and helped.

But you see, this is the part of the story that is most important. Mere birds and great badgers can coexist, peacefully, and this is the beauty of nature. When Midnight helped Squirrelflight, it showed that there is more to life than fighting and bitter rivalries.

Squirrelflight returned to her Clan with the wisdom that was bestowed to her by Midnight, and her Clan was able to use the advice. She didn't know what exactly helped her, but she knew that she would be forever grateful to Midnight for the badger's help. And the badger's name was no longer hidden between the living of the journey cats. It was a name that was celebrated by the budgies of the Clans.

Lori and Grey were both sound asleep by the time Macaw finished his story. He blinked twice, sadly. Dreading what he knew was going to happen next.

An opening, then a slam, of the door. A shout of "I'm home!" from the boy. His mother greets him, then he climbs up the stairs (two at a time, if Macaw is to guess) and rushes to his room. "Hello, Lori and Grey," he says, a smile on his face as he watches the two sleeping budgies. "And Macaw, who is awake."

A small, sad sound escapes Macaw's throat and instantly the boy's mood is dimmed.

The boy strokes Macaw's feathers gently. "It's time, isn't it?" he asks softly. "You – you need to be free now, don't you." He says it as a statement, not a question. And, as to answer it, Macaw squawks softly.

So the boy unlatches the cage, and Macaw climbs into his hands. Quietly, the boy tiptoes down the stairs, and Macaw takes in his surroundings. Sees the house he had lived in for most of his life for the last time.

"I don't want to leave you, Macaw," the boy whispers, and it sounds like he's holding back a sob. "Just promise me you'll be okay."

Macaw knows he will be.

The door is open. He's free to fly now.

"Go," the boy says. "Be free, Macaw."

And so the budgie takes off, flies away, to the sun-drown place he described to the other two not so long ago. To see one last beautiful thing, because he knows that then he will be at peace.