Chapter 4

It has been a couple of hours since I got out of the hospital. I was just sitting on the park bench, listening to some music and watching all the families pass by, when I saw a couple of bigger eagles picking on a smaller one. I decided to intervene, as it was starting to get a bit serious with some pushing and shoving. As I was approaching the small one took a huge swing at one, which caused him to stumble, before he was swarmed by the others. I was sprinting by this point, screaming "Hey! Leave him alone, you damn thugs!" As I said this one turned to look at me with wide eyes before he started to point me out to his buddies. They started to run away before I got there, and when they were gone, I looked down to see the small eagle. He looked no older than 6 and was badly bruised and bleeding due to the jumping. "Shhhh, it's ok kid, they aren't here to hurt you anymore." I picked him up and started to comfort him, as anyone should. "My baby! What happened to him!" I heard a worried tone from above. I looked up and saw another eagle, most likely his mother, start to descend towards me. "I don't know why, but he was ganged up by a bunch of others, I ran over to help when I saw he was in trouble." I explained to her, hoping to calm her down. "Thank you so much, mister. I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there to intervene." She praised. "It's just what anyone would do, I hope. Don't dwell on it too much, you'll drive yourself crazy over what ifs." I told her, brushing off her compliment. She gave me a bone crushing hug, literally, and walked away with her child in tow. Seeing this made me smile, knowing that I stopped something that could have turned way worse and reunited a mother with her child. As I was watching them walk away, I felt a presence behind me and felt a clawed hand on my shoulder. I whipped around to find myself face to face with a beautiful eagle, looking up at me in shock, and surprise. "You...you're alive?!" She exclaimed, sounding all the happier every passing second. "Ummm, do I know you by chance?" something seemed familiar about her, but I could not put my finger on it. "Don't you remember me? You saved my life in the battle between us and the wolves last year. The battle that put you in a coma." That is right, the bird-girl that dove into fight with me in an unfair fight. "Oh! I didn't recognize you, I guess you can say it's been a while." I said, attempting to crack a joke. She laughed at that "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Did you just get out of the hospital?" she asked, I was wondering why she was so interested in my life. "Yeah, I've only been out of it for a few hours." I told her. "A few hours and already saving lives, huh? Well, I just wanted to thank you for helping out my nephew in that little scuffle of his." That was her nephew? He did look familiar now that I look back at it. "So, have you decided how you're going to get back to your home?" She asked me. That question was one I was not prepared for. "Oh, umm, I don't really have a home anymore." I told her, looking at the ground. "Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't know." I was not going to hold it against her for not knowing my predicament. "It's fine, you couldn't have known the predicament I was in. I'll just have to look for a new home here, if that's fine." I told her, hoping to get some direction to a housing district. 'I really should've had a better plan than this, then again I never expected to be thrown into a new world.' She perked up when I told her this, "OHH, you can stay with me, I have an extra room in my house. I've only been using it as a storage room." This offer surprised me, I never received this much hospitality, even back home. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden on you." I told her, feeling guilty that I was going to take up her resources that were all to herself. "It's fine, my friend Laval pays off the rent. He said it was a gift from one friend to the other, so I have extra money saved up." She told me. What I did next was unexpected, I hugged her. "Thank you so much, Eris, you have no idea how much this means to me." I expressed my gratitude, a little too much. "It's fine, like I said, I'm just happy to see you happy" she said, with a bit of a giggle. After letting her go, I looked at her and saw that she was slightly blushing, maybe she was just embarrassed? I let it go and focused on another topic. "So, do you know where I can get a job, to help you out?" I asked, hoping too not be completely useless. "I don't know of anyone looking for any new workers, but we can look around." She added, trying to keep my hopes up. "Ok, that should be fine. It's getting pretty late out, should we be getting back to your house?" I asked her. She looked over at the horizon and saw the sun setting, "Yeah, I guess we should. Come on, I'll show you where it is." She said, quickly walking away, with me following right behind her. I noticed how she was moving her hips in front of me, causing me to look down at the ground and try and get the details in the stone path. 'Is she trying to flirt? She must be, it is too obvious' I thought. I was too focused on the ground that I did not know she stopped, causing me to bump into her and knocking her over. I quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in close. It took me a few seconds before I let go of her, realizing what I just did. She looked at me and laughed. "That was the most romantic thing that's ever happened to me. Just kidding, I know you didn't mean to do it, it was a common accident." She told me, ending her laughing with just some light giggling. I couldn't help but laugh, seeing how weird my reaction was. After our laughing spout, I looked up to see what had caused us to stop. There was a small one-story house sitting right in front of us. "Wow, that was quick. I was expecting it to be a longer walk." I said, seeing her start to open the front door and walk in. I entered a few seconds after and looked around the room that I ended up in. It was a very cozy room, almost like a living room. I saw a couch in the middle, with a coffee table in front of it. The one thing that surprised me the most was the TV that was facing the couch. I heard Eris call out to me from another room. I walked into the room and saw that it was a basic looking bedroom, with a bunch of boxes in the corner. This was MY bedroom, and MY home. "Sorry, it's a bit of a mess, I hope it's enough for you." She said, looking around the room, and moving boxes to make more room. "It's perfect, thank you Eris" I told her, smiling. It must have been contagious because she smiled back with that attractive smile. Our moment was interrupted when a yawn escaped my mouth. "Looks like someone is tired" she said, playfully. "Very much so, I can't wait to get to bed" I said, sharing a laugh with her. "Well, goodnight then. I'll see you in the morning Wilkins, hopefully." She said as she walked out, leaving me alone in my room. 'Wait, how did she know my last name? Oh, she probably saw my nametapes and thought that was my first name.' With those last thoughts I laid my head down in bed and fell into the comfort of slumber.