They had always been risk-takers, born for swashbuckling adventure, but then their love gave them wings and elevated them even higher. It gave them the power to defy gravity. Side by side, the pair soared high in the sky, catching wind currents and going wherever they pleased. Direction and purpose didn't matter to them as long as they were together, so they spent every day doing aerial aerobatics and enjoying the feel of the wind ruffling their feathers. The ground lay miles below them, and they felt more alive than they ever had before. They were completely free and unrestricted, having shucked off what society told them about who they should be and how they should go about spending their lives.
But then calamity struck. They flew into a hurricane, and they lost control. The winds spun them around in fierce circles, and they were buffeted by its force. They tried to fight it, individually and collectively, but it was much too strong. They were nothing more than helpless avian dolls in its grasp, struggling haplessly against its overwhelming power. It threw them out – him, then her – and gravity sent them hurtling down to the ground they had once thought abandoned forever. He landed, then she did.
Then, the weather calmed, and the sun came out again. Someone came to fetch their baby, who was still hidden away in the safety of their nest, several kilometres away from the disaster zone.
A decade later, the winds started to pick up again. After everything, however, their son and his new protector knew what it meant. They knew the terrifying ferocity of the coming storm.
And they were ready for it.