A new day has dawned. With that, new opportunities arise… For juvenile traits, that is.
Luna's up early. She does so each morning, unlike most others who enjoy the comfort and warmth of their nests still. Luna is sitting on "her" spot on a hill near the Palace, overlooking the Jaquin-made structure from a distance. She has once again given herself a front-row seat for a happening she watches routinely: the arrival and departure of the Royal Guard. A tad moment later she starts seeing the first of those bulky Jaquins flying toward the small entrance located directly above the main one. Luna gazes at every one of them in awe, her heart fluttering in sincere wonder. Simply observing this glorious moment happen truly makes her day and always brings forth the thought of joining them. This thought unleashes a sense of euphoria surging through every fiber of her very being, yet is always followed by doubt as to how to achieve joining this prestigious group. Asking king Verago directly would be a poor choice to make. How to tackle this problem? It's a question that beckons her to wonder: *I may not be as bulky as them, but I feel this should not hold me back from pursuing my dreams. I mean, Veje is not bulky and he is a Royal Guard… If he can, then so can I! Speaking of which, I did not see him arrive with the others just now… What takes him?*
About this time, Skylar and Nico wake up together. Drowsy as they are from all the excitement and energy spend yesterday, both brothers feel lazy. That, of course, being the exact opposite of their father. He's outside of his cave home already, standing on the very top of his throne with his chest forward and his head held high. He's counting each Royal Guard member as they enter swiftly one by one but in an orderly fashion. They land on their usual spot and immediately stand at attention with the wings stretched in an upward position, holding them perpendicular to each other. Verago grins with pleasure. It warms him to see such loyalty and dedication toward the Clan. As he's nearly done counting, a thought crosses his mind: *Ah, a wonderful sight to behold. Everyone seems to be on time once again. Excellent! Hold it… One thing is out of place. Or better put, not present when it should be…*
Not far from Luna's nest, Sienté looks at the rustling leaves that woke her just now. It doesn't take her long to realise this morning is different; she needs to get used to Veje having stayed overnight.
That one slowly wakes up as well. He lies next to Sienté who then says joyously: "I never thought to be waking up next to a Royal Guard, and all of this happening in my nest, hihi."
"Ah, indeed. The realisation of me…' Veje says slowly and relaxed only to realise he'd forgotten something important and hastily adds, 'being late! I should be at the Palace by now! I must leave at once…"
Veje raises himself violently to his feet. He uncontrollably uses his wings doing so. As a result, Sienté can barely avoid getting wing-slapped and gives the rose-taupe Jaquin a frowned look. Veje notices but he immediately moves to the edge of the nest while saying: "Sorry! But I got-to go! I am late as it is…"
Back in the Palace, Skylar just finished up washing. "Watching this Royal Guard thing is boring. I have more important things to do, like – uhm, preparing for the upcoming speed race.' Skylar addresses his father clearly being bored yet these words make him add excitedly, 'Yes! So I am going out to play! Coming, Nico?"
Nico nods zestfully as he replies: "Yeah! I will race you to that big tree again! And – then back here!"
"Alright! This time, Luna better not get in our way. I want to show you that I am the master of the skies!"
As both Jaquins make their way into the grand hallway, they're being followed up by a pair of firmly looking eyes that seem to be silently judging them. Those eyes belong to Verago. It's not the first time his sons escape him. After all, they know that each morning he desires to learn them the ways of the king, educating them in handling regal matters and drilling the Royal Guard. However, seeing them avoid royal teachings now somehow feels for the better when he's exercising the guards without them causing any distractions…
In the hallway, Skylar and Nico fly side by side toward the entrance. They notice many a Jaquin entering the Palace as happens each morning, sitting themselves down on a walkway on each of the long walls to await the king's morning ritual, the one in which Verago declares the day started by flying out of the Palace and greeting his subjects as he passes through this hallway.
Suddenly, Skylar winks at his brother and makes a left turn into one of the storage chambers. Nico looks up in confusion but follows suit. "Why do you go in here all of a sudden?" he asks in confusion still.
Skylar holds up some pieces of food and says: "We need some breakfast before we are to race again."
"Oh, yeah! Good thinking."
Skylar stands on the floor and throws Nico some food while eating. "Nice!' Nico says with enthusiasm and takes a bite before continuing in a sing-song manner, 'But now I am the first to exit the Palace!"
Nico quickly turns around and heads for the chamber's exit. Skylar quickly swallows whole the piece of food he's holding. He then squints his eyes, his gaze being one of determination as he fixates on his younger brother. He bends through his forelegs and readies himself for a flying start. "You wish!" he shouts at Nico excitedly as he flies up after him.
It really takes but a few wing-strokes to get to the chamber's doorway but to both Jaquins it's a race on its own. Because Skylar had a flying start, he catches up with Nico as they move through the doorway. Then, as out of nowhere do both boys become motionless altogether. They're hanging seemingly idly. Both start moaning and struggling in order to regain their movement. It's to no avail. They need to face it: they've gotten themselves stuck in the doorway.
While Skylar and Nico are making effort in getting loose, they start noticing Jaquins sitting on the walkway of the opposite wall looking at them. Some eye each other of confusion but cannot keep their curious gazes away from the two struggling princes for too long, whereas a few others look hesitantly out of bewilderment whether they should come to aid. However, that's not necessary as Tornado comes by to find out what's causing the noise she's been hearing. "What are you two doing there?" she asks surly of being clueless.
"Hi, Tornado.' Skylar says rather oblivious but knows she isn't easily persuaded and continues cautiously, 'We got stuck here. Uhm, a little help – please?"
Nico nods quickly, his face displaying fright of being helpless. "You both are making so much noise it can be heard throughout the Palace! King Verago is about to drill the Royal Guard but you are lucky that he has to wait for someone, or he would not at all be pleased with this…' Tornado says and groans as she rolls her eyes, 'Hold on, I will pull you free."
While Tornado commences her efforts to free the boys from their awkward position, Skylar feels uneasy and even more so with a thought crossing his mind: *This is embarrassing… I do not hope my friends get to hear about this, like Tudor… Oh, especially not him!*
Speaking of Tudor, someone is waking up inside the nest he shares with Shaniqua. The latter sees a shimmer of light at the horizon as she opens her eyes. It makes her wonder: *It is early! Why did I wake…*
Her thoughts, however, are interrupted by noise. Some high pitched noises to be exact. *What – what is that? Where does this awful sound come from?* she wonders while feeling quite drowsy still.
Tudor still is vastly asleep. He doesn't seem to be waking up to the noises. Shaniqua looks over the edge of the nest and immediately spots Kamil and Llemopaz. They look angry and are yelling at each other. Shaniqua now hears that sound again, and identifies it being Llemopaz's voice: "You are a stinkbird!"
"What is going on over there?" Shaniqua asks while having grown fairly agitated and yawns.
"Morning!" Llemopaz greets her friendly upon seeing her face rising over the nest's edge.
Shaniqua replies slowly: "Morning. Again, what is happening? And why are you calling each other 'stinkbird'?"
Kamil, who sits furthest away from her, comments: "He has wings and smells. Is why he is stinkbird!"
"You are a stinkbird!" Llemopaz yells back at Kamil.
"Stop it!' Shaniqua hisses and looks at each of them in an aggrieving way before she continues whispering, 'It is way too early for this rubbish! Come back inside the nest. Go and annoy Tudor if you will. I am going to the Palace."
Just as Shaniqua takes to flight, the cubs hear a moaning sound coming from the nest. As if they'd forgotten their altercation of a few seconds ago, as well as abiding by Shaniqua's request, Kamil and Llemopaz gather around Tudor. He looks at them with drowsy eyes. "Why are you sooo much older than Kamil?" Llemopaz asks Tudor after alternating his gazes between him and Kamil.
"No 'good morning' or 'good to see you awake'?" Tudor asks slowly while still waking up.
"He become too grey!" Kamil exclaims joyously as he uses a paw to point at Tudor and starts laughing out loud.
Tudor immediately looks up from that remark, having an agitated look upon his face. "Hey! Not nice. I do not resemble chief Zephyr in the slightest…" Tudor replies sulkily.
He doesn't like to be compared to the one he calls 'demasiado gris'. He's older but definitely not old! Whatever the reason Kamil had to say this, Tudor feels retribution is in place but cannot come up with something. Then it hits him. Something devious pops up in his mind that makes him start grinning. He turns to Llemopaz and says: "You know. I look older than Kamil because I was able to fly at birth. You see, we Jaquins get born in the air! They simply forget to add 'air' in front of 'born' sometimes. So when you hear someone was simply born they forgot to flap their wings at birth and fell to the ground. I, for one, came out flying like a pro! Therefore, I was "airborn". Little Kamil here did not fly at birth and fell to the ground, hehe. Now he is behind on growth and will never become as tall as me."
Kamil gazes at Tudor and shakes his head violently as he shouts angrily: "No true! I fly, too! You fell, you have big nose!"
"That is because I – came out flying so fast, Kamil, that my snout became aerodynamic."
Llemopaz looks at Tudor in awe over a story he's never heard before. He has become intrigued by it and this makes him start… "But we hatch, right? Why did Kamil not fly when he was born? And… and was I airborn, too?"
*Uugghh, what did I do?* Tudor pains himself over all the questions he now gets thrown at him.
"Easy, easy! How am I supposed to know all that? Go ask your mother… Oh, I bet she is at the Palace.' Tudor says the latter part as if having a revelation and looks at the Palace from the nest, 'Speaking of which, we should head over there as well if we are not to miss the morning ritual."
While Tudor and both cubs ready themselves for a short flight toward the Palace, Migs and Dulce encounter Luna at the hill on "spot" again. They haven't spoken to each other on the way here. They remained silent out of embarrassment over finding themselves once again waking up in an entirely different position than the one they went to sleep in. And to make the feeling worse, they woke up with their tails entangled. For this reason, they are lucky to encounter Luna and direct their focus on her. "¡Buenos días, Luna!" Dulce greets Luna lively.
"Good morning, Luna!" Migs says after his mate.
"Morning, you two.' Luna says happily and turns her gaze back at the Palace, 'I guess someone forgot a morning to his good."
"How do you mean?" Dulce asks curiously.
The moment she speaks those words the one Luna referred to flies over them toward the Palace. "Ow, look at Veje go! He is quite fast." Dulce exclaims in surprise.
"Well, you should have seen him during my hunt.' Migs says lively and gazes after Veje, 'In a burst of energy, he nearly matched a Veloz Ciervos in speed."
Luna gives Migs a questioning look and asks: "You are not gonna give him too much credit now, do you?"
"I was thinking the same!" Dulce replies gleefully.
She and Luna high-five each other using their wings, after which Luna adds heartily: "We go, girl!"