A/N: Just in case you missed the note in the first chapter: this whole fic is the entry to my first challenge, by WishingDreamer5.
02: Flowers
She stood there in the faint sunlight with a bird caressed gently in her palms. Everything around her was silent, allowing her to hear every faint heartbeat of the frail creature. It had broken a wing, clearly visible from the absurdly little amount of feathers left on one of its wings and the awkward angle it was bent in. She took care not to touch it as she carried it through the garden to a house, fairly large enough to fit a grown elephant inside. Her hands were not free so she figured she had to use her head if she needed to open the door. Literally.
"Ow!" she cried out after successfully knocking on the door simultaneously with her forehead. Lucky for her, the door opened.
"Yuffie?" It was Aerith, with a clear mask of confusion visible on her face. "What in the world-" she stopped mid-sentence as Yuffie showed her the poor bird. Aerith quickly ushered her inside. She grabbed the closest pillow from one of her sofas and put it on the table, Yuffie gently laying the bird down onto it.
Aerith ran out to her garden and came back moments later with a handful of flowers and herbs. "Can you open its mouth?" she asked while crushing one of the herbs to powder, quickly adding a few stamens from diferent flowers into the mixture. Yuffie managed to take its beak apart, but it was difficult with the bird frantically flapping its good wing, obviously feeling pain. Aerith produced a pipette from a pocket on her top, putting the powder in it with a few drops of water, and let a little drop of the mixture fall into the bird's open beak. Yuffie held on as it flapped its good wing frantically for a few more seconds. Then it slowed its movements, and was soon still. Yuffie gently let go, the broken wing folding in on itself as the bird lay there immobile.
"It's asleep", said Aerith with a reassuring smile and walked to the kitchen. Yuffie smiled back before crashing onto one of the bigger sofas in the room. "Did you want something to drink?" she asked. When she didn't get a reply she walked back into the room to find Yuffie asleep on a sofa, with a flower stem in her hand, the petals blowing in the slight wind of her breath.
A/N: Again, this is for WishingDreamer5's challenge. Half the credits go to her for encouraging me to take up the challenge in the first place. Again, thanks dudette.