Chapter 5 : First Big Jumps
Zephyr stretched and looked at the new feathers on his tail and wings, flapping experimentally. He felt a sense of amusement as all his recently shed down was sent spiraling upwards, then back down to the floor, giving the room the appearance of a snowstorm. He hopped onto the table and flapped again, twittering happily as he watched the "blizzard". He felt another waxy tube fall away and reveal a newly-grown feather. Playfully, he turned and grabbed the keratin sheath, then tossed it off the edge of the table and watched it fall. That looked cool!
He watched a feather on the floor right below him as it moved a tiny bit. Huh… the breeze had settled already so why did the feather move?
Then he saw the Stone Rat poke its small, pink nose out, then its head. So that's what caused the feather to move! Now, it was nearing lunchtime, and Zephyr had to eat plenty to keep up with his hyper, rough-and-tumble personality. So, he naturally decided the rat would make a good snack. It hadn't seen him yet… He readied his talons, leaned forward, and pounced!
The rat looked up and ran.
Now, Zephyr was the type of hunter who focused more on his quarry's movement and let his own moves be second nature, so he completely ignored the fact that he'd just done a perfect pounce from a height of 2 feet (quite an accomplishment for a bird his size and age). Instead, he translated the rat's maneuvers into his own, running at a pace that grew to top the rat's despite it having an extra pair of legs. Around a stack of Kanoka, under an armchair, up onto a table, back down and off, past Daddy's feet and…
SNAP!
Zephyr could finally have his snack.
••••••••
Matoro sighed and looked over a letter he'd written out one last time. It seemed alright, with proper grammar, spelling, sentence structure… Yes, it would do. He reached over and picked up his pen, beginning to ink over the etched words.
Not a moment after he'd sealed the envelope did he feel a feathery weight clamber onto his shoulder. He sighed. "Hello, Zephyr."
The tiercel stayed quiet for a minute, content to simply observe the room from his shoulder while he read. Then the young bird stood once more and, quite suddenly, began to climb the side of Matoro's mask.
Matoro froze, as to not risk getting poked in the eye by a wayward talon. What was Zephyr trying to do? He'd never seemed interested in high perches before… So why now? The answer quickly became clear when Zephyr launched himself off of his head and leapt onto a table. The tiercel was trying to fly!
Matoro turned around to watch - just in time to see Zephyr attempt quite a clumsy landing and end up skidding across the table to crash onto the floor on the other side. He chuckled a bit at the silly sight of Zephyr peeking back over the edge of the table, a couple wayward feathers atop his head. Then the tiercel ran over to a bowl full of small blue, white, and silver polished pebbles that served as decoration. He hopped in and began digging through them, making small churring noises in his throat as he investigated this new shiny discovery. Suddenly his head darted up and he ran under the couch. That was odd. Had something scared him? If so, what had?
Apparently Matoro's theory was incorrect, because when Zephyr emerged again, it wasn't in a timid, wary, fearful way, but a happy, excited, cheerful way, with his beak full of shed down. What he was doing with it quickly became plain: he stood on the rim of the bowl and arranged the feathers over the pebbles for padding.
Oh… he's making a nest!
Indeed, this was true. Young Zephyr had soon gathered a bag of marbles, several inkless pens, a variety of bottlecaps, and what appeared to be an old doorknob. Matoro could barely stifle a laugh at the tiercel's odd behavior. The little guy was exploring every inch of the room, making quiet sounds of surprise and curiosity as he found more "treasures". Matoro looked back at the book that he'd reread earlier and remembered one of the things he'd seen that had piqued his interest. It had been called a Bond Seal Amulet, and it had no specific form; each Great Spirit made theirs differently. It was apparently a handmade amulet that went around the neck of the one the Great Spirit chose as a mate, with a pendant in front that had personal meaning. It would painlessly join to the skin, and use the residual energy from the Great Spirit to give its wearer their own wings and feathers. This would trigger the emotional link between them and finalize it.
Before he knew it, he was dragged into a vision. A mass of glowing… stuff… was constantly shifting in front of him, seemingly unable to decide what to be. He felt compelled to help it decide.
As if sensing this thought, it blew apart in a burst of light, forcing him to bring his arms up to cover his eyes. At last his vision adjusted and he found himself floating in an endless expanse of white light, interspersed with floating gems and chunks of metal. He began semi-consciously making something out of the floating objects. The finished Amulet was a sight to behold.
The centerpiece of it all was a blooming rose. Its bud was a brilliant diamond of dark blue and white with neon-green streaks adorning it like dew-beaded cobwebs at dawn. The stem was thornless, made of silver metal. A pair of Kewa falcons, one dark blue with white eyes and the other white with dark blue eyes, each held one of the two leaves. The chain was made of mythril, a neon-green metal.
Matoro's eyes flashed open to find himself laying in the armchair once more, except this time, the Amulet was in his hand. At least I'm prepared now, he thought.