18: Watching
He watches Daisuke try fruitlessly to clean the algae out of his feathers, they had misjudged their landing last night and while he had managed to just tumble onto the sandy lakeshore, his friend had landed in the lake and emerged wet and covered in algae. They had gotten as much of it off Daisuke as they could at night, and decided to deal with the rest in the morning. Now Daisuke seems to be having trouble with some parts; Satoshi silently stands, padding over to kneel just behind his friend, reaching for the ruffled left wing. As his hand makes contact with ruffled red feathers Daisuke gasps. 'May I help?' he offers silently, smoothing down the feathers, just so, and bits of algae come away as he reaches the base of those ruffled feathers. Hesitation, comes across their link and then feelings of 'assent' and 'comfort'. Carefully Satoshi helps preen his friend's wings, one feather at a time, feeling quiet contentment seep across to his mind as he reaches the soft down at the base of the wing, watching the shimmering red appear as the algae and dirt falls away at his touch. His friend is nearly purring as he starts on the other wing, and to his surprise feels a light pressure on his own right wing. He stifles a smile; it seems his friend wants to return the favor. 'May I?' a questioning thought touches his own and he sends back 'assent.' And they spend the morning in companionable silence, preening each-others wings.