Hey, well, first off, DEDICATIONS :D They make the world go 'round XD kay, first, Knockknocktimerico, for being my beta for this chapter, and for putting up with me. Blouper, this story is ALL thanks to you, you're simply fantastic (not to mention she has THE BEST story on FF, Abnegation, I'd read it if i hadn't all ready ya'll ;D) to Ponytail, cause she's ALSO a big taco of awesome. To those of you who reviewed last time, and to YOU, who is reading this right now.
Discoveries
Silence would not be a good word to describe the rushed run that Kowalski and Marlene made to get to their plane in time. Silence also wouldn't express the fit of muffled laughter they had after they got in and found out that the student driver was a young girl of twenty who dropped her McSwirly on the teacher's pants. Silence though, would sum up perfectly Marlene's and Kowalski's reaction to finding out that they were once more together, on their way to the possible unknown, and that for a while they had hated each other. The awkwardness that hung between them was so deep it was almost tangible. Marlene shifts on the spot, still not used to the quiet that seemed to be a prevailing trait in Kowalski.
Surprisingly, it's him who breaks the silence this time.
"You know, I think right now would be the ideal time to candle this egg." He says quietly while holding it up. Marlene is instantly confused.
"Candle the egg?" What kind of sick thing was candling?
Kowalski nods.
"The student driver appears to be too focused on her driving and the instructor on holding on to the edge of the seat, so I'm sure they won't pay notice to a small flash of light." He states. Marlene gulps.
"What exactly is 'candling'?" She questions. Kowalski smiles as he digs through his bag.
"I'll show you."
He takes out a small flashlight and holds the egg carefully up to it. The egg seems to glow like a magical orb heard of only in fairy tales. Marlene stares in awe as she gets closer. Kowalski turns the egg slowly and stops with a surprisingly tender smile on his face.
"I think I found it." He smiles. Marlene looks from his illuminated face to the egg. It was still glowing, but a small bean-like shadow now took up most of the inside. It was sort of hard to make out as the shell was so opaque, but to Marlene it seemed to stand out like the brightest star in the sky.
"Is that…the chick?" She whispers. Kowalski nods slowly. Marlene feels soft warmth inside her, the wonderfulness of the moment keeping her spellbound. She smiles at Kowalski and he smiles back. They sit for a few seconds, staring at each other before Kowalski speaks.
"Isn't it adorable?" He asks. He moves his flipper in a tickling motion at what he assumed was the belly. Marlene laughs at his reaction. He looks quickly at her with a resigned look and resumes cooing at the egg.
Marlene shrugs and joins him.
In this case, silence would also be suitable to describe what was going on inside the egg, where, barely able to realize what was going on, the small chick's beak flutters into a smile.
"So where exactly are we?"
"Exactly on Worthington, Pennsylvania."
"And she's here?"
No answer.
"Well?"
"According to statistics...maybe."
Marlene scowls as she grabs the incubator with the egg in it. He grabs the burlap sack and leads the way off of the plane. The landing area was pretty large and open, with large trees surrounding it. Kowalski makes his way along, looking at his notes for the next step in his calculations. He hears a soft growl behind him and turns around rapidly; nobody there but Marlene, who smiles in a friendly way and cocks her head in confusion.
"Anything wrong?" She asks. Kowalski shakes his head.
Must have been the wind…
They walk out of the landing area and into the building. Kowalski looks around quickly.
"We need to find a suitable place to arrange our things." He commands. Marlene sees a door marked with a sign she had seen various times back at the zoo.
"How about there?" She points, hiding a smile. He would never fall for it, but it would still be fun to see his expression.
Kowalski toboggans into the room, and into a cubicle like place, Marlene staring open-mouthed. He had fallen for it!
"Ummm, Kowalski?" She calls. Kowalski looks up from the compass he was looking at.
"Do you, umm, have any idea where we are?" She asks. Kowalski raises an eyebrow.
"I've already told you, we are in-"
"No, not that," Marlene cuts off, " I mean, here, in this room here." Kowalski looks around, realizing what she meant.
"The…restroom?" He says horrified.
Marlene nods.
"Not just any restroom…" She opens the stall door for him to look out from. Kowalski's eyes widen as he takes in the pink walls and flowery decorations.
"This is the…female restroom?" Kowalski looked like he was going to be sick. Marlene covers her mouth with her free paw to keep from laughing. She watches amused as Kowalski backs away slowly, trying not to make contact with anything in the room.
"Let's go to a more suitable location…"
She follows him out as he rushes through the crowd, still somehow keeping alert of no humans seeing him, until he stops at a silver door. Kowalski leaps and presses a button, jumping in quickly as soon as it opens. Marlene steps in carefully, wondering why he had gone into such a small room. With a soft beep the door closes behind her.
"What-"
The room begins to move and Marlene feels like she's being pushed down. She holds back the urge to throw up and draws the egg closer to her, staring at Kowalski in alarm. He stares back serenely, though there was a hint of a smile on his beak.
"Elevator." He states. Marlene stumbles to the wall and leans against it. After a few seconds the room stops with a short jerk that makes Marlene feel like stretched silly putty. She breathes a sigh of relief once she steps onto floor that didn't belong to the death trap known as an 'elevator'. Kowalski gets out, determinedly avoiding her gaze.
"What was that about?" She asks. Kowalski turns around with the oddest expression on his face. It wasn't so much that she didn't recognize it, but that she had never seen it on him.
"Oh, just a little something better known to you as 'payback'." He replies, smugness radiating off of him. Marlene stands astonished. Was this really Kowalski? Kowalski smiles.
"My apologies Marlene," He says with laughter still showing in his eyes, "reprisal is one of the few traits that I've acquired from military life."
Marlene scowls.
"Yeah, good one there." She mutters. Another strange happening; Kowalski practically rolling on the ground, shaking with laughter.
"It wasn't even that funny." Marlene mutters once Kowalski had gotten himself under control.
"Pardon my anomalous sense of humor." Replies Kowalski through a few chuckles.
"Yeah, so what are we doing here? Or will a hole open up underneath me while you laugh your head off?"
Kowalski coughs unconvincingly.
"Actually, this is just a room that will lead us to the stairs, which we will proceed to take until we get to the pinnacle of this building."
"Right…" Marlene mutters, remembering that it was better to go along with it than to ask questions.
As promised, Kowalski and Marlene soon found themselves before a short flight of stairs that led to a small door, big enough for a human to crawl through, though for them it was no trouble. Outside, the entire building's area stood before them as a flat roof on which the wind and sun forced Marlene to cover her eyes with her paw. Kowalski ignores the annoying forces of nature and sets to work on his gadgetry. From his bag he takes out a pair of binoculars, a compass, a watch, a white flag, and last but not least, his clipboard.
Marlene cradles the egg as Kowalski turns around slowly with the compass on his flipper.
He checks his clipboard and motions to Marlene.
"According to my calculations she should be coming from that direction over there." He points to the horizon, which was surrounded by the green of an infinite sea of trees. Marlene squints at the bright blue of the sky, expecting to see the majestic bird that was Mrs. Eagle fly across it. Nothing.
"Yeah, about that, when will she show up?" She asks. Kowalski looks down at his clipboard and then down at the watch.
"In approximately one minute, fifty-six seconds." He responds. Marlene nods, standing beside him in their search for the eagle.
The wind blows hard, ruffling Marlene's fur and Kowalski's feathers. The smell of leaves and pine trees fill Marlene's lungs. She breathes in deeper, looking at the wide expanse of the sky that went on forever around her. So open.
"Get Ready Marlene." Calls Kowalski, "Once I spot Mrs. Eagle you will wave that white flag around and meanwhile I will hoist up the egg so she can see that it's safe and sound."
She nods and picks up the flag with one paw, her other still holding the egg. The flag waves in the wind making loud fluttering sounds. It looked like it wanted to fly away. To become part of the wind and go wherever it went, eternally free of everything. Marlene stares at it. So do I.
"Thirty seconds." Warns Kowalski. She shakes her head and goes back to looking at the sky. Mother Eagle would be there soon, and then she would be able to give the egg back. Give the egg back and most likely never see it again. She wouldn't get to see it hatch. Or see the small baby bird grow into as majestic a creature as his or her mother. Marlene looks down at the egg, so warm even in this cold wind, so soft and creamy. She felt like it was hers now. She was so used to having it in her arms, to hold it close when she was cold, or worried, or mad. And it was about to leave.
She looks at Kowalski quickly, but his back was to her, his eyes glued to the sky which he gazed at through the binoculars. She feels her eyes begin to water. Was this really goodbye?
She puts the flag down and hugs the egg, feeling the smooth shell against her cheek. The wind blows again, bringing with it the sweet scent of earth. Marlene feels her fur stand on end, though not because of the cold. A strange sensation, like an unbearable tickle and itch began to go through her. She feels like running away with the egg, to feel the soft dirt beneath her paws as she ran through the trees, with nothing to stop her.
The odd feeling begins to grow stronger and she rushes to Kowalski's bag to look for something to stop it. She digs through the confusing objects until a strong familiar scent reaches her nose. She grabs onto the article that had brought it to her and finds feathers in her paw.
Eagle feathers.
She remembers then the feathers that lined the nest, Kowalski must have taken some.
Ten seconds!" Calls Kowalski. Marlene's head snaps up. She was almost here! Mother Eagle would be back to take her baby with her. The sting of tears comes to her, magnified by the harsh wind.
"Nine…Eight… Seven…"
The wind blows again. It smelled so …free.
"Six…Five… Four…"
Kowalski takes the egg from Marlene. She looks down so that he doesn't see her face. He barely even notices.
"Three…Two…two…two…" Kowalski's voice breaks at the last part; he keeps repeating the same word, not even looking at the sky anymore. Marlene tires to suppress the strange feeling in her and faces him. Kowalski opens his beak.
"One."
They look up at the same time, as if the single word had broken the spell and they were now forced by some invisible entity to stare at the sky.
A small dot was visible in the horizon.
"Marlene, the flag." Says Kowalski, not taking his eyes from the figure. Marlene nods, barely aware, and picks up the flag. She waves it in air, pushing against the unkind wind. The form gets closer, and she can make out the wings, spread out from the elegant body that was so perfectly adapted for flight. She grips the flag tighter, waving as if it was the last thing that mattered on earth.
All she wanted to do was leave. To scamper off and not see any of this again. Not the egg, not the eagle, not Kowalski. He had been right she shouldn't have come along. She had thought that she could handle it, all those moves that were so unnecessary, running around all the time, fighting, she could take it. Problem was, she had never anticipated this, the whole prospect of letting go, to be part of it.
At least she would have Kowalski.
What?
The figure in the sky comes close enough for them to notice the finer details. It's wings and tail were too stiff, the body too long, the color wrong. It wasn't the eagle.
It was a plane.
Marlene drops her flag.
A plane? A plane!
She goes to the bag again and takes out the eagle feathers. She breathes in their scent, smelling the wind in them, feeling the warmth they provided, sensing the freedom in them.
She feels the anger rise in her, and with it the weird sensation. She could feel claws coming from her paws, small fangs showed in her mouth. The current of air blows through her causing a strange whistling in her ears. It was calling to her. She gets up, ignoring Kowalski's cry of resentment.
"It was all here! Science is never wrong! Something must have happened."
Marlene walks to the edge of the building where the branches of the trees made contact. She takes a deep whiff of the feathers in her paw and leaps into the nearest branch. The sensation explodes inside her. And she runs.
Suddenly she's not Marlene who's worried about the egg. She's not Marlene who hates to feel so vulnerable. She's not Marlene who can't figure out what she's feeling half the time. She's not Marlene anymore.
The wind blows, and this time, Marlene runs with it.
Don't think i forgot Marlene's little problem XD (actually Blouper pointed it out to me XD) so, R&R? It makes me happy in the way candy makes Private happy (which you should know is A LOT)