Chapter 11 Nightingale
The next day I was still rather sore and and very tender around my waist, I went to sit up, it was very difficult with the amount of pain, but eventually, gritting my teeth, I fought against the pain and got up and out of my nest, I looked out of my bedroom window, it was a grey, miserable day, dark grey clouds, it was coming to the end of summer so the days weren't as warm as they were, I looked forward, straight ahead of me I saw Kookaburra also looking out of his bedroom, I had no idea that his room was opposite mine, I gave him a little wave and he waved back.
When I went down to breakfast, Ballista, Gildar, Thorne, Skabb and Vane we already there.
"Morning." I said sitting down.
"Morning. How are you feeling?" Ballista asked.
"A bit sore and very tender around the waist."
"By the way, I told the king what happened and he's given you a week off to recover." said Thorne.
"A week? What about Kook? Is he going to be okay with this?"
"We've already asked him and he says that he's fine with it."
A week? What could I do to keep me occupied for a week? I'm not sure that I could, but maybe if I start to feel better before the week is up then the king could let me come back to work.
After 4 days I started to feel loads better, so one morning before breakfast I stayed behind to speak to the king.
"So what did you want to speak to me about Nightingale?"
"Well your highness, I've had four days off the job so far, and I'm already feeling loads better and I was wondering if it would be alright if I started work again."
"Do you think that you're well enough?"
"Yes, I do."
"Okay, if you think that you're ready to work again then I'm going to let you back on the job."
"Thank you sire."
Thank goodness, I'm back on the job, I felt much happier now I wasn't on temporary leave, despite I was given a week off, it was the most miserable week of my life, I missed spending my days with Kook, even though he still doesn't know how I feel about him, he's going to be really surprise when I turn up.
When I got to the top of the lookout tower Kook was over on the right side of the tower, I walked over to him and stood by his left side, he had no idea that I was there, I cleared my throat to get his attention.
"Nightingale, what are you doing here?" he asked surprised, I knew that he'd be surprised.
"I was feeling much better so I asked the king if I could come back to work early, he said yes."
"Are you sure that you don't need another day or so, you look a bit tired."
"Not as tired as you, you go and have a little lie down, you look like you could do with a rest.2
"No, don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"Kook, you've been up here all morning, if I was you I would be begging for some relaxation."
"Well...now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit knackered."
I watched as Kook turned around and left the lookout tower, I was desperate to tell him how I felt about him, but there was some problems, first, he's a Kookaburra and I'm a Nightingale, mind, that never stopped my parents, my mum is a Nightingale, it's her that I inherited my name and voice from, but my dad is a crow, it's him that I inherited my looks from, second, Kook might not like me anyway and third, defenders can't be in relationships anyway...come on Nightingale, you'll never know unless you try, when he comes back up just tell him how you feel.
He was only gone for around 55 minutes, when I heard him walking up the steps I started to shake, I don't know it I can do this, I've never told a guy that I like him before, I've had a crush on a number of guys, but not like this, come on Nightingale you can do this, he's just the one guy.
"You feeling better now?" I asked.
"Yeah, much better."
Now was my chance, I have to tell him, I decided to break it in gently and build up to it, slowly, I walked over to Kook standing close to him.
"It's a beautiful view isn't it?" I asked.
"Yeah, very nice."
"I love coming up here first thing in the morning and last thing at night, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"It's pretty romantic wouldn't you say?"
"Err...yeah...I guess."
What am I doing? I can't do this, I need to think about how I'm going to tell him, and this isn't the way, I turned around and walked back over to the left side of the tower.
"Were you trying to tell me something?" Kook asked me.
"What?"
"You were talking about the beautiful view and how romantic it is, it's just that it made me think that you were trying to tell me something."
"Err...no, I was just saying that the view's very beautiful from up here and how romantic the view is at this time of day."
"Oh okay."
That was so embarrassing, I was so close to telling Kook how I feel about him, I chickened out and he nearly figured out what I was trying to say, that;s not how I wanted it to happen, I wanted to tell him so badly, but I didn't know hoe, we didn't speak much for the remainder of the day, I was relieved when we could leave our duties and go to bed.
I walked into my room and was about to get ready for bed when I saw something tucked behind the twigs of my nest, it was some sort of note.
"Dear Nightingale, meet me at the top of the lookout tower at midnight, sincerely your secret admirer." It said.
Secret admirer? I never knew that I had a secret admirer, I couldn't stop thinking about it, who could my secret admirer be, it has to be one of the guys, no one else would have been able to get into the castle, not with Knightriss and Madeva on the gates.
When midnight came round, I got my cloak on and sneaked out of my room, there were soldiers still on the corridors on their night shifts, if they spotted me then it wouldn't be good, but I'm sure that I would have been able to come up with some excuse.
I was starting to get the hang of sneaking around the castle, hiding from the soldiers, I shoudln't really get used to this. I approached the corridor leading to the kings bedroom, I had to go down there to get to the lookout tower, I was suddenly faced with a problem, there were two soldiers stood outside the kings room, I had to distract them, i reached for my slingshot and looked around me for a stone big enough to knock something over, carefully and quietly, I loaded the slingshot and aimed it at a metal candle holder, the candle wasn't lit so there was no risk of a fire, I looked over my shoulder to check that there wasn't anyone behind me, there wasn't so I fired the stone, it hit the candle holder, it wobbled ferociously before toppling over, there was a loud clang sound as it hit the stone floor.
"Who's there?" I heard one of the soldiers shout.
I hid behind the wall as they ran over, I could hear them brandish their swords and their hard shoes on the floor as they ran past, as the sound of their footsteps faded, I made my escape, before I got to the end of the corridor there were some other soldiers coming the other way, I panicked, where could I go now, I looked to my right and there was a gap between the wall and a pillar that was just wide enough for me to fit between, it was a tight squeeze but it was enough, I waited for the soldiers to go round the corner before I carried on.
I eventually made it to the lookout tower, I could see someone standing at the top, my secret admirer, I ran over to the stairs, it took a while to get to the top and I was out of breath when I got there, but I gained all my breath back when I saw my secret admirer in front of me, they had their back to me and their cloak hood up so I couldn't see who it was, I put my cloak hood down and walked over to them.
"So." I said twirling my fingers. "You're my secret admirer?"
"Yep." They replied.
"How long have you been my admirer for?"
"Since the day that you came for your interview."
"So you're one of the other defenders then?"
"Yeah."
"Have you forgotten that defenders can't be in relationships?"
"No, I was reminded by the king recently."
I was starting to recognise their voice, they had a slight accent, that accent was an Australian accent and it was pretty strong, there's only one person I know who had an Australian accent that strong, someone who I work with every day.
"Kook, is that you?"
I reached over and removed their hood, it was Kook, I was over the moon with the fact that he was my secret admirer, this was a much better was of confessing my feelings for him too.
"Is this a joke?"
"No, I may be a joker, but this time I'm serious."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"I just didn't know how to tell you, and I thought that this was the most romantic way to do it, this is the best view in the castle anyway, you said so yourself."
"True."
Kook had said to me that he's my admirer so I no longer have to worry whether he likes me or not when I tell him how i feel.
"Kook, I really like you too." I blurted, as soon as the words left my mouth I let out a sigh of relief. "I've wanted to say that for a long time."
"Well why didn't you?"
"I just didn't know how to."
Kook smiled, it was a small crooked smile almost and embarrassed smile, and he wasn't the only one, I looked down and to the left when I could feel my cheeks burning even though it was a cold night. I was thinking about the situation when I looked up to the sky, there were thousands of tiny stars decorating the midnight sky, and the bright silver moon shining right ahead of us.
"It's so beautiful." I said.
"Like you." Kook replied. "You know before you got here, I was matching up every star with a reason why I like you...I ran out of stars."
I turned back towards Kook, he cupped me under the chin lifting my face up, I raised my left hand up and ran it gently through Kook's soft green hair, he began to lean forward before kissing me gently on the lips, I sighed with happiness, I wrapped my arms round his neck and he wrapped his around my waist as he kissed me again, out of all the days that I have been on this job, this has got to be the best day so far.
"We'll have to keep all of this a secret." said Kook stroking my face.
"Are you sure that we'll be able to manage? It's normally hard to keep secrets around here.2
Me and Kook were now ever so happy that we've revealed our feelings, but I've got a feeling deep down that this relationship is going to be filled with trouble.