A little trivia on the names: Cepphus is a genus of the auk family used to describe guillemots (black oceanic birds with white wings). Avifauna is a term for a group of birds in a specific ecosystem or habitat.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

S-C-N-D

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Some time before the pacts with the Yaksha and Gandharva Clans were made, Garuda had two other Nastikas contending for the throne. One was flamboyant, hotheaded and loved to ruffle his feathers. The other was amiable but icy when angered and absolutely unforgiving about grudges.

Mountains leveled at Vinata's hands, oceans dried and planets disintegrated. He loved flashy battles and intentionally left behind permanent landmarks to prove that he fought there.

On the other hand, when Kalavinka swept through, everything turned into a frozen wasteland, quickly, silently, lethally. He cared little for his surroundings, geography and entities alike. For him, the only option was to win.

Either one of them was just as charismatic and almost as strong as Garuda. Either of them could have given him a run for his money.

And what was worse was that his two competitors were best friends.

…

Chapter Three: Friends to Go Around
N0 - approx. 990000 years

…

"Welcome, Vinata."

The only one of the three who indicated any notice of his presence was also the only one of the three who had his back to Vinata. As he turned his head, olive hair softly drifted over his eyes. Vinata wondered what Visnu hid under those bangs. He had always been wary of him and the vast knowledge the Original God over all entities.

One leg outstretched, Vinata landed on a rare patch of soft grass at the mountaintop where Garuda and his friends often met to dawdle the centuries away. It was at this point that both Gandharva and Shuri spotted him, each responding in a different manner. He was almost as silent as Garuda, simply blinking and nodding in her way. She, however, had a beaming smile and waved zealously with her hand and tail.

"Your poor Garuda has his hands tied up in the Sura Realm so I'm here instead."

"Hah," Gandharva snorted amusedly. "I thought you were too busy corrupting your race to do anything for Garuda as a favour."

"Now, Gandharva…" Visnu chided.

"Right," Shuri laughed, bringing her sleeve to her mouth. Her fluffy tail encircled one of Visnu's legs fondly as if commending him for standing up to the big bad sea monster. "What kind of friend of Garuda's would you be if you treat his kin like that?"

Gandharva, who paid no heed to his friends' admonishes, only scratched his neck and retorted candidly, "sure that guy may be of his clan, but don't you remember Garuda telling us stories throughout millenniums when he and Vinata fought claw to claw over the position of king?"

"It would be so much easier if he just relinquished it like Kinnara did for Airavata," Vinata growled.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Shuri, still covering her mouth with her sleeve. "Didn't she run off with Vritra after? I remember that scandal!"

"She didn't 'run off—'" air-quoted Gandharva with two blue fingers "—with him if she publically announced it. Besides, Airavata is respectable and actually ascended to kingship the proper way, unlike a certain tyrant we all know." He pointedly glared at Vinata.

"Gandharva, please. Let's not get too excited in the absence of Agni."

Shuri and Visnu burst into a wave of jolly laughter as Gandharva grumbled some more, glaring at Vinata as he made threats involving his canteen just quiet enough to fall a little short of the red man's hearing.

Visnu folded his legs a little closer to his chest. An ambiguous smile was painted across his face as he leaned forward and prophesized, "if Vinata really wants the throne that much, he'll have it. He can sit on Garuda's throne for as long as he pleases."

Vinata's eyes widened in shock. Gandharva and Shuri also did somewhat of a double take, the latter sliding her tail back to her side. The red man stared, jaw open, at Visnu and squinted to see his eyes through his bangs. Rarely did Visnu ever lie, but it was definitely not impossible either; he was a close friend of Garuda's after all.

Gandharva slapped a hand on Visnu's shoulder. He blanched an even paler shade of blue than he usually was. "Garuda help us, even I can't save him from impending doom this time."

"Vinata's going to be king?" Shuri asked, tilting her head and knitting her eyebrows in a vain attempt to picture the scenario.

Visnu said nothing.

Gandharva poured himself something from his canteen—very possibly liquor of some kind to tranquilize his anxiety. "Don't tell me. Visnu, Garuda didn't send that guy here to create relationships for the future of his clan, did he?" A blue finger was pointed Vinata's way. "That guy of all people! That guy that he fought with for seven thousand years!"

Vinata had pondered the very same question as he was flying to this planet. Why had Garuda asked him to come? To have his friends keep an eye on him was the first rationale. But then, if Visnu actually hadn't been lying… he snuck a surreptitious glance at the Original God.

Visnu said nothing.

"And here I was just thinking about all the great times we've had together," sighed Shuri. "I'm going to miss Garuda when he's gone."

Now of all times, the olive haired man chose to turn to Shuri. "Not at all. Garuda will be the second last one of us to leave." Visnu focused his gaze momentarily on Vinata, as if making a silent but pointed statement that he had been accounted for in the "us."

Gandharva finally stopped the mad drinking to narrow his eyes disbelievingly at them all. "What? Impossible. I can hardly believe that one day Garuda's just going to go out of his mind and fork the throne over to that guy."

"Wouldn't it be nice if they had kids together?" Shuri suggested with a clasp of her hands.

All was silent.

Both Gandharva and Vinata erupted into laughter at the same time. A mix of crude and throaty chortles filled the air. Shuri's giggles eventually chimed in and Visnu also allowed himself enlightenment, though he stayed silent.

"I was kidding."

"That was good," the fish king gasped, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. "Shuri, you're getting better at this. You almost got me there for a moment. Here, have a cup."

She graciously accepted his offering.

"But really," Vinata pondered aloud. "Shuri, what's it like being a woman?"

Gandharva's face went blank with alarm. "Don't tell me you're actually considering having kids with Garuda."

Vinata looked appalled at the suggestion.

"Okay, good. I didn't think so either… Go on, Shuri. What's it like being a woman?"

"Wouldn't you two like to know," Shuri said while wiggling her eyebrows. There's nothing really special about it other than the fact that you get approached all the time by male Nastikas." Her smile grew. "I don't think Vinata's going to have that problem since everyone in his clan is scared to death of him."

Vinata folded his arms tightly.

"Vinata, if you're so curious, then why don't you turn into a woman and see? Unlike Gandharva and I, you don't have a clan to run. You're free to do as you will. When you have all this time in the world, it's great to experience and satisfy your curiosity."

Visnu's face was filled with mischief. To Vinata, it looked more sinister.

"Nah, thanks. I'd rather just stay a man. Makes things much easier."

"What is it like being a man?"

"Pretty powerful," Gandharva answered, scratching his arm. "Free. I don't know how to describe it. It's like I can do anything I want anytime I want just because I can. I can kill as many Asura Suras as I want because they'll never put a scratch on me. I don't have to be constantly afraid because I'm stronger than most entities in the universe. So anything that pisses me off, I can just blow into a thousand pieces."

He glared at Vinata.

"I simply must try turning into a man someday," Shuri sighed. "Oh, Visnu. Why'd you have to make my female form stronger than my male?"

"It'd be a pity for the Yaksha clan," Vinata commented, "to lose their beauty to to Urvasi of that smelly fish monster's family over there."

Gandharva growled and rose to his feet belligerently .

"Now, children," Visnu admonished good-naturedly. "Break it up, and Shuri princess, don't worry about being female. Either gender, you're still the prettiest of them all."

"Aw, thank you Visnu!" She batted her eyelashes girlishly. "It means a lot coming from you." Her tail slung back over his neck.

"Kalavinka's prettier," Vinata suddenly spouted.

Once, Vinata's most loyal friend and comrade, Kalavinka, had been tied with him for the second in the clan. His Origin Attribute was water, and when they fought together they were indestructible. It was like this that they had destroyed the even the fiercest gods of nature, like Varuna and Indra.

But that had been billions of years ago. Since then, Kalavinka had taken on a female form, putting herself in the middle ranks of the Garuda Nastikas. To her credit, she was one of the most beautiful women in the Garuda Clan, her silvery-blue hair silky and long, her eyes a pale blue-grey, her slender female form and feathers also of the same colour. Even humans had been rendered speechless before her beauty.

But she was taken, had been taken for a long time by Cepphus and was perfectly happy with her husband at her side even though he was one of the lower ranked Nastikas.

"Kalavinka is a beauty," Visnu admitted, "and her two older brothers as well, especially the eldest one. He's very a handsome boy."

S-C-N-D

Yes, Visnu was totally talking about Yuta and Maruna at the very end. C: As usual, Shuri, Gandharva and Vinata would have just dismissed it as gibberish. They're not very concerned with events that happen hundreds of thousands of years later.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND