We now reach the actual courtship part of the story. :D You know, birds in real life usually have different mates every year. Only a few races actually stay with one mate for a lifetime. But then in real life birds also eat fish and Maruna says they're too smelly, so…
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
…
Vinata remembered when Visnu first elaborated on the concept of gender changing to the Nastikas. It happened a very long time ago, when there had been no feuding clans. They could freely change from male to female and vice versa whenever they wanted to but usually each individual identified with one gender. Nastika males were generally stronger while Nastika females had the ability to bear children and ensure the proliferation of their clans. Right off the bat, after hearing this, most of the Nastikas became decidedly male.
"Is there a difference?" Sagara asked, yawning. She, unlike many others, had chosen a female form to become desirable amongst the members of her clan. "Male… female… they all seem the same to me."
"The difference is unique to each Nastika," he explained, "some are stronger, some are prettier and some are able to connect to life through a different, more emotional level."
Vinata always thought it to be unnerving how Visnu's gaze was directed his way when he'd said that.
…
Chapter Six: Head over Talons
N0 - approx. 790000 years
…
Two Nastikas stood on a plain of flowers. Just the two of them, because she requested a private funeral but he insisted on accompanying her. Vinata's smaller figure stood to the left of Garuda, her head lowered and her bangs shielding her eyes. A single stream of water trickled down her cheek. She let it stay there. Without really thinking about it, Garuda slung an arm around her shoulder for support, curling his fingers into her skin in an eager attempt to feel the warmth of her body.
"Garuda," she murmured, lowering her head even further. "I give up on you. I have much too much to lose from being king. When I laugh, it is true laughter. When I cry, they are genuine tears. To steel myself, to control my emotions while knowing that the fate of my clan rests on it… I don't think I have what it takes."
She slipped through his fingers and knelt down next to her Half's body. Garuda could see her face clearly now. He almost wished that he couldn't. He was sure that Vinata's tragic expression would not leave his head for as long as he was alive. Her lips formed the saddest smile. Her eyes were imbued with grief. Her orange eyebrows curved inward like wings too heavy for a bird to spread.
For her, he did a most unkingly thing. Garuda thought of nothing else but to bring a smile back on her face as he knelt down and gathered thousands of flower buds. Each one was placed gently and carefully around the dead Half until nothing could be seen of him but his orange face and white eyebrows.
Vinata stopped crying.
"I'm hungry," she uttered, rubbing at her eyes. "Let's go hunt some Ananta Rakshasas."
He knew it was just her way of alleviating the pain. He could not even begin to understand how painful it was for her to have feelings she knew she shouldn't be having as a Nastika. Both of them knew that the worst was yet to be over. She would be teased and taunted for this until the end of the universe.
Vinata was going to have to harden herself once more into someone less vulnerable, someone who could bear that burden. And she was going to start by ruthlessly tearing Ananta Suras apart.
That day, she killed ten Rakshasas and hundreds more Upanis and Maras. She decimated them in merciless ways, shoving bits and pieces down her throat to satisfy her hunger before moving on to the next. Despite having claimed that she was hungry, most of the carcasses were left to rot.
Garuda hadn't done anything, but he consistently stayed two wingspans behind her, hovering in the air to watch for signs of Ananta Nastikas. Vinata in rage was a force to be reckoned with, but she was also utterly reckless. Against most of the Nastikas she would emerge victorious, even in her female form. Ananta and Vasuki were different stories.
Garuda stared dazedly at the flaming phoenix. He saw the bird being strangled by Ananta's huge, spiked tail. He saw her falling from the sky, wings shredded and feathers skinned with one lash from the strongest Sura.
And he realized what he was really scared of.
S-C-N-D
N0 - approx. 790000 years
S-C-N-D
"Gandharva," a white figure lamented from the grey shores, "do you think I did a little too much?"
Beneath him, his friend was lounging about, floating atop the deep waters like a carefree piece of sea foam. "A little too much?" Gandharva snorted. "Garuda, that's an understatement if I ever heard one. You took her Half into the most scared valley in your territory and buried him in flowers." He sat up in outrage. "What kind of Nastika buries a Half in flowers?"
Garuda hugged his knees together in a sulk. "But Vinata was happy."
"And since when is your first priority making Vinata happy?" demanded Gandharva with a scowl. "Do you know what Visnu said two hundred thousand years ago? He told us that Vinata would one day sit on your throne. It's all an act to play you for a fool."
"Vinata doesn't want the throne," he protested, "not anymore. She's been female for a thousand years now since her Half died."
A hopeless smile made its way across Garuda's lips. Gandharva squinted at his friend in disbelief, before waving a hand his way. A second later, Garuda's balled figure was assaulted by a huge blizzard of ice and snow. He emerged disgruntled, shaking his feathers and flapping his wings to shed all the icicles that had formed.
"Gandharva," Garuda grumbled, fingering a stiff feather, "you know I hate it when I get frost on my feathers. Unlike Vinata, I don't have the Origin Attribute of fire."
"I can't believe this." The blue man slammed a hand on his face. "I thought I'd knock some sense into you but now you're finding ways to bring her into the conversation when she's not even relevant to the conversation. I can't bear to see you in this pathetic state. Just ask her to be your queen for goodness sakes!"
Garuda's face was all denial. "W-what are you saying? It's not like that at all. I don't love Vinata. I'm just concerned for her well-being, as I would for any Nastika of my clan."
"Really? Because the way you were looking at her Half a thousand years ago was screaming to Shuri, Visnu and I that you wished he was your kid."
"I didn't—"
"Forget it, Garuda. I'm not even going to bother arguing this with you anymore. I've got better things to do in my spare time. Don't come to me again unless you want to hunt some Asura Suras, capeesh?"
Garuda reached out a lingering hand as Gandharva submerged himself in his ocean. The hand was dropped, followed by a sad drooping of wings and the rumble of thunderclouds above.
S-C-N-D
N0 - approx. 770000 years
S-C-N-D
"A bird!"
"It's Garuda!"
"Shuri-nim, Shuri-nim! Garuda-nim has arrived."
"Ah, Garuda-nim, have you finally come to—"
All commotion was interrupted by the clumsy landing and heavy trudging of a conflicted bird. His arms hung limply at his sides as he approached Shuri's bundle of fur with something of a grimace.
Which, of course, roused up even more commotion.
"Ah, Garuda-nim looks dead!"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Dead bird, dead bird."
"Hush, don't you know that Garuda's the leader of a clan? If you disrespect him, he'll blow you into pieces with his Transcendency!"
"Now children," Shuri scolded the Suras surrounding her, "behave yourselves. You're representing the great Yaksha Clan. Don't make a fool of me in front of my dear friend now."
"Yes Shuri-nim!" they chorused, flattening their ears in apology.
Shuri reached a welcoming hand to the hunching figure and pulled him into the bundle of fur next to her, which he happily buried himself face-first into. Shaking her head, Shuri stroked Garuda's back gently as consolidation for whatever troubles he was going through. From king to king, she could understand a little better than most Garuda Nastikas the ordeals he was constantly faced with.
"Tell me, Garuda, what's gotten you looking like a dead bird in my nest?"
He gave a muffled grunt.
"Or perhaps you'd like to talk to Gandharva about it instead?"
Garuda turned to glower at her.
"Oh, no. Don't tell me you two had some sort of falling out. It'd be terrible if Visnu and I have act as the go between for the next million years."
"No…" he rasped in a half dead voice. "Gandharva and I are fine. We're not on speaking terms but he'll get over his childish fit soon enough. I did a little reflecting and decided that you'd be the best person to come to regarding this problem."
He and Shuri sat up, Garuda running a frustrated hand through his snow white hair.
The Yaksha Suras around them were all silent, silent with absolute interest. Other than tidbits that Shuri occasionally indulged them in, they rarely knew of the affairs taking place in the Gandharva and Garuda Clans. And Garuda approaching Shuri in her actual home! That was a rarity if there was ever one.
"Shuri, how do you impress a female Nastika?"
Shuri blinked. She blinked again. Then she started exclaiming excitedly, "Garuda, did you just say what I think you said? Oh, I knew it! I knew it! I just knew you would eventually fall for Vin—"
He leaped forward, clamping a hand around her mouth before the full name could escape her lips. But it was too late. Vinata was renown even amongst the lower Suras of the Yaksha Clan. In fact, she often purposely left them Ananta Sura carcasses to scavenge, so she was somewhat of a favourite.
Yaksha Suras were merciless teasers.
"Vinata-nim?" the name echoed across the crowd. "Garuda-nim likes Vinata-nim?"
"Oh, what a joyous day! Maybe one day they'll have lots of orange birdies and they'll leave behind snake for us as well!"
"Garuda-nim, hurry up and ask her to be your queen! Visnu bless!"
"It's over for me," he anguished, burrowing himself into Shuri's fur bundle once again. "Shuri, it's over."
"Nonsense! My little darlings, you run along now. Let Garuda and I work out our problems and I'll have some tales for you after he leaves. Oh, make sure you don't chit chat with the Garuda Clan too much. We wouldn't want our little white bird to lose face now, would we?"
After the Yaksha Suras departed one by one, tails and ears drooping in disappointment, Garuda shot Shuri a pointedly annoyed glare. "You know, Shuri, I've always maintained that Yaksha Suras are the worst gossipers of the eight clans. Now I know where they get it from."
"Oh, Garuda. When you've been given billions of years to lounge away, eventually you have to develop some kind of hobby. My Yaksha children are relatively tame, unlike your killer birds who splatter Ananta Suras' guts whenever you're in the mood to do so. By the way, I heard that Vinata's gone on more rampages than usual recently. My Yaksha children tell me that you've been watching over her."
"I didn't want Ananta or Vasuki to hurt her."
"Ah, playing the dutiful part of a secret admirer, always watching from afar. It's cute how much you love her, Garuda."
"It's not love!" he was quick to protest. "It's just-just—"
"Just what?"
"It's just infatuation. It'll go away in a few thousand years, when she turns male again."
Shuri didn't think he knew the way his body seemed to hang darkly at the idea. She looked up at the sky and sure enough, there were thunderclouds approaching from the horizon. Though they hadn't let started to drop rain, they continued creeping closer the more confused and conflicted Garuda became.
"What if she doesn't become male? What if she chooses to stay in her female form from now on?"
Garuda's eyes widened. "I-impossible. There's no way that Vinata would…"
"But you want her to be your queen, don't you?"
"I—no, not particularly," he lied. "Vinata would never be able to picture herself as my queen. I myself have a hard time doing it."
But he did not have a hard time doing it, and that was where all the trouble laid—he should not have been imagining Vinata as his mate, but he did.
In fact, there was nothing easier than closing his eyes on a breezy day and picturing her sitting next to him—her sitting in his lap, on his throne, anywhere as long as she was within an arm's reach. He wanted to wrap an arm around her waist. He wanted to bring her head close until she was leaning against his shoulder. He wanted to fully engulf her in a tight hug once—just once—so that he'd know how it felt like to have Vinata's warm body pressed against his.
It scared him.
"Then I think it's fine for you to wait a few thousand of years and see how it all pans out," suggested Shuri. "You're fine with it as long as she's close to you, aren't you Garuda?"
"I hate this feeling," he admitted as he pictured losing himself in Vinata's beautiful eyes. "For once, I can honestly admit that I wish we could go back to the days when we were having the Seven Thousand Year War."
Shuri's eyebrows knitted together in a moment of confusion. "You want to fight her?"
"No. I yearn for the resolution I had during that time. At least then I knew what to feel about Vinata."
"Garuda, don't mull over it too much. You're absurdly selfless for a Nastika that's so attracted to another. Most Suras I know would have forcibly kidnapped her and stolen away in the night by now. If you want what you want, then why should you deny yourself that? Just court Vinata and sort out all the problems later.
"As for Gandharva, I don't think you need to worry about him too much. You'll see. When it comes time for his turn to fall in love, he'll be a thousand times worse than you, that hopeless fish. Sometimes I worry about you two way too much for my own good."
S-C-N-D
N0 - approx. 700000 years
S-C-N-D
"Vinata, you said you wanted to show me a—"
"Huh? Garuda, you're here already?" Golden-red hair swayed in the wind. Her back was facing him, but Garuda could tell immediately from the deep, virile voice that something was wrong. "Look!" she—he said, turning around and spreading his arms to reveal a very flat, toned chest. "I'm back and revitalized!"
Garuda wanted to cry.
Vinata took five steps forward and set a hand on his shoulder. The touch was rough again, masculine again, but it still didn't fail to set his heart racing at a speed that it should not have been racing at.
"Isn't it great?" he asked, stretching his tanned, red body. "Ah, it's been so long since I've felt this energized. You know, I think I'm going to go for a flight. Care to come join me?"
Garuda was still stricken by Vinata's sudden revelation, so stricken in fact that he stood stone still. He was afraid that if even a single one of his feathers moved, his knees would give way and he would collapse in silent anguish.
"Garuda?" Vinata took yet another step closer and leaned his face into his king's in an attempt to get his attention.
"I—uh, I'm going to visit Visnu," Garuda managed. All he was thinking at the moment was, why are Vinata's features so much sharper? Why is Vinata's voice so deep? Why are Vinata's eyebrows so thick? Why is Vinata's face so… masculine?
Vinata drew his face back, puzzled. "Well, okay. You're king. Do as you wish and all."
S-C-N-D
N0 - approx. 700000 years
S-C-N-D
As usual, whenever he wanted to find Visnu, Garuda never had to look for long. The Original God was lounging near the borders of his and Shuri's clans, a lush, tree-rich area with lots of bushes and undergrowth. As Garuda walked on that path, an olive haired man sitting on a fallen log by the road suddenly came into view. On Visnu's finger perched two white birds. They both turned their heads in Garuda's direction and chirped in turn.
Visnu lifted his hand and the birds fluttered into the sky. "Garuda!" he exclaimed, "it's so nice when the day comes that the last of your three closest friends seeks you out for a favour."
"I'm not asking for a favour. Not really."
Visnu wagged an objecting finger. "You want me to use Insight, don't you? Could this be about a very recent sex change by the lovely Vinata?"
At the name, Garuda's head drooped and his sword hit the ground with enough force to scare away flocks of birds from the nearby forest. Two hands flew up to cover his face in pain and defeat.
"I don't know Visnu. Tell me why it turned out like this. I thought I had a few hundred thousand more years to spend with her and then she—can you just tell me if I have any chance at all?"
"Garuda." Visnu put a comforting hand on the man's snowy head. "After our two billion year friendship, you still don't trust me?"
"It sure doesn't look good for me right now," he sighed.
"But the universe is still young. Garuda, you know just as well as any other Nastika how quick and transient feelings can be. So if you have them, you have to treasure them, not scorn them and pretend they're not there."
Garuda brushed white strands of hair away from his face to see a smiling Visnu. He sighed resignedly and bent to pick up his sword.
"You're not going to use Insight on me, are you?"
"No, I'm not," the olive haired man admitted, "not for the reason you think, though. I don't need to because I already know what's going to happen."
"And you are not going to tell me." Visnu's affirmation was the clamping of his lips. Sometimes his friend was annoying like that. Still lovable. But annoying, mysterious and frustrating. Garuda wished he could just skip a few million years until he got over this Vinata phase. "This had better be for the good of the universe, Visnu."
"If it helps matters, your kids will be heroes, or something along those lines."
His eyes shined hopefully. "My kids with Vinata?"
Visnu smiled. "Your kids."
Garuda gave him a look that told him he wasn't helping matters at all.
"Oh, don't worry, my old friend," Visnu dismissed with a wave of the hand. "You know me well enough. Just leave matters in my hands and I'm make sure that all's well ends well."
S-C-N-D
I think this is one of my favourite chapters. This fic is actually the biggest One Last God Kubera fic I have in my mind. All of my other stories coincide with it (which is not good, I know, since it makes me narrow minded).
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!
-SCND