Second last chapter for this mass update. :D

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

…

Despite that Vinata had hated Garuda, he'd always been jealous of his six white wings. As loath as he was to admit it, they were absolutely beautiful. Maybe they had even been the first reason why he wanted to usurp his king so badly. A part of him hurt to see Suras gape at Garuda's wingspan in awe, whereas his own were dismissed whenever he took them out. He wanted to prove that he was just as collected, just as poised and as graceful as Garuda was.

But graceful and poised and collected… that was everything Vinata wasn't.

…

Chapter Eight: Emotional Resonance
N0 - approx. 310000 years

…

A brown Rakshasa and a pink-red Upani both landed and morphed into their human forms at the same time. He was fourth stage and she was fifth stage. They were also the oldest descendants of the third strongest Garuda Nastika, Avifauna, and consequently put in charge of their clan's population control.

The pink haired female collapsed onto the floor as soon as she landed, moaning about how painful and dangerous it was to fly to different planets every fifty thousand years to get a Sura count. Her father, emotionless and unmoving, remained standing.

"What are the results?" he asked.

"Well, it's true," she revealed, stretching her two legs out in a very unladylike manner. "Our population surged in the last twenty thousand years. We now have twice the number of Upanis and thrice the number of Maras as we did fifty thousand years ago. It's so hard to count all these extra people." she moaned, childishly kicking her legs up and down while seated. "And the children never stay still so I have to run around, catching them first before asking who their parents are."

Ignoring her complaints, the Rakshasa narrowed his eyes critically. It really had gotten as bad as he'd predicted. These days, when he stared down into the ravines where Maras and first and second stage Upanis dwelled, he could see the diminishing space. Second stage Upanis were now inching their territory further and further up the mountains, eager to take on human form and escape the cluster.

"At this rate, Garuda-nim will have to make more mountains," he deducted. "We're already bordering on Ananta territory as it is. Inching any farther would be pushing it."

"Why should we care about the Ananta Suras?" hissed his daughter hotly. "I don't understand all this fuss about them! They're nothing but food!"

"Yes, but if we overstep our boundaries, Ananta and Vasuki will come looking for trouble. Manasvin is no easy opponent either."

"What are we afraid of?" she protested, leaping to her feet. "We have Avifauna-nim, Garuda-nim, and Vinata-nim on our side! We can take them easily!"

Her father sighed. He didn't make a habit of recalling his past mates, but for once he wished that he had chosen a less hotheaded female to mate with when he had been an ignorant third stage kid. "You don't realize that what Ananta and Garuda have right now is a rigid truce, do you? It's much more complicated when waging full out war. There's a reason why Nastikas of one clan rarely kill Nastikas of another. Avifauna-nim would have a fair chance against Manasvin, but even Vinata-nim would have a hard time fighting Vasuki without Garuda-nim's help. And, well, I don't need to explain to you the dynamics of Vinata-nim and Garuda-nim's relationship."

"Fine," she huffed, "but I'm telling you that our population's not going to stop increasing any time soon. More and more Garuda Suras have been losing their minds lately! A Mara made moony eyes at me last year! A Mara!"

Her father gazed into the clouds and pondered deeply, "what is Garuda-nim thinking? Is he trying to increase his forces? Could he possibly have a conquest in mind?"

But then he remembered feeling rather unusually attracted to a navy blue Rakshasa recently, a daughter of Kalavinka and Cepphus. She was surprisingly icy and cold, not the type he usually went for. It was just… this time, something was different, like he had absolutely no control over his emotions whatsoever.

If the entire clan is acting like this, then chances are that it's emotional resonance from our king.

As if to provide testament, his daughter's eyes lingered lustfully for an entire eight seconds on a fourth stage yellow Upani flying by. With bulging eyes and a gaping mouth, she took out her wings in pursuit of him.

The brown Rakshasa gasped in realization. Could it be… Garuda-nim, are you in love?

S-C-N-D

N0 - approx. 310000 years

S-C-N-D

No Nastika—or Rakshasa, for that matter—wanted to sit and hold council for an entire month. As short of a time it was for the everlasting creatures, the dronish voices and useless speeches were almost worse than being tossed into an ocean with smelly Gandharva Maras. Before the first three days were over, many had already found a larger interest in preening tail feathers and trying to get that beautiful Nastika or Rakshasa across the circle to notice them.

The usual highlight of the Garuda Clan Council was the inevitable explosion of a violent argument between Vinata and Garuda. Usually it was Vinata who harshly and hotly criticized one of Garuda's suggestions. Then Garuda would calmly defend himself. Then Vinata would get heated and start screaming, insulting, spontaneously combusting. Then Garuda would calmly defend himself. Then Vinata would throw him into a mountain.

And while all this was happening, the Nastikas and Rakshasas would surreptitiously sneak away from the council site and fly back to their nests. When the whole thing blew over, they were dragged back one by one by Avifauna's sons and daughters. But even afterward, it was amusing to watch an angry Vinata ruffle Garuda's feathers. He'd do things like tell Garuda that his wingtips were on fire and then, when their king actually deigned to look, jump up and slam a fist to his head.

So this meeting was just like any others, where one king and one phoenix couldn't possibly call truce for a month to save their entire clan's lives.

Except Garuda was missing. No one knew why, but everyone had a feeling that Vinata had something to do with it.

"Stop bothering me, Avifauna!" a loud shriek pierced the air. "I don't know where he is. Probably making a mountain to please you insatiable monsters, happy?"

"… Vinata, I simply glanced your way."

"Can we stop talking about this?" sighed Kalavinka's navy blue daughter. "Garuda-nim's probably out doing important things."

Vinata snorted and burst out into unadulterated laughter. "Yeah, and I'm Vasuki in disguise. What important things? That guy doesn't have important things to do. He's been following me and pestering me for the last twenty thousand years."

"But Vinata-nim, that's because he likes—"

Cepphus's large black claw slammed into the cyan Rakshasa that dared to open his mouth, immediately rendering him unconscious.

"Goodness gracious," sighed Vinata. "You couldn't have been a little gentler? Cepphus, I'm going to maim your pretty little face if Garuda orders me to take anyone to Gandharva to heal."

Before Cepphus could respond, a gust of wind signified the arrival of a new council member. The Rakshasas looked up to see if Garuda had finally decided to grace them with his presence. The Nastikas continued picking at dust particles that had been caught by their feathers; they knew from the weakness of the wind that Garuda had not yet come.

"Vinata-nim, Avifauna-nim, the results are in."

Avifauna's son bowed before his father. One of the more emotionless Nastika, Avifauna demanded all of his children to address him respectably and formally after they reached third stage.

"How bad is it?"

"It's just as we suspected, maybe worse. The Mara and Upani populations are completely out of control. Soon they'll be coming to the mountaintops and we'll have to kill off our own kin to make space."

Murmurs of outrage and disagreement surged through the crowd.

The brown Rakshasa cleared his throat. "My theory is that this is the result of emotional resonance. The Nastikas won't feel anything different but Maras, Upanis and some Rakshasas have definitely expressed more interest in finding mates."

"Emotional resonance? How can it be? Garuda-nim has never—"

"Really? But I thought they were just rumours."

"—that he and Vinata-nim are…"

"Oh my," Kalavinka's voice rose above her clansmen's. "It seems that Garuda's quite taken with someone in this clan."

Everyone turned to Vinata.

The red-orange Sura, who had been tracing masked faces into the dirt with a stick, suddenly felt tingling on the back of his neck. He stared up into several hundred faces of curiosity. "…What?"

"Vinata-nim," said Avifauna's son. "Forgive me for the bold suggestion, but it might be best for everyone if you turn female and—"

Vinata's face changed to one of ire as he shot straight at the brown Rakshasa. Several people were knocked aside and Avifauna's son himself was rendered immobile. The onlookers all thought for a moment that he would become nothing but an ashen clump of feathers.

"Garuda," the growl was low. "We don't make a habit of killing Rakshasas in the clan whenever we feel like it."

The brown bird whipped his head around to see Vinata gripping his king by the wrist. In Garuda's hand was a cackling ball of white energy, an inch away from making contact with his chestnut hair. The other Suras were momentarily stunned by the speed and stealth of their king. Almost like a wake up call, Garuda reminded them again why none of them, save Vinata, ever dared to challenge his authority.

The ball of energy disappeared.

"That little attack wasn't going to kill him," Garuda mumbled, hiding his eyes with his bangs sulkily like a child being scolded.

"Little, right," coughed Cepphus very conspicuously.

Vinata only looked at him sternly. "Garuda, you can't play with other Suras how you play with me and expect them to emerge unscathed. I am the only one in this clan who can match you."

Grey eyes widened momentarily. Vinata still looked very upset with him, but there was an underlying tone in that sentence that brought an excited shiver down his back. For a second, the red man almost sounded possessive.

He was afraid his voice would crack if he said anything, so he just nodded.

"Glad you understand then," Vinata told him, a grin emerging on his face. He was about to turn when he suddenly stopped, reached forward and pressed one palm against Garuda's cheek, startling him and the entire clan. "Oh! Garuda, you have a little bit of dirt on your face here."

He gaped stupidly. "W-what?"

Vinata slammed a fist down on his head.

"Hey, unreliable king, you're already late as it is so at least pay a little attention to what's happening, will you? Kalavinka, what do we have after demographics?"

And the entire clan cried internally for Garuda's pain.

S-C-N-D

N0 - approx. 310000 years

S-C-N-D

Something amazing was happening in the mountains. Aside for the fact that one of Avifauna's sons so very nearly blew his cover, every single Garuda Sura seemed to be focused avidly on their king during the last day of council.

"As for Ananta, again, I don't think there's going to be much of a challenge in finding food…"

There was a strange tingling in his lower left wing.

"Their population is also steadily increasing, and just the other day, Shuri told me that there have been less Yaksha Suras in recent years…"

There it was again, on his upper right.

"Again, I remind you to keep first stage Rakshasas away from—"

Tingle.

"—especially Nastikas like Sagara, who have reputations for—"

Tingle.

Garuda turned agitatedly to his second wing on the left, where the most recent tingling occurred. Vinata, who was intently plucking strands of his feathers from their stems, had not yet noticed and continued to do it under his steel gaze.

Garuda cleared his throat.

Vinata looked up before jumping back. In his arms was a huge pile of white fluff, half fluttering to the ground as he raised one hand to scratch his head sheepishly.

Garuda raised his sword menacingly. "What are you doing?"

Vinata smiled. He grinned. He threw the pile of fluff into Garuda's face and shot into the air cheerfully, screaming, "meeting adjourned!"

At once, the sky was painted with dashes of vibrant colour as every Nastika and Rakshasa zealously flew away from the mountain of the council site. In the end, only a single white haired man remained on his rock.

Alone again… Garuda sighed, eyes fluttering shut. How much longer will it be like this?

Except he wasn't. Because if he was alone, there wouldn't be two warm hands cupping his face. He wouldn't open his eyes to stare into another pair of crimson ones. He wouldn't be looking straight into the face of a red skinned man.

Vinata beamed. "Let's talk."

S-C-N-D

The original line was "let's make a bet" but I quickly realized that wasn't going to work out.

So you remember how I said this was going to be sometimes from Garuda's point of view and sometime's from Vinata's? While Garuda's been lamenting about his misfortune, Vinata's been… doing… stuff.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND