CHAPTER THREE: MARGALO AND CLARISSE
Margalo flew to the edge of Central Park. She had asked her friend, Clarisse Ekara, to meet her here. And that she bring nobody with her. "You wanted to meet me, in private, and make sure I wasn't followed," her friend said to her.
"Yes. I need someone to talk to. Someone that will listen and not go blabbing to others. And I know I can trust you, Clarisse."
"Yes, you can."
The two had been friends since they were hatchlings. Clarisse wasn't fond of the way the leadership of the flock ran things, something she had in common with Margalo, but, unlike Margalo, she was too afraid to openly vocalize her feelings. "I don't want to marry Rambert Falcon. Dad thinks I should."
"Going against your father is not going to please Landen."
Landen Helang was the leader of the flock. He'd gotten the position from his father, who'd gotten it from his father, who'd gotten it from his father, and on the line down centuries of eagles. Both of them felt that the position he held was purely based on hereditary ascension, as neither of the two girls felt he'd have obtained it based upon merit alone.
"I don't care what Landen thinks. I'm thinking of leaving the flock. If I do, then they can't control me anymore."
"If you leave, though, they won't let you see your family anymore."
"They're free to leave along with me."
"How would you take care of yourself?"
"I am an efficient hunter. Even Mom and Dad say that I'm as good as some of the best among the adults. I can get food for myself. I don't need the flock to keep me alive."
"What happens when you get older and can't hunt as well?"
"I guess I die, then. I'd rather have a shorter and freer life than a longer life of misery."
"I think you should slow down and think things over before you do something rash."
"Well, my parents already did something rash. They want to betroth me to Rambert Falcon."
"Well, at least he's good-looking. I worry that my parents will pick an ugly groom for me."
"Yes, he might be good-looking, taxidermized."
"A little harsh there, Margalo."
"Margalo Falcon just has a bad ring to it, too."
"Hopefully he'll give you a ring when you get wed. He's got an eye for finding lost jewelry in the park and city. I heard he gives prospective girls an item just for courting him. He'd probably give you something really fancy if you became his wife."
"If I became his wife, I wouldn't need a ring from him. I'd need something else."
"Children?"
"Oh heavens no! I was meaning a stake through the heart."
"Don't you think that you're being overly dramatic there?"
"That's what my parents said too."
"Ok, enough about Rambert Falcon. Why do you want to leave the flock? What would make you consider being disowned and alone your entire life?"
"I don't like the leadership. Landen Helang, his right-taloned bird Arman Orol. And also that vulture that kisses their tailfeathers, Akbar Enguli."
"At least they let a vulture in. It wasn't until Landen's father, Erikson, that they let non-eagles join and intermarry."
"Still, none of the birds that stick around are worthy of my talon in marriage."
"I'm afraid the flock won't see it that way."
"You know I think their ways are a bunch of bird splat."
"Better not let them hear you talking that way. They'll make you do gather duty."
Gather duty was when a member, as punishment, was made to gather food for all of the flock. Margalo had been assigned this five times already and it always consumed her entire day. The flock already had to hand over some of their gatherings each week to the leadership, which Margalo found very unfair. "Let them get their own stinking food, instead of mooching off of us. We busted our tailfeathers to get that grub and they leech off of us."
"At least they still hunt."
"Well, if they keep increasing the amounts we have to give them, then they won't have to for much longer."
"I agree. It's a bit too much."
"I think it's gone quite past the 'a bit' point. But anyway, if they don't want to hear what I have to say, then they are free to stick their wings in their ears and hum 'La! La! La! La! La! La! La! La! La!'"
"Well, I'd better be going. It's getting late. Mom and Dad will be worried. They might think I'm up to something."
"Yes, heaven forbid that we meet in secret because we'd get gather duty if we spoke our minds in public!"
"Just remember what I said, Margalo, about thinking over things and not going too far."
"I'll be thinking alright. But if I get much more of this, I'll definitely be doing a lot of speaking too!"
"Well, it's your funeral if you do."
"Well, if they have it, I hope they bring lots of flowers."
"You're a strange one, Margalo," Clarisse said as she flew off.
Margalo, now alone, said to herself "Well, somebody in this flock has got to stand out!"