 TimeStamp: Summer Day 31, 509
Cin-Cin’s habit of wandering away as a child never waned as she grew up. Today she was walking through the woods, watching the birds in the trees and the small animals scurrying on the forest floor. She was beyond the Sanikas Road, which for a girl like her probably wasn’t such a good idea. Her mother had died only days before and the forest, to Cin-Cin, provided comfort. The day was hot, as usual in Wind Reach in the summer and Cin was wearing only a plain dress, having left her sandals behind on the Road, preferring to be barefoot on the cool soil under the trees.
Looking up, a caw having drawn her attention, Cin-Cin saw a red bird fly away from a nest. It was summer, and Cin’s limited knowledge of birds provided her with the information that there were probably baby birds in the nest. With her curiosity piqued and her mind away from her, she decided to climb the tree to take a look at the birds while the mother was away. It was a rather large tree, much out of Cin-Cin’s ability to climb, but she took no thought.
There was only one branch thick enough to support her weight that was near enough for her to reach. But even so it was high above the height she could lift her leg. Instead she grabbed onto the branch with two hands and braced one foot on the rough trunk, ignoring the unpleasant touch it the bark gave to her bare foot. Carefully, she placed her other foot against the trunk and shimmied her feet up an inch, moving her hands to get a better grip on the branch accordingly. Slowly she shimmied her feet up the trunk, losing one foot almost every time, until she was able to swing one leg onto the branch she was holding. Now she was sitting on the branch, only barley thick enough to support her, facing the meaty trunk of the tree.
Looking up she saw that the mother bird had yet to arrive back home and that the next branch up was fairly close. Trying to stand she gripped the trunk of the tree and hefted one leg up, then the other until she was standing on the thin branch. Soon enough she heard a crack and scrambled to heave herself up onto the next one. Grabbing the branch above her she jumped a tiny ways, pushing the branch below her down, which caused it to break, but only halfway. Struggling she hauled herself up onto the next branch and it was easy go from here on out. Although the branches got thinner, they got closer together, enough to step from one to another.
Trying to ignore the trees brittle leafs tugging at her hair and the ever-so-present breaking branches under her feet, Cin-Cin inched her way up to the nest. Getting closer she realized that the nest was on one of the thicker branches at this height, but was also farther out, too far out to get a good look. Well, Cin would just have to hope the branch wouldn’t shake off the poor nest.
Finally getting level with the nest and the branch it’s on, Cin-Cin paused. Taking a breath she realized she had numerous cuts on her hands, feet, arms and legs. Nothing serious, but it would be quite an annoyance while they were healing. Especially the ones she had to walk on. Putting it behind her she inched up onto the branch. It shook a bit under her weight and she heard a tiny caw come from the nest. She had to be careful. Wrapping both her arms around the branch she scooted out, scraping her bare legs against the rough bark, she winced. Pushing her feet off the branch and moving her holding hands up more she slowly moved toward the nest.
Soon enough she was able to peer into the nest. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the nest was made of intertwined twigs leaves, some cloth that must be from Wind Reach and some mysterious brown fur. But inside the nest is what made Cin-Cin gasp. She had never seen newborn chicks and in this nest there were two baby birds. They were cawing at her while flapping their tiny, featherless wings. They were a dull grey and the through it was possible to see blood vessels and veins. Cin-Cin smiled because they each had tiny little patches of growing feathers on their body. Lifting on hand he reached out to touch one…
…But was shocked still when a loud, angry cawing came at her. Looking up she saw the mother bird flying back at her, and she did not look happy. So startled, Cin lost her grip on the branch and fell. She tumbled down the tree, breaking numerous branches along the way until she dropped on the hard forest floor.
Although the drop was only 15 or so feet, Cin-Cin was left moaning on the floor. Closing her eyes for a few seconds, she surveyed her body. Defiantly many more scratches adorned her pale skin, but her leg hurt. Opening her eyes, she tried to move it. Yeah, maybe not broken, but strained and it hurt. She was a pretty good ways away from the Road as well. Plus, looking at the sky, she could already see that the sun was about to go down.
“Petch,” Cin-Cin muttered to herself, and then struggled to stand. Pushing off the ground with her hands she stood up, favoring her right leg. She started walking in the direction of the Road, noticeably limping. Syna was descending much quicker than she thought and she wasn’t near the path yet. Looking up she saw a large white bird fly across the setting sun. ‘Pretty bird,’ thought Cin-Cin, but she pressed on, determined to get back to the Gates before it got completely dark.
Hobbling through the darkening forest, Cin could hear a lot of what was going on around her. There was one sound that worried her, though. To be simple, it sounded like a very big animal, crashing through the forest. Not really looking where it was going and heading in Cin’s direction. Truly frightened now, Cin tried to walk faster but only ended up in hurting her leg. Crying out in a pain she fell down once again. Holding her leg she heard a loud roar come from the trees. She froze. The forest went silent, only the caw of a falcon was heard.
Out of the trees burst a very big, and very loud, brown bear. Cin-Cin screamed and pushed herself backwards on the ground. The bear looked and her and came running towards her. Unable to defend herself the bear swatted her, hitting her arm and bent down to pick her up. He dug his teeth into her already injured leg; he lifted her from the ground. She screamed once again and blacked out.
Opening her eyes she woke to the roars of the bear and another sound. Looking over she saw the bear swatting at its face and a large white gyrfalcon flapping its wings and screaming just out of reach. Then dipping down the peck the bear’s head, enough to draw blood. The bear yelled and went down on all fours and pounded its head into its front paws. The bird pecked once more and the bear went running off into the woods, away from both of them.
Cin-Cin’s vision swam, but the gyrfalcon flew over to her and cawed. Cin realized she had to get back to the path. She could feel the blood seeping out of her leg and her energy draining. But she just...couldn’t. She couldn’t move, it hurt too much.
The bird cawed again, encouragement. “I…can’t” Cin-Cin whined. The gyrfalcon squawked at her. Try, she heard in her head. Try. The bird squawked again. Cin moved her hands on the dark soil and pulled herself along the ground, pushing off with her good leg, and then collapsed.
“I can’t!” She cried, warm tears streaming down her face. The white bird cawed at her. Cin heard, in her mind again, try. She pulled herself through the dirt again, but collapsed for the second time and fainted. The bird flew off.
When she awoke again she was in the Infirmary. Through her blurry eyes she saw many Inartians bustling about and looking down, her arm was in a splint and her leg bandaged. “Is that bird still outside?” “What is it doing?” “Just sitting there, ever since that girl came in.” Cin-Cin heard mumbles. Bird? The white one? Yes, she could feel him outside, she knew he was there. Was he ok? A loud caw was heard throughout the building in response to her silent question, Cin smiled.
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by Invictus on December 10th, 2012, 6:42 am 