Flashback [Nesting Aeries] Relentless; Redemption; Release

[Lavira]

Timestamp: Fall 88th 512

The weather was cool and the winds were calm. A hunting party had returned some days back, but Vira had not heeded it much. No, her attention was on the three young birds in the rebuilt caves where the eagles were nesting. These three had been survivors, their parents lucky to have them still alive and relatively unaltered by the effects of the Djed storm. For that, Vira was also glad, especially after the freak-chick that had been hatched and found roaming the city back in summer.

Vira was working hard inside the eyrie where the twins were, trying to tune out the raucous noise coming from the Yasi and Chiet which had flooded to the aeries in hopes of being bonded by one of the two birds. They were both handsome young birds with dark heads and bright yellow beaks. Their parents were likewise beautiful birds and any rider who bonded with them was sure to have a beautiful bird once the pair had shed their fledgling coat.

With broom in hand, the sixteen year old swept the landing ledge thoroughly, pausing to bend and clear debris from an old kill out of a corner of the rock with her hands. She was just reaching for a stone that had been caught when a foot struck her backside and sent her face first onto the stone, sliding forwards dangerously close to the drop that overlooked a small canyon near the volcano. Vira gasped in surprise and pushed quickly away from the edge, turning to see who had done such an unkind thing.

There were three yasi at the entry, two giggling to themselves and the third standing near the nest where the two fledglings were settled, this one a short and stocky girl of what she guessed to be thirteen or fourteen. "What the hell, kid? I could've fallen!" She said, brushing her palms over her bryda and dusting herself off. She bent to pick up her broom and held it tightly in one hand.

"Yea? That was the point." The two girls behind this one snickered and whispered among themselves once more, sneering at the chiet attendant and their friend. "Why don't you get lost, Dek; only REAL Inarta should be with these pretty babies."

"Oh? Well I guess that disqualifies a chick like you." Vira replied, chin up and eyes firey as she stared at the rude brat. "Why don't you get out of here before I kick you out, huh? I have work to do and you're impeding it. I would hate for Duvin to bar you from coming here when these two fledge." She gestured at the hatchlings.

The other's face had gone scarlet and she took a threatening step towards Vira. "You're nothing but a dek-licker, freak. You may have Chiet in your title, but you're still nothing but a useless, crippled, dek-licker. Why don't you clean this up, dek-licker?" The girl spat in her face, the glob spraying and wetting and making the teen flinch.

[Lavira]

Vira wiped her hand across her face, glaring at the other girl and the audacity she had to act in that way. "Listen, chick, you're not an Endal or Avora yet, so you have no right to treat me in such a way or disrupt my work as you are. So I'm going to say again, please leave before I call the Youthmaster and have you barred from the aeries."

Vira did not turn from the other girl this time, her hand tight on the stick of the broom, her rusty hair spilling around her shoulders in complacent waves. The two fledglings in the nest were watching the debacle with quiet fascination, aware that once they fledged they would be encouraged by their elders to pick a rider. Doing so would elevate their own status in Wind Reach to more valued members of the colony because they worked with the humans. Yet here was the one who had watched and taught them since they were eggs, just like their mother, fighting against some other arrogant brat. Who would be the victor and would either of them be the right human they wanted?

"I said leave." Vira repeated, stepping towards the other and throwing all of her presence into her posture. She straightened her back and set her shoulders firm, though her knuckles were white with from the grip they had on the staff. But the aggressor before her wasn't budging.

Instead, she just laughed and continued to tease and taunt the half-blind Chiet. "Ahahah! Look at this shyke! She thinks I'm going to just waltz away because she stands like a stick! Is that what you do when the Endal come for you? Lay there and take it like a whore? Or do you glare at them too. Hah, I bet you take it in the bum!"

Now, the teen was appalled, her mouth hanging open and unhearing the cackling of not only the Yasi's friends, but the two young birds. "How dare you!" She snapped, reaching and shoving the other girl. "Get the petch out, you ugly little serpent before I step on your head like you deserve to be, get out out OUT!!" She shoved the other again, tears streaming down her face even as she spoke. This only served to incise the girls further until the taunts were too much and horrified, Vira ran from the aerie and out of her work zone. She ran all the way back to her dorm, slamming the door behind her and then dropping onto her butt against the door.

Her hands pressed against her face as she sobbed into them, features red and hands now sodden by the tears. She had never had to deal with that level of spite and abuse and the insult received had reached well into the realms of injury until Vira could do nothing but weep in the privacy of her own room.

Tulaj had jumped when the door opened, the albino bird staring at her from his perch near the bed and screeching low and quiet with head slightly cocked to one side. What was wrong with the human? He couldn't understand.

It would be several bells before she had the urge to get up off the floor, undress, and crawl into bed to cry some more, the whispers of the girls and the echo of the fledglings laughter filling her mind. Never before had such an awful thing happened...and Vira was determined to never let it happen again. Cruelty wasn't in her nature, but that kid was going to have to pay.

With vengance on her mind, Vira slowly drifted off to sleep.

[Lavira]

Vira was not a violent person by nature. A hard worker, yes, but not a killer. Yet, she was still young and prone to the relentless ambitions of her race; the teen would do nothing to harm the wind eagles she looked after every day and sometimes night, but why should she let some snotty brat step into her right? That which had been so cruelly stripped of her without batting an eye!

Vira woke a bell before dawn the next day, the thoughts of vengance still strong in her mind as she dressed and fed the albino, stroking his head once before leaving. She stopped by the kitchens to get her morning meal and then headed to the Yasi quarter to leave a note. Bolin was the girls name, if she remembered right, and she had the promise of being an elite warrior...except that her leadership ability was horrible. She led those around with with fear and cruelty and at the first opportunity those so-called friends of hers often jumped ship for someone who showed them more kindness.

The note she left for the girl was, in itself, simple. It read:

Bolin, come to the nesting aeries; the hatchlings have begun to jump the rocks. They're going to fledge soon!

There was no name attached to the note and Vira was hoping the anonymity would both protect her and force the little shyke to pursue what she wanted in the first place. Once it was delivered, the sixteen year old promptly left.

Once at the aeries, she left a second note outside the nest of the aerie with the two yet-to-fly chicks. Both were ready, their large bodies often testing the winds by leaning into them at the ledge that would lead to a lethal drop if they did not get wind in their wings quickly enough. Vira was counting on a combination of perfect weather and Bolin to arrive. Then, once everything was ready, Vira went to the first aerie with a nesting mother bird and began the days work.

Deep within her conscience, there was a twinge of guilt at what she was doing...Plotting someone's demise just because they had harassed you seemed wrong, and yet, the Yasi had gone too far with it. She'd had no right to say the things she'd said, but the seeds of anger and self-doubt had been sewn and now...well, it was a waiting game now. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. She just hoped it would happen soon.

[Lavira]

It was ninth bell and Vira had cleaned all the aeries with chicks in them. The rest would be done in the afternoon after she had brought the food troughs in and served the chicks their brunch. Occasionally, throughout the morning labor, the teen had looked about to see if anybody was in the area who otherwise shouldn't have been, but nobody stood out. She silently hoped that Bolin would come. She would love to see the look on the shykes face when she fell like the rock she threw at Vira yesterday.

Now, as the ninth bell arrived, Syna shining on the mountains cold and bright, snow glinting off the peaks (many of which had begun to be fully blanketed in it), the Chiet at last heard what she had hoped for. It was the nasty voice of Bolin and her two friends, all of them yammering like excited cliff-mice about who would be chosen first. Vira stopped and listened from inside the empty aerie she was working in, waiting to see if they found the note she'd left.

Bolin was saying something, then stopped and seemed to be murmuring to her fellow Yasi. She must have been reading the anonymous message at last!

Vira had wrote in the same unsigned script as before:

Bolin, the birds are excited to fly! They've been saying your name non stop all morning and one of them can't wait for you to hop on.

Their excitement was palpable and Vira noticed that they slipped inside by the change in the continuity of their voices. She left the aerie she had been working in and approached as quietly and carefully as she could the one with the two nearly ready birds. Were they at the ledge still? Vira hoped so! It all depended on the chicks being there and Bolin climbing on one and the chi-

A scream erupted from the cave and the a flurry of activity could be heard coming from within before two of the girls (neither of them Bolin) came rushing out. They were crying and sobbing and babbling about crazy birds and getting a healer.

What the hell had happened?! Vira hurried past them and stepped inside, standing and staring in disbelief at what she witnessed...

[Taylani]

XP Award!

Lavira:

XP Award:

• +2 observation
• +2 rhetoric
• +2 planning

Lore:

• The cruelty of tauts
• Planning: Anonymity brings with it a certain safety

Notes:Oh well now I want to know what happened

Comments :

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TAYLANI