Solo Birds of a Feather

[Ife]

14th Fall, 515AV
Early Morning

"Remind me to never have children." The redhead said following a heavy sigh and exhausted groan. She raised her left hand upwards, rubbing at her eyes tiredly.

"It's a bit late for that isn't it?" Her father replied coyly, his bearded face tilting towards the source of his daughter's extreme exhaustion. A black cage, filled with blankets and hay and other warm things, housed a small but incredibly vocal young falcon. His name was Food, for reasons that became obvious to anyone who spent a bell in his company. The hatchling lifted his heavy little head and filled the pavilion with another ear-piercing whine. "Up at all bells, feeding a bald little creature whose stomach is never full? You, my dear Ife, are a mother."

"He's not bald." Ife replied crossly, but her defensiveness merely earned her another smug grin from Bracken Windstride. When he held up his hands in a sign of surrendering, the redhead felt she owed him at least a partial explanation. "Well, he's not. See these? They're downy feathers."

Her father stepped to her side, peering down into the cage that Ife kneeled in front of. Food stared blindly up at him with all the annoyance and dislike a sightless young bird could muster. "Cute." The Drykas male said eventually, shrugging his shoulder and stepping away from the cage.

Ife huffed in response. Though he was demanding and, granted, not exactly adorable by normal standards, the falcon chick was still her pride and joy. "He should be opening his eyes any day now." She said, with all the pride of a typical mother who found wonder in the most mundane goals achieved by her offspring. "Then he'll finally be able to imprint on me." It was a key part of Ife's bonding and training with her falcon. Imprinting usually occurred between a chick and its mother, but this instance it would bond Food to his Inartan owner. It would, in theory, make his later training an easier task. The prospect was hugely exciting to Ife, who had been counting down the days until his eyes would open with an almost child-like excitement.

"Oh, I can't wait." Braken murmured, casting himself over to his daughter's side yet again and pressing his lips atop her red crown. His hands wafted through the air, creating the signs of goodbye followed mockingly with mother. The mischievous smile on his lips crinkled his skin and eyes. Ife responded with a hard glare that soon also melted into a smile. Her father's charm and good humour was a thing she found almost impossible to deny or ignore. She returned his sign with one of love you and, playfully granddad.

Now alone, Ife unlatched the lid to Food's cage. As soon as the creaking lid sung open, the sightless chick began to swing his head to and fro, searching for whatever food source he could find. Beak wide, throat open, he released another piercing eeeok sound that even now set Ife's teeth on edge. "Patience, you." She scolded the chick affectionately. With one hand, she stabbed a small piece of raw meat - rabbit - with a sharpened stick. Carefully, she lowered the offering into the cage, knocking it against Food's beak until he turned blindly towards the meat and snapped it up. After throwing his head back and swallowing the piece hole, he began to wail again.

Eeeok!

[Ife]

Sometime later, Ife and Food had left the family pavilion and had headed into the Emerald Clan. Amongst all the hunters who were preparing for their day, the redhead supposed she looked entirely out of place. Instead of a spear or bow and arrow, she carried a shrieking fledgling in a cage. The pair received many disapproving looks, to which Ife could only whisper sorry or tilt her head in silent apology.

By the time she reached the Hunters Allegiance, thankfully Food had quietened down – Ife supposed the gentle rocking of his cage had subdued the fledgling, if not sent him to sleep. Andrel Do'jaw greeted her with a thin smile. “Ife, good to see you.” Carefully, he peeled back the blanket that she had thrown over Food’s cage and peaked into the man-made nest. “He’s growing.” The male said, smiling and shaping the word strong flyer with his hands, “he will be a find hunter, I’m sure.”

”I hope so.” Ife replied breathlessly proud and relieved. She had dedicated as much time as she could to raising Food well, not handling him too much but enough so he would be familiar with people.

Andrel gave a solemn nod, appreciating Ife’s desire to do well by her chick in the way only another animal trainer could. He had raised many fledglings, pups and kittens that were now successful hunters. “Well, whilst he sleeps, let’s train some of the bigger birds, yes?”

She followed him outside into the open, leaving Food safely in his cage huddled amongst his blankets and straw. Once outside, the pair dressed in the appropriate equipment: most notably an incredibly thick glove, which Ife wore on her non-dominant left hand. They both donned a thick outer coat, complete with long sleeves to protect their forearms from talons and sharp beaks. As they prepared themselves, Andrel fixed Ife with a stern look. “Why do we use hoods on our birds?”

This was a common teaching technique used by Andrel: asking random questions at the most inconvenient of times. Whilst she was shrugging the over coat on, Ife considered her answer. ”The hood keeps the bird calm.” She said carefully, starting with the most obvious answer before adding, ”and it also ensures that the bird is focusing on what the trainer or hunter wants it to focus on once the hood is taken off.”

His reply was sharp and immediate, “And what are the potential downsides of using a hood?”

[Ife]

This question was more challenging, and knocked away any inch of confidence Ife’s previous answer had given her. Though she was sure that Andrel had taught her this before, all previous snippets of information regarding the training hood eluded her. Ticks went by until Ife finally rolled her eyes, horribly frustrated with her own poor memory. ”I can’t remember.” She admitted glumly.

Andrel smirked. “Using the hood for long periods of time and during the same time each day can do more damage than good.” He said softly, nodding to Ife and leading her to a small clearing. “For example, always using the hood when moving a bird from one place to another might stop it becoming familiar with being carried whilst on the move, or the sight of horses… et cetera.”

”Yes, I remember now.” Ife groaned quietly, nodding and repeating the lesson silently in her mind. The next time Andrel asked this question, she would not disappoint herself again.

The clearing that they stood in contained five wooden stands of various heights. Each mimicked a tree with a central wooden trunk and smaller, thinner branches sticking out from it. And each stand housed a single bird of prey; a hawk, a falcon, or even an eagle. The birds were connected to their respective stands by a thin metal chain that was long enough to allow the birds to explore and move, but thankfully short enough so they could not fight amongst themselves.

The five birds all turned to face Ife and Andrel as they approached, and yet again Ife found herself feeling intimidated by their sharp, golden stares. They were majestic, each in their own right.

Today, Ife would be working with the Harris Hawk, a medium-sized brown hawk that was known for being relatively easy to train, even for beginners. Not that it made Ife’s task any easier. As she approached the hawk, he turned and hissed lowly at her, swinging his head left and right in a typical act of threat and defence. She silenced him by holding up a slice of dead field mouse from Andrel’s endless collection of deceased rodents. Immediately the hawk fell silent, entranced by the delicious morsel of meat Ife held in front of him. In a well rehersed move the bird hopped from his stand onto her gloved arm.

"That was more successful than last time." Ife said softly, offering up the slice of mouse to the hawk, which he hungrily took from her and swallowed whole. Her left cheek still bore the faint scar from when the Hawk had throw his claws at her, untrusting and defensive.

[Ife]

She carried the hawk, complete with chain and hood, away from the row of other birds. Eventually Ife came to a second stand, this time one constructed from nothing more than a bare tree stump. She placed the hawk down and hurried away from him, still holding the other end of his chain which she subsequently embedded deeply into the earth. If her feathered student decided to leave the lesson early, he would not be able to fly away any further than his chain could stretch.

Ife turned around and positioned herself opposite the hawk but several paces away. Her first task of the day was always the same, with any bird regardless of its age or level of training: to retrain and confirm that the bird would come when called. It was the fundamental need of a falconer. After all, what point was a well-trained bird if it would not return to its master after making a kill?

Instead of calling out names, as one would do with a dog, a whistle combined with food rewards was used to train the bird to come when called. Each bird was designated a simple whistling pattern that was slightly different to that of the others birds’, in order to avoid confusion and the wrong bird returning to the wrong falconer. Ife raised the small metal whistle to her lips and blew out three sharp, high notes. Immediately the hawk turned to face her, his eyes and attention both sharp. But the bird did not move. She tried again.

This time the raptor took flight, gliding low and quickly onto Ife’s arm. She rewarded him with another piece of mouse. They would repeat this process all morning, until the hawk performed well on five consecutive tries. For a beginner like Ife, this gave her experience in both training and recall – and the same could be said for the hawk.

[Ife]

Fortunately for Ife, her student was a fast learner and it took no more than six attempts for the hawk to perform well on five consecutive times. They could move on to the next round of training.

In order to avoid the risk of over feeding her student – hunger was the falconer’s friend, after all – Ife decided that the next part of their training would not be reward centred. An overfed hawk would have little reason to behave well or even allow itself to be trained. Unlike dogs or even cats, Ife had learned, a bird of prey held no positive emotions towards its trainer. There was no real bond between falconer and raptor as there was with other animals.

She carried the hawk back the way she had come earlier, heading towards the more crowded part of the Emerald Pavillion and, more precisely, the horses. A bird of prey owned by a Drykas hunter would not only need to be comfortable around people, but horses also. It was crucial that any bird undergoing training experienced the company of horses as soon as possible, in order make later training more easy. This Harris Hawk, Ife knew, had only been around horses once before, and that first introduction had not gone well.

Ife approached Andrel’s strider, a horse so familiar with birds it was a wonder she did not try to fly away herself. The horse nickered lowly in a quiet greeting to Ife and the hawk, who simply stared in hostile anxiety. Ife’s stomach knotted: though she was held firmly onto the hawk’s chain, bringing together two animals always carried risk, no matter how small. ”Come.” She whispered faintly tot the strider, touching the horses neck gently.

The three of them – human, horse, hawk – walked slowly forward. Ife held her left arm out stiffly, allowing the hawk to easily see the horse, which she kept safely on her right side. If the hawk panicked and threw itself into a sudden attack, it would Ife that he contacted first, and not the precious horse beside her. Some things were worth the risk

They walked for five chimes, awkwardly and in silence. The hawk never once calmed or relaxed, and instead stared at the horse for their entire slow paced journey. Carefully, Ife reached her right hand to tap the horse’s flank, bringing her to a trot. The hawk screeched and threw itself into the air talons first. Ife tightened her grip on the chain, yanking her arm down and turning it away from herself.

“Looks like he’s had enough.” Andrel said from behind Ife. The effect of his voice on the hawk was astonishing; almost immediately the bird steadied itself and regained its previously calm composure. “Too much sensory stimulation can be overwhelming for any bird. Any creature, for that matter.”

Ife turned to face her employer and teacher. The Drykas male carried a majestic golden eagle on his arm, large and proud and beautiful. The redhead smiled, though under the even gazes of both Andrel and his eagle, Ife felt suddenly anxious. Had she pushed her student too far? ”He did well, though.” She said hopefully.

Andrel nodded, “indeed he did. You both did, though let’s put him behind he tries to gauge your eyes out again.”

[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Ife

Experience

• Socialisation: 2
• Falconry: 3
• Animal Husbandry: 2
• Rhetoric: 1
• Observation: 1
• Logic: 1
• Horsemanship: 1

Lore

• Food: The young falcon
• Falcons: Imprinting
• Food: A noisy falcon
• Andrel: Believes food will be a hunter
• Falconry: Correct attire
• Pros of using a bird hood
• Cons of using a bird hood
• Harris Hawk: Easy to train
• Birds respond to whistles
• Basics: Training a hawk

Notes

At 2200 odd words, it’s not quite enough for a work thread, though the content was good. I'll let you make up for this in your second work thread if you like which will need to be at least 2800 words. I don't know if you're gunning for observation as a skill but I was quietly surprised/ amused by the lack of in this thread, still, you gained a lot of lore and key work skill which is always good. Enjoy the rewards; you've got a wonderful writing style.