Timestamp: Spring 5, 513 AV
Deadwing sat upon her branch, high over a rapid stream, as Syna began to settle in the west, making and allowing the great god Leth to rise. Deadwing closed her eyes, and raised her face to the heavens, fangs bared, as she tried to make Leth and Zintila feel her adoration for them. She didn’t like the idea of prayer like many in the city of The Spires did, for her words weren’t good enough for the greatness of the gods. So she tried to give them how she felt, directly, purely. Gratitude, adoration, even something similar to the love one has for a parent. When this method of prayer finished, she opened her eyes, let loose a hiss, and was ready for the night’s hunt. This time where the gods exchanged the sky was the best time to hunt. Animals that lived in the daytime that were still out would be tired and hungry, and typically their reactions seemed to be slower than normal. On the other claw, animals that come out at night were in abundance, and made for easy pickings. From her roost, she looked down over the winding stream, only a few feet deep, but many feet wide. Several flights away, she saw that the stream transitioned into several small rapids, dipping down many feet. It was no waterfall, just a place where the stream continued flowing downhill, maybe a wingspan or two in height.
She could make out dark shapes gliding through the water away from the rapids, wondering why fish would swim upstream and not down. She looked up from the stream, her eyes landing on the east, where Leth would rise, then glanced back down. She knew there was a bay to the west, for she’d hunted many of these finned, almost hairless fish-dogs. So the fish were swimming away from the bay, but why? Were they fleeing the hairless fish-dogs? Or was there another reason? Or do fish just swim whichever way they please, much like how a Zith can fly into Zulrav’s breath, or with it? Her musings excited her, maybe she could figure this mystery out, by using all her senses and her brain, which her mother said would be key to her survival. She toyed with her necklace that had her mother’s fangs dangling from it, getting comfort knowing that while Dira had taken her mother, she still had a piece of her. She didn’t curse Dira when her mother died, for everything died, just as everything lived again. Cursing a god and nature was incomprehensible to her, so foreign that it never occurred as a possibility to her.
Her musings on her mother recalled a story about her own conception. Her mother had met a strong Zith while she was selling trinkets in The Spires. This Zith was fierce, savage, and a protector of the city. Their courtship was quick, his strength in combat being more than worthy enough. However, when her mother was heavy with child, Tavasi’s season began. And for some unknown reason, her mother wanted to birth her in the colony where she herself was born. So she flew back to the Knyvz colony, and gave birth to a young, squealing Deadfang. When asked why she’d come back, she said that it just felt right to give birth where she’d been born, nothing more, nothing less.
Just as the last of Syna’s light finally faded, Deadfang had a sudden realization. Maybe the fish were returning to where they’d been born, in order to give birth. She wondered if there was a way to test this idea. If she came back to this same area, maybe she could watch them give birth. She wasn’t even sure how fish gave birth. Was it live birth like many animals? Or did they lay eggs like birds? Or was it something entirely different? She continued watching the fish, seeing all the larger ones moving upstream, while several much smaller ones seemed to mill around in the same general area. Her viewing was interrupted by two growls, one deep and low, and the other mild and close. The latter appeared to be her stomach, and the former came from the distance, as she watched a massive bear, brown in fur, waddle out of the woods and into the stream. This beast was absolutely huge, standing nearly twice her height on four legs, its head the size of her torso. There was no way in Cyphrus she would ever try and kill such a creature. It looked like a single swipe of its paws would rip both her wings off, a fate that was worse than death, which it quickly led to. She watched the giant beast of death turn its head back, looking over its shoulder, as two much smaller versions of itself came bouncing out of the trees. Were more babies born in Spring than in other season? She watched as the two cubs began wrestling with one another in the stream, sending sparkling splashes all about, while the mother made sure the area was safe.
Deadfang made it up in her mind that she wanted to watch this family of bears that had wandered into her musings. But she didn’t want to scare them off, or set them on edge. She turned on her branch, keeping her ears trained on the playful splashing, now facing the trunk. She stretched her wings silently, raising them up get air beneath them. She then reached up, and dug her claws slightly into the bark of the tree. She then flapped her wings, boosting her upwards, her feet and hand claws keeping her attached to the tree. Not the most silent method of climbing, but better than just flying over to the bears. She climbed higher and higher, her arms starting to tire from holding up some of her body weight. When she felt she was high enough, she looked over her shoulder at another tree nearby. She tensed up her legs, then pushing off with her arms and legs, diving backwards. She twisted her body over in the air, until her stomach faced down to the ground, her wings silently catching some air as she glided to the next tree. She landed silently upon a branch, climbed her way around the tree trunk once more. She made her way to the end of a branch, bending beneath her weight. She sprang off the branch, which snapped upward with a slight twang. She glided a fair distance until she reached a tree that was just above the bears. |
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by Deadfang on April 12th, 2013, 6:10 am 
