Completed Knock knock knockin on Eggvan's door

[Lavira]

Timestamp: Spring 25, 513

"Good morning Sino!" Lavira said, two buckets of water hanging from her hands.

She stood outside the first of the six aeries currently in use where a pretty young eagle dame was currently working on her nest. The white-necked female perked from the stones, feathers, and furs she was currently standing over at the sound of the nesting attendant's voice and peered over her folded wings at the human-sized entry that Lavira stood before. The happy churr-chirp that was given back made the woman grin.

"How's the nest coming?" Her words were in Nari to make communication easier. Since Vira was not bonded to them, she could not communicate except in the bird-like tongue of Wind Reach. But it worked for those eagles that chose to talk to her here. The eagle dame whistled back and held up a sleek black hide that looked like one of the mutant tiger-like cats that lived outside the safety of the city, a new creation from the Djed Storm last year.

"Oh how nice! I'm certain they will love it." Vira always had to remain positive in the presence of the eagle mothers. These ones were especially sensitive to things and little praises like this always helped them feel at home. But Sinoroh was young and nervous. She'd been working on the nest since the new nesting aeries had opened and Lavira had been paying special attention to her, providing whatever the eagle asked for to the best of her ability, and when not, suggesting improvisation to make the nest that was being built as good as it could be.

"Sino, I have some fresh water. Would you like me to fill your pools now? I can come back after I've finished at Heshvala's aerie, if you'd rather that."

The eagle shrugged her wings in indecision and layed the fur back onto the pile in the middle of the half-completed nest. Afterwards, she pulled several chunks of down from her breast to resume lining the intricate and grand nest.

"Suit yourself; I'll be back with some meat in a little while. Do you want surf or turf?" The play on words always amusing the eagle before her; she received a positive on surf and Vira nodded, leaving the aerie and heading to the next one.

The second aerie was housed to an older eagle, familiar with hatchlings, having raised several to adulthood before the djed storm. Her mate was a stunning golden with tan head instead of white while she was almost entirely white, the tips of her feathers dusted in ash and sand. "Good mornin. I have fresh water if you'd like me to fill your pools now." She said to the mature female within. The snowy head rose from where she was settled and the big bird stood, stepping carefully around the small eggs within the nest and approaching the Inartan at the entrance. With a motherly churr, she stuck her head through and gave the young woman an unmistakable nuzzle.

Vira stroked the broad, feathered brow and smiled, having set the buckets down briefly to do so. "Glad to see you too, old girl." The female raised her head and reached over the Chiet's shoulder to pluck gently at the braid and dangling feather. "Hey, hey, easy! You know how special that is to me, and I can't exactly have it replaced." She scratched the plumes under the females head and gathered up the buckets once more. "I'll be back with some treats in a little while. Don't let that mate of yours fatten you up before then!"

She moved on, lowering the buckets to peek in at the third aerie but saw this dame was out at present. The next one was Mohya's and Vira always dreaded this one. The eagle was in her prime, but unlike the other five mothers and mothers-to-be in the aeries, she had yet to say a word to the Chiet who oversaw her. Vira was never greeted with hostility, but Mohya's depression discouraged the attendant. She stopped at the entry to peer into the darkened aerie.

The grand bird was perched at the outer entrance, staring out at the cloudy skies beyond. It threatened rain, but nothing severe. Whatever the eagle was thinking, though, Lavira did not know. She only knew the dame was sad, and with good reason. Her eyes moved to the empty nest and she felt her heart grow heavy in sympathy for the female. "Mohya, do you want some fresh water?" She asked gently, setting one of the buckets down and stepping through the stone entry to approach the eagle.

"I heard one of the Endal brought back a huge walrus from a hunting trip by the bay. Would you like me to bring some up for you before it's been dispersed to others?" She set the bucket near the dame and stared up at her, hoping something might come from the action. It would be such a delight if she would just speak to her once. But the bird never turned, only stared sadly up at the sky.

"Come on, Mohya," Vira said softly, looking to the sky now as well. "I want to help you, but you must talk to me a little. At least drink a bit for me." But the matron did not respond other than to turn briefly, lower her head to the water, and take a few laps before turning away again. There were times that the teen wondered if the eagle didn't blame her and some of the Dek for what happened, eventhough they knew well before the residents what was transpiring. What more could she have done? The eagles had herded them to safety before she or the others could have done anything.

Vira released a sigh and withdrew, heading for Heshvala's chamber now. She left the bucket in Mohya's aerie for the time being, taking the other one with her to the one eagle that showed promise with her eggs. Both were of good size and natural color. They had good, solid shells and no discernible weak spots to the attendant. They definitely looked like they might hatch; and if they did, the promise of healthy hatchlings was high!

"Morning, 'vala. How're the eggs this morning?" She asked, stepping in and heading for the drinking pool near the entrance. It was still full, but the water was a bit grimey. Vira moved to one of the stone chests against the walls and retrieved her scraper and specialized mop. Standard scrubs didn't work well up here with the extra bird poo that there was so these had to be hardier and more absorbant.

Vira pressed the mop into the pool and splashed the water out the rim to the outside, the shallow overflow trough allowing it to spill easily over the outside edge and off the cliff beyond. The eagle inside came over then, chirping up a storm to the Chiet in Nari. "Whoa, whoa, slow down, Vala." She said, laughing. "I can't understand when you break speech like that."

Vala started over, whatever avian gossip she had shared with her attendant the way wash women shared at the pools. It made the teen grin as she worked, cleaning the pool out and adding the fresh water afterwards. "Wow, sounds like he had a good hunt. Guess I don't need to bring any treats up, huh?" She turned to face the bird and leaned against the mop as she stared up at her. Vala warbled and reached out with her beak to pluck at Vira's shirt as if in admonishment. "Haha, just kidding girly. I always have treats for you, don't I?"

A hand had slipped into the pocket of her bryda and pulled out a wrapped hunk of meat. It was a fine salmon steak, thick and juicy and had barely fit in the pocket to begin with. "Have to go dump pots in the kitchen now because of this. But it's worth it. Here you go." She tossed it up to that wickedly curved beak and then stroked the side of Vala's head.

"Any changes with the eggs?" She asked. Vala bobbed her head once and turned to look upon the nest but didn't say what had changed. Vira's eyebrow raised and she tilted her head, blind eye facing farthest from the nest as she studied the two eggs.

"Nothing wrong, I hope..." She murmured, leaving the mop and moving to approach the nest now. Stepping carefully into it, her hands settled on the first of the two eggs, her head following suit to listen to the quiet interior. It took less than five ticks for her to notice it, her face igniting in delight. "By Eywaat, it's moving! When did that start?" She said excitedly, Vala answering with a count of four bells ago. "That's great, Vala! Does your mate know yet? I'll have to report this, for sure! It can't be more than two shifts before they hatch now, I'd imagine. We'll have to have a party."

The eagle dame warbled emphatically back and gently nudged the chiet from the nest now, Vira laughing and scratching the grand head once more as she stepped out to let the mother settle back over her unborn. "That is such wonderful news, Vala. I'm so happy for you. I'll bring you something extra special from storage, okay? We'll celebrate at lunch." Vala chirped back in gratitude, giving Vira's side a bump to get back to work now.

[Lavira]

Lavira finished up in Vala's chamber, laying out a fresh bale of straw and bringing some dried meat from the storage outside each aerie in. It was a light starter until she could go down to the main storage to fetch all the birds breakfasts. She helped the eagle carefully turn the eggs and patch a spot in the nest that had become disheveled.

Moving on afterwards, she poked her head into the aerie at the end and saw this eagle was out too. Four in, two out; that tended to be how things went. This nest, however, sported no eggs either. Vira didn't particularly like the eagle in the aerie that much so she was glad to see she was out. This one tended to be extremely rude and finnicky, the bizarre requests done out of spite to the attendant rather than from any real gestational need. The eagle was taking advantage of Vira's generosity, in other words, and when things weren't just right (in whatever convoluted the off-color eagle mother believed), she took it out on Vira. There'd been a number of occasions already where she'd had to sit in the pools for longer than she'd have liked because the damnable bird had bit her.

But the job was always done and the best way to get through with the morphed wind eagle was to shut up and do the job. And that's exactly what she did, changing the water pool, laying out a fresh bale as she always did, and putting meat in the stone trough for feeding. This one never received treats, like the others did, though, but only because the bird treated Vira so spitefully; why reward bad behavior? The woman was only trying to take care of them, afterall.

Vira headed down past a few deks dumping scrape-bins and fetched the main breakfasts this time, taking a wheelbarrow up the rough path, ladened with large legs and sides. It was a heavy load and hard work and by midday, the teen was sweating. It took three trips to bring all the meals, and another two and a half hours to disperse it before she was able to continue cleaning each aerie. Sino's was first, helping the young female work out a few kinks in her nest-lining that the youth was chirping about.

Once through with all the main work, the Chiet headed to Mohya's chamber, stepping in with the cut of walrus she'd promised and laying the meat in the trough. "Afternoon, Mohya. Here's the walrus." The eagle turned towards her once more, but the large, mahoganny eyes withheld whatever she wished to say.

Her work finished now, Lavira moved to where Mohya now sat in her empty nest and sat before her, crossing her legs and laying both hands in her lap. She looked up at the snowy head of the mother and frowned morosely. "Will you and your mate try again next year?" She asked, talking even if the other wouldn't speak to her. There were times when Vira wondered if the eagle did actually want to talk, the brilliant globes that always looked back at her so close and yet so far. She knew the bird could speak, having overheard her chirps and whurrs whenever her mate was in; it was simply the fact that this eagle dame chose not to speak to any of the Inartans that she saw, or any others beyond the nesting aeries.

"Mohya, you must understand there was little we could do...all of the eagles swept us to safety before we could do anything. We weren't even told why. You cannot hold that against us...." It was something she said often to the prime bird, but this time seemed to garner a new reaction. Mohya's head snapped to her and the giant bird stretched forth threateningly over Lavira. Her beak opened with this stretching to screech viciously at the girl and batter her with a gust of wind from flapping wings.

The Chiet did not flinch other than to fall back quickly when the bird stepped from her empty nest and layed a massive claw over the whole of the womans body. She stared down imposingly at the attendant, as though looking at a particularly tasty morsel from the wilds, hissed, and then withdrew.

Lavira let out a careful breath after this, her blood pumping and her skin flushed in new sweat. It was a terrifying moment and she thought briefly that Mohya might actually hurt her! She was truly shocked she hadn't been (other than a bruise to the back of her head from hitting the stones) and that she'd managed not to cry out. Maybe not the smartest of things to say to a sad eagle, but sometimes...tough love worked best.

Getting shakily up to her feet and brushing her palms against her slacks, Vira spoke quietly once more. "Mohya, we all fall, sometimes; but we all have to stand, or in your case, fly again some time...Sometimes we just have to open our eyes to see when there's a hand to help us back up. I'll see you tomorrow."

Her heart still hammering, the teen left the chamber with the sun on her back. The clouds outside had finally broken up and left a beautiful sunset in its wake. Vira would have to record this day in her journal. It had certainly been exciting.

[Stardust]

Lavira

Skill	XP Earned
Falconry	5
Observation	3
Planning	1
Organization	1

•	Lores Earned
•	Understanding Bird's Emotions
•	Cleaning In The Nesting Area
•	Caring For Wind Eagles
•	The Excitement Of Being Chiet

Dream On

I really enjoy your writing. It I could suggest anything, it would be to separate your solos into a few more posts. It would be a bit easier to get through. Other than that, nice work on this job related thread! Can't wait to see what this is a part of!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.