Tailyn's Parrot Preserve
Summer 40, 518
18th Bell
Something had been harassing Tailyn’s parrots. She would wake up in the morning fully refreshed from a long night’s sleep and find her parrots tense, grumpy, and poorly rested. Her birds were jumpy, even when interacting with Tailyn whom they all knew to be a good friend. Worse yet, Nobody had begun plucking his feathers, a sure sign of intense stress. Tai had been quick to assume it had something to do with the monkeys who occasionally showed up around her home to personally vex her. But the thing about the monkeys was that they were pretty easy to notice. They were loud and wild, and both Tai’s personal parrots as well as the wild ones who roosted in the trees near her home greatly disliked the creatures and made tons of noise any time the creatures showed up nearby, creating an impossible to ignore cacophony of noise.
Whatever it was that had been bothering the parrots was quiet. Quiet enough not to wake the light sleeping Tai or Blue as they dozed indoors nearby. Fortunately, the bird’s cages had protected them, and Tai hadn’t lost any birds yet. But the stress was gradually wearing the poor creatures down, and the inarta knew that if she didn’t do anything soon then they could start getting sick, or worse, drop dead from the stress.
And so, the young woman did as she always did when faced with a trial, and took direct action. As much as she disliked using her birds as bait, whatever it was that was bothering them likely wanted them as a snack. So, Tai went through her usual night-time routine of making sure everyone was fed, getting her birds settled into their cages for the night, and triple checked that the entrance to their home was firmly locked. Tai brought Blue inside to her usual perch beside the bed and watched her companion nod off as Syna disappeared past the sea’s horizon.
Normally this would be the point where Tai would drop into bed herself and immediately pass out as she was nearly as diurnal as her bird friends were and found it difficult to stay awake once the light of day was gone. But today was different. Tai grabbed her short bow and arrows, gave them a kiss for luck, then settled down in the shadowy crook of a nearby tree within view of the cages to wait for something to happen.
As Tai waited, she was struck by how strange Syka was at night. Perhaps it was just because she was so unused to it, but it seemed as though every shadow in the darkness could be hiding a danger. The woman felt her senses stretched as taut as her bowstring. The rustle of parrot feathers seemed as loud as the scrape of metal on metal. Tai’s own breath and heartbeat hammered in her ears as loud as a drum. Still, she waited patiently daring not to move a single finger lest she scare that unknown presence away.
(Words 503, Total 503)
Summer 40, 518
18th Bell
Something had been harassing Tailyn’s parrots. She would wake up in the morning fully refreshed from a long night’s sleep and find her parrots tense, grumpy, and poorly rested. Her birds were jumpy, even when interacting with Tailyn whom they all knew to be a good friend. Worse yet, Nobody had begun plucking his feathers, a sure sign of intense stress. Tai had been quick to assume it had something to do with the monkeys who occasionally showed up around her home to personally vex her. But the thing about the monkeys was that they were pretty easy to notice. They were loud and wild, and both Tai’s personal parrots as well as the wild ones who roosted in the trees near her home greatly disliked the creatures and made tons of noise any time the creatures showed up nearby, creating an impossible to ignore cacophony of noise.
Whatever it was that had been bothering the parrots was quiet. Quiet enough not to wake the light sleeping Tai or Blue as they dozed indoors nearby. Fortunately, the bird’s cages had protected them, and Tai hadn’t lost any birds yet. But the stress was gradually wearing the poor creatures down, and the inarta knew that if she didn’t do anything soon then they could start getting sick, or worse, drop dead from the stress.
And so, the young woman did as she always did when faced with a trial, and took direct action. As much as she disliked using her birds as bait, whatever it was that was bothering them likely wanted them as a snack. So, Tai went through her usual night-time routine of making sure everyone was fed, getting her birds settled into their cages for the night, and triple checked that the entrance to their home was firmly locked. Tai brought Blue inside to her usual perch beside the bed and watched her companion nod off as Syna disappeared past the sea’s horizon.
Normally this would be the point where Tai would drop into bed herself and immediately pass out as she was nearly as diurnal as her bird friends were and found it difficult to stay awake once the light of day was gone. But today was different. Tai grabbed her short bow and arrows, gave them a kiss for luck, then settled down in the shadowy crook of a nearby tree within view of the cages to wait for something to happen.
As Tai waited, she was struck by how strange Syka was at night. Perhaps it was just because she was so unused to it, but it seemed as though every shadow in the darkness could be hiding a danger. The woman felt her senses stretched as taut as her bowstring. The rustle of parrot feathers seemed as loud as the scrape of metal on metal. Tai’s own breath and heartbeat hammered in her ears as loud as a drum. Still, she waited patiently daring not to move a single finger lest she scare that unknown presence away.
(Words 503, Total 503)
