[Sanctuary] A Fall From Grace (Open)

[Kay]

18th Summer, 512

Kay was not a big fan of loud noises. She had been perched up in a tree, minding her own business when a huge crack had sounded. The noise was awful to her sensitive avian ears and she had panicked. So much so that the human side of her brain decided to take over out of nowhere, resulting in her deciding to jump out of the tree. Being a bird, it failed spectacularly and she ended up sort of falling into a few branches below her till she remembered she had wings.

She landed on the ground in a messy heap and gingerly righted herself. Kay felt a sharp pain in her left arm...no wing. She was a bird not a girl. Slowly, she extended it and a shrill "klee" of shock and pain left her beak. There was a small stick wedged in her wing, up under the top coverts. Some of her secondary feathers had been affected to, sticking out at awkward angles. Kay slowly pulled her wing back to her side.

This time she actively sought out the human side of her brain. She needed a rational solution to this problem. She didn't want to fly, for it would be difficult and probably painful with damaged feathers. She was too afraid to shift forms because she had no idea how the injury would carry over. She needed someone to help her.

Kay remembered seeing activity the previous day, a little way from where she now sat. She didn't know what they had been doing, but it was worth a try. She made her way over through a combination of hopping and walking till she reached what appeared to be a building site. She saw nobody around, so she did the only thing she could think of and call out.
"Klee, klee, klee, klee"

[Raiha]

As much as Raiha and Kanikra enjoyed hunting with Kiwidinok, her massive eagle, something that made Raiha smile was flying Kefi and her mate, Oanu. It was one of the few things that made Raiha actually come out these days, and Kanikra had had to push her to get her to do it. She was coming in from the pastures with Diallo trotting along beside her, the two kestrels on her gloved wrist, looking rather smug. They’d caught a couple mice, which would do for them for a snack, at least, and it had been good for them to stretch their wings.

She heard the shrill sound of a kestrel, though, in the area where they were rebuilding. “Find it, Diallo,” she told the dog, even as Kefi and Oanu called back to the stranger, wanting to know who she was and if she was alone, releasing their own killy killy killy sounds. Diallo hurried off, with Raiha close behind.

It wasn’t too long before Kay saw what was, to her, a very, very, very big white dog. But it didn’t pounce - in fact, it lay down ten feet from her and stuck its head on its forepaws, completely still but for a tail. He was followed by a tall, blue-skilled woman wearing a brown vest stitched with green, and a skirt striped in brown and dark green, almost like the tree she had fell out of, holding the two kestrels who had answered her call on her arm. “Good,” Raiha told the dog, patting his head, before crouching near the bird with her wing at a bad angle, her movements slow and deliberate so as not to startle her.

“You didn’t break that, did you, little girl?” Kestrels were sexually dimorphic, after all, and the falconer reached a leather glove down to her, giving her the opportunity to step up before she put a hand on her. She would rather the little thing cooperated; having to catch her would surely put more strain on the injury.

[Kavala]

Kavala was a firm believer in the old adage that "When it rained, it poured." Because truthfully from the moment she woke up that morning, nothing was going right. Tasival was throwing a fit... or was it Shayru. He wasn't adjusting well to the visitors around Sanctuary nor was he too keen on sharing his mother with another male hanging about. So as it was, Kavala had to let him sleep with her the night before just to get him to go to bed. And she woke to him screaming in pain because he was getting yet more teeth in and his jaw was red and swollen as they worked their out of his jaw.

To make things worse, he wanted to be carried everywhere and Kavala couldn't summon Raiha to sooth him because she was out hunting her kestrels that had been somewhat ignored due to the crisis since spring. Part of that was due to the fact that all the raptor eggs they'd saved just before the djed storm had started to hatch - thank goodness for broody chicken hens laying on them - and that caused the girls twice the work grinding or even prechewing what Kavala called birdfood which ended up being meat. Finally she'd went to town, bought a hand-cranked meat grinder, and had started processing food for the baby raptors that way.

The birds weren't really her responsibility, but Raiha needed the help and not all of the chicks had been born healthy despite having ridden out the djed storm tucked safely Within Sanctuary.

So it was Kavala was busy grinding vegitables she'd add to the baby birds ground up meats, adding more nutrition and watching closely to see what the birds could digest and what was too tough for them and adjusting accordingly. She'd have most of Raiha's midday feeding prepared for her when she got done hunting her older birds if she manged to keep Tasival occupied and his gums from bleeding until Raiha could get home and make him more ice.

Thus she was trapped in the kitchen, elbow deep in bloody meat.

[Kay]

Kay heard the sounds of other kestrels, and she lifted her feathered head curiously. She hadn't seen any other raptors during her short two days here, just a handful of finches and a couple of sea birds. It sounded like there were two of her kind nearby, their voices carrying questions to her.
Kay called out again, her klee, klee telling them that she was hurt.

Kay listened and waited to see if the other birds would find her. A noise did register, but it certainly didn't sound like wings. It sounded like footsteps however not those of a person; they was too quick and rhythmic for that. What looked like an enormous white dog appeared moments later, and Kay let out a shrill klee of shock. Surely she would be eaten alive! But the dog stopped quite a distance away, and Kay grew confused when it lay down. Was it waiting to pounce?

Not long after, while Kay was still warily watching the great dog, a human did appear. The woman had the blue skin of the people down in the main part of the city, only instead of dark hair she had shining white-blonde waves. Kay was mesmerised by it, her attention totally diverted from the dog.

She gazed up at the woman as she knelt, seeing the two birds perched happily on her arm. Kay's head tilted to the side in curiosity before movement from the woman distracted her again. A gloved hand reached towards her and a voice floated down.
Cautiously, Kay stuck out a leg, reaching to the hand that had been presented. The other kestrels seemed comfortable enough, so why shouldn't she be alright too? Kay gripped the woman's hand slowly before pulling her other leg up too, so that she was perched like the other birds. She held her wing at an awkward angle; the stick was rammed up her feathers quite uncomfortably. Kay's beady eyes watched the woman's face, wondering what would happen now that she had literally put herself in this blue human's hands.

[Raiha]

Help was on the way, the other female kestrel told her. They had someone who was good with birds. She fixes hurts.

The blue female must have been what the other kestrels spoke of, because they were sitting with their talons dug into the leather gauntlet, balancing easily despite her movement, from long experience. They seemed rather satisfied to sit on her, uncommon as that was for hawks, though the brightly-plumed male had odd leather ties attached to his ankles. “Nice and easy,” Raiha crooned at her. “You’ll be fine. I’ll fix that, and you’ll be moving as good as new before too long. Promise.”

Once she was certain that the little hawk had her talons dug in, Raiha rose slowly, keeping her arms steady. “Just going to put these two down on the fence so that I can get that stick out. How did you manage that?” Up close, Kay could see scars on the woman’s upper arm and shoulder, no doubt left by a much larger bird. It didn’t seem to matter to if she got an answer, it seemed, the tall female just wanted to try to keep the kelvic calm. That it was a kelvic didn’t even dawn on her, though it should have - her gift was not picking up anything. Kanikra said nothing - she would be able to berate her about it later.

Her gait was steady, the big white monster of a dog following along at her side, checking out the newcomer. Ignore him, the male kestrel told her. He belongs to her. He is harmless. He hadn’t jumped on her like she had anticipated, after all, just, well, found her. She stopped close to one of the buildings that were in some stage of construction, offering her two diminutive mighty hunters a spot to perch. Kefi hopped onto it first, and then Oanu, leaving Raiha with a free hand to deal with that stick.

“I’m going to remove the stick now,” she told the bird, moving her other hand slowly, careful not to spook her. Years of long experience wearing the gauntlets meant for smaller birds lent themselves to a deft touch with well-worn and well-used leather as she reached over Kay, using her ring and middle fingers to stretch the wing at the alula feathers. Raiha used her thumb and forefinger to snap the thin stick, having already stretched the wing out to minimize the impact, letting the pieces fall away while she gently blew on the feathers to make sure that they were not broken. A visual inspection assured her that there was nothing else jammed in there, and to a touch the limb moved well. She slowly released the wing, smiling at her. “There you are. All set. You hungry?”

That, apparently, was a cue for the other kestrels to jump back onto the blue-skinned woman’s arm, because after hunting, they certainly were.

[Kay]

Kay was less steady on the blue woman's hand than the other birds were, but she was gripping tightly enough to avoid falling off. The woman stood and, the sensation of being lifted into the air without flying felt strange to the Kelvic. Her head tilted every which way as she regained her bearings, her gaze eventually settling on the pair seated on Raiha's other arm. She noticed something hanging from one of her counterparts legs, and she inwardly shuddered at the thought of being tied.

Kay could see numerous scars littering the arm and shoulder of the woman. They were surely not from the kestrels though they were talon marks, which would mean there were larger raptors around. Raiha's words came to her and when the woman walked the strange feeling intensified, and Raiha would most likely feel the birds grip increase through the leather glove. Kay wondered what the woman would think when she found out that a bird fell out of a tree.

Kay turned her head sharply when the male kestrel spoke to her. Despite his words, she was still unsure about the huge canine plodding after the group. How can you be sure? Of course, there seemed to be truth to the birds words. The dog hadn't touched her; it seemed quite happy just trotting about. She watched the birds as they moved to a new perch, her attention then returning to Raiha.

The woman's words came to her and Kay made no attempt to resist as her wing was gently opened. She felt a sharp tug as the uncomfortable stick was snapped, and then relief as the pieces fell free. When Raiha let her wing go, Kay gave it a single flap before tucking it back to her side. It felt good to have the stick out, though she could still feel where it had been lodged.

The bird was in fact hungry, and she let out an excited klee as the other two birds returned. Kay was slowly getting used to sitting on the blue woman's arm. It was much like a normal perch, only it moved. If she managed to not pay attention to that fact she could get used to it relatively quickly.

[Raiha]

Experience, came the answer from both kestrels that had accompanied the blue-skinned female. There are lots of dogs around here, but that one is her favourite.

I trained him, the other female chirped smugly. The other kestrel hen was definitely getting up there in age, especially compared to her much younger mate, but she was certainly in good condition.

“Mmhmm, you know what food means, anyway,” Raiha smiled down at Kay. This was the part, normally, where she would have let Kanikra take over again. But hardly to Kanikra’s surprise, Raiha wasn’t inclined to do so. This was a very smart kestrel here, after all, that understood some words and when someone was trying to help, and new birds of all sizes had always fascinated Raiha.

“Now,” Raiha told the Kelvic, “no flapping about inside of here. I promise you that nothing’s going to hurt you, and we’ll get you a meal. Kavala will find you interesting, too,” she moved along the tunnel, while Kefi let out approving klees. About time. She didn’t mind waiting to help another bird, but now they were all getting fed. That worked.

Are you from around here? The male, Oanu, wanted to know. We haven’t heard you around before.

She turned a corner and entered a larger room that was full of movement and sound and sights. “Good afternoon, Kavala, Tasival. How are you both doing? Does Tasi need ice?” Huh. Hadn’t she only taken out two kestrels that morning? Because now, apparently, she had three. “This little lady got herself in a jam, but I’d think she’s all fixed up now except for an empty stomach. Isn't she lovely?”

[Kavala]

Kavala looked up from the rows of bowls she'd been filling with ground meat and raised a white eyebrow. "Didn't you leave with two kestrels this morning? Now you have three?" Kavala asked, setting down the huge bowl she'd been filling the others from and moving over to have a look at the bird. The healer glanced at Raiha and then down at the three birds on Raiha's arm, recognizing the original two but not the third.

"We got lucky. Fresh deer. Ink and Incense chased a buck over the cliff this morning. He was pretty much mush when I retrieved him from the bottom of the cliff, but I know the birds don't mind and it makes a good meal." Kavala added, gesturing to the bowls. "I've got enough for midday, tonight, and all of tomorrow ground." She said.

She opened her mind and her gift and read the creatures, feeling the contentedness of the first two with their bellies heavy with the mice they'd caught. Then she moved her attention to the third and blinked. The curiosity was not the normal curiosity of the avian world. The thoughts of the arm perch and its likening to normal perches in trees and fences raised Kavala's eyelids.

"You got a wild Kestrel to perch on your arm? You touched a wild kestrel that was wounded? Think about what your saying, Raiha." Kavala laughed, straightened, and picked up the nearest bowl of meat. This time she addressed the bird itself, not the falconer.

"Do you prefer to eat it raw in that form, little kelvic, or would you like me to cook you something and add some fresh bread and honey to the menu as well?" Kavala asked nonchalantly. Her Konti gift gave her animal empathy that worked equally well on Kelvics. The only problem was with Kelvics, their noisy mind and inner dialog filled her brain with a noise that was so close to sentience that it never failed to let her identify them for what they were. "We even might have clothing for you if your shy." Kavala added, giving Raiha a wink and setting the bowl down where any of the three birds could get to it if they so decided too.

[Kay]

A lot of dogs? Kay wasn’t sure if she liked the sound of that. Just as long as they’re not all that huge! It would probably take the Kelvic a little while to get used to being around a number of dogs. She was so used to avoiding canines of all colours, shapes and sizes and it felt like she would have to go against her very nature. However, if the other birds could tolerate them, she supposed she should too.

Kay chirruped lightly at the woman’s words, wondering idly who ‘Kavala’ was. Another blue-skinned person perhaps? She fixed her gaze on one of the kestrels - Oanu. No, I come from a city north. I just arrived in this place a couple of days ago.

Her senses were then met with a barrage of sights, sounds and smells. The first thing she noted was the smell of food; some sort of meat. Her beady eyes fell on bowls filled with the ground up stuff, before moving to the second woman. She too had the pale shining hair, but her skin wasn’t blue. In fact it was almost as light as her hair; practically luminous. Kay was too intrigued by the woman to listen to the conversion that flowed round the area.

It wasn’t until she noticed the pale woman looking at her that Kay let her attention snap back. There seemed to be something different about her, and as she was addressed personally, she realised with a start that the woman knew what she was. Her head tilted and she met her eyes curiously.

Kay had to admit, that while she had no problem with eating raw meat, human food just tasted so much better. Besides, she hadn’t actually had a regular persons meal since way back in Syliras. Though she had been human frequently throughout her journey, feeding herself was just so much easier as a kestrel. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, almost dancing on Raiha’s arm as she made her decision.

With a hop, she left her perch and opened her wings just a fraction so that she wouldn’t crash to the floor in an undignified heap. She rarely changed her form in front of people, but they had been kind to her, she was hungry and she had a sneaking suspicion that the pale woman may have seen it before. It happened quickly, the dancing lights dissolving the little bird and reforming her into a young girl. Brown hair cascaded round her shoulders, and her dark eyes sought out those of the blue-skinned woman before giving her a sheepish smile.

[Raiha]

There’s a couple that big, Kefi allowed. But he’s bigger. Most of them never come near the flock. Just hers. More birds?

“Found her outside,” Raiha nodded agreeably, in a better mood than Kavala had seen her in in a while, smiling at the little bird, and there was genuine gratitude in her eyes when Kavala pointed out her efforts with the food. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Raiha sometimes hated food preparation. Hated it. Loved feeding them, hated having to chew up and regurgitate the meat or fish, but one day she was really going to have to play with that meat grinder, and she would take Tasival off of Kavala’s case for the rest of the day and probably the night. Introduce him to the world around him, tire him out, make him ice... She’d make up for it.

But as she followed Kavala’s gaze back down to the little Kelvic, her expression turned sheepish as Kavala pointed out just how absurd it was. “Well, when Oanu broke his wing and I found him that time...” she offered lamely, but didn’t hardly try to defend the mistake beyond that. She knew better, really - she had figured it out about Laeraix and Akasha, and she hadn’t even used her head to consider what this one might have been. Maybe she might have been another falconer’s bird. But in any case, what she undeniably was a Kelvic.

When Kay left her arm, Raiha let Kefi and Oanu onto the rim of one of the bowls.

Oanu was a gentleman and let Kefi go first. Both of them were mostly full as it was - their kills had been satisfying, most satisfying indeed - but they would stuff themselves full for now. Oanu began to regurgitate for his mate, a bit unnecessarily, perhaps, but he did love his mate, and wasn’t shy about who knew it. “Nice to meet you,” Raiha inclined her head down at the young woman. “I am Raiha, this is Kavala and Tasi. You probably know Kefi and Oanu by now.”