Bird of a Nest - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

"The adults are arguing," Eyeri noted as he noticed Aw'endo's eyes fluttering open. His foster brother sat on the open window sill, a lit lantern beside him as it was now dark. Aw'endo could hear the faint sounds of shouting behind the closed door. His stomach tightened unhappily. "We can be good and stay here, or we can be bad and escape out the window."
"Window," Aw'endo nodded, not even hesitating. He knew he was in trouble now. They were going to be so angry at him for not talking to them. Fetmar was going to be hurt that Aw'endo didn't come to him as he promised. As for Ryraso... Aw'endo twisted out of bed and joined Eyeri by the window as quickly as he could. Eyeri was already checking the ledge and hopping out of it. Eyeri found a handhold and began shifting to the side.
Aw'endo checked before following him. Eyeri almost too skillfully swung and clambered over palace walls before stopping at a ledge with more space. It was the overhang to a balcony. Which one, Aw'endo couldn't tell, but he happily stopped and rested, leaning against the wall.
"We can go further in a minute," Eyeri's eyes looked over the walls, mapping them out with his finger. "I think we might be able to get to the Royal quarters if we went up and left. Or close enough that we can head inside and take the normal way."
"You could do it from here," grumbled a voice from the darkness. Aw'endo jumped, but Eyeri only snorted and remained where he was. "Safer, less likely to break your necks..." the voice continued to mutter.
"Who?"
"One of the guards," Eyeri shrugged like it wasn't important. For someone who had never had guards before, Eyeri had got used to there always being someone keeping an eye on him. "They won't stop us unless we try something stupid like leave the palace grounds. Did you think no one was watching us?" The look Eyeri gave Aw'endo made his ears burn. He hadn't thought passed escaping his guardians scolding him for a little longer.
"I thought they'd stop us,"
"We're not prisoners,"
Aw'endo curled up slightly. It felt like it. He shifted closer to Eyeri and let a wing draped over him.
Eyeri spluttered and shifted it off his head, punching Aw'endo in the side. "Oi!" Eyeri battered the wing tip away as it flicked him. "What was that for?" he complained as he did what Aw'endo wanted him to do and drew closer. Aw'enda wrapped an arm around Eyeri's shoulder and held him close, his wing tucking Eyeri in from the other side. Eyeri grumbled in the cacoon of feathers. "If you wanted a hug," he breathed but didn't finish the sentence.
The night air was warm. Spring was almost over, and soon it would be the rainy season before summer. Aw'endo loved this time of year. He could go storm dancing once the rains came. Assuming his guardians didn't clip his wings for this.
"I think Nel'os pissed Fetmar off," Eyeri noted, breaking the silence after it started to weigh too heavily. "He was much nicer to DYn'ad and Tai'ray when they came by. Still angry they didn't get you help but not hostile like with Nel'os."
"That so?"
"Matron Iss'vine was hurt too," Eyeri pressed gently.
"Yes. I'll have to apologise," Aw'endo winced. Another person he was going to have to face. His fathers, they were one thing but the person who had walked in on him in the act? She was going to need a proper apology. The distressed look on the Matron's face flashed through his mind, and he trembled again. The way she had grabbed the blade from his hands and pulled it away from him, slicing her hands in the process, begging him to stop.
She cared. He hadn't realised that. Aw'endo thought she didn't like him because he was a troublemaker.
"You hurt her?"
"She pulled the blade from my hands," Aw'endo looked at the one which was not around Eyeri, clinging to his brother like a safety blanket. "I didn't try to stab her or anything like that. I wasn't insane or ..." Aw'endo cut himself off, finding the word missing. In a berserker rage, perhaps? Could a k'nairi go into a berserker rage if someone tried to stop them from hurting themselves?
Eyeri nodded, stretching out his legs in front of them and looking up at the stars. "Do you see the five stars up there, in the shape of a water droplet?"
"I think so?" Aw'endo tried to locate the constellation.
"Before the divergent, when the k'nairi goddess was still apart of the main pantheon, a river goddess fell in love with her. She tried for many moons to gain the love back, giving gifts of gold, skin and mercury. She gave animals and bards. She gave the rarest gems she could find, and the weaved together a song, just for her. Only it didn't work. If anything, her attention brought more to the goddess who wanted none. The k'nairi goddess was overwhelmed with courting gifts and presents to tempt her to fall in love. At the new year banquet, the k'nairi goddess promised to the fates to never to fall in love; Not with the river goddess, nor with anyone else."
There was a moment of silence as Eyeri tapped his fingers against the ledge. "She wept for many days and many nights. Her banks overflowed and ruined the crops of the people who worshipped her. The stories of her turned from good and pure to evil and spiteful. When the tears stopped, she swore, just as her love had, to never fall in love again. Her way to ensure this was to lock her heart in a crystal made from her final tear. Locked away, she threw the crystal into the sky so no one may have her heart again, as it belonged to one who could not accept it."
"Why did you tell me that story?" Aw'endo furrowed his eyebrows, confused as to how that had any relevant now.
Eyeri shrugged. "Inai told it to me when I was still new to the ship and learning to be a person. I never did what you did. I couldn't. The training was too strong to resist. "
"Training?"
"A slave is property. Its master owns it. Damaging property is not allowed," Eyeri intoned. A chill ran down Aw'endo's back at the tone in his voice. He swallowed. "It's not a choice I can make without the voices returning, and I doubt there will ever be a time in my life where I want the voices to be in my head."
"I see."
"Learning to be free again was hard, though. I was always jumpy, still am. I think Inai was trying to explain how making rash decisions can cause serious harm," Eyeri mused, rolling his shoulders. "It was the same goddess who betrayed the k'nairi goddess after all. She had no heart and therefore, no loyalty or care."
Aw'endo blinked twice, finding tears in his eyes. He knew that story as well as any k'nairi—the nameless river goddess who had revealed the Goddess' creations. In return, the gods had removed her name from the world as punishment for her crime. She broke her word to kept the k'nairi hidden. "It could also mean that if you can't move on from being in love, it will ruin you,"
"Not sure that meaning would apply then or now. Most stories have multiple interpretations."
"I'm sorry," Aw'endo whispered, not trusting his voice to be any louder. "I didn't intend to cause trouble."
"Don't," Eyeri shook his head. "I have the same issue. I try to be quiet and out of the way and then bang, I've got Fetmar and Ryraso looking at me like I've torn out their hearts and put it on a plate in front of them. I get it. Sometimes things spiral. It will ok." There was a cheerful edge to his voice that didn't hide the way EYeri was clutching to that concept.
"Maybe we shouldn't have left the room,"
"Most probably"
"Definitely," The guard added, now in view and sitting near them, having crept up during Eyeri's story. "Too late now, they know you are wandering."
Aw'endo curled in on himself tighter as Eyeri chuckled. "They shouldn't have been too obvious to notice," Eyeri shook his head before standing up and offering his hand to Aw'endo. "We better get to the rooms before they get too annoyed with us for ditching their quarrelling."
"The normal route," the guard added. "There are orders now to stop you doing anything like climbing outside without a rope or someone to catch you."
"You're here," Eyeri said nonchalantly, pulling Aw'endo up and shifting his stance to one of confidence. "We're in no danger."
"How often do you do this?" Aw'endo frowned, hearing the scolding. It sounded like Eyeri made a habit of annoying the guards by treating the palace like a climbing frame. It made a bit of sense with Eyeri having no wings to fly or jump high enough, but Aw'endo assumed the guards had been moving Eyeri as needed.
"Not often. I haven't exactly had much free time," Eyeri smiled, laughing as the guard plucked him off the wall before he could go any higher. The guard descended and placed him on the balcony before returning to help Aw'endo down. Aw'endo's wings were too shaky to do it safely.
"We hope Head Healer Pol'ar's plans to keep you busy will come to fruition," the guard patted Eyeri's shoulder before escorting them both through the empty room and into the hallway.
"Me too," Eyeri nodded, wrapping his arm around Aw'endo's for support. "Have you thought about Cai'ress' situation?" Eyeri asked softly.
"It's all I can think about,"
"Which side do you want us to take? Cai'ress' or Nel'os'?"
Aw'endo blinked twice, pausing in his spot. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully, meeting Eyeri's eyes dead-on.
"Well, Nel'os want Cai'ress gone. Exile up north or whatever it is around here. I wasn't listening too carefully, but when they shout particular loud, it's hard not to hear them. The others want him to remain here. I imagine they are probably going to win. So Nel'os is going to be grumpy and mopey for the foreseeable future. Cai'ress, well." Eyeri paused and looked around. "The infection smelt terrible. I didn't get a close look, but I suspect they may have to remove his wings altogether. So he's just come out of being tortured and is going to wake up without his wings. With the person he loves, hating him."
"When you put it like that..."
"I'll follow your lead. Nel'os is our father, and he will be fighting with the others, so he's going to need people who are not angry with him. You were friends with Cai'ress, however."
"I am, I think," Aw'endo winced. "Unless he blamed me? I'm not sure." Aw'endo bit his lip, thinking over Eyeri's observations and his own. Truthfully, he was a little angry at Nel'os too. "I still think the water droplet is a warning story not to cling on to people who don't love you."
"Yet if Nel'os makes rash decisions, it could ruin everything he has," Eyeri countered, letting go of Aw'endo and spinning ahead. "Race you back to the room," he challenged, eyes sparking.
Aw'endo grinned. They were off before the guard to stop them.