Mana Manu

Chapter 1

I'iwi pov)) 

I stared out  at the ever expanding lush forest. Dew sparkled on the bright grass. The air smelled fresh and new. 

"Enjoying the morning view?" A voice said from my left. I jumped a bit being suddenly sucked back into my own body. 

"Yeah. I was thinking of going on the hike to the ocean for Tomi." I said turning to see it was Mar's I was talking to. They nodded. Mar's was one of my closest friends. They were a chatty friendly guy who enjoyed weaving. They had woven baskets, blanket and rugs for all of us. 

"Maybe we could stop by the pond too if were focusing on water bird therians today." Mar's suggested with a smile. 

"I'm cool with that." Sundra said as she pulled her long curly hair into a bun. Sundra was another of my close friends she could be a bit aggressive at times and rude but I knew it all came from a place of care. 

"I thought you'd be the first one here. Still kinda surprised it was Pua out of all people." Mar's said rolling their eyes. 

"Hey! I can be an early bird too. Its not just the Pueo that wakes up early!" I replied back with a laugh. I stretched my arms and yawned. I had to walk up early that morning to pack my hiking bag and was still a bit sleepy. 

"Where are Nile and Tomi. I wanna be out as long as possible. Oh by the way me parents are going into town and their brings back some movies I ordered." Sundra sighed. I could tell she was trying to be nonchalant about it but the tapping of her feet told me she was pretty excited. 

"Were here!" Nile called Tomi only a few feet behind him. Tomi looked conflicted. I hoped in the back of my mind nothing bad had happened. I knew how his parents could be.  

Nile was a jokester and was very close to Tomi. They were practically glued to each other. Tomi was quiet and a bit of an over thinker. I think his over thinking was influenced by his crazy parents. 

"Sorry guys. Tomi parents caught him on his way out and started some dumb lecture about safety and how we're weird or something. I wasn't playing attention. " Nile said pantings I guessed he'd ran to Tomi's house then here. Tomi lived the furthers away on the reserve. I noticed Sundra opening her mouth to reply to what Nile said. 

"Anyway we go a longggg hike ahead of us so we'd better get started." I said attempting to stop an argument before it happened. Sundra sighed and took the lead. 

We started our walk down the long winding path. Tree's and moss grew thick all around us. It felt like home. I wanted to fly from tree to tree and look for flowers. 

"Its great here right? We're here everyday but its always so beautiful." Mar's said softly from my left. I nodded. I took in a deep breath through my curve beak. I stretch my wings letting my wing tips brush against Mar's. Turned to look at them but they seemed to be living in their own head at the moment. 

The walk through the forest was calming and beautiful. Brightly colored birds flew from tree to tree. Their songs rang through the forest. Few words were shared and most of them came from Nile and Tomi who were walking in the back together. I couldn't make out what they were saying but it seemed serious. 

After an hour of walking we reached the halfway point. A huge pond. Reed like plants grew along the edges and Mar's just stopped and looked out at the pond. As the others drank some water. I drank mango nectar because it was the closest thing to the real nectar I'iwi drank. 

We let Mar's have a minute to themself. We normally don't hike out this far so we let him shift in peace. They sat perched on a big mossy stone after a couple minutes they stood up and turned around. Mar's was smiling but looked a little sad. I could tell they didn't want to leave. I felt the same way every time I left the forest. 

"You ok?" I asked as Mar's started walking with me to the path away from the pond. 

"I'm ok." Mar's replied with a sigh. They walked ahead of me with Sundra and I was left alone with my thoughts. I thought about my friends my flock. They were all so different from each other but in the end we we're all each other had. It was such a strange coincidence that we were all therian, bird therians. 

I thought back to the coming together of the flock. Sundra, Mar's and I had lived on this reserve for as long as I could remember. My mom owned the reserve and let people live there with her as long as they all helped in one way or another. 

I remember Sundra, Mar's and I playing in the forest after watching Rio for the first time. Pretending we were birds. Nile moved to the reserve when we were all 10. They could barely speak english and was really hit with a culture shock. They stayed indoors for a couple weeks before his parents forced him outside to meet us. It took Nile a little while to get used to us. But when we went into the forest to pretend to be birds they opened up for the first time. 

Those are happy soft memories. The easy days. Then a couple years later we finally found out we were all therian and our pretending to be birds started to all feel a bit more real. That year Mar's and I were 13 and Sundra and Nile were 14. Still remember sitting at the dinner table my mom telling me new people were moving in. I was a little nervous. 

Tomi was terrified of everyone. He stayed indoors for weeks on end. My mom didn't even know what he looked like. But one faithful day we were out in the forest making nests when we heard the crunch of a branch to the side of us. Nile got up to go check it out and the figure ran away. Nile think it was a boar decided it was best to chase it farther away. 

Nile later that day told me what happened when they ran off. He had seen Tomi. The only reason he caught up with him was because he'd tripping of a rotting log and scraped his leg up pretty bad. Nile had help him get back home. Nile told me they spoke about normal subjects and at some point Tomi blurted out he was a therian too. I remember being surprised and almost didn't believe him. 

But the next day Nile showed up to hang out with Tomi glued to his back. He wouldn't talk to anyone but Nile and it took him awhile to open up. 

The smell of the ocean broke through my thoughts. I looked around at my flock and smiled. 

1200 words