A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 24 - Hit The Road

The morning of their departure, Honey spent a good ten minutes trying to clip on her new hair piece before she gave in and asked for Zemira's help.

She'd noticed how shaken the other girl seemed to be the previous night, and had wanted to give her some space, however when she approached Zemira, she seemed as cheerful as ever. Full of life and mirth.

"This is cute." She complimented, holding the new hairpiece Honey had made the night before.

"Thanks, I just can't figure out how to do it on my own yet..." Honey replied, eyeing the piece scathingly.

It was comprised of two pale gold hair clips, the centre of which were a white ceramic decorated with blue patterns similar to those which adorned the book of oisia. Both clips were attached by a golden chain no longer than her palm. She'd taken the night before to add some of Copper's feathers on both top ends of the clips and now the thin strands fluttered with Zemira's movements as she held the piece.

The idea was that the clips would each hold back a strand of Honey's hair, keeping it out of her face in a fashion akin to a half up half down.

Zemira pursed her lips, before motioning for Honey to turn. She used the comb Honey had found to pull back a chunk of hair from her temple around and up, sliding one end of the barrette into her pale locks before pinching it until it clipped into place. Then, she repeated the process with the other side before once more turning Honey to face her, fiddling with the style.

"There, I think that looks good." She said with a smile, hands on Honey's arms.

"Thanks, Zemira." Honey said, appreciating the help, but Zemira simply gave her an unusually tight smile, before moving on to finish preparations.

Arriving at the makeshift stables a couple minutes later than the rest, Zemira eyed her Edge-Cutter distastefully. Her eyes flitted between the two sceptically, before they landed on the one before her, eyebrows pulling into a frown.

The two oisia were of a similar colouring, the tightly packed feathers of their back a pale blue which melted into a darker shade of midnight at the tips of their sharp wings and V shaped tails. Underneath, however, the Edge-Cutters sleek plumage was a vibrant yellow, stark against the colouring of their backs.

One had sage eyes, the other golden.

"Is this the one that threw me off the ledge?" Zemira suddenly shouted, gaining the attention of the other three, who simply stared in shock.

Zemira huffed, "This armour better work." She muttered, reaching a hand forward to stroke the pale blue head of the oisia.

"You're wearing it." Chip blurted.

Honey glanced at him curiously, deciding not to comment on what she'd discerned was a sensitive topic, and instead busying herself with Copper's saddle.

Zemira shrugged lazily, "Yeah, well... Who else was going to?"

Chip sent her a tight smile, and Zemira turned back to the oisia before her, fixing it with a glare.

"You're the worst, you know that." She muttered, regarding it, "And that is the very reason I'm going to name you Chicken."

Aedis let out a wheeze from the other side of the room.

"It's fitting, don't you think!" Zemira yelled out to him, before getting to work on tacking up Chicken.

"What are you going to name yours?" Honey asked as she passed by Chip, bag in hand.

"I don't really care." He replied, unbothered.

Honey frowned, "Well, you've got to name it something." She insisted.