The shot of hope

3

Kingsley

Setting my gear onto the smooth rock leaving me in just my normal clothing and my mask and hood while I held a newly sharpened spear as I moved slowly into the water to avoid spooking any fish. It was still dawn so there was a slight nip to the air which wasn't surprising as it was winter, standing completely still as I waited for the fish to return and one thing about spear fishing was the patience it required. Stretching my wings out as it provided a false sense of comfort for the fish and made the shadow effect tricked them into thinking it was a cover.

"What you doing?" Roselyn voice broke through the quiet area as I looked over at her as she looked a bit tired so I could assume she just woke and had a fluffy peot shirt tucked into a pair of black pants with her thick robe over her shoulder to block out the cold though the hood was up.

"Spear fishing..." I shrugged.

"What's that?" She asked.

"It's where you catch fish by throwing a spear at it" I muttered as I focused on a larger one before I aimed, drawing back the spear before I released the tension in a throw that went into it's middle.

"Is it hard?" She questioned as I picked the spear up with it attached to it.

"Well a fish in the water isn't at the same area as it seems, plus you also have to be careful not to move when aiming and if you fail a shot it takes a bit for the fish to relax enough to try again so it can be difficult" I explained to her as I sat down onto the rock as she had already done the same.

"Is it a traditional thing?"

"Yeah, for my species it was a skill we learnt but humans took it from us but we do still do it... Just like archery, our tracking skills are excellent so we more do hunting while smaller avians gather herbs and Berry's" I sighed as I pulled a knife out and it was black due to it being made of obsidian and it easily sliced under the scales to remove them.

"I don't know how your not freezing" she shivered as she tugged her robe tighter around herself.

"My wings hold my heat..." I shrugged and I stretched one out enough so it was close to her, "feel"

"You sure?" She hesitated and I nodded and she carefully moved her hand to rest on my wing and she smiled, "there so smooth and warm..."

"Very sensitive too..." I muttered, "a avians wings is there most personal and imitate place, for someone to harm them is the most disrespectful act in our culture... which is why when you take our wings most likely from pure grief before anything else can kill us especially since some avians are smaller than humans so they need there wings to survive"

"I never knew that.." she frowned, "are they different species?"

"Yes, there's three types, ekes are the smallest ones and probably are like the size of human children which usually gather herbs and spices , Kiki's are human sized one and do things like nurses, teachers while koisk are the biggest ones and do things like large animal hunting and control the borders, I'm a kiosk and it's been a long long time since I've seen another one..." I explained to her, "usually ekes are very colourful, Kiki's usually have colours like whites, browns and blues while kiosk have dark colours like greys and charcoal colours though pure ones have black and are dangerous so they usually lead the hunts"

"Is that why you a assassin?" She asked.

"I'm a assassin because I would be on someone's wall if I wasn't..." I scoffed and I snapped my wing back from her hand, "you really think I have other options?"

"I didn't mean it like that..." she frowned as she fidgeted with her hands as I rested the fish onto the rock as I threw the scraps into the lake to decompose, "has people tried to kill you?..."

"of course... my wings are very rare and humans are greed filled beasts.." I sighed as I grabbed herbs from my satchel with a a pinch of a spice which I sprinkled along the fish before wrapping a leaf around it, standing up and heading towards the campfire as she followed behind. Resting it into more of the hot ash area rather than the flame before sitting down on the soft grass as she flopped onto her back beside me as she smiled while looking up at the sky before looking back at me as her head was next to me, "What?"

"Nothing" she smiled as she closed her eyes and my eyes were glued to her as she bathed in the heat around her as I reached over and moved a strand of hair that was on her face making her smile appear again as she opened her eyes, "softy"

"Fuck off" I huffed, "I could easily take you down"

"Totally" she grinned as I grabbed a handful of leafs near by and threw it into her face making her look at me mortified as she sat up as I laugh softly until she attempted to tackle me though she barely made me budge and was more hugging me, "how you so strong!"

"Your just weak" I hummed as I easily grabbed her arm and flipped her so she was on her back in front of me as she glared at me annoyed.

"Couldn't have at least fallen back" she huffed.

"Why would I do that?" I shrugged as she rolled so she was facing me as she closed her eyes.

"I'm tired..." she mumbled.

"Then go sleep" I hummed as I grabbed the wrapped fish as I set it next to me as I carefully unwrapped it to reveal the nicely cooked meal and she opened her eyes at the smell of it as I ripped the leaf in half and handed her a piece and she looked confused, "your clearly hungry"

"Thanks" she smiled.

I suppose I could give her a chance, it would be rude for me to judge someone like how I am judged.