Bird Wings

Chapter 9

Some days had passed and Wren was starting to relax again. The minutes could still settle into the mundane no matter how worked up she had been. It made her feel like she was a toddler, distracted from her tantrums by a shiny toy or a nap. But who could stay angry, or embarrassed, or any of the passionate things she had felt in the last few weeks, for long? It always led to weariness, which gave way to acceptance. Anything that didn't take so much effort to maintain.

In truth, most of Wren's energy was being taken up by something she refused to actually think about. It was too painful to really face the way she missed her family, and being homesick filled her with a sense of helplessness that passed by anger and simply broke her heart. So she focused on whatever she was feeling that was slightly beside the real issue, the one she couldn't fix. Nothing she was willing to acknowledge could hold her attention for long, though, and she would fall back into a feeling of numbness.

"I wish I had a book." She hollered towards Hawk.

They were walking along the side of the mountain, higher up than she'd ever been before. Trees didn't grow at that height, so they were exposed to every gust of wind. Hawk had to keep his wings closed tightly around his shoulders to keep them from catching and knocking him off his feet, and Wren was holding all her hair gripped in one hand so it would stay out of her face. Perhaps not the most convenient time to start a conversation, but it was in her head now.

"A book?" He shouted back.

"Yes. My friends and I used to pool our money when the book traders came in the fall and bought some new books to share in the winter. I was the one who stored our collection though, so I could reread them whenever I wanted. We thought we'd have a village library someday."

"I never learned to read past memorising the letters."

"You can't read?"

"No one would teach me."

"If you got us a book somehow, I could read it to you."

"That doesn't seem like the kind of thing people would leave lying around outside. Books are expensive, aren't they?"

She nodded. "We saved for them all year."

"What kind of stories were they? I used to overhear you talking about them sometimes but I'd only get bits and pieces."

"Adventures and such, mostly. Heroes who kill dragons and stop pirates. Magic and beautiful heroines, made up places and imaginary animals. You know the type."

"Actually I don't. I don't know any stories. What's a dragon?"

"What?" Was he teasing her?

"Is it just some kind of villain? Is that why heroes kill them?"

"No, they're huge monsters. They breathe fire and look like lizards."

"Isn't that just some kind of animal? Why do they need to get killed?"

"Well," She said, a smile threatening at the corner of her mouth, "they have this nasty habit of kidnapping pretty young girls and keeping them prisoner in their lairs."

"Ah." He said sarcastically "Well of course they deserve to die then."

They were quiet after that for a while.

"Hawk." She said suddenly, stopping so she could face him. "I don't think you deserve to die."

"It's sure taking a lot of extremes to get you to help me live."

"There is a difference though, you can see that right? I want to go home, but I wouldn't want someone to come and kill you to save me. I'd rather you were alive than dead, you know?"

He tipped his head to the side, amusement in his eyes.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

She let out a short laugh and started walking again

"I'm the soul of generosity. My grandchildren will sing my praises someday."

"I'll bring you a book if I can get one." He promised from behind her.

***

Hawk said tag yourself, I'm the dragon.

-Laura