Two Moons

Chapter 9 | Nightfall

The red hue of the sun disappeared from the horizon and night slowly took hold of Dubonyth's forest.  And yet, the pavilions and walkways of the village was alight with blazing torches and braziers.  With their huts built so low, walkways extended to the ground of a large clearing in the woods, safely nested on the edge of a massive cliff.  Eyes could see for miles past their advantageous settlement, and even the Whitherdell remiges finally settled down and put aside their nervousness.

"Our harvesters prepared some fine meals for your arrival,"  A tall and sleek female reedacon cooed as she approached the group of Whitherdell newcomers.  Margrull looked towards her with a gracious smile and bowed his head, "Ah, thank you!  Some of us are starving."  Keenan began to snicker behind him, "Especially since some of us misjudged how many rations to bring on our trip-" He was cut off with a jab to his ribs by his flock-mate Dusty, the smaller grayish-brown sergeant, though it didn't dampen Keenan's chuckles.  The remiges, save for Harvsluk, who had split off from the group earlier, followed the female reedacon to a massive thatch hall built around the few sturdy trunks of their village.  Inside, the hall had an odd, cascading floorplan, and the usual long, level table was cut into sections, one higher than the last.  The hall was empty save for a couple other reedacons mingling or cleaning, and the arranged seating at the highest point of the hall was empty as well- the designated seating of council members.

The remiges found their meals set out for them midway along the table, and Dusty and Keenan couldn't help but skip over to their seats and dig in.  Margrull chuckled to himself as the other red-orange faced sergeant, Visp, groaned and shook his head.  They both took their seats across from the other two, and as Keenan scarfed down his meal, Visp curled his lip.  "For someone who packed well for the trip, you sure are acting ravenous..." He sneered, and Keenan cocked his head up at him mid bite, growling back at him, "I did pack well, until the point where I had to start sharing with you two."

"I know for a fact one of you had been digging through my satchel during that first night," Visp barked back in protest, to which Keenan rolled his eyes as he continued, "I had more than enough packed to last our flight."  Dusty cautiously looked between Keenan and his plate, bidding his time while the two continued to childishly squabble, and as Keenan threw another snide remark at Visp, he slowly reached over and grabbed a piece of charred meat off his plate.

Margrull tapped the table with one talon as he held his face in his other hand, batted an irritated ear while his expression grew more and more embarrassed by the sergeants' heightened banter.  It was when Visp caused the ceramic plates to clatter with an abrupt slam on the table that the lieutenant perked up and hissed at his flock-mates, "Boys, please." Keenan and Visp looked up, and Dusty quickly redirected his attention to his own place as Margrull squeezed the bridge of his muzzle in his talons, "We're not at the roost.  And even if we were, I'd expect the three of you to behave with a little bit more decorum."  Visp let out an ornery grumble, mumbling like a scolded fletch while Keenan gave a sarcastically humbled chuckle, "Of course, we're ever so ashamed of our misconduct..."

"Oh come off it," Visp grumbled, but every hint that he had gotten under his skin made Keenan grin.  Margrull sighed laboriously before leaning back with his arms crossed.  As Keenan went for another bite, only to stop and inspect the portion sizes of his plate, the lieutenant looked over at him thoughtfully before chuckling.  Keenan's ear twitched, and he looked up expectantly at his superior with narrowed eyes, "... What are you cooing about..."

"Oh, nothing," Margrull tried to stifle his giggling, "It's just your demeanor.  From the way you act around her, that bold lieutenant of Soleil's would never know just how rambunctious you actually are."  His comment immediately earned a few snickers from Dusty and Visp, and Keenan looked between the three of them defensively, his face turning a slight red.  He hovered back over his plate with an opposing growl, "You don't know what you're talking about.  None of you do."  Dusty jeered from beside him, "Oh suuure.  Well whatever it is, tone it down.  You've got no idea how embarrassing it is for the rest of us to watch."