Upon Wings Of Change

Chapter 14

I woke up to the smell of fruit. For the first time in a long time, I felt halfway decent and undrugged. My wing throbbed dully, but it wasn't too painful at the moment. I stretched my good wing as I raised my head and looked around.

Taureen was sitting in his usual spot, once more working with some technical gadget. There were ten small bowls inside the door. Getting closer to the bowls once more entailed getting closer to him.

I knew in theory that the Kymari likely meant me no harm considering that they had patched my wing up. Without their intervention, my wing would not have healed properly, and I would have been as vulnerable as a hawk with a broken wing. Their presence still made me extremely uneasy though; our caution had built up over years, it wasn't about to just disappear. Besides, they still creep me out...

I lifted my head to see what was in the bowls. My mouth watered at the sight of the various kinds of diced-up fruit. I had zero interest in the meat or the minnows, and if they thought I was about to sample anything in that bowl of still-wiggling insects, they were crazy. If they think that a mealworm is the equivalent of spaghetti, then they need their heads checked.

I sniffed the air to try and identify the small cubes. Apple, orange, mango, strawberries, and some other types of alien fruit that I knew I liked. Raspberries. I hadn't had raspberries since I had been human... Considering that I had never seen them in any of the forests I had flown through, I had no idea where they had found them.

I slowly inched forward and snagged several raspberries in my mouth before backing up a few steps to eat them one by one. I regarded the other bowls; every piece of fruit was diced up small enough that it was a bite-sized morsel. Breakfast was going to involve being near that door and close to him.

I was aware that he was halfway watching me while pretending not to. He was being quite subtle about it, probably to keep me from getting too nervous. Too late for that buddy. Everything about this situation makes me want to fly out of here as fast I can.

I examined the bowls again from a distance as I debated what I wanted to eat the most. I wasn't really interested in the orange or the apple, but the raspberries, mango, and strawberries were quite tempting. I sidled a bit closer to the dishes before using my tail to drag those three bowls closer to me.

Taureen turned his head to watch me in surprise; he must not have expected me to do that. My breakfast was more comfortable under the heat lamp in the back corner as opposed to by the door.

I emptied the three bowls and pushed them close to the door. As much as I didn't want to be near him, I liked the thought of him reaching that close to me to retrieve the bowls even less. While I was near the door, I ate a few of other fruits before taking a big drink of water.

I made a face and snorted at the bitter aftertaste. I knew the taste was both painkillers and a tranquilizer to make me rest. Considering how much my wing was starting to hurt, the painkillers would be welcome. I curled up under the heat lamp and gave in to the inevitable.

   

       I woke up and drowsily stretched. I was disappointed to only see a bowl of water; there wasn't any food at the moment, but I wasn't exactly starving, so I had likely only slept half a day this time.

I took a drink and noticed that it didn't taste of medicine. I looked around the living room, although no one was here at the moment. The couches and chairs had no space below for me to sneak under them, and they were built so that I wouldn't be able to fit behind them either. An inspection of the room showed that there was nothing I could fit under or behind. No hiding spots even if I did manage to get out of this cage.