Wind Under Wings

Chapter Two, Part Two

They climbed all the way up through the meadow and mounted the rise, then turned into a stand of pine trees where a fallen log blocked their path. Kaavis and Igri jumped over this obstacle with ease, but Taliak was left behind to scramble and claw his way up. When he finally reached the top, huffing, he glanced down to the other side and saw six nestlings in total were peering up at him from the ground, all in tawny-spotted downy fuzz. Taliak froze.

"It's alright. Come down and meet our nestmates," said Igri, from the front of the group. Kaavis was beside her, also standing before of his nestmates. Everyone was watching him.

Taliak gulped and looked straight down. He had never jumped from so high a place. He carefully lowered his forelegs against the side of the trunk and tried to clutch the dead bark for a hold, but the wood splintered and, with an alarmed squawk, Taliak found himself collapsing in an undignified heap on the ground.

Kaavis flicked his tail and snickered. "Even Igri's little nestmate can manage the log," he said.

Igri stepped forward and nudged Taliak to his feet. "Dont' mind Kaavis, he's just sore he lost our nestleader battle."

"I did not!"

She ignored him, however, and introduced Taliak to the two nestlings closest to her, a krall and a hess. "This is Teralt and Areel, my nestmates," she said proudly.

Both nestlings came up and touched their beaks to Taliak's in greeting. Taliak was pleased by the gesture but more than a little disheartened on their size. Areel was the smallest of the entire group, but even she was larger than Taliak.

"And these are my nestmates," said Kaavis pompously, ushering the two remaining kralls forward. "Dankar and Sittiss."

Taliak touched beaks with them also.

"Hello," said Sittiss. "What's your name?"

"I'm Taliak."

"Did you bring your nestmates with you, Taliak?" He glanced over Taliak's shoulder at the log as though expecting more nestlings to appear.

"He doesn't have any," said Igri.

"No nestmates?" Areel gasped. "How will you play with us if you don't have a team?"

"He can't," drawled Kaavis, stretching out his wings casually as he yawned. "He's too little anyway."

Taliak felt his skin grow warm as the other nestlings looked on him with pity, but Taliak hitched himself up and glared at Kaavis. "I'm not too little for anything. I play-fight with my mother all the time and she's much bigger than you."

Everyone paused, then broke out into raucous laughter, clacking their beaks and swinging their tails. Even Igri could not suppress a chuckle at Taliak's words.

"Listen to the wind blowing between his ears," Kaavis taunted. "You think you're strong enough to play with us, tiny squab? We're not your mother; we won't go easy on you just because you're little."

"Don't call me squab, my name is Taliak!" Taliak spat. His back was arching in anger, whether from his own embarrassment or Kaavis' words he couldn't tell, but he was desperate to make them stop laughing at him. "And I knocked you over, didn't I? You're not as tough as you think you are, Kaavis."

Dankar and Sittiss stopped laughing. They looked from Taliak to Kaavis now. "He didn't beat you, did he, Kaavis?" Dankar asked.

Kaavis rustled his wings. "Of course he didn't. You only took me by surprise, that's all," he told Taliak. "You wouldn't have lasted for a wingbeat against me otherwise."