Wind Under Wings

Chapter Two, Part Three

A large dark shape exploded from the shadow of the trees, pouncing on the unsuspecting youngster. Taliak only had time to give a frightened squawk before he found himself on his back, a pair of huge paws resting on either side of him and a black beak looming above. He gasped.

"You left without my permission," was all the black-and-gray mottled hess said, staring him down.

Taliak opened his mouth to talk but no sound came out. He swallowed hard and tried again, stammering, "I-I didn't mean to, Kardina. They were fighting outside the thicket and I thought Igri was going to get hurt and I went to help and--"

"Igri?"

"One of the nestlings. But she didn't need help because they were only play-fighting and I...I wanted to play, too. I'm sorry, I should have asked."

Silence greeted these words. Taliak wondered if his mother could detect the lie in them. He wasn't sorry to have left without permission at all, as he was certain Kardina would have refused if he had asked, but he flattened himself meekly before her, keeping his belly exposed and waiting for his punishment.

Kardina continued to stare down at him for some time before she finally glanced around, at the thicket and the meadow and the waning sky over their heads. And then, to his surprise, she let loose a great sigh and said, "Yes, I suppose it was time for you to go out. You are smaller than I would like, but I can't keep you hidden forever. Come." She soothed him with her rough tongue and guided him inside the den. There they bundled against each other and Taliak, relieved to escape punishment, told her about the games and the other nestlings.

"...And Igri is the nestqueen and Kaavis the nestking," he was saying, curled up around Kardina's foreleg. He thought hard for a moment. "I think that means they're in charge of their nestmates."

"That's right," Kardina said. "They are the leader of their brood."

"How did they get to be leader?"

"It just happens." Her mottled tail thumped idly against the floor of the den, stirring the bedding. "They are either the strongest or most strong-willed of the nestlings. Once they've proven their dominance the others follow them by instinct."

"Did you have a leader when you were a nestling?"

"Of course. I was the nestqueen in my brood."

Taliak felt his ears twist down at her words. "So you had nestmates too?"

"Yes. Their names were Rashan and Etalli."

"But why don't I have nestmates?" It didn't seem fair that everyone else had nestmates for company and not him.

His mother paused, and then her tail swept gently around her son to comfort him. "Not all nestlings have nestmates, Taliak, that's just how it sometimes works out. But that means that you're a nestking too, and should be proud."

"But I'm not in charge of anyone."

"You are in charge of yourself. Some nestlings, some grown griffins in fact, can't handle that responsibility, but I know you can, and if you try to be all that you can be you'll never disappoint yourself."

Taliak felt a cheered by this, and he spoke on about his day to her. When he mentioned them chasing the shadow of a flying griffin however, he hesitated and looked with uncertainty at his mother's shoulders, at the two ragged lumps, heavily scarred. It had never occurred to Taliak before to question why he should have wings when she did not. Now that he had seen others of his kind he was starting to wonder if Kardina was unusual in some way. The very notion made him anxious, though he couldn't say exactly why.

"How come you don't have wings?"

Kardina's feathered ears flattened at the question. Something glinted behind her dark eyes and Taliak began to worry he had angered her, but then her ears slowly righted again. The skin on one of her shoulders twitched and she lifted a hind leg to scratch it.

"Like you I also had wings once, and flew like any other griffin. They were taken from me. No, I will not explain to you why, not yet. You'll find out one day."

Although she spoke softly enough there was an undercurrent to her tone that warned Taliak not to press her further. Instead he reached out and rubbed his small brown beak against her large black one, and she clicked at him in return and nuzzled his downy fuzz. "There is still some meat left over from my kill last night," she said after a brief silence. "Why don't you come help me uncover it?"

Taliak could hardly believe what he was hearing. "You mean I can leave the thicket with you?"

"If you're old enough to play outside then maybe it's time you learned how to strip your own meat." She unfurled her giant body and rose to her paws, arching her back in a stretch as much as she could inside the cramped den. She glanced down at her son and smiled with her eyes. "We won't go far; I buried the kill just on the other side of the thicket. Do you remember what I taught you about the kind of prey we eat?"

"I remember," Taliak replied. He happily curled himself around her strong legs before rushing toward the entrance. His tail lashed with excitement. "What do we have?"

"That," Kardina said, as she stepped in front of her nestling to lead him outside, "is what I expect you to tell me. If you can guess correctly I may take you out to the meadow later tonight to learn about the stars."

"Where the Kyvoth in the Overwing live?"

"That's right."

Taliak was fit to burst with joy as he followed his mother outside. Things had finally changed for the better, he could feel it right down to his paws. No more would he be stuck in the cramped den, pining for the outside world. No more would he laze inside the hollow, stealing glimpses through the woven branches in the hopes of seeing other nestlings. No, he could go out now and run under the eyes of Hazkraz or race in the night with Liertel shining above a star-dusted sky. With Kardina showing him, he would learn and see everything.

Nothing could be more perfect, he thought, and he gamboled after Kardina into the twilight.