Flight of the Five Swans

Feathered Chapter 25

After weeks of silence and isolation from other people—not counting her sisters—Raia felt exhausted listening to another human talk again. It wasn't as though Ayden was exactly garrulous; he was nowhere near as chatty as Eurielle, even on her quietest day. Nor was he even as talkative as Thaleia could be when she started discussing—or ranting, really—on one of her favorite subjects. Yet Raia found it difficult to concentrate on following Ayden's one-sided conversation; she'd quite simply fallen out of practice when it came to listening to someone—anyone—speak. And while there was nothing really forcing her to pay attention to Ayden, she couldn't help feeling a sense of obligation to remain at least polite enough to make the effort to listen.

Darn her manners.

Not that it was entirely a sacrifice. Truth be told, Raia was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the rest of the day passed after Ayden joined her and her sisters as their walking companion. Once he understood that the swans—and Raia—preferred that he keep his distance, he was scrupulous in trying to put all of the princesses—both human and swan—at their ease. He made sure to keep a respectable distance between himself and Raia at all times, so as not to be attacked by her territorial companions. While this meant that Ayden had to travel behind the group of princesses, he did not seem overly bothered at having to raising his voice just a tad in order to be heard by Raia.

Though he initially began by trying to ask questions of Raia, Ayden quickly realized that the effort was futile. She responded to his yes-or-no questions with a noncommittal shrug—if she responded to them at all. Seeing that this form of topic was going nowhere, Ayden began to tell her stories in order to fill the silence as they walked. Many of the stories he told were ones that she recognized as slightly different versions of bedtime tales she'd been told as a girl in Kyoria. She supposed that the variations between the Kyorian and Hiallan versions of the fairy tales were reflective of the different cultures of the people shaping and telling the tales. Whatever the case, Raia found the stories fascinating—and she was not the only one. After only a couple of hours, Callia had taken to walking nearest to Ayden, head cocked as though listening to him speak. Eurielle had also begun riding on the back of Ayden's horse to be spared the task of walking, and Raia was certain that the youngest swan princess was listening avidly to all of the stories being told. Ayden had a natural gift for storytelling that was almost equal to Callia's, and Raia found herself mentally painting in her mind's eye some of the most vividly described scenes. Her fingers—knitting still—seemed to develop a phantom cramp, as if they longed for the paintbrush that they hadn't held in so long.

With such entertainment, Raia was almost surprised to note that the sun was beginning to set—a clear indication that it was time to make camp for the night. Here, too, Ayden proved to be a more valuable companion than Raia had initially realized. He was very proficient at lighting a fire for warmth—something that Raia had not attempted for the entirely of her journey, due to her fear of the light being spotted from afar. He also carried a small supply of food in his saddlebags, which included a strange type of flat bread and some kind of dried meat. Raia's mouth watered as Ayden offered her some of the jerky. She had not had any such protein in her diet since near the beginning of their journey, when Petra had still been pilfering food for her from houses and farms on the edge of the Deturian forest.

Raia sat with her back against a tree as she ate, with her sisters foraging around her for their own dinner. Ayden settled himself on the ground a good five feet away from the princesses. He did not dare to approach any closer; Raia was sure that the man's kneecaps were already well covered with bite marks courtesy of the swan sisters.

For the first several minutes, the strange company sat in silence, with the only audible sounds being the sound of chewing, the wind rustling through the trees and, occasionally, the soft clickety-clack of Raia's knitting needles. Even the swans seemed to have taken on the same silent vow as Raia, as not a single one of the five emitted so much as a peep, let alone a honk.