Feather Dark

Chapter 8

Noah

"Dark Wing?"

"No."

"Night Hawk?"

"No."

"Uh... Drake?"

"Even I know Drake is a popular singer, Leigh."

"Well, look at you with the popular cultural knowledge! You're a regular Buzzfeed. And call me Cobbe, please." My brother announced his new call sign from his position on his bed.

Sighing deeply, I said, "We might be sharing a room, Leigh, but don't think that proximity equals amity."

"Dude, come on." Leigh lifted off his mattress and relocated to mine, rumpling the covers as he bounced merrily down. "We're here, we're together, we're choosing freaking call names to join a secret army of our brothers and sisters – how about we let go of everything else for a while? Doesn't your god say a ton of stuff about forgiveness in that old book you're always reading?"

"You mean my Bible? The Holy word of my Lord and Saviour?" I lifted the good book reverently, while using emphasis to impress upon Leigh not to take my faith lightly.

"Oh, FFS..."

"I assume you're speaking about the French Federation of Speleology, because using a curse word acronym in my presence is deeply discourteous."

"Noah, stop, okay?" Leigh stood, forcing me to look at him. "I know you're hurt. And I need to say that... I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this, okay?"

The genuine apology gave me pause. Flapping my wings, I tried to communicate my perspective. "I acknowledge the impact my departure had on you and Keira. And I'll forever carry the weight of that less-than-wise decision with me. But do you know why I didn't reach out to Keira for so long?"

"Because you're a robot without human emotions?" Leigh grinned, nudging me with his wing in a way I assumed was meant to convey humour rather than insult.

"No. I have emotions, Leigh. Perhaps I don't wear them like an ostentatious cloak the way some people do, but they are there. I bled for Keira every day we were separated."

"Then why didn't you call or come back? She mourned for you, bro. She needed to know you cared – why didn't you show her you did? Or give her even a sign you were alive?"

"Because I trusted that she would be okay, because my brother would look after her. Imagine my shock when I returned to find that you'd not only cared for her, but replaced me."

"It wasn't like that," he said softly. "I've loved Keira since the moment she fell into my arms."

"You have? You never said anything." I was photographically observant, but feelings were such amorphous constructs, there was no way to accurately track them, so it wasn't something I dedicated much energy towards.

"Because you're my brother, and she was attracted to you first." Leigh shrugged helplessly. "Because I knew that you wouldn't have as many opportunities as me to fall in love. Because I wanted to do what was best for you."

"Leigh..."

"I tried, man. I tried so hard. I buried what I was feeling, and I think I did a pretty damn good job of it, FYI. Even after you left, I didn't do anything. Keira came to me weeks later, after we were best friends, and she basically forced me into telling her how I felt. Even then, I didn't realise she felt the same way until we kissed." He wiped his hand over his face, frustrated. "I'm sorry, Noah. I really am. I didn't mean to hurt you. You're my brother. But I love her. Hell, what a mess..."