Bird of a Flock (Bow 2)

Chapter 8

Warm water poured over Eyeri's head and shoulders as Nel'os tipped a bucket over him. The bath water was communal so before entering people were supposed to wash and shower first. Which led to Eyeri sitting behind Aw'endo in a humid room, cleaning the k'nairi's wings, while Nel'os helped wash down Eyeri. Nel'os hummed thoughtfully as he ran his hands through Eyeri's locks.

"Going to have to tie your hair up like mine," Nel'os commented, as he rubbed some lotion into the hair. "Yours isn't as long as mine but it's long enough," he mused. Nel'os' own long locks of hair were tied up in a bun using a ribbon.

"Need to get it cut soon," Eyeri mused as he went back to cleaning Aw'endo's feathers.

Ryraso was doing Tai'ray's nearby. Nel'os seemed more interested in playing bathroom attendant or possibly just being a k'nairi parent than getting his own wings done. It seemed oddly strange to Eyeri given how Aw'endo was melting under his fingertips and Tai'ray was also looking blissful. It was clearly a pleasant experience, but at the same time, Nel'os had gone to the hot springs at the village they had stopped at. Nel'os' wings were recently cleaned, while Tai'ray's weren't. "Unlike solider boy here," he added teasing, ruffling some of Aw'endo's inner feathers.

"Oi," Aw'endo grumbled lazily but didn't move from his hands, lazily flicking his feathers so some water droplets slashed over Eyeri. Eyeri laughed, getting a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Behave younglings," Nel'os cut in before they could progress into anything else, kissing the top of Eyeri's head before pouring more water over him. Eyeri let out a sound of complaint and pouted. Aw'endo just purred lazily as Eyeri continued to clean his wings. "Are you almost finished Eyeri?" he asked, rinsing out the lotion with another bucket before grabbing another ribbon off the side.

"Yeah," Eyeri nodded. "Cleaned them two days ago so they weren't too bad," he smiled softly, holding in place as Nel'os tied his hair up.

"Unlike someone's," Nel'os teased, his voice slightly louder as he teased his mate. Ryraso making several unhappy noises as he tried to clean Tai'ray's wings of the muck and oil which gathered over a long period of time. "You were long overdue."

Tai'ray snorted. "I was busy," he commented, knowing that he hadn't taken as good care of his 

wings as he was supposed to. Ryraso snorted himself, making Tai'ray's cheeks blush slightly. "Why don't you three head into the water," he smiled, trying not to look too embarrassed that his wings were taking so long to clean up.

"Sounds good to me," Aw'endo grinned, grabbing a bucket and throwing the water half over himself and half over Eyeri in his haste to be finished cleaning.

"Aw'en!" Eyeri complained, wiping the water from his eyes before chasing after the youngling as fast he could manage without slipping over. The older ones watched them went go, Ryraso smirking at the sound Eyeri made as he saw the bath.

"Those scars really are all over him," Nel'os murmured in k'nairi, moving to his mates. Ryraso shifted slightly, giving Nel'os access to the wing he hadn't started cleaning yet. Tai'ray's wings had really needed some care and attention. Over a week of travelling had left them filthy and they really should have dragged the man to the hot springs a few days prior.