Hawks (Cancelled)

First part yay

As she circled over the field by the school, Flame planned her attack. Dive in, slash at her adversary, and soar out. She dove, slicing through the air like an arrow racing toward a target. She attacked, then flew out before the enemy noticed her and launched a counter-attack. She dove back in, and the opponent rose to meet her in the air. She battled and dodged with all her strength, and managed to knock her enemy out of the sky. Victorious, she sat in the tree that her enemy had occupied and preened her feathers, with a jealous and temporarily grounded hawk staring at her from below. She finished preening, and with a haughty glance at the other hawk on the ground, she leapt into the air and glided away.
Flame, an immature red-tailed hawk, was working on taking over this territory that the old hawk had previously dominated. She suddenly remembered something she had seen in the school window. She remembered hearing a description of this human's face from the young red-shoulders that lived near her parents old nest. She wheeled around and flew back, glancing at the injured old hawk on the ground. Looking for a place to land, she spotted a good branch and alighted, looking through the cafeteria window. There! She spotted the girl, and studied the face carefully. Flying back in she had noticed her watching her. She hopped into the air again and flew back to her parents' nest. They had said that their children could sleep one more night in the nest, but had to go in the morning. Cramming into the nest with her siblings, Flame drifted of to sleep.

Flame was hunting. She sat high up in a tree, watching for movement. There! She spotted a rodent and dove toward it, snatching it up before it could run. Killing it quickly, she started back to her nest, where her mate was waiting. She alighted on her nest, calling to her mate and announcing that she had food. They ate quickly, and she took off again to hunt more. The snow meant that prey was scarce, but what was out was easy to find. She thought back to the day she had claimed this territory, and that girl, watching out the window. She remembered the fallen elder hawk that she had defeated, and wondered if he had survived. She supposed that she might as well head that way, but later. She needed to hunt first. Spotting a tall tree, she landed and scanned the area for prey. Spotting two rodents, she dove and expertly grabbed one, then the other, killing them while banking to drop off her catches at the nest.
Without landing, she dropped her prey down where it landed in the nest, then soared away, already scanning the ground for potential food. She headed back toward the school, and quickly joined the updraft of warm air next to the building. She glanced in the windows, then did a double take. Sitting at a desk, hunched over a paper, hastily scribbling, was the same girl she had seen watching her fight, and she had heard about watching the red-shoulders. Hmmmmmmmm..., she thought. I need to know more about her.

Flame dove toward her prey, expertly navigating through the trees. The branches whipped past her as she swooped in. Too late, she pulled up empty clawed, perching in a tree to wait for something else to catch. She glanced around, scanning for movement. In the window of the house she was behind, she spotted the same girl from before taking pictures of her. She watched her for a moment, then returned to scanning, all while keeping in sight of the girl. She spotted a mourning dove and swooped in to the feeder, snatching it and killing it while flying off back to her nest. Who is this girl, Flame thought. Who is she?
Flame landed on her nest with a mourning dove and a juicy mouse to see her mate digging in to the vole she had brought back earlier. "What do you think you're doing?" She chided him.
"I was hungry. I couldn't wait for you to come back," He said. "I was starving."
"Next time, wait for me to come back, Blitz." She said.
"Fine."
"Now I'm going back out to hunt after we eat, ok?"

Flame circled above the field. She scanned for movement, spotting the cat that frequently hunted in this area, and moved on to another spot, remembering the last time she had seen the cat, it had hissed at her and scared away all the prey until she left. She soared over to the trees, perching in her usual spot, and turned her gaze to the ground. Spotting movement, she leaned forward and tensed her wings, ready to dive the next time whatever it was moved. She leaped of the branch and angled her wings down, gracefully gliding down and snatching at her prey. In one flap, she coasted over to the updraft and drifted up into the sky for the trip home. She had to get there before Blitz got to the prey from her earlier trip.
Swooping in to the edge of the nest, she counted the prey in the pile. It was all there. She had made it home in time. She ate quickly, and took off again. She thought, " I don't really need to hunt any more but I might as well just go for a fly. Explore my territory and all."
After exploring her territory more throughly, Flame coasted back to her nest for the night. Her last thought as sleep overtook her was "Who is the girl..."