Fledging

Chapter 15

AN: Helloooo readers! So tell me what you think about this one, not much happens but things are building up again, and some things are slightly clarified (I hope).  Also, I have a new format for something (when the owl talks) so let me know if that's a good way to do it, or if it's confusing... if I'm not making sense, hopefully the story will explain, enjoy and don't forget to vote if you like it! :D

Chapter 15

          I opened my eyes blearily, the early morning rays just peeking through the cracks in the wooden hut that I had spent the night in.  I tried to blink away the sleep from my eyes as I prepared for another day of hard work and degradation.  I paused and looked around more, I didn’t recognize where I was.  I heard a small sound beside me and saw a barn owl perched on a nearby peg protruding from the wall, its head tucked underneath its wing.  Everything that had happened suddenly crashed back on my mind and I blinked rapidly at the assault of information.  I climbed up onto my talons and stretched both sets of upper limbs to their extent.  I still wasn’t used to sleeping on a perch after all the years I had spent on the ground, and thankfully no one but the owl was around while I slept to notice.  Once I was up, I shook my wings to get the blood in them flowing.  As I did however, the small room exploded with white plumes.  Surprised, I backed up and almost ran into the owl. It blinked open its eyes as well and looked over at me, its deep black eyes looking into my lighter ones.

“Sorry,” I muttered to the owl who ruffled its feathers at me as a feeling of irritation flooded through my mind.

I looked down at the floor that now looked as if it was covered in downy snow.  I brought my wings around and began a brisk grooming, the barbs on my fingers snagging on a surprising amount of plumage that was pulled loose to add to the feathers on the ground.

By the time I was finished, there was a well-defined circle of white around my talons.  My wings and tail feathers had undergone a surprising change as well.  Instead of the white feathers that would normally replace the old ones, different shades of brown and black covered the backs of my wings and tail.  Even the feathers on the undersides had hints of small black spots, although they were few and far between.  I glanced over at the owl who was peeking over at me from under its own wing.  The owl shook its head and stretched its wings out as well as if it was comparing its own pattern to my new, nearly identical, one.

                I remembered our first conversation the other day, it was a strange sensation, talking to the owl.  Sildwaa could talk with their bond pair through a mental link, and as such, the conversation is in the minds of the two. For me, I found that I would still speak my words aloud, simply thinking them would seem too strange.

Called?  It had asked me, staring up into my eyes almost curiously.  I had looked at the owl in confusion when an image of the owl calling out to me flashed through my mind.

“Oh, I am K… Araceli.”  I had managed to catch myself, no way would I have given my slave name to this beautiful creature, that name was going to be harder to get rid of than I had thought.

Pretty, This one?

“Hmm?” Again, an image came to my mind.  It was of the owl, although I had seemed to be looking at its reflection from a lake.

“Oh, you don’t have a name?”

Did not need, do now.

“And you want me to name you?”  I had felt a thought of affirmation from the bird and I had known that it had said yes in its own sense.

I hadn’t known what to say then, but I had promised it a name soon.

“So I suppose you’d like a name now.” I asked