Book One: Lost and Found: An Angry Birds Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Matilda

I can't believe it.
Tamahara is actually gone.
And she didn't even want to leave.
"I miss Tamahara," Hope sighs, slouching lower into the couch cushions.
I can only nod my head in agreement as a cloud of gloom hangs in the atmosphere, leaving Hope, Tori, Joetta, Lolan, Ruby and me to feel depressed.
We're at Joetta's hut, moping around and just feeling down in the dumps because of Tamahara's forced departure.
"What was Draven doing when you took him Tamahara's letter?" Lolan asks Hope with no emotion in her voice.
The fact that she sounds emotionless doesn't worry me, I mean, things like that would usually concern me, but right now, it doesn't.
Because I really don't want to care.
None of us do.
"He was just standing there, staring after the ships," Hope briefly explains as she plays with her long, purple head feathers, not looking at orange bird.
Ruby shakes her head in disdain.
"I feel bad for him, I truly do," the red female bird admits. "She's in love with him, and he's in love with her. It's as plain as plain Greek yogurt! And now, she's gone, taken away by her own parents. This whole situation is horrible! Just like how plain Greek yogurt is horrible!"
What is up with her and Greek yogurt?
Whatever.
That's the one thing I don't understand.
No, not the Greek yogurt thing, I kinda understand that, but the situation Tamahara is stuck in. It's like being up a crick without a paddle.
Yes, I understand that Tamahara's parents are the king and queen of an island, but Tamahara is old enough to make her own decisions and pave the path of her own life.
Why don't they let her?
"Does any bird else find it horrible that Tamahara's life is being controlled by her parents?" I ask aloud, my eyes not settling on any of the birds around me.
"Well, it makes sense," Joetta starts. "Her parents are of the most noble blood known to history, not to mention that they also happen to be rulers of entire islands."
"Wait? Islands?" I ask, tilting my head as I look, puzzled, at the fortune teller.
Joetta shrugs her shoulders.
"They are very wealthy."
"That doesn't surprise me, I mean, they have the best trading ports, and, in addition, they have large gold deposits under certain areas of their island," Tori interjects as she fiddles with her Chinese finger trap. "They also started making metal, mechanical karts, did you guys know that?"
"Well which island are you talking about? They own like seven," Lolan snorts, ignoring Tori's question.
I facepalm in frustration.
I was trying to say something and make a point and now, I've got every bird off track. Way to go, Matilda.
"Kaelon Island, the main one," Tori answers.
"We're off topic," I firmly say. "Enough of islands, Tamahara is the one we should be worried about."
"Well, we really weren't off topic-" Hope starts, but I cut her off with my impatience.
"But just think about it. Wouldn't you want to break free from being forced to do everything and live your own life?" I ask once more before thunder booms from outside.
"And wouldn't you want a life of easy living, and being served?" Lolan snaps at me.
I blink in surprise at the orange bird's change in mood.
Why is she angry all of sudden? What did Tamahara mean to her anyways?
"What's your deal?" I ask her calmly, trying to keep down the slowly growing rage that is rising inside of me.
"Haven't you noticed?" Lolan begins angrily. "We work for our rewards, for our lives, and we fight for our freedom! Every bird who lives in castle that is either the monarchy or future monarchy never do a damn thing! Everything is given to them with no effort! Just a ring-a-ling-ling of a bell is all it takes to get a year's worth of food for one night!  Just think of how stress-free and easy going that must be!"
I sigh in frustration because I know she's got somewhat of a point, but still. If I had the choice of being free or being tied to a throne for the rest of my life, I'd much rather be free to my own life, to make my own decisions and to fight for myself and for those I love.
Speaking of fighting...
"But they hide behind birds who die to keep them alive," I point out to her. "Those soldiers are giving up their lives for three birds! How guilty would you feel, knowing that thousands of birds are fighting the wars for you?"
"I'd actually feel kinda superior and appreciated... and wanted," Lolan mumbles and laughs a bit.
"Seriously? That's all you'd care about?" I snap at her. "Your fame and gold?"
"Alright, fine, I get what you're saying, but still, not having to worry about whether or not there'll be food and money would make life much easier," Lolan sighs.
Yes it would but...
"Okay, Lolan, you're right," I start calmly, despite the anger gnawing at me. "But wouldn't you rather get what you work hard for, knowing that you deserve the goodness that came from it? Wouldn't you rather be given a free life, where there aren't any birds telling what you can and can't do? Also, you'd have to maintain responsibility for the entire kingdom, which includes new laws, complaints of the citizens, royal court meetings, and bunch of other feather- graying duties that Tamahara told me about. All the things that the royal family has to do sounds real awful."
Lolan glares at me, but says nothing, so I take this as a cue to keep going.
"Besides, aren't you already a princess? I mean your grandfather-" I start only to get interrupted.
"I was, but my mom left the castle because she believed that I would do so much better in a regular life," Lolan snaps at me sarcastically.
I look at her, confusion poking me.
There's a castle?
"You said your mom left the castle," I start. "Where's the castle? I haven't seen any here whatsoever."
Lolan sighs as she slips lower into the brown cushions.
"The castle is underground, not far from here actually. Why are you asking?"
"Because I haven't seen one here," I repeat, making my reply come out as more of a question. "Maybe you could take us to it and give us a tour?"
Thunder booms again before Lolan can say anything.
"No," Lolan growls as she glares at me.
Does she seriously need to be like this? I mean, is there something going on that I don't know about?
"Lolan, I think you need to calm down," Hope slwoly tells her.
"Calm down? Clam down!" Lolan snaps at turquoise bird as she suddenly sits straight up. "I was calm before you told me to calm down!"
We all look at her, not accepting her response because she's wrong.
She looks at all of us, slumping her shoulders with each movement of her golden -yellow eyes.
"Okay fine. I wasn't calm before," Lolan sighs in defeat as sits back into the couch. "Sorry."
Like 'sorry' is gonna solve these issues.
Pfft. Yeah right.
"Lolan Phoenix, do not apologize," Joetta starts, gesturing to Lolan, who looks away. "This is not your fault."
"I know, it's just I," Lolan starts, stuttering a bit. "I just wanna find that prophecy, figure it out, find my grandfather, and defeat those pigs later this month."
I shake my head in pity, and in shame.
Pity because she wants to do so much, and do all of it by herself, even though it's clear that she can't possibly do that. She's not independent enough. I shake my head in shame because of my ignorance to what she's been through. I mean, she's opened up a little bit to me, telling me about how her parents never really took care of her, and her grandpa was the only there to truly raise her.
It's a very sad situation because her parents never believed in her, and they flat out old her that. They didn't even want her.
And she said that they told her that too.
And that was all she told me before she stormed out of her hut that day, leaving me to feel bad for the orange bird.
But still, this whole deal, isn't about her, or even really Tamahara. It's about this entire island, Poldras Island, and protecting it when comes the time to fight.
"Well," I begin. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
Lolan shrugs her shoulders as she looks down at her feet and opens her beak.
"Guys! She's coming back!" A bird proclaims excitedly as he bursts through the door.
In unison, we all whip our heads in the direction of the bird.
His blue eyes spark with happiness and relief, and his smile is wider than his eyes.
"Maybe you could help me get rid of him," Lolan suggests, laughing a bit.
I laugh too.
"That shouldn't be too hard, considering that Tamahara is coming back," I point out jokingly
"You want to get rid of me?" Draven asks flatly, his face deadpan. "Gee, thanks. I gladly appreciate it."
"Anytime," Joetta answers, leaving us to laugh, except for Draven, who freaks out and dives under the couch when thunder drums itself across the sky, getting louder each time it booms.
"Not so manly without ya girl, now are ya?" Tori asks as she hangs off the side of the couch upside down to look at the black bird.
"Oh shut up!" Draven snaps at
the small bird, who laughs in response.
"Tamahara is coming back!" Ruby chirps happily as she jumps off the couch and spins in circles. "Maybe this isn't all as bad as plain Greek yogurt after all!"
Oh my gosh.
Here we go again with yogurt.
"Well, since we've got some good news," I begin, ignoring Ruby's remark. "Should we get the others?"
                                • • •
The gray skies pelt down rain, allowing thunder to roll between the clouds as we stand on the rocky shore and watch the ships come back.
Excitement and joy replaces the once depressing tone that we shared just moments ago, I can even feel the anticipation from the other birds that we gathered.
Except for Crimson and Red.
Apparently, they got in a fight and now, they're on opposite ends of the group, Crimson to the far left with Bomb and Terence, and Red on the far right with his mom, Draven, and Ruby. Joetta, Lolan, and I stand in the middle with Hope and Tori as well.
"I'm so excited I'm gonna burst like a balloon!" Hope squeals as she shakes Tori, who shakes Hope back in happiness too.
I shake my head, but smile at the two young birds.
"Calm down, it isn't like she died or anything. She only left for a few hours," I chuckle.
"But there was a possibility, you know, shipwreck," Hope points out.
"And sharks," Tori adds.
"And getting blown off course," Hope says.
"And sharks," Tori says again.
"Oooh, and a possible ambush, maybe," Hope replies.
"What about sharks?" Tori asks. "They're a danger, I mean, they could turn you into some shark nip and just, like, go 'chomp, chomp, chomp'."
Tori makes the weird alligator mouth thing with her wings and does the chomping motion.
I start to feel nauseous the more she talks about these sharks, it's making me shudder to know that there are things large enough to eat a bird.
Real comforting.
"Okay, okay that's enough," I laugh nervously. "You don't need to go that far."
Tori shrugs her shoulders.
"I was just warning ya."
"I think you only scared her," Hope tells the little pink bird.
"And scared means you're more alert!" Tori says proudly with a smile.
I turn away from the two as they continue to be themselves, and sigh.
"Everything alright?" Lolan asks me.
"Yeah, it's something Tori was talking about," I gulp as I force a smile on my beak.
"She told about the sharks, has she not?" Joetta laughs a bit, as if she's heard Tori's speech of the sharks before.
"Yeah," I laugh nervously.
They look at each that and shrug their shoulders.
"It could happen, but very unlikely, considering how large the ships are," Lolan points out.
I hadn't realized that I've been holding my breath until I let it out in relief.
"Good, that's something I do wanna hear," I tell the two female birds.
We turn and look back at the ships, which grow larger in view with each moment, as we continue to stand in the driving rain.
"What do you think is making her come back?" I ask aloud.
I hear Joetta sigh while Lolan snorts.
"Probably Draven, I mean, let's be honest, they were a legit couple," Lolan grumbles.
"Maybe she forgot something?" I suggest.
"Oh gimme a nanosecond to think about what that might be. Ding! Draven!" Lolan exclaims sarcastically as she throws her wings in the air.
"Yeah?" I hear Draven's voice reply from the far left.
"Guys," Joetta starts quietly.
"Oh I didn't actually need you, I was just answering Matilda's question," Lolan calls to him, oblivious to Joetta's request for our attention.
I don't think much of Joetta's request as I turn to see the black bird blink in confusion, looking between Lolan and me.
"We'll explain later," I assure Draven, who shrugs his shoulders and goes back to talking to Red.
"I'm surprised that- Joetta? What's wrong?" I hear Lolan ask the fortune teller. I avert my attention to the multicolor bird.
She's standing there, her fire-colored eyes distant, not looking at the ships or anything in front of her.
I start to grow nervous with each second Joetta remains silent.
"Joetta?" I ask quietly.
No response.
"Joetta!" Lolan shouts as she waves her wings in front of Joetta.
Still no answer.
I gulp as I try to say something, but I can't. Worry fills me, making my stomach knot to the point I feel like I might throw up.
"Joetta! Answer us, woman!" Lolan screams in her face.
Oh no, oh no, no, no.
Everything starts moving in slow motion as the words I dreaded for so long drop from her beak the way the rain drops for the clouds. Her voice is flat, her eyes distant, her body motionless.
Except for her beak.
"They are here."