Fly With Your Heart

Chapter One

     Peck, peck, peck.

     "Oh! Look Yôtin, it's coming!"

     "It is, wow!"

     I paused in my relentless attack on the eggshell to listen to the voices. Over the last few days, I've been able to hear more and more. Today was different. Usually the voices were calm, but now they were filled with a very happy feeling.

     "C'mon little fella, come to Papa!"

     The voice stirred something within me, egging me on to get out of the confines of my space. I pecked again, this time harder, and a satisfying crack sounded. Light splintered the darkness, fracturing my vision. I squawked indignantly, and the voices outside intensified.

     "It's almost here!"

     I shrieked in annoyance. I want to meet you!

     "Oh, she's a feisty one!"

     "How do you know it's a she?"

     "I can feel it. I've lived through enough seasons to tell."

     I screeched again and pecked harder. Almost... there!

     Crack!

     I pushed with my beak and lifted the egg shard from my head. At first, I was stunned by the brightness of the light, for I had lain in darkness for as long as I could remember. Then, I began to see shapes. The first one was diamond-shaped. It was right in my face, big and black.

     I pecked it.

     "Awww, she's so adorable!" Went the diamond. I cawed and reached for it with my beak.

     "What is her name?" It asked. It moved back and turned to the side. Woah! It has a face! It was long, and it was covered in light brown feathers. I reared back in surprise, falling out of the warm home I had lived in.

     "Cold!" I shrieked, as the wind hit me full-force. I was swept off my back and pushed so that my face was hidden in sharp sticks. Something warm covered me. I looked up and realized it had a face like the first one I saw, but this one had beautiful golden feathers. "Wo arwe you?" I asked. My voice was very scratchy.

     The big thing chuckled. "My name is Atâhk. I'm your Father. Call me Papa."

     "Oh," I squeaked, "oki!" I looked left and saw the face with the brown feathers again. "Wo's dat? Wat dat?"

     Atâhk chuckled. "That's your brother Yôtin. Do you know what a golden eagle is?"

     Yôtin looked like he wanted to answer, but Atâhk shushed him. "Is dat wat I am?" I asked.

     "Yes!" My brother squawked. "Yes, you are a golden eagle like Papa, Mama, and Ispatinaw."

     My expression dropped. "Who's Ispapatanaw?"

     "Ispatinaw is your big sister. Your Mama is taking her on her first hunt today, I'm so proud. You will go on your first hunt too one day." Atâhk reached down and preened my head. The wet, transparent feathers I had had when I hatched had fluffed out and turned pearl-white. I was much, much warmer now.

     Yôtin and Atâhk kept on talking, mostly about something called flying. I was really tired from hatching, and all the new sights and sounds were overwhelming my senses. So I did the next best thing I could think of. Sleep.

. . .

     I woke up to Yôtin nudging me with his beak. He had switched places with Atâhk and was now sitting on me. I looked up at him expectantly, hoping for food. I had eaten the slime from my egg earlier in the day, and I was hungry again now. "Food?"

     Yôtin shook his head. "Look outside." I turned my head and looked where he pointed. The nest where I had hatched was sat in a horizontal crevice in a cliff, overlooking huge, jagged, expanses of rock and ice.

     My gold eyes widened in awe. "What are those?" I asked.

     Yôtin chuckled, "mountains. Look at the three moving dots." I looked at the mountains again and gasped. Hanging – well, not really hanging, but I didn't know what else to make of it – suspended in the air, were three golden dots. The big blue thing from earlier had turned red, orange, and yellow. That was what they were moving in.

     "What is this big thing the dots are in?"

     "Sky."

     "Oh. Can I go there?"

     "Not yet, you need to learn to fly."

     "Is that what the dots are doing?"

     Yôtin looked at me and cawed, "yes. And someday soon, we will too." He pointed to a shining thing peeking over a mountaintop. "You see that? It's called the sun, it keeps us warm." I chirped as I watched the dots get closer. Then it hit me.

     "Where's Papa?" I asked, frightened.

     Yôtin pointed to the biggest one. "That's him there. The next biggest is Mama, and the smallest is Ispatinaw."

     I watched them fly with interest. I want to do that, I thought. Atâhk came first, and he spread his enormous wings to land. Ispatinaw swooped down, then glided to a landing in front of me. I realised she was holding something brown in her talons. It was an ugly brown.

     Mama landed next. She was carrying her own brown thing, but when she saw me she shrieked in joy.

     "Oh! Is that my baby?"

     I answered her proudly, squeezing from underneath Yôtin and puffing out my chest. "Yes I am!"

     "Aw!" She called and hopped forward, touching me gently with her large beak.  "Are you hungry?" She asked me.

     I flapped my tiny wings in a yes. Mama turned around and pecked at the brown thing. "Here," she said, as she handed a small piece of red to me, "eat. It's food – rabbit meat – you'll love it!" I took the meat from her and swallowed. Mm mm! It was good.

     "Have you chosen a name, Atâhk?"

     "No, Waskôw, I wanted you to help me." Waskôw is Mama's name, pretty! "Well, what do you like, little one?" She asked.

     I looked over the edge of the nest. The ground was far, far below me, but I didn't like it. It was too brown, too gray, and too white. So I instead looked up. The sky was changing colours again. It was a beautiful, soft purple. Waskôw must have seen the look in my eyes, for she glanced at the sky as well. "Kîsik it is, then."

     Kîsik. That is my name.

Cree word translations:

Kîsik - sky

Waskôw - it is cloudy;  a huge cloud

Atâhk - star; a bright star

Ispatinaw - the hill is high

Yôtin - wind; it is windy