Fly With Your Heart

Chapter Six

     I whirled around in surprise, nearly falling off my perch. There was another eagle inside my cage! I swallowed nervously, unsure of how to respond. "Well? Don't just stand there! What happened to you that you look like this?" It was standing at the entrance to the box, feathers fluffed up in anger. He looked older than me, older even than my parents.

     "W-what?" I managed. Great job Kîsik, you sound like a chick now.

     The bird shook his head and screeched louder. "You're missing half your feathers!"

     I shuffled my talons, nervous of how he was speaking to me. I had essentially no social skills, growing up only exposed to my family. "I got lost, and had an accident... I don't even know what happened to me. I tried to land on a..." I looked down at my talons, and the object that I was standing on. "Do you know what this is?" I asked.

     The stranger chuckled. "How do you not know? Have you never seen a tree before?" I shook my head sheepishly. He frowned, then looked me over. "How... how old are you?"

     I bowed my head. "I – just fledged a quarter moon ago."

     The eagle's eyes widened. "How did you get here?"

     "I... I flew. Before I was ready." The eagle looked at me, then my wings.

     "I see." He turned back into the box, leaving me alone. I sighed, knowing full well how I must've come off as. A silly, cloud-headed fledgling. I lifted my head back up to the sky, not knowing what to do next. I don't want to stay here. Will the Featherless Creatures let me free?

. . .

     The next sunrise, a new Featherless Creature came by. It threw in a chunk of red meat. I tore off a piece and started eating slowly. Eventually, the eagle from yesterday joined me.

     "Can I ask you a question?" I started. I had many I needed answered. The eagle looked at me, bored. "Can you name a few things for me? I never learned them." When he didn't say no, I continued.

     I pointed to the cylinder I had sat on yesterday. He answered, "tree stump. The flakey stuff on its side is bark. It comes from a tree." I nodded, and pointed to a similar looking object. "That's a branch, also from a tree."

     "What is a tree?" I asked. My cagemate gestured to a spiny object in the corner. "What's it covered in?"

     "Needles."

     "What colour are they?"

     "You've never seen the colour green?" I shook my head, and he snorted in response. "Who raised you?"

     "My family of course!"

     "Then why do you have no idea what anything is?" My half-naked body shook with rage.

     "Because I made a stupid decision before I learned anything, and now I'm stuck here!" I almost cried again. I missed my parents and brother with every fiber of my being, and I wished that I had never tried to fly.

     The bird before me seemed to realise this, and his expression softened. "That's grass, and those are pinecones. This tree here, is a pine tree. That one over there is a leaf tree."

     "Why is it called a leaf tree?"

     "Because it has leaves, and other trees don't. Do you know what season it is?" I shook my head. He seemed to have opened up, and I liked him more now. "Now, it's transitioning from warm wind to cold wind. Next is ice wind, then new wind." I went over this new information in my head. I asked more, and he replied. I now had basically everything answered, all except one last question.

     I took a deep breath, and quietly asked, "What is your name?"

     The eagle stuttered. "M-m-my n-name? Why do you want to know my name?"

     "Well, because I don't want to call you 'eagle'. I know you have a name, and I want to use it." He lowered his golden head sadly.

     "I don't remember my name... the one the Featherless Creatures gave me is Prince, but... I don't know." My eyes widened. Doesn't remember his name? That's so sad! I awkwardly nodded and went away. I waddled to the tree stump and somehow managed to clamber up there.

     What a peculiar place, I thought, as a Featherless Creature passed by carrying more meat. I looked at my wings again. Prince explained that what hurt me was a creation of the Featherless Creatures called 'energy'. The energy had the power to burn and paralyze, and that was what happened. He didn't know if my feathers would grow back though.

     Right then, one of those Creatures entered our cage. Prince flew into his box, and I stayed on my stump. It walked up to me, talking in their strange language.

     "Hey, Ella. It's time to treat you again. Mind if I bring you in?" It reached for me. I shrieked, and spread my mangled wings. I looked more like a vulture than an eagle, and it hurt my pride. The Creature looked surprised, but she pressed forward and tried to put me on her covered talon.

     Prince called from his box. "Just go with her, they'll make you better, trust me."

     "But it was their energy that hurt me!" I answered, hopping away and trying to run. Prince walked out onto a branch and told me to get it on with. I looked up at him in fear, letting the Creature pick me up. It took me out of the cage and back into the white nest. I was seated on a silver ledge, and another one of them came through a door.

     It was holding a long, sharp needle.

     I shrieked, batting my wings at it, trying to keep it away. The Featherless Creature frowned and barked at its friend. They held me down, and pricked me in the neck. I was released and I shuffled away, crouching in the corner. What was that? Why did they do that to me? Eventually, the world blurred and I lapsed into unconsciousness.

. . .

     I woke up back in the cage. Prince was near me, and I realized I was in the small nest box. I was very cold, so I stood up and shook my wings. I glanced at them in horror, and I realized I had not a single feather – not even a tuft of down – left on them. What happened to me? I was covered in the green paste again.

     "What happened to me?" I asked, shocked.

     Prince shook his head, bewildered. "I don't know. But here, lay down again. They left some fur for you to sleep with." I sighed and settled in. It was blue, an odd colour for an animal... then again, I wasn't even sure that it came from an animal. I looked out the box at the sky longingly.

     It looked so inviting, with the fleecy yellow clouds scattered about, and the cold breeze stirring the air. The sunset looked beautiful, even though I was far from the mountains. I remembered the panic I felt when I didn't know what to do, but I realized that I wanted to fly again. "Prince, did anyone ever tell you to fly with your heart?"

     He nodded. "Many times. I flew for the first time when I realized what it meant. And no, I cannot tell you what it means. That is –"

     "- for me to figure out, I know. I just wanted to know if you knew, that's all. Say, I never told you my name. It's Kîsik." Prince nodded, and I continued. "My Mother asked me what I loved, and I looked to the sky. Tell me, what do you love?"

     Prince's eyes clouded, leaving into a faraway world of memories. He thought for a moment, then answered me softly. "I love the taste of fish. Best food you'd ever eat." I raised my head happily.

     "Well then, I present to you your new name. Hello, Kinosew. I remember my brother teaching me all the words he knew; fish was one of them." Kinosew looked so happy, that he almost cried.

     "Thank you, Kîsik. No one has given me as much hope as you."

     I beamed. "When my feathers grow back, I want you to teach me to fly." He looked surprised, but I continued. "I'll find us a way out. Don't say there's no way, because I know there is. We can make one if we have too. Believe me, we'll be prisoners no longer."

Cree word translations:

Kinosew - fish