Twin Feathers

Chapter 4

The unrelenting sun beat down on Kusarel, sweat pouring under her feathers and fur. A burst of dust and dirt shot straight into her lungs as she tended the fields. Coughs erupted from deep inside her chest, as horribly dry as the arid air, but she clamped her beak shut. Every bit of motion sent stabbing pain through her muscles, unaccustomed to wing-breaking labor.

"You doing ok there, Kusarel? Nothing like calligraphy or painting, huh?" Elkeri panted with a seemingly gleeful hoot, though her neck was hunched and stiff, as though sore. Kusarel managed to prop up her heavy head as she wiped the sweat dripping off her brow, glancing at Elkeri. Already, the old feathers around the base of Elkeri's ears had begun molting away. New feathers poked through the tender skin, feathers that would be green and wispy, trailing down her neck like beautiful jewelry. Except, of course, for the fact that this particular piece of "jewelry" would forever brand her friend as a farmer.

"You're staring, Kusarel."

Startled out of her trance, she squeaked and whipped her head downward. "Sorry! I was just...um..."

"Admiring my new look?" Elkeri sniffed, tracing her claws over the budding feathers. "Don't blame you--I'll be rocking this style." She gave a sharp laugh--too sharp. As her talons lingered over her feathers, Kusarel saw a flash of dread in her eyes, the realization that this was her fate and she would soon be branded for life.

"Could you run some of the vegetables over to the copiers? I'll keep working here..." Elkeri pawed at the dirt below, part of the field they had been tending all day alongside the other farmers. All around them gryphons scrambled about, hardly paying each other any mind as they toiled in preparing the soil, watering, planting, and coaxing new buds to spring forth with their powers. Their sizes and colors varied, but all of them had the same thin, almost fairy-like green feathers above their brows.

"Of course!" Kusarel tore her gaze away from the farmers and wrapped her tail around a basket of carrots, lifting it into the air. The simple act sent screams of resistance throughout her body, begging her to drop down and relax.

Oh, if mother saw me now, she would shriek like it's dawn. But if Xaiel thinks this will help...I'll trust him.

Not like there's anything else you can do, a nagging voice whispered in her head. You're trapped, Kusarel. Nothing you do will be right. You're going to fail no matter what, because you're still a blank and that's all that matters.

Suddenly, the blazing fields seemed like a sanctuary. At least she was so busy there that her backstabbing mind wouldn't shoot these thoughts at her. Clicking her beak in agitation, she stepped onto the roads and wove her way over to the copiers' tents, tucked on a side street at the far end of the fields. As she approached, the gryphons under the tents all bowed in respect, beaks touching the ground and claws stretched out in front of them.

Kusarel stood in front of them for a few moments, waiting for them to speak. The silence stretched on, the gryphons still bowing in perfect stillness, before she remembered they were waiting for her cue.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" As soon as the words left her beak, she heard her mother mentally screeching at her: "Apologizing to a lower class...no, the LOWEST class? A disgrace, Kusarel! A disgrace!" "I mean...could you copy these for me, please?"

She threw down the basket of carrots, harsher than she intended in her embarrassment. A few vegetables tumbled out and fell in the dirt, rolling off to the side. The copiers finally broke their bow and snatched up the vegetables before she could react, as though from years of practice.

"Of course, Miss Silversky. We would be honored," one of them spoke, a petite little gryphon that kept her eyes dutifully downcast. A wealth of deep blue feathers cascaded from the side of her head down her jawline, the telltale sign of a copier. None of the gryphons made eye contact with her, only keeping their heads pointed in her general direction.