From the Eyes of a Bird

Chapter 3

Del thought Sora looked slightly better after the night's sleep. Her ruffled feathers were smoother now, and she definitely wasn't shaking anymore. She sat quietly on the food bowl, her mind travelling miles away. I guess she's still thinking of her so-called boss. Should I try talking to her?.. Yep, I should.

"Hey, you alright?" Del asked, sitting down next to Sora.

"Huh?" Sora looked dazed, Ohh! Her look implied she was startled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I forgot you're here.. Right, I guess I've never felt this free before. Usually Falkner would give me orders to steal this and that from the birds at this hour, so... It's like I bounced in a whole new world. And I enjoy it! This feels so blissful, relaxing, all kinds of new positive emotions are piling up inside me now!"

Wow, she looks really delighted. That's good in one sort of way.. wait is this..the I-know-what thing? That feeling? Oh no no no, I'm so NOT in that four letter word. No way. Def-

"By the way, what was your name again? I was too tired yesterday..." Sora interjected, looking guilty.

"Oh, it's absolutely okay! My name's Del, though Lucy calls me Rover. Call me whatever you feel like. Like, not exactly whatever but, you know, as long as I agree with it."

"Aaaalrigt I'll just go with Del for both of our sakes. So Del, have you been like this, I mean, in a cage since your very birth?"

"Not exactly, no. I was born in a forest, even though that memory is very faint now, and then I was in an aviary before I ended up here. More or less I've spent almost my entire life here, and I don't regret it."

"You don't?" Sora looked surprised. "You really mean it?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Don't you ever feel that you wanna explore the world? Or, be free? Not job-free, but, captivity-free. Don't you ever want to glide through the open skies?"

"Who would want that when you get everything by just chirping at times a day? And, flying sounds tiring. I tried to fly, but right after a few flaps I was so fatigued that I gave up."

"You really missed out on life. How old are you again?"

"One."

"My goodness. You've missed a whole year of flying!? And you're saying youre satisfied with your lifestyle? Wait and watch how cool flying is."

Saying so, Sora gracefully flapped her wings and swan-dived from the top. Del stared, awe-struck.

"Whoa, we can do that? The crows here don't even have the utmost gracefulness-"

"Please, the crows don't show off. They've got work to do. Same goes for birds like Falkner, who are already showing off just by sitting silently. Us, the smaller birds though, we've got loads of time to do this. Seriously though, you can't fly?"

"I really can't. Do you expect me to? I haven't ever seen my parents and all birds I know about are lovebirds and crows and kites. Oh, who's Falkner by the way? You mentioned him, like, so many times."

"Oh Falkner..." Sora's words faded away as her look turned more and more grave. "He...he was my boss. A really handsome grey hawk. And really scary. All it would take to kill me would be a small turn of his insanely sharp claws. Even thinking of that...makes me shiver."

"Oh so hes your boss. But how do hawks look like? I'm hearing this name for the first time."

"I guess so, this place is really far from hawk habitats. Hawks are...massive, well not that massive, but you get me, strong, as in dangerously strong, keen, like able to spot even the tiniest rat in a hay-field keen, predatory birds. I suggest you stay as far as possible from them, they're merciless..".- Sora's eyes perched up- "Oh, who's that cute rosy-cheeked girl?"

Del looked at the direction she pointed at although he knew the answer quite well. It was Lucy. She had more grains in her hand today. That's for both of us, he realised. We're really expected to breed. And sharing food? That's step one of bonding. Lucy was really serious then.

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Hi! Sorry for the late publish, hope you enjoyed:). My phone's glitching and I couldn't publish from there, so the formats are kinda messed up, whatever.

Tap on this star here to light up Del's mind, it's definitely what he denies to be having.

Chapters on Sundays and Wednesdays.

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