[SOLO] Messenger Pigeon [FINISHED]

[Daisicle]

At times, the demoness liked to lose herself to her thoughts as she sat around, legs dangling against the rough bark of trees, and listened to the unique sound of (near) silence. Moments of peace, devoid of anything but the barely noticeable movement of wind through leafless branches. The leaves would return soon, though. They always did.

She looked to her hands and blew, a soft puff of mist forming to greet her palms as she rubbed them together, clenching and looking up.

The moon was full tonight.

It would not be an exaggeration to call Shahrazad superstitious, even if it were a trail near invisible to all but those closest to her. It was evident only through minuscule actions, such as the avoidance of black cats or the belief that the moon brought about changes. Tonight, it shown particularly bright. If anything were to happen in this cycle, perhaps it would come soon and in an array of interesting circumstance hopefully.

After all, the night was still young. Young as her new charge, in any case. It was strange how such things worked: to have one so young and so innocent completely reliant and loyal to you... Well... It was an oddly satisfying and powerful feeling to have, for a while anyways.

That said, she was growing in size and age, and soon she would be able to set her out to her own. Little Saira was becoming an effective hunter (clearly due to her teacher's own skill) and could survive even when mother was gone.

How strange, she, mother, even if it were only by coincidence.

Standing up, the demon closed two of her eyes and raised her arms to stretch back, tail curling behind her and fangs glinting in the moonlight. The little one would be returning soon with her kill, a weekly exercise to ensure that such skills continued to sharpen. What would it be tonight: rabbit? snake? fox? nay, even a boar was sure to happen soon enough!  

[Daisicle]

Yes, Saira would be returning home soon enough. The little bird was hardly a nestling these days, but she still disliked to be away from home for extended periods of time. Home was comfort. Home was safety. Home was wherever mother remained.

At times, every so often, home was no longer home, for mother would disappear for a few days. Like clockwork, however, she would be back. She would return with a smile and reassurance. It had been a season since this had last happened and she'd returned from her practice to an empty home. This made her worry that something had happened, but there would be no trace of either her mother having been present or absent. Home simply was and simply remained in those days of solitude.

Eventually, mother would return and things would return to normal.

Tonight was one of those normal days, a day spent stalking and hunting, and it had turned into a night of the opposite sense. She was being stalked, or at least her instinct told her so. Eyes looking around and behind her, she pouted and shifted the few rabbits flung over her shoulder. Best if she returned home soon so that they might begin to smoke these and have them available for later evenings.



Some distance behind the child, an even younger creature quietly followed, eyes widened then narrowed. Widened then narrowed. Instinct carried it forward, little claws always clawing, little legs always moving forward. There was little in the way of sentient thought yet formed in its mind, only urges to consume in the way of food and drink and to continuously move in the same direction.

How long had it been moving?

How long would it continue?

It followed the creature with likeness to it, hiding in bushes and shadows, to a small hut lit from the inside with an unknown force. There was something strong in the air, smells of smoke, feelings of warmth. The little one paused and stared into the distance, to the unknown place ahead that the other disappeared into. A different sort of place; a beckoning, inviting sort of place. Was this the place she was meant to make her own, the light at the end of her tunnel?

Was she, at long last, home?  

[Daisicle]

Shahrazad made her decent soon after she watched her nestling return with a respectable number of kills, not to greet her as one might have assumed, but rather in response to a series of shrieks and poundings made by her primate companion. Down she went, dropping down and fluidly landing among the barren and cold ground. Her eyes turned before her body, and she took not three steps before the familiar appeared before her all in a frenzy about a strange creature he held in his hands.

Bending forward, her eyes narrowed as she looked at the thing in front of her. A familiar sort of being, not unlike Saira when she was newly hatched. "Now... Who's might you be, and whatever are you doing here...?"



The moment and sudden movement from one location to another had done more than enough to disorient and frighten the little chick. What was going on, where was she? Was she being taken, pulled into the forest by some creature of the night.

Instinct told her to scream, cry out, and to kick for freedom. She opened her mouth to wail...

then she stopped.

Eyes locking onto the figure before her, a new sort of instinct took hold, imprinting into her each and every feature present of this adult. Her three golden eyes, her feline grace and prowess. She had done it. She had found her.

Mama!



The demon took a step back, eyes narrowing at the look in the little one's eyes. She had seen such a look before, back when Saira was new to the world and was discovering her place in it. This chick was imprinting her as its mother. Hesitate now and it would be too late to be rid of it until it was fully grown. It was a mistake she had made with the last child she had found, a mistake she hadn't intentions of making again.

Yet, something stopped her from continuing her retreat. There was something about this one, something different in its physiology, in its presence, than Saira had been. A much more primal feeling was gripping into her subconscious, something about its feathered appearance, those lime eyes and familiar freckling.

Raising a hand to her temples, she closed her eyes and sighed audibly. It wasn't that she'd forgotten that strange evening so many moons ago, but that it had seemed but an insignificant and wondrously strange happening. That evening spent with her hero, the truest love that she'd ever known if only in those few, wistful hours. Those interestingly passionate exchanges they'd partaken in. To think it would result in something of this sort, in a child. Guardian's help her, this was not the moon's influence she had been expecting.



From inside the tent, two curious eyes looked out in response to Shahrazad's voice (the monkey whooping was relatively common and generally ignored). "Mother?" she called out, "Is something the matter?" As her precise dictation and phrasing suggested, practical survival skills were not the only education she was receiving. Even if it was a homeschooling, she was well-versed in all sorts of societal manners and writings, if only those familiar to the demoness.

Her eyes looked to the baby bird before her and narrowed. What was something like that doing near her home with her mother?



"Saira?" her hands fell as she opened her eyes to look at her daughter-in-training. What timing this all was. Had it been a few hours earlier, she might have had the time to sit alone with the thing and to digest the situation, to prepare a proper explanation and proposition for how to proceed.

No chance for that now.

Motioning for Hari to set the new chick down, then gestured in her direction. "Greet your new sibling..." a pause as the chick came closer, cooing happily as she approached. "...Hatil. Yes, little Hatil."  

[Daisicle]

A new sibling?! No, Saira was not happy with what was going on and, more importantly, the prospect of having to share her mother with another, especially another like herself. "No. I don't want it." she said bluntly, a pout forming on her face and her arms crossing. She had wanted some sort of praise for her improvement in hunting and the like, not this. Making an audible 'hmp!', she turned away, refusing to even acknowledge the chick.



Frowning herself, Sharazhad raised her voice slightly at the disobedience of her adopted daughter. "Have I asked for your opinion on the matter? Have I given you a choice of actions to take?" She paused for but a moment. "No, I have not. Now, say hello to Hatil and then be off to clean those kills of yours, else you shall sleep outside with the monkey." her tone suggested that there would be no if, ands, or buts in this situation.

Funny how the parenting she'd so loathed growing up was the exact sort she was employing now to her own progeny.



Arms falling, Saira looked back as her mother chastised her, hurt evident in her face. Why was she getting in trouble for this; what had she done wrong? Why hadn't she been asked if she even wanted another kid around? Was that so much to ask for, to be included in some decisions around here?

Letting her head hang down, she mumbled, "Hello Hatil..."



"What was that? I believe you spoke, but it was completely incomprehensible."



"Hello Hatil!" Saira practically spat out before turning on her claws to walk away and return to prepare her kills for smoking. She couldn't beleive her mother hated her so much that she had to bring in a replacement. Today was officially the worst day in her life; she could just go die now.



The rakshasha sighed and placed a hand to her forehead at the child's outburst. This was going to be rough, wasn't it. Glancing down at the chick so peacefully stumbling near her paws, she couldn't help but offer it a soft smile.

If nothing else, this would be the start of something interesting in this new makeshift family of hers, if only a temporary experiment of sorts. Reaching forward, she picked up the chick and set it to sit in one arm before heading towards her modest living accommodations.

Such was the start of another phase her life: one with Hatil.

~[FINISHED]~