Feathers

Curiosity

The Peregrines returned to camp when it was dark. Link was the first and each man after that kept his head down and sat with him, hoping the next would have better news.
"I didn't see any Ferals all day. There was a squirrel and some birds, but no girls," Rutiger said, the last to arrive.

"I thought I may have seen one, but I can't be sure," Arthur sighed.

Bain stared off into the darkness for a few moments. "Let's not get down about it. It's only the first day. We will each take a watch. The last thing we need is for some gang to come in and murder all of us."

The only thing anyone saw that night was a raccoon wandering by, sniffing around to see what they had worth sneaking off with.

"Did you bring it?" Sorren whispered. She was lying on her stomach under a honeysuckle bush, carefully monitoring the Peregrine campsite for any movement or sound.

Fox's red-orange face appeared from the grasses in response and then vanished again. She had only barely heard him approaching, but now the sound of a large leaf dragging behind him was more obvious. "Of course I did. They are starting to twitch now, so I think they will wake up soon. Why did I have to get them again,?"

"If Bear found out I had anything to do with this, and believe me he will hear about this, he will club me to death," she grumbled.

"Well, we better hurry. Did you bring yours?"

"Oh, yes," she grinned, showing him her small bag. "This should sure show them how welcome they are."

Sorren crawled out from her hiding place and folded the huge leaf around the massive hornet's nest that she had smoked earlier.

The next morning proved somewhat fruitful. One snare had caught a rabbit and the other a fat doe. Bain skinned the deer and tied the hide up to begin fleshing it as Rutiger carved away the meat. He had never thought that they might be able to communicate intelligently and it suddenly made him feel guilty for its death. He shook his head and steeled himself. Any kill he had made had been quick and merciful. Avians ate many things and meat was one of them. He knew about the cycling of life and the need to preserve a balance between all living things. As a king, he exemplified those morals by marrying a girl from the wild no less.

"Bain, you've been real quiet since we saw that Feral," Rutiger said.

Arthur and Link were out patrolling and looking for footprints or signs of a frequented spot.

"Yes," Bain agreed. "I think I am beginning to wake up. It all just moved so fast, Victor...dying, the funeral, becoming a king and the sole guardian of a child, one that I miss very much...And here we are, in the middle of the Deepfell, out to capture a girl that wants nothing more than to be left alone."

"We don't have to catch that one."

"No, I mean think about it, Rutiger. If we put up traps like this in Incitatia to catch a lady, or a Psittacus even...all hell would break loose. Everyone would think we were mad. But we are doing it anyway, catching these Ferals like animals and basically killing them. That's what captivity does to them! There is no other way to save our race than to imprison and rape another," Bain said, distressed.

"It does seem wrong and maybe it is. But what other choice do we have? The Ferals won't volunteer to save the Peregrines. Your ancestors wrote the Charter to make sure we don't go extinct. Just think of it like the Ferals know their duty, but they are making us pay for it by having to catch them. That way, some can avoid it. We are doing our part and then they do theirs. I'm sure hunting them down is much less difficult and painful than pushing out a baby," Rutiger chuckled.