What do human males even look like? How do we compare? Are they better able to protect their females? My tail flicks behind me at the thought and without thinking, I try to flare my wings slightly, forgetting that one of them sags at my back pathetically.
I suck in a breath and release it slowly, my eyes dropping to my feet while the females around me question the Goddesses and our Temples. It is not a discussion that I shall participate in, since the Goddesses have given me everything I could ask for. Well… everything except for my heart-stars and a set of strong, healthy wings. My gaze drifts to the female beside me. Daffy. Her foot and ankle are bound and she keeps it elevated upon another sitting rock situated in front of us.
“You are a…”what had she called it?I gesture to her injured ankle. “…A fee-see-oh-”
She chuckles and cuts into my words with a nod. “Yeah.”
Nodding along with her, I can feel the tickle of my skin-stars dance along my temples as I start to wonder… “It is a kind of Healer, yes? Could you…?” gesturing to my wings behind me, my throat feels tight. “…Help? When you’re settled of course.”
Daffy leans back to take a look at my broken wings. I try to stretch them out as much as is comfortable for her inspection, but it is nowhere near my full wingspan.
“Well…” the female blows out a long breath and I brace myself. “I’m not knowledgeable about wings in particular but considering that the ligament structureshouldbe similar to arms…”
She is still talking, but my world shrinks down to one female with mishi flower-colored hair who looks as though she hascome to find me after waking from her slumber. She stands between two surrounding huts and I smile for her, but she-
My Polly’s eyes dart over me, bounce to Daffy and then to where the female is lightly inspecting my wing with touch. And, my mate’s face drains of all colors.
My breathing ceases in an instant.
She is seeing my wings unbound. Seeing how they are still so far from mended. Seeing how I am still a broken male.
“Polly!” I jump to my feet and hurry over to my mate. She blinks at me and then at the group of females I have just left. “Are you well?”
“I… um…”
She carries with her the new pots of stain I had left for her, looking down at them now in her hands.
When she offers no further words, I guide her toward the group of females. “Come, break your fast with the others, and then we can start this day.”
She resists the hand I have at the small of her back, taking only two reluctant steps forward before she halts movement altogether, planting her feet like the sturdy roots of a night tree. “D’ya know what, I… I don’t really feel like being social today,” she says, starting to back up and hooking a thumb over her shoulder. “Can we just… go back to our hut?”
I nod my agreement, wondering at her eagerness to leave. It could be that she wishes to spend this day as just the two of us, but there is something…other… in that look to her eyes.
It is not a good ‘other’.
I will care for her this day and try to comfort that look out of my mate, I decide. “I shall get us foods,” I tell her, hurrying back to where the females are still gathered. Jaxyn has joined the group now, taking up the space next to Daffy on the sitting rock. Seeing him sitting there with his lame wing almost makes me halt in my steps. His story of flightlessness is different tomine. He emerged from the egg with a wing that would never take to the skies. Tryk, his Shadow-Wing brother still brings him kills and life stones so that he may still present offerings to the Temple. He seems to be offering one of those very life stones to Daffy now. Glancing quickly at the males that line the perimeter, I huff out a low chuckle. All this attention and it is the lamewing who has the courage to approach the new females?
Bending, I gather a selection of nourishment from the bountiful platters offered to our females. Truly, the Hunters and those that gather have outdone themselves this day. “You will help me, then?” I ask Daffy while kneeling, picking the best fylli fruits for my mate. “With my wings?”
Confusion clouds Jaxyn’s expression as he sits beside the Healer-female. He looks between us before she speaks.
“I can try, yeah. We might be able to get some strength back into the left one. I can’t guarantee it will be enough for you to fly, though.”
Jaxyn huffs, but I pay him no mind.
“I am to spend this day caring for my female, Polly,” I tell her. “Perhaps when the suns are set, you can help me?”
Daffy’s expression brightens. “Yeah, I’m having real trouble sleeping so having something to do to take my mind off things might help.Deal.” She juts out her hand and I stare at it for a few seconds, wondering what she will do with it. She chuckles and tucks it away again and that seems to be that.
“You’re a fool, Aloryk,” Jaxyn adds with a shake of his head. “I have seen your wing. It is no better than mine. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be for you.”
I do not answer the lamewing and simply take the foods for my female and leave. He has been flightless his whole life and everyone knows it has forced him to grow into a male who is blind to the Goddesses’ gift of hope.
But I will not give up on that, not when I witnessed how my female reacted to seeing my broken wings unbound for the first time. I do not want to see her looking at me this way ever again if I can help it. If there is any hope of me being a whole male again for her, I will grasp onto it tightly.
Chapter 27 - Polly
Maybe it had been cowardly on my part to avoid Delphi.
