CHAPTER 11
Cassie
“This is Swift. He’ll be joining your flock now.” The Aviarist sounded bored. He barely acknowledged her as he flipped through his datapad. Cassie lifted her eyes ever so slightly. A bored Aviarist was a dangerous Aviarist. It meant he would start inventing new ways to discipline the passeri. Swift’s small hand tugged at her nearly see-through skirt.
“What’s your name?”he asked.
“My full designation is Cassowary, but you can call me Cassie!” She wouldn’t show him the hand signs, not now. Not while the Aviarist was watching. All the passeri suspected he knew how to read them, but as long as they didn’t make them in front of him, it was an open secret.
“Yes, yes, this is all very charming.” The Aviarist waved a dismissive hand. “Take him to his new room. He can have Canary’s old bunk.”
Cassie tried to hold her composure, keep the serene smile on her face. Canary had been killed bya client. No one would admit to it, but they all knew it was true. She took Swift’s hand and shuttled him quickly out of the Aviarist’s office.
C-A-S-S-I-E. She spelled her name over and over again, reveling in the freedom it gave her to control the written words. W-A-L-K. R-U-N. S-E-E. They would all be so shocked when they learned she’d figured out how to write. Literacy had been the one thing formally banned from their educational programming. The thought sobered her. Even if she learned how to read and write perfectly, there was no guarantee she’d ever see them again. Cassie shook her head. She wasn’t going to cry. She was Cheerful Cassie; she’d find a way. She had to find a way to make sure they were safe.
A soft chime echoed from her wrist with a reminder from Wreeta that drills were starting soon, and S’samph wasn’t patient with lateness. She smacked her hands against her cheeks to shock away the feeling of tears percolating. The drills would be good. If she could grind her body into the ground, it would give her mind less chance to remember all the things she’d been repressing for so long.
After some consideration, she put the datapad in her bag, it might be nice to practice writing somewhere other than this tiny room after she finished with drills and before her next lesson with Örim. She hurried downstairs to find Eleri and Aglao staring at something on their holoscreen. Rather than interrupt to say good morning, she snuck out past them. But soon she was outside in the suns and trying her best not to think about how much her flock would like to see a place like this. Cassie started to jog, even though no one had told her to. If she didn’t move,her brain was going to explode out of her ears with all its sad whirling.
By the time she reached the training grounds, she knew she was late because everyone else was already running around the perimeter. S’samph appeared to be ignoring her, but she could tell he noticed her arrival. Cassie dropped her bag under the supply tent and fell into last place just behind Wreeta, who slowed just enough to give Cassie a chance to catch up.
“Hope you were doing something good to make you late because S’samph will probably make you run an extra lap while we’re practicing hand-to-hand combat.”
“That is a violation of my protocols,” Cassie said.
Wreeta twittered. “You’re funny, you know?”
Cassie regarded her with a strange expression. No one had ever called her funny before. “They call me Cheerful Cassie for a reason!”
The twittering intensified. “No way is that real! They really called you Cheerful Cassie where you were before?”
Her nose wrinkled. The only people who ever called her that were clients or her fledglings when they were trying to be rude. S’samph caught up to them as they circled closer to the supply tent. His long strides made easy work of the distance, and his walking pace was almost as fast as Cassie’s pathetic jogging.
“You were late, so you’ll run an extra lap. Those are the rules. Have some water and go finish your assignment.” S’samph handed her a hydropod.
Cassie was about to try to argue when someone caught S’samph’s attention in the distance. It was unusual for Eleri to be at the training ground this time of day. When she finally reached them, S’samph reached out a hand for his mate. “Did something happen?”
“No, I’m just here for Cassie. I have a surprise for her. Can we take your levibike?”
“I don’t want you crashing my levibike.”
“I won’t crash it.” Eleri placed her hands on her hips.
“I’ll drive you both myself.” S’samph turned to K’kaen, the other latil’e male. “K’kaen is in charge for the rest of drills today.”
“Oh, come on. I hate being in charge of drills.” The other latil’e’s frill flattened. “Fine. But only because we know Eleri is af’fretdriver.”
S’samph led the way to his levibike, and Cassie soon found herself holding onto Eleri for dear life as they sped back toward town with S’samph driving like he had something to prove.
“You don’t even know where we’re going!” Eleri called over the rumble of the engine and the whipping of the wind.
“Then tell me where we’re going,” S’samph called back.
“To the holocall booth.” Eleri pointed forward. When they arrived back in the town center, S’samph parked his levibike to allow Cassie and Eleri a chance to dismount. Then he turned, nodded at Eleri, and sped back in the direction they’d come from.
“I think you’re really going to like this,” Eleri said as she walked with Cassie toward the booth. “We’ve been planning it for a while.”
At Eleri’s urging, Cassie sat in the booth while a call initiated. It took a few long moments, but soon Cassie stared back at the holovid of Swift on the screen. His big gray eyes were bright with excitement beneath the bright green feathers around his face, evidence of his mixed human and giradey genetics.
