I was so busy crying and trying to keep myself warm that I didn’t notice that the Eagle was finished its meal. The first warning I had was when my world turned dark again, as it sat on me.
Not really on me. The bulk of its body was just to my right. But one enormous wing had settled on top of me, blocking all the light and weighing me down. I tried to move, but the Eagle twitched its wing, pressing me down against the sticks.
And I began warming up. It was warm under that wing, warm such as I hadn’t been since I was first captured. It was warm, and my stomach was full. Very full.
I cuddled up against the Eagles body, drawn by the warmth and pressed by the wing. The sticks were painful, but the feathers were soft. And the body was warm, and I was cold. And soon I was asleep.
I stirred restlessly. It was a strange dream. I hurt where I lay, and yet was wrapped in the softest and warmest blanket I had ever known. I heard voices, but I did not understand the words...
“Wheeir, ish khache?” Said a voice, a strange breathy voice, deep yet full of strange edges
“Ikhe shish uwhuer whe,” another voice responded, higher pitched and resonating through my body to my bones.
“Ikhe? Wha shosh!”
“Wha shosh.”
And then a cry, a cry such as I have never heard. A cry that went on and on. And I felt my blanket press down harder on me, and I went back to sleep to the sound of the same two voices talking.
Twice more I dreamt of the voices. Twice more I started to wake and twice more the warm blanket pushed me down.
But suddenly the blanket was gone and I stood blinking in the sunlight. Blinking, and cold, and naked. And standing in front of me was an enormous Eagle and suddenly everything came flooding back.
“Whoo kharrer?” the Eagle said, and I recognized the high pitched voice from my dream.
“What?” I said, and the Eagle cocked its head to one side,
“Whoo whearr.” It said, and walked over to the remains of the kid.
It wasn’t as hard the second time. Not nearly as hard. I was very hungry, and I knew this would fill me up, so I just opened up my mouth and let her fill me. Again and again she... I was assuming that it was a girl... tore strips of meat from the kid, swallowed them, held them for a while, and sent them down my throat.
And she talked to me the entire time she was feeding me, and even afterwards as I crawled around the nest, and peed in a corner, and looked out over the edge, several edges. And she kept talking to me when, cold and tired, I crawled back underneath her to go to sleep. Her voice filled my dreams.
It was a small world, and a cold one, but I got used to it. The Mommy kept me well fed, and kept me warm. I ate, explored, and went to sleep. And the Mommy talked to me the whole time.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes, Mommy.” I said, and she fed me.
“You are wheehrii khiihhrr.” She said.
“What?”
She reached out her wing to the top of my head, and raised it up, as if I was getting taller.
“Yes.” I said, “I am getting bigger.”
I went and used my wonderful outdoor toilet. It was good that the sticks let everything through and nothing piled up on the surface. And it was so cold all the time that the odor never really had a chance to build up.
I went and stood on the edge of the nest. “Look, Mommy,” I said, pointing. There was another Eagle, not that far away, turning lazy circles in the wind. She raised her head,
“Come,” she said, and I hustled into her wing. That was one of the first words she had taught me.
I had only been there for a few seconds when I heard a noise, and an Eagle landing on our nest.
“Wheeir.” A voice said. A voice I recognized from my dreams.
“Khagh~aa.” Mommy said, in a strange voice.
“Wheeir!” He said, and Mommy slowly lifted her wing.
I didn’t understand hardly any of the resulting argument, but I could tell that the other was yelling at Mommy, and I clung to her. Why was he doing it? Why was he yelling? What had Mommy done? I began to cry and he stopped abruptly. He came over close, “Little one? You are crying?”
I nodded, and clung to Mommy. He looked at her, “Feed the child,” he said, “perhaps it is hungry”.
“Not hungry!” I said, “Am a boy!” I added, pointing to the evidence.
“It speaks!” The other said.
“He speaks,” Mommy said. “And he is getting bigger.”
I didn’t know why that was important, but the other thought it was.
“Whaawhoa,” Mommy said, “This is Khagh~aa. He is your Khaaffrr.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but Mommy made it sound important, so I crouched down and bent my head, as Mommy had taught me.
He shook himself all over, and said, “I will go get more food.” Then he went to the edge of the nest, took one more look at me, and took off.
I soon learned to eat from Papa too. It tasted differently, but, having both, I got to eat more often. It was about all I did, eat, sleep, and listen to Papa and Mommy talk to me. I was tired all the time, probably because I kept getting bigger. They were feeding me really well.
I didn’t understand everything that Papa and Mommy said, or all they did. They kept talking about an egg. They were both sad about the egg. But Mommy made Papa very happy, and I made Mommy very happy, so everything was alright.
I was tired all the time, but Mommy said that was all right. Papa kept telling me to eat, and so I did. And they kept talking to me.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von