Returning home was a quiet thing, Luhuo-ki walked him to the greynest but left at the entrance, he had plans to set in motion.
Raphael watched him leave, he didn’t really want to go in. He hated that the sight of his nest, his home, made him so nervous and flighty.
But just the thought of talking to his flock about it scared him.
Letting out a shaky breath, Raphael squared his shoulders and marched in.
**
If asked what happened between that moment and the next, Raphael could honestly not say.
Cause the next thing he knew, he was held in arms streaked with Awkensalt veins, salt and pepper lines running up wrists and forearms with hands almost made of it.
“Brother Stonehearth.” What?
“Lit/tle brother.”
His voice cracked.
Why is his voice cracked?
What could scare him?
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Calm Little Bird, peace. We’re okay, we just needed to talk to you. Shh-”, Yuxan hushed the panicking Raphael.
Rirenrir’s halo pulsed, pressing heavily down on the group, trying to muffle the energy feedback and emotional radiation.
“-I. Brother-”
“Shush- Little Bird, breath. In- out- you’re okay, we’re all okay- breath.” Yuxan’s voiced took on that strange cadence again, the one which had always put him at ease even when the worse happened around them.
Raphael’s mind lulled, freezing from its rapid spiral down into incoherence.
“-I. Okay…okay…okay. I’m- I’m alright, I’m here. Sorry- sorry.”
Stonehearth’s arms clenched firmly over his middle, bringing Raphael’s attention back to the figure who had collected his shaking form up into his lap.
“No sorries Little Bird, we’re the ones who scared you first, our fault.” Brother Stonehearth’s voice was still more wobbly than usual but he was still the anchor he’d always been to Raphael.
“Yea Little Bird, our fault, not yours. We just wanted to ask about your meeting and why you were so anxious yesterday. We didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Riri-ja had also walked over to the brothers, still her halo kept its glowing glare.
“I- okay. Okay. Yea- My meeting with Luhuo-ja went fine. I- uh. I had meant to tell you actually- that’s what my talk with Luhuo-ki was about- I was anxious. I didn’t know- how to tell-. I- I got sponsored by a noble!” Raphael had stammered and shrieked through it but he had told them.
Oh A’pharoh, he had told them.
“…What?” Yuxan had been the one to break the silence, as he usually was.
None of the flock liked this revelation, it explained Raphael’s unusual state yes, but it was also the one thing none of them had expected, and more importantly, ever wanted.
This was a disaster and a half and none of them felt ready to handle it.
After much screaming and hollering at the heavens, gods and demons and forces all knowing, they settled down again in the middle of their livingnest.
With Jeltea and some much needed cuddle piles and blankets, they started plotting.
“Alright, putting aside the infinite rage I now hold for the universe, do you know which house it is, Little Bird?”
“Uhh- the Jihuǒ’àoss…?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“………”
“Right. We’re not gonna think too much about that because I really don’t want the roof crashing down on us.”
“What about the day you have to clock in on? Please tell me it isn’t tomorrow. Please.”
“Uhhh- it's not tomorrow…buttt- it’s Kestli, this Beihiln.”
“………”
“Ri’! Ri’! Calm down! No! Bad wolf! Bad! No clawing the blankets! No! Bad! What are you doing?! Those are the fluffy ones! They’re expensive!”
“Ah- Brother Stonehearth! No! Calm down! You’ll bring down the whole district!”
Many cries were heard from greynest 13 of the Shǎchén District that day. None outside the 4 inhabitants know what had truly happened, though rumors persist that the charged affinities of the little flock had finally caught up with them.
***
The morning after herald frantic movement, as all of the flock fluttered from place to place.
Brother Stonehearth had volunteered to talk with members of the Guarding Constituents, he was acquainted with some and hoped that they would point him to the guards hired by the Jihuǒ’àos.
**Flash**
In a room of quiet opulence and power—
“Sir Mountain Shaker, what a pleasant surprise. I thought we had agreed that you wouldn’t step here again after those Al’licht` peps got your signature?”
“Now, now, no need to be so mean about it, aren’t you meant to be the oh-so-magnanimous Sir Trilimir, Leader of The Shield, Hero of the 21st Campaign–”
“ENOUGH! Fucking ‘ell Shal, the fuck do ya want?”
“Hah! Still got it. Welll- now see here…”
**Over**
Yuxan-ja had mysteriously disappeared with a grumble about unpaid debts and runaway comrades.
**Flash**
In a building most thought abandoned—
“Send ‘im in Joke!”
-footsteps-
“This Bo Xing greets the Lord, Myst, of Nightingale.”
“No need to bow now, XingXing. We’re old friends aren’t we? Go waayyy back- the two of us- and you’ve been doing well for yourself haven’t you?”
“….ah- yes! I- yes I have- been doing well!”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve gathered. Now. I wanted to talk to you about those good ol’ debts I’ve been kindly ignoring for you…how nice of me eh?”
“This one thanks the Lord!”
“Hm-hmm, so- you work under the Court–”
**Over**
Riri-ji had been the most straightforward, saying she had some friends which served the, in her words, “arrogant dumpster fires”.
**Flash**
In the corner of a well regarded tea bar—
“Riren, how’s it been!? Haven’t seen ya or that boytoy of yours since the graduation party. Ya looking delectable as alway ;> ”
“Lokli-ja…good to see you’re doing well. Yu’ and I have also been well. Ah- by chance- are you still working for those dumpster fires?”
-a beat-
“Oh- this isn’t a fun callup. Right! Okie, dokie, give me a second, I have to recalibrate.”
-two tea sips-
“So yes, I’m still working for the trash heaps, did you need something about them?”
“Right in one- I need–”
**Over**
Luhuo-ja had also dropped by to say that he was working on things but that he needed until tomorrow to see how everything panned out. He was being very, “told ya so”, about the whole flock’s reaction to the sponsorship reveal so Raphael hadn’t felt bad when his flock had grilled him about who he was and what his intentions were.
**Flash**
Before everyone had split up—
“So you’re the ‘Luhuo-ja’ we’ve been hearing so much about-”
“-The same one that our little bird had talked to before us-”
“-The same one who can’t hold a five minute spar against a gray bird like me-”
“Okay, everything else is whatever, but that third one, I resent. If you’re a gray bird, Mister “Mana-Density-Mythril-Rank”, what would the rest of us be?”
“….He has you there, brother.”
**Over**
Raphael himself, on the other wing, felt very adrift on the wind current of action everyone had been stirred into on his behalf.
Now mind you, he felt really thankful, so so thankful, but he didn’t know what to do with himself while everyone else was trying to prepare for the worst.
He had a vacation after the festival, not like having three days free before what felt like the end of his world was that much of a consolation prize. But aside from telling his friend and flock, he didn’t have much else to do.
He had no one out-district able, or willing honestly, to help him with something like this. And, outside of Luhuo-ki, he had other in-district friends but none of them would be equipped to deal with something like this.
In fact, many would be like his theatre master, happy and eager to send him off to what amounted to a monster lair with a “good luck” and “fair winds”.
So while his flock flew into action with reckless abandon, Raphael just stayed home, cooked, and packed.
He had little else to do after all, better work out his own anxiety through these productive and simple actions than cause more trouble when he tries and inevitably fails to help with something he had no experience with.
His flock eventually thanked him for it, tired from all the running around and needing the nice home cooked meal after all the hurrying.
They nested together that night, with quiet goodnights and tired coos.
***
Today was the last day before the deadline, tomorrow, Raphael would either be at the Jihuǒ’ào manor or branded as wanted across most if not all of Huanghui.
And, as tempting as it sometimes felt, he wasn’t uprooting his siblings, he had no doubt they would follow him, just because some shine-brain brats had taken a liking to him.
He was the first one awake that day, maybe because he’d been too anxious to sleep any longer.
Raphael felt so detached from it all, it didn’t feel real, the last few days and the thought that he had to leave his home, his flock, behind.
Thankfully. He wasn’t dealing with it all alone. He had his flock and they, along with Luhuo-ki, had gathered up around him as they convinced him to pack more and fear less. And…honestly?
For them, he would make it through this, come storms or hurricanes.