I dug my talons into the floor of the basket as Daisy twisted her oversized body through the gap between two trees. I was incredibly surprised at the grace with which she glided through the cramped forest, and wondered if I would one day be able to do the same.

"The landing platform is just ahead. Hold on to your tail feathers!"

I wasn't really sure how to hold onto my tail feathers, so I dug my talons deeper into the basket and sat down.

Daisy, with one mighty flap of her massive wings, propelled us high into the air... Then brought her wings into her side, causing us to freefall for a moment before landing roughly on what I hoped to be the ground. My siblings peeped and hollered in fear or excitement, I couldn't tell, and mom set about calming them down so we could exit the basket.

Daisy landed with a loud *crash* behind the basket and strutted around to see us.

"Enjoy the ride?"

Since my siblings were still huddled around mom and were refusing to quiet down, I spoke up.

"Yeah, it was fun! You're a great flier."

"D'aww~ Stop it~ You're gonna make me blush!"

"Yes, please stop it. You're going to give her an even bigger head." Mom grumbled as she ushered my slightly calmer siblings past me, and out the opening. I quickly... Er... Semi-quickly toddled after them.

As I stepped out of the basket, I stopped to stare at the circular white platform we were standing on. It was large, that's for sure. Able to easily accommodate both Daisy and the basket's unusual sizes, while giving passengers enough room to walk around freely. Somehow, the birds had managed to paint a large red circle near the center of the platform, presumably to give Daisy a place to set her basket.

I stared at the paint for several seconds and tried, and failed, to think of a way birds could have held a paintbrush...

"Have a good day!" Daisy yelled. Her voice brought me back to the real world, and I looked around for mom.

She was waiting at the edge of the platform with my siblings and watching me with a curious tilt to her head.

"Bye, aunt Daisy!" I called back as I toddled over to them.

"Bye, little Rage!"

I picked up my pace and caught up with my siblings and mother a few seconds later.

"Mom, I'm hungry." One of my siblings, a colorful chick almost three or four inches taller than I was, complained.

"Ooo, me too, me too!" Another one excitedly yelled.

The rest of my siblings followed along with the first two and began pestering Mom for food. One by one she lifted us off the platform and set us on a large, sturdy looking branch. Unlike the other branches I'd seen, this one had crudely carved rails on each side. This was probably to keep people... Birds? From falling as they walked. Though I did wonder why the birds even bothered... And then I remembered how high up we were.

"You okay, Rage?" Mom asked over the cacophony of my sibling's peeps.

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"Yep, I'm fine. Totally fine. Why do you ask?"

She tilted her head to one side and I could feel the amusement in her gaze.

"Your feathers tell a different story."

"They're liars."

She chirped out a laugh and shook her head.

"Alright, Rage. We'll leave it."

"Mom, food!!" They whined.

"Yes, yes. Let's get back to the nest first, then I'll feed you to your little hearts are content."

I stood away from the group of whining chicklings as we all toddled after mom. We followed the branch for several minutes, all the while Mom and the chicklings were tweeting a lyricless song I didn't recognize. It was... Oddly pleasant to listen to.

Then we passed through an opening in the tree connected to the branch and my mind wanted to shut down...

"It's... It's a city!?"

What appeared for all the world to be a decent sized city was carved into the walls of the hollowed out tree! Stores, stalls with stallkeepers yelling about their merchandise, and various other small buildings were carved out of the tree. The entire area looked cramped when compared to a human city, as everything inside the tree seemed to be bunched up into a chaotic mess, but it seemed to work for the various birds I saw walking around.

"Come along, Rage! You can gawk later!"

"Okay!" I hurridly toddled up to them and followed along as she led us through the large crowd of birds.

"I got fresh worms over here! Fresh worms! Caught em myself just this morning!"

"Hello, ma'am! Would you like to try some of our new Roseberry perfume? Guaranteed to drive your man wild!"

"Fish here, get ya fish here!"

I tried my best to keep up with mom and the others as I gawked at the sight... So it was to no one's surprise but my own that I ran into someone.

"Oof!" I grunted as I bounced off the large furry thing I'd run into.

"Sorry."

"Hmm?" The tall furry thing asked as it turned around and looked at me.

"Is... Is that a ferret?... Why is a ferret in the bird's nest!?"

With dark brown fur covering most of its body, except for two white spots around its eyes that made it look like it was wearing glasses of some kind. The thing standing in front of me was clearly the same creature as the one I'd seen from time to time in the hospital.

"God... I'm really small!"

"Oh! Sorry about that little birdy." The tall ferret said hurriedly. "I get distracted easily." It explained in an accent I was having trouble placing.

"It's my fault. I should've been watching where I was going."

"True enough!" It replied happily as it set me on my feet. "Now, what's a little birdy like you doing out here by yourself?"

"I'm not," I began quickly. "I was following after my mom and siblings when..."

"You got distracted?" It said knowingly.

"Yes."

"Oh, well, in that case."

I squawked as the ferret lifted me into the air by gripping just under my wings. Doing so attracted a lot of attention from the nearby birds, and I could hear them begin to whisper.

"What's your name, little birdy?"

"Rage! Now, put me down!"

"Rage, got it! " It raised me high above its head and yelled. "Is anyone missing a chickling!? Goes by the name of Rage!?" Its voice pushed through the noise and the city got so quiet, so quickly, you'd think it was all in your head.

"Rage!?" I heard my mother yell.

"Welp... I'm in trouble."

"Rage!?" She yelled again.

I turned my head and saw her barreling through the onlookers like a soldier on a mission. Those that didn't immediately get out of her way, were shoved to the side as she and my siblings passed through.

"Yep, definitely in trouble."

However, before mom could start in on me. The ferret said, "Why miss Tawny, is that you?"

"Dr. Lynes!?" Mom chirped as she apparently recognized the ferret.

"The one and only." He said happily. "I take it this one is yours?"

"Yes, my youngest."

"Really!?" He held me out at arms length and inspected me from head to talon.

"Why, yes, he does bear a striking resemblance to Tahir... Mores the pity." He finished with a sigh as he set me on my feet.

Much to the disappointment of the surrounding birds, apparently, as a collective sigh escaped them and they went back to their business and left our group alone to talk.

"How long have you been back in town, Doctor?"

"A day or so."

"Well, would you like to stop by for dinner? I'm sure we could set a place for you."

"I'd love too!" He said happily. "Mind if I bring Sonny along?"

"Of course not! The more the merrier!"

"Great, I'll see you then. Bye, Rage. Try to stick closer to your mom, okay?"

"Oh, don't worry... He will." My mom said with a dangerous tone in her otherwise musical voice.

I wasn't sure if I could sweat... But I'm pretty sure I should be sweating.