Kira sat in the branches of a tree, watching the moon. It was refreshing to see it in all of its glory after so many months of imprisonment. Its light invigorated her, and even when it was gone, the stars kept her company. She found herself wistfully imagining her and Deya flying through the clouds together, laughing and diving through the wispy clouds.

But when she opened her eyes, she found empty sky and aching loneliness.

Kira knew it wasn’t fair to her friends. They were amazing and kind, and each one had a special place in her heart. But nothing could fill the hole that Deya had left when she disappeared into the fog below Kira’s paws.

A shadow passing by shook Kira from her revere, and she scanned the sky, her eyes sharpening. The illumination of a feathered wing caught her eye, and she realized that Laila was out for a midnight hunt. The falcon spent most of her time in the sky, and when she was on the ground, she was irritable and grumpy—even more so than usual. The closer they got to the Jungle, the worse she was. It was almost like she was dreading their destination.

As Kira watched, Laila tucked in her wings and dove, like a missile heading for its target. She was a blur, faster than anything Kira had ever seen. The pure amount of speed behind Laila’s tail feathers was phenomenal. She disappeared into the trees, and then shot back up to the sky with something caught in her talons. Kira really hoped that it wasn’t a rodent, but she doubted that Laila would do something like that.

Kira sighed. Laila, Rogue, Maximon, and her had to sustain themselves on berries and vegetables and small fish, the only food that was in the rodent lands. Kira was always hungry, and she could tell that her friends felt the same.

Well, except for Liraz. The little bat could eat anything and everything, and it didn’t matter how much he ate. To be fair, he was tiny, so he didn’t need that much. But even with the food shortage, he had bunches of energy.

Kira sighed, then flared her wings and launched off the branch she was on, spiraling down silently to lie on the ground. She closed her eyes, curled up in a ball, and slowly drifted to sleep, restlessly fighting off the images of fire and blood that she saw every night.

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Morning dawned, the birds singing their welcome song to the rays of warmth that greeted Kira when she opened her eyes.

Then a bat smacked into her face.

“AACK!” Kira yelped, scrambling backwards onto her feet. Then her brain woke up, and she stood still, panting heavily. “Liraz…?”

“Morning!!” Liraz chirruped, peeling himself off of her eye lids and grinning at her. From his perch on her snout. “Isn’t it LOVELY? It hurts my eyes a lot, but I like pain! I don’t know how you diurnal animals deal with it your whole lives, though. Nights are so much calmer!”

“Yes, they are, Liraz,” Kira agreed, sighing inwardly as she gently shoved him off of her nose. “Now why don’t you go scout around and tell me how close we are to Avaye?”

“Ok!” Liraz cried cheerfully, then flapped off into the trees, smacking into branches as he flew. Kira watched him until he was out of her sight, then sniffed the air for any possible food.

“Splendid morning, isn’t it?” Maximon hissed, slithering from behind a tree and giving Kira a curious, yet knowing glance.

Kira nodded, her tail flipping from side to side as she stared at the sunbeams peeking through the leaves.

“Rogue is that way,” Maximon said, pointing his tail to the trees. “There’s a berry patch there.”

“Thanks, Maximon,” Kira said, relieved that there was some food nearby.

“No problem,” he said, absentmindedly gazing at a snail on a mossy rock.

Kira left him there, walking in the direction that he pointed in. After a minute or two, she found the berry patch he was talking about, and Rogue as well.

“Ugh.” Rogue gagged down a few berries. “These are so sour and weird. I hate not being able to eat any meat.”

“Me too,” Kira agreed. “Though berries aren’t so bad. They’re just more of an acquired taste, I guess.”

“You’re right about that,” Rogue agreed, grimacing as he swallowed another berry.

Kira began to bite off her own berries, making a face as well at their bitterness. “We’re getting close,” she said after swallowing. “I sent Liraz off to check how far away the border is.”

Rogue chuckled. “Did he wake you up, too?”

Kira nodded, grinning.

Just then, they could hear quite flapping from the trees. Liraz emerged, smiling. “We’re really close to Avaye!” he announced. “All we have to do is pass a small mountain, and then we’ll be in the Bird Lands.”

“Thank you, Liraz,” Kira said, wiping her mouth with her paw and then gazing at the sky. “We should be able to make it by sundown, I believe.”

“Excellent,” Maximon said, slithering into the berry clearing. “Based on our speed, it should take about a week to get to the prison where they are holding your friend, or at least where Cyfrin said it would be.”

Kira’s spirits dampened slightly. A whole week? And they didn’t even know if that was the actual prison. What if it wasn’t, and they could never find Deya?

She pushed aside those thoughts and put on a smile for the sake of her friends, who were gazing at her expectantly. “That’s great! I’ll go tell Laila.”

Kira spread her colored plumage and took off, flying in circles to gain altitude.

“Laila!” she called, looking from side to side. “Where are you?”

Laila flew to her side very suddenly, causing Kira to drop a few feet in surprise. “What is it?”

“We’ll reach our destination in about a week,” Kira told her. “We’re really close to Avaye. Liraz says we just have to pass a mountain.”

Laila nodded, looking a bit distant. “That’s…great, I guess.” In that moment, her voice changed. Instead of the usual emotionless words she used, there was meaning behind her sentence—fear…or dread.

They were both silent for a minute, listening to the wind whistling in their ears.

“Laila, what’s up?” Kira finally asked. “You seem so unenthusiastic. I know that’s kind of, like, your thing, but this is weird, even for you.”

“What?” Laila asked, acting like she hadn’t heard.

“Laila…do you not want us to succeed?”

There was another long beat of silence.

“No…it’s not that.” Laila wouldn’t make eye contact. “Kira, you…you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.” Kira flipped on her belly and flew under Laila, giving her a determined stare.

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“No, it’s fine.” Laila evaded her, flapping her wings and flying higher. “I’ll follow you guys from above.” Her voice was back to normal, and she drifted away from Kira, the wind whipping her spread tail feathers behind her.

Kira narrowed her eyes at the shrinking falcon figure in the sky. There was something wrong with Laila, and she was going to find out.

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That day, they passed the mountain, like Liraz had said. Very little to no rodents were out and about, which surprised Kira. It wasn’t like any territory of Cyalia to be deserted, and she wondered if it was an omen or simply coincidence.

“Look!” Rogue said, pointing. Kira looked, and there was light beyond the forest. Her ears picked up the sound of roaring water in the cool breeze of the setting sun.

“Let’s go!” she said, picking up speed as she walked. Her friends followed in her wake, with Liraz flapping right on her tail.

They emerged out of the forest right on the edge of the Nexus. It was very wide here, but not incredibly fast. Kira flew over and waited for the others, just like last time.

There were trees on this side of the Nexus as well, which surprised Kira a bit. She had been expecting the large, open field that had greeted her when she first came out of Aya.

Welcome to Avaye, the Bird Lands, Deya’s words echoed in her head. For a second, she could still feel the Dragon’s presence, lighting up the scene around her and making everything better. But then the illusion disappeared like a wisp of smoke, and Kira was left with a large, empty feeling in her gut.

Water droplets hit her from behind as Rogue shook the water off of his fur. “Where are we in the Bird Lands?” he wondered, looking around.

“The very southern edge, close to the edge of the Plains,” Maximon answered as he joined them on land. Liraz followed behind them, burbling something about sparkly water.

“We won’t be in Avaye for very long,” Kira said. “But we need to rest for the night. The sun is long gone, and I don’t know what animals are lurking around nowadays.”

Everyone nodded, and Kira found a nice area for them to rest for the night. She fell asleep in her usual curled position, thinking about how weird it was that everyone followed her instructions.

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The singing of birds did not greet Kira in the morning, rather the buzzing of insects—in the trees, on the ground, and swarming in the air. The earth was covered in dew and wiggling worms making their descent back into the ground.

Kira yawned and stretched, then realized that she was the first one awake. Now that she heard all the bugs, she wondered how she could have stayed asleep at all.

She heard a rustling from her side. I’m not the first one up, apparently, she thought. She turned and saw bird prints in the dirt where someone had just stepped.

Laila.

Kira followed the tracks, which led towards the north edge of the trees. I wonder where she’s going.

After five minutes, Kira reached the Plains, crouching in the bushes. The tall grass waved back and forth in the ripples of wind, waving cheerily to the sun. Butterflies, bees, and all sorts of insects made the grass teem with life. Laila sat at the edge of it all, gazing at the horizon.

Kira’s suspicions immediately dissolved. She misses her home.

The falcon stayed sitting there, looking longingly at the Plains.

After a while, Kira became confused. Why doesn’t she just go back if she wants to so much? She knows that she doesn’t have to stay with me.

Finally, Laila took a deep breath and stepped out into the fields, looking around happily. She spread and folded her wings, stomping her feet and then lifting her talon to look at it.

Suddenly, there was a screech from above, and Laila shrank back in fear. Another falcon shot down from the sky and landed next to her, flaring her wings to stop her momentum.

Kira gasped, though no one heard her. The resemblance between Laila and this new falcon was phenomenal. They were the same purple color, though this bird had more grey than Laila did. But they had the same expression, the same feather pattern, and the same eyes. Only, this bird looked more smug, while Laila looked emotionless. And also, Laila’s talons were bloodstained, while this falcon’s feet were pristine.

“So,” the falcon said, drawing out the word and smirking at Laila. “The disappointment comes back, though we told her not to.”

Another falcon, a male, dropped down as well, also with a sassy look on his face. He too bared a strong resemblance to Laila. Kira was beginning to like these new birds less and less. “Mother will be soooo interested. Her least favorite chick, back again! What a day!”

“Hello to you too, Prudence and Etain,” Laila grumbled. “And I’m just passing through with some friends.”

“You have friends?” the female falcon (Etain?) gasped theatrically, then giggled. “Yeah right. You’ve come back to annoy us again!”

Prudence cackled with her, then used his talons to swipe Laila’s face. She flinched, but not fast enough, and soon there was blood running down her cheek.

“HEY!” Kira shouted, pouncing out of her spot in the bushes and onto Prudence, growling and snapping her teeth.

“Kira!” Laila cried, at the same time as Prudence shouted, “What is this feathered piece of shizernoodles?!”

Prudence wiggled his talons in between his body and Kira’s, then threw her off of him with all his might. Kira spread her wings to catch herself, then skidded on the ground, baring her teeth.

“Who is this?” Etain demanded, glaring at Kira.

“My friend,” Laila said miserably. “Kira, you shouldn’t have stepped in! I can handle this on my own!”

“Oh yeah? Like you handled that?” Kira challenged, pointing to the scratch on Laila’s cheek.

Laila looked at her talons.

Etain snorted, then looked up. “Oh, good,” she said with an air of triumph. “Mother’s coming!”

They all looked up to see a giant falcon descending upon them, with viciously sharp talons and a beak that could slice deer open with a single jerk of her head. Her eyes were haughty and heartless, and her feathers were purple with grey tips. She was almost twice the size of Laila, and looked down on her disdainfully as she landed amongst them.

“Ugh. You again?” she said, raising an eyebrow. She scanned the area around them, and her eyes fell on Kira. “Oooh. What is this?”

“We found her, Mother,” Etain said proudly, gesturing a wing to Laila. “Just like you asked us too.”

“Yes, yes.” The falcon waved her talons carelessly, her eyes still on Kira. “I guess you aren’t that much of a disappointment.”

Prudence groaned and got to his feet, shaking his feathers.

“You!” the mother falcon snapped at him. “You let yourself get surprised by this ball of pacifist fluff?”

Kira scoffed in offense. “I am not—"

“Yes, Mother,” Prudence admitted. “But it will not happen again, I promise.”

“It better not,” the falcon agreed. Then she turned to Kira and her friend. “Laila,” she said, like it was a byword. “You’re back. Didn’t I tell you to leave here forever, you worthless piece of dirt?”

“Don’t talk to my friend like that,” Kira said fiercely, before Laila could answer. “She’s not worthless. She’s certainly better than you, you vain chicken!”

“You DARE?” The falcon ruffled her feathers and spread her wings, scowling at Kira with the force of a laser beam.

But Kira didn’t back down. “You leave her alone. We’re on a mission, one that will affect all of Cyalia. So unless you want your home to go down in flames, you will leave right now.”

“Is that a threat?” the falcon asked, amused. “I will have you know, I am trained in the battle tactics of my ancestors. I could strike you down right now if I wanted. You should be bowing down to me, grateful to be alive. Just because you have…whatever that hideous plumage is, doesn’t make you better than me. I, the one and only Louvayn, am the greatest!”

“No, you aren’t,” Laila said, glaring. “I’ve met creatures far better than you, Falcon-Who-Doesn’t-Deserve-To-Be-Called-My-Mother. Creatures of the lowliest places, with no families or ties. You don’t scare me anymore. I was your servant for years, groveling pathetically at your feet. But that chick is gone.”

“Aww,” Etain drawled in a baby voice. “The wittle chick has finally gwown up!”

“You think you’re so tough because of those bloodstains?” Prudence mocked.

“Face it, Disappointment,” Louvayn said, examining her talons. “You’ll never get rid of me. And now I can make you my servant again, as your punishment for returning without my permission.”

“No, you won’t,” Kira growled, her hackles raising. “Not if I have something to say about it.”

Louvayn laughed. “Oh? And what are you going to do?”

“This.” Kira felt the energy inside her grow hot, and her eyes went white.

But before she could deliver the magic blow, Laila yelled, “Kira, wait!”

Kira felt her magic dissipate, and she looked at the terrified falcon. “What?”

“Don’t do it,” Laila said. “We have a no killing policy, remember?”

Kira looked from Laila to Louvayn. “But…”

“Leave her be,” Laila instructed. “We’ll go on our way. I don’t plan on ever seeing them again. Just…just don’t kill them, okay?”

“Okay…” Kira said hesitantly.

“Aww, she cares about us!” Etain smirked at them. “Whatever. I’m fine with never seeing you again. But whatever Mother says.”

They all looked to Louvayn, who looked slightly shaken but was hiding it well. “Fine. But if we do cross paths again…”

“I’ll show you what my favorite snack looks like, front row seats,” Kira snarled. “Come on, Laila. Let’s get away from these losers.”

They walked back to the clearing rather than fly to it, both silent. Kira’s heart ached for Laila, and she kept wondering what it would be like to live in a family that horrible.

They reached the trees bordering the clearing and paused.

“Kira…” Laila began. “I just wanted to say…thanks.”

Kira smiled. “Any time.”