Walking through the dry salt-flats, I wondered if Mordo had been right.

Surely not, right?

I mean, I had no doubt that Miss Beak was still alive. Even if it had been hundreds of years. I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone, or anything, being able to kill her. Not after she had absorbed both of her parent’s hearts, and all the other hearts I’ve fed her throughout the years.

I’d never told anyone in the Society about any of my friends, or even any of my accomplishments or failures. Not even Celine knew, at least… not thanks to my telling her of it. I had a suspicion her damnable prophecies had revealed more to her than I would have ever allowed without great duress, but there was nothing I could do about that. I wasn’t going to kill her over what she dreamed about. IT wasn’t like she could control such a thing. And for as long as she kept it all a secret and told no one, especially me, about them… then…

A huge crack appeared before me. I stepped over it and wondered how deep it went. There was some strange cool wind coming up from it, which told me it led to some cavern of some kind.

Although interested, I didn’t allow my curiosity to survive longer than a moment. I couldn’t dawdle. Not here. Not now.

I had recently joined Celine’s stupid social experiment. And although I had recently finished helping Mordo move his family to better pastures, rather safer canyons, I had no time to rest. The Society was growing at a breakneck pace, and even I wasn’t able to keep up anymore.

Still I couldn’t resist verifying what that old camel had told me. Even if I couldn’t believe it.

He had told me a story of a giant pink monarch bird he had seen from a distance, many years ago. Here in these flats.

Who it could be was obvious, but I mean… Miss Beak? Out here?

Living in a salt flat? All alone? It was hard to believe.

She had loved fruit, and other tasty foods. Enough to scare entire villages, human and non-human alike, into utter servitude on accident as she asked them for some. I simply couldn’t envision her living out here in a near lifeless desert such as this. She was a inquisitive creature, even in her older age, so what would she spend her time on out here? Nothing to contemplate or study. Nothing to amuse herself with.

Surely not. Or if he had seen her, it had surely just been a sighting from a distance as she traversed from one place to another. For one reason or another.

“The old camel has never lied to me before, though,” I mumbled as I stepped over a large clump of rocks. They had hardened together with sediment. It was regrettably the reason I liked that damned old coot. Him and his wife were, regretfully, great and honest people. Hardworking too.

Huffing out some dry air, I felt a tiny sense of excitement. It was dry out here. Even for a desert salt-flat.

I’d been walking through these salt-flats for about a day now, and although my pace wasn’t the quickest I wasn’t walking slowly. I could see the distant far off mountains on the other side of the dried lake, and knew at this pace I’d likely reach them in the next couple days.

If I didn’t see any feathers or signs of her soon then the odds of her actually being out here…

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Some birds flew up into the sky in the distance, and I instantly focused on them. The countless birds flapped in a way that were immediately recognizable.

“Flamingos… but tiny,” I whispered as I stared at the flock in the distance.

There was no way Miss Beak was amongst them. Though would she even gather with normal flamingos in the first place? It wasn’t like she was a basic animal. She had been, or at least grown into, one of the wisest creatures I’d known and…

A distant roar made me spin on a heel, and for the tiniest moment I expected some kind of enemy… but as I peered through a huge cloud of dust and sediment, at the creature flying straight at me, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Really,” I whispered in awe as Miss Beak flew towards me.

She flew fast. A single blink of an eye and her dust cloud grew. Another blink and she doubled in size.

Then before I knew it, she was skidding to a stop right upon me.

A huge beak slammed into me, lifting me up into the sky as she squawked wordlessly at me.

“It’s good to see you too!” I shouted as I felt her break bones, particularly my ribs. I’d never fault her though, she was just too big. Too strong. And she knew I’d be fine.

Plus what were a few bones between friends?

“Vim! Vim!” Miss Beak’s voice sounded far deeper than I had remembered, even with it being upper pitched in excitement. I could hear the pure emotion in her voice, and knew if she was capable of it she’d likely be shedding tears at the moment.

Even I felt like doing so.

I hugged her beak as she swayed and spun a little, flapping her wings wildly. “Where have you been! Vim!”

“In the ocean. Or well, past the ocean, I guess,” I said as my whole world shook every which way as she spun me. I barely held on as my bones began to heal and return to their proper places.

It didn’t take too long for her to calm down, but she didn’t place me down. She kept her head up high, as I remained clinging to her beak. “I’d almost decided to come looking for you! You said you’d be gone for a few years Vim, it’s been far longer than that!” she shouted angrily.

Oh. Right. Woops.

“Well I actually returned a bit ago… Sorry about that. But it’s not my whole fault, I wasn’t sure how to find you,” I defended myself quickly as I sat up, sitting on her beak as I went to staring into her eyes.

They were huge now. Nearly as big as me.

Wondrous.

“Never stopped you before! How many times had you found my parents even as they fled and hid? That’s such an unfair statement!” she said, but I heard not an ounce of anger in her voice. She sounded absolutely delighted.

“Well, yes. That is true,” I admitted.

“Hmph!” she huffed at me, hard enough to nearly knock me off her beak.

I laughed a little, and suddenly felt strangely happy.

Why had I taken so long to come find her? That hadn’t just been rude of me, it had been stupid.

I could have used her help.

“I’m glad I found you, my friend. I hope you’re mind is as sharp as ever,” I said.

“Sharpest it’s ever been!” she said.

Good. Very good.

Taking a deep breath, I sighed and smiled at my friend. I wasn’t sure where to begin. I had so much to tell her.

About why I had fled to the corner of the world, alone. Why I’d returned. Who I had ran into, and the burden I had taken upon myself. The Society, the failures, the hope.

I had so much to say. And even though she and I had more time than likely anyone else in the world… I still felt as if I had no time at all to share it.

“Welcome back, Vim,” she then said, before I could say anything similar.

I blinked, and felt strangely humbled as I nodded. “Thanks. It feels good to be back,” I said.