-Kestrel-

The soft, rising sunlight cast a flush of orange across my room, making everything seem warm and peaceful. Birds sang and chirped as they skitted from branch to branch in the lazy breeze. Blankets held me in their snuggly embrace. It was the perfect scene where you could just lie in bed for hours, somewhere between sleep and awake, and just soak in the serenity.

Unless you have a sister shaking your shoulder.

“Kestrel, please get up,” Wren pleaded. “We have to get going.”

“Ugh, nooooooo… Let me sleep…”

Wren shook me a little harder. “Please? Mom won’t be happy if you fall asleep again. So come on.”

“Kestrel is currently out in the field. Please leave a note and I’ll make sure she gets it eventually.”

“That isn’t funny! We have to go!”

“You’ll never get me out of this blanket cocoon, and you know it,” I hissed, drawing my shell of blankets tighter around me. “I’ll get up after I turn into a butterfly.”

Wren sighed but asked, “And how long will that be?”

“About four to seven hours, give or take,” I replied nonchalantly. “In the meantime, enjoy the meeting.” I turned on my side where Wren couldn’t see my face.

I heard Wren sigh again as a knock came from the door in the hall. Wren left, leaving me to snuggle even further into my cocoon. I heard my sister talk with someone for about a minute before footsteps re-entered the room. “Wren, I’m not getting up, so just go on and I’ll catch-”

I was lifted, blankets and all, into the air by someone who was definitely much stronger than Wren. I tried to squirm out of their grasp, but I was trapped in my own cocoon! I was thrown over their shoulder like a sack, and they strode out of my room. I struggled against the blankets and the new person, but their arm wouldn’t budge. Something smacked me in the face. I pulled my face back to see blue feathers.

That jerk.

“Cyane! Put me down!” I demanded while pounding against his back with an arm I had managed to free.

He didn’t reply; instead, he entered the dining room, Wren on his heels. I was about to protest again, but I was suddenly flung off his shoulder. In about five seconds, I was untangled from the blankets, plopped in a chair at the table, and had a plate piled with eggs and fruit in front of me. Cyane sat at the other end, and Wren started folding the blankets before setting them on an empty chair.

Cyane shrugged and said, “Wren told you to get up.”

“I said five more minutes,” I tried to be angry, but I started yawning, so the effect was lost.

“So does Cal, but he always ends up sawing logs the next second. So do you. Huh.” He twirled a feather that had fallen from his wing between his fingers. “Sometimes I realize how much you two are alike. Maybe I should reconsider my life choices.”

“I don’t know whether I should be insulted, complemented, or kinda disgusted.”

“Anyway,” Cyane drawled, “We did let you sleep for about half an hour. Now you really need to get ready. Mom will absolutely lose it if I didn’t get you two there on time.”

I groaned, letting a crushed mash of fruit fall back onto the plate. “Do we have to go? It’ll be soooooooooooo booooooooring!”

“Of course it is, but we have to go. It’s important that we help Mom uphold her image.”

I flicked a mango chunk at his head, hitting his shoulder by accident. “Please, everyone loves her. I don’t get it, but I guess the rest of the Harpies like an overwhelming, frantic workaholic. She’ll be fine without all of us.”

Cyane picked up the mango, returning it with a flick of his wrist. It hit me square on the nose. “It looks better when we’re all there.” Wren nodded quietly from her seat. “Plus, I hear there’s going to be a special guest.”

“Oh please, like that’ll work.” I threw half of a strawberry and it landed in his ever-tussled feathers on his head. “The last ‘special guest’ turned out to be an ambassador talking about trades with the Hurpiti. It was so boring, I think some of the council members fell asleep! Nope, not happening.”

“Kes,” Cyane said slowly, picking off the strawberry and tossing it in my lap. “If you don’t go, it’ll be your head.”

I groaned, my chin dropping onto the table. “It’s not like we have an actual effect. We show up, support mom, and sit there of hours on end! So what if I want to miss this one meeting? There’ll be others that are just as boring.”

Cyane sighed. Wren wrung her hands as she watched us. They know I’m right. Our attendance is just a show that’s pointless. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would notice if none of us showed up, but we’ll earn mom good graces if we do. It’s not like she’s using us; she loves us and she’s a great mom. It just feels so… empty. Like a trophy, something to display that doesn’t have any use. I don’t like that feeling.

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Right now, I really want to fly.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Neither of them tried to argue, but they clearly weren’t ready to give up. After another moment, Cyane shook out his wings. “Alright, I guess you don’t have to go,” I perked up, surprised that he relented. “But,” Of course there was a ‘but.’ “That also means I’ll have to take my offer off the table.”

My curiosity peaked, I leaned forward, the feathers on my head beginning to rise. “‘Offer?’ What offer?”

Cyane sat back in his seat, resting his feet on the table as the chair’s front legs lifted off the ground. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested.”

“Try me.”

“Well, Cal and I really want to make sure that everything goes right in Wake, so we were planning on spending a month away to prepare. Turns out, the Harpies are having this major trade route negotiations with the Naiads coming up so I won’t be able to go. Cal’s still going, but he doesn’t want to spend that whole time by himself. So… he says he wants you to join him.” His wings flapped as he spilled the last detail. “Interested?”

My head was buzzing, my feathers at full alert. My wings had completely unfurled, twitching in excitement. “Of course! I’d love to go!”

Cyane smirked. “I knew you would. You just have to sit through the meeting and you’re good to -”

I was out of the kitchen before he finished his sentence, my feet feeling like they were floating. Weeks of just me and Cal in Wake? Planning his wedding and seeing the city? Of course, I want to go! Who cares about some boring meeting? I won’t miss this!

What are we going to see? What are we going to do? Can I actually make Cyane wear a bow? Oh, I can’t wait!

----------------------------------------

I regret everything.

I had stuffed myself into some nice dress and shoes, flown to the Nest, and sat for three hours without complaining. As Finch droned on about harvest projections, my mind felt like it was being weighed down by stone blocks. The previous guy had even made fighting drills sound boring! How do you make descriptions of stabbing and mauling dull? How?

I looked to my right to see myself reflected in my siblings. Wren, for her best effort, had managed to appear like she was listening. Eyes fully on the speaker, sitting comfortably in her seat, she looked completely professional in her neatly cut jacket and slacks. A little fact about my sister: she could sleep with her eyes open. If I listen closely, I could hear all too steady breathing. I was tempted to wake her up, but Wren didn’t need to suffer.

Cyane had a few papers in front of him, but he had given up on taking notes since the speaker covering trade and communications with the Hurpiti had finished his lecture. Even though he had a job in the communications and alliance division, Cyane didn’t need to listen to every single announcement. Currently, his elbow was propped up on the desk, his head in his right hand, his left twirling the pen.

I groaned, head in my left hand, as Finch finished. When the next Harpy took the center, I was hoping for an interesting topic, but it turned out to be education reforms. I glanced around at the semi-circle of desks built into the floor, each one of every raised level occupied. It crossed my mind once again that the lecture hall was built like a theater, facing a sunken stage and back wall, but held none of the entertainment.

I sunk into a stupor as more Harpies came and went, delivering whatever information they had. At one point, Cyane was taking notes again, but he joined me in boredom soon after. As a brown feathered Harpy stepped off the stage, I heard a flap of wings from the middle of the hall. I saw a large male Harpy with white feathers outlined in black land on the stage. Instantly, my attention was fully on him. A glance at Cyane told me it was the same case with him. Even Wren had woken up at his entrance.

This is Crane, one of the Wise Trio and head of Canopy. If he had something to say, then it was worth listening.

He cleared his throat and began to speak, his voice booming from the rooms excellent acoustics. “I thank you all for attending this council meeting today. While we’ve of course attended to all the normal proceedings, there is another matter that we must inform you of.”

Murmurs arose from the gathered audience. Cyane, Wren and I exchanged curious glances. I remembered Cyane had mentioned a special guest earlier. Is that what this is about?

Crane let the noise quiet down before he spoke again. “Since our last gathering, we’ve had an encounter with an interesting individual. She carried information that we thought was best to be shared among all of you. If what she has to tell comes to pass, it could lead to an unstable future for Canopy.”

I was hovering over my seat, anxious to see what happened next.

Crane nodded to a guard at the entrance. She exited, leaving the room in another chorus of chattering and speculation. I turned to Cyane. “Do you know what this about?”

He shook his head. “I heard that we had a guest speaker, but that’s it. I don’t know the specifics.”

The doors opened, the guard escorting a girl at her side. Gasps rang up from the crowd, Wren and I among them. The girl had pale skin, as in white as milk skin. But she had patches of discoloration along her face and every exposed limp. These patches were the mixture of purple, blue and black that made up the night sky, and I could even see miniature stars within these spots of the night. Her hair was a blending of pink and purple, held back in two incredibly long braids tied together at her waist.

When she reached the stage, she turned and I saw her eyes: a shifting swirl of crystal and gray. She faced the crowd in a cloak, her feet bare. She didn’t seem excited or nervous or afraid, but I could see the tension in her posture.

Crane spoke once more to the stunned audience. “This here is Lumi, and she came to us seeking shelter about a month ago. Lumi was being pursued by those who wished to use her gifts for themselves. We took her in, tended to her wounds, fed her, and gave her a room to sleep.”

“Why is this the first time we’ve heard about her?” A voice called from the stands. His outburst was followed by a dozen more complaints.

Crane held up his hand. They fell silent. “We, being the Wise Trio, believed it was best to keep Miss Lumi here a secret until we were certain of her well being.” Crane seemed to look every Harpy in the eye, his gaze was steely and unrelenting. “We apologize for keeping you in the dark, but someone like Miss Lumi deserves to have the utmost security. She had been through a great terror and wished only to recover. Do any of you doubt the intentions of the members of the Wise Trio?”

No one retorted Crane. No one spoke. Crane had complete control of their focus, and it was all strained towards his words. “Now that we are assured of Miss Lumi’s welfare, she has offered us important information that all of you must hear.” He turned towards Lumi. “I believe it’s your turn, Miss Lumi.”

Lumi stepped forward, everyone’s gaze shifting to her. They were enraptured, utterly fascinated by what lay before them. It was as if this Lumi held the whole world in her hands.

And how could they not react like this? After all, standing in front of us is a Seer, the tribe that speaks prophecies. Those that see the past and future in full display.