“The ground is beneath you, Ira, are you a groveling insect? Pay it no heed! Mind them as they glide, or you might miss them!”

“My lady?”

Ira and Cheri made their way out of the Tabeni estate and into the city streets once again, already crawling with activity.

“The birds, Ira. One must pay respect to heaven’s messengers.”

Ira peered into the air to see two pigeons flying by. “Oh, yes, uh, they make a nice couple, don’t they?”

“Lovely. You did remember to bring the feed, didn’t you?”

He held up a fist sized sack of bird feed for the second time. “As always, my lady.”

Ira came back to the estate the previous night only to find Cheri still lying in the gardens. Exhausted, he’d gone up to bed through the quiet home. If Gon, Chunzun, or Tobirune were still up handling political affairs, they’d be in the administration building, which was always occupied by at least a few noble lords. It was a strange sight, for someone of Cheri’s stature to sleep outside like a dog, but then again, if it made her happy, Ira would not look down upon it.

Ira was awoken by a servant who’d brought him breakfast just as dawn was breaking. He’d eaten, bathed, and threw on his robes as he made his way into the gardens as quickly as his feet could carry him. By the time he arrived, late into morning, Chinya was apparently assisting Cheri smell the pink flowered bushes.

“Rise and thank the heavens,” Chinya said, grinning. “She’s all yours, Ira.”

Cheri was delighted and had Chinya fetch a bag of bird feed for them before they left the gardens.

“Where are we headed to?” Ira asked. Cheri simply hummed, not giving him an answer. She clearly hadn’t heard him, or she had heard him and hadn’t been able to parse his words, or she’d heard him and couldn’t work through whatever haze fogged her mind; whatever the answer might be, Ira didn’t feel like repeating himself. Just go along with it, he thought. Now he looked into the morning, wisps of clouds passing overhead in the great expanse. He wasn’t looking forward to another day of meandering.

They walked leisurely about various shops and districts over the next hour, Ira letting his mind wander, until he’d realized something. He recognized the building ahead of them was the central administration building.

“It seems we’ve walked in a circle, my lady.”

“What’s that? Hush now, Ira, we’re almost there.”

They stopped a few hundred paces short and turned into the courtyard of a squat building nearby the Tabeni estate. Noblemen and women bustled about it, going in and out in a hurry. Guards holding spears stood on either side of the entrance.

When Ira and Cheri got close, the guards opened the door for them and bowed. Despite their frenzy, the nobles around them made way for their passing through. Or rather, for Tsugo’s wife. Were it not for his own predicament, Ira would have more time to appreciate the normalcy of his Ginju status here. The people recognized the Ginju for what they were, and had only honor and admiration for their abilities. He supposed they were so used to interacting with Tsugo’s three offspring that ‘Ginju’ had become a somewhat mundane quality within them.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Cheri took her time on the way in, giving Ira the chance to listen in on the heated conversation some couple was having ahead of them.

No, not a couple. One had fine robes draped over a rather expansive body, while the other wore robes of wool, long black hair tossed around her face. The man seemed of noble birth and the woman only a commoner. Would such a relationship be approved of in Agriculture? Regardless, she was angry about something, and the man was growing even angrier.

“How long do you expect us to wait? It’s been eight weeks since my husband's death, eight! Spring is around the corner, and yet-”

“I apprised you earlier, pestering woman, that is not my responsibility to provide!” the man squealed, gesturing wildly. “Compensation is pulled from the funds like everything else! Punctually, I might add, and the voting ceremony isn’t appointed until next month, so pack yourself up and scram!”

The woman was red-eyed and livid, but did not fail to bow along with the nobleman as Ira and Cheri passed by.

The first thing that hit Ira once they entered was a peculiar smell. It was so faint, he couldn’t put his finger on it. Inside was an office environment much like central administration, with desks and ink and paper scrolls lying about. That constituted only a small portion of the building, however. The rest was an aviary.

It had large windows that let in plenty of sunlight and a view of the open sky. The wooden floor at the front of the building cut off a mere twenty paces in and gave way to dusty gravel. There were birds of multiple species within cages of all sizes spread throughout the area, which stretched fifty feet from one end to the other, and maybe eighty feet across the long end. Pigeons cooed, crows cawed, hummingbirds buzzed at budding flowers, and the hawks kept themselves perched with stone-faced, solemn stares.

He even spotted a few cranes mingling with peacocks, dipping into a small stream that ran from one end of the aviary to the other. People in uniform white robes tended to the creatures.

“Lady Cheri,” a man came and bowed to her, clutching parchment in one hand. “You grace us with your presence.”

“You flatter me, Lord Dan,” she replied with a grin. “Tell me, where is my Huto?”

A woman was already approaching them, a red-tailed falcon twice the size of her head roosted on her forearm. The bird, like most birds of prey, appeared perpetually angry. “He’s missed you, my lady.”

“Heaven and earth, he’s grown so big! And look how adorable he’s gotten!” She took and slipped on a glove from the woman, letting the falcon hop onto her knuckles. “He deserves a treat. Ira, fetch me that feed. You did remember it, didn’t you?”

Ira handed her the bag and she snatched it with glee, holding it up to the bird's beak. The bird consumed it in a pecking motion, its all-encompassing hatred momentarily satisfied.

Ira grew more annoyed by the second. The longer he stood there, the more he felt like he was becoming this woman’s dog. He always honored the elderly, but the more he stood at her side, the more exasperated he grew.

“Messenger number thirty-four fast incoming!” someone announced from the back of the aviary. All heads turned towards the announcer as Ira watched the sky outside the opened window. A few crows cawed. Lord Dan and the woman both froze, then briskly made their way over gravel to the man who had shouted.

“Thirty-four?”

“That means…”

Before long, most of the caretakers surrounded the man in a mass of white.

“A messenger bird? Where’s it from?” Ira asked, heart thumping.

“Shssh,” Cheri replied. “Hush now, Ira, Huto’s feeding.”

A hawk appeared at the window beating its wings as it hovered above the caretakers. It landed gently on the fist of its master, a piece of parchment attached to its left leg. The man removed the parchment, and as quickly as he could, unfurled it. His eyes ran over it for only a second before the second announcement.

“It's news from Lord Tsugo himself! The battle of the Hijimata hills was a victory! Our troops are on their way back as we speak, while Lord Tsugo will stay in Forgery with our new allies to help join them with our cause. The returning army is only a half-day’s march away!”