29. Jaybirds

Jaden paused for a moment from tilling the soil, wiping sweat from their brow with the back of one arm. Smearing a line of sweat and dirt across their forehead. The terrestrial leans on their hoe, listening with ears cocked sideways as a cacophony of bird noise rises from the orchard behind the house. It's not birdsong that would be a pleasant sound, generally speaking. This is a riot of squawks and screams, unlike any they've heard before.

It had been less than a week since Jaden and Vervain had cleared the last of the edible fruit from the trees and bushes, all that had been left were fruits too small to ripen in time, and fruits gone much too ripe, and rotten. Windfallen and bug-eaten. There were plans of doing a clean up, starting a compost heap, before the chill of winter set in, but there were many chores to do that needed to come first and so the orchards had been left to rest as it was.

Jaden had noticed the slow increase of bird activity over the course of the week, they were a noisy lot, but never this noisy. Deciding to be nosy, they moved quietly, walking around one side of the house and peering into the orchards, trying to stay mostly hidden. The trees and bushes and even the fence line were full of jaybirds, they were pecking at the fruit, the ground, eachother. An ocean of blues and greens, some purple and even iridescent birds among the numbers.

Never had Jaden seen, nor heard of so many gathering in one place, they were usually seen in small flocks and family groups, when not owned as individuals by kitsu. It must be for the bounty of fruits and bugs, they thought to themself.

As quietly as they'd arrived, Jaden left the birds to their business, returning to the tilling chore that needed to be done. So long as the birds stayed in the orchard and didn't bother the rest of their gardens, they had no problem with the giant flock.

When the tilling was done, Jaden raked the soil flat and went to put their tools away in the barn. They took a few minutes to get cleaned up, not wanting to track dirt inside the house.

Once they were inside, Jaden headed directly into the kitchen, to get something nice to drink. Vervain wasn't in the kitchen, but rather was seated on a pillow pile, making things with scrap yarn.

"Do jaybirds fly south for the winter?" Jaden asked, plopping themself down on the couch and leaning on some pillows, so nice to be comfortable after all of that work.

"Ah? Um… honestly, I have no idea." Vervain glanced up from the project in their hands, ears flicking as they thought about it. "Why do you ask?"

"There's a whole bunch, just so many gathered in the orchard, and I just wondered. I hope they don't plan on overwintering here. If they move on after eating the rot and the pests that'd be for the best. I don't want them messing with our autumn or winter gardens, you know?"

"That would be a problem." Vervain hummed. "Best we can do is wait and see what happens, or ask someone in town?"

Jaden nodded. As far as they were concerned, they were nice birds, at least so far. "I wonder what it's like, having one for a pet… or one of those cat-creatures? That might be better, for scaring off the birds, and herding the baa." 

They both laughed, Jaden settled in for a nap, and Vervain continued knotting and tying the yarn.

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