Friends of a Feather

Friends of a Feather 

As the sun slowly rose into the sky, a small kit slumped out the door of their home in the village, ears laid back close to their head. They didn't -want- to go and do chores, chores were boring and they'd rather play with their siblings. Plus, there was the not so small issue of THAT chore. The one they always tried to trade off with someone. But it seemed their sibs had had enough of that and no one would trade with them today. Arden sighed heavily, walking as if they were carrying a thousand pound weight on their tiny shoulders. Life was not FAIR!

Still, they knew they wouldnt be allowed to do anything fun until everything was done. They started with easy things - sweep outside the door, check if laundry was dry yet (it wasn't, they'd have to come back to that later), and clean the front window. The other windows would be cleaned by their sibs.

Now, they had a problem, though. It was time... To feed the fyrehens. They turned toward the coop, then stopped, frozen in place and chewing on their lip so hard they almost made it bleed. Why.... Why did they have to be the one to do this? A shiver ran down their spine as the Roo of the group strutted across the small yard. They -hated- birds, hated hated them. Birds were so... So -weird-, they moved weird and made weird noises and...

Okay, they were SCARY. Arden wouldn't say it out loud to their parents or sibs, or even themself, but they were absolutely terrified of birds. Any birds. All birds. They knew it was silly, they had no good reason to be afraid. No bird had ever hurt them, nothing had happened... They just. Were scared. It was so stupid and frustrating. Especially because it was so obvious that everyone else in their family loved birds. Their parents had a pet Jaybird, along with the fyrehens, and all their other sibs would spend hours playing with it if allowed. Arden would rather read, or draw, or do literally anything else. Anytime the Jay flew into a room they were in, the kit would find some excuse to leave.

So, yes... Anyway. "Get on with it, you idiot!" Arden muttered, trying to psyche themself up. "Nothing is gonna happen!" Slowly, they moved one hind paw forward, then the other, it was so hard to move they seemed to be pushing against some physical object. "Ihatethis Ihatethis Ihatethis," they chanted, finally running the last few steps toward the coop and quite literally throwing the food at it as hard and fast as they could before sprinting back the way they came, tears born from fear, stress and frustration streaming down their muzzle.

Just as they were about to retreat into the house (and then their room) to try and calm down, they spotted one of their sibs coming around the corner. No no no, they couldn't let anyone see them like this, because then they'd be asked what was wrong and they absolutely COULD NOT explain. If their parents, especially, found out about their stupid, silly fear, they would be really sad. And Arden loved their parents and didn't want that.

So they kept running, past the house and into the woods outside town, not even hearing if their sib called out to them. Vision blurred by tears, they ran until they nearly smacked into a tree, then sank down onto the ground with a miserable sob. "Why am I like this...?"

A chirp answered them. They looked up, wide eyed, to see a Jaybird on the ground not even two feet away with its head tilted as if to ask 'what's wrong?'. With a shriek, Arden scrambled backwards, tails underneath them as they scooted along the ground as fast as possible. "No, stay away!" they yelped at the bird. This was the WORST, Jaybirds were supposed to be rare or something, why was there one right here, right now?!

And of course, moving backwards, the kit had no idea they were headed right for a small cliff... A cliff that dropped them into an ice cold creek at the bottom. The shock of the fall plus the cold water had Arden shrieking again, which earned them a good lungful of water. Normally the creek wasn't that deep, but it had rained recently so the water was over the young kit's head at the point. Struggling back to the surface, they coughed and gasped, trying to get out, but there was no good place to go since the cliff rose on both sides. Arden did know how to swim, but they'd only practiced in small safe ponds... Nothing like this rushing, icy water.

Starting to panic now, with no obvious way out, Arden screamed "HELP, HELP ME!," forgetting to kick for a moment and going under the water again. They managed to claw their way back to the surface again, chest hurting now due to all the water they'd inhaled, plus the screaming. Their eyes darted around in terror, as their thoughts spiraled into thinking they might die.

Just then, a spot of bright color caught their gaze, bobbing and weaving over the water. With blurred vision, their panicked mind latched onto the spot of color and their body started to follow it without conscious thought. It wasn't until their paws hit dirt and they scrambled up a bank on sheer instinct that they figured out what happened.

Laying on the ground, soaked and shivering, still gasping for air, they blinked water from their eyes and looked up. The same Jaybird from before landed right in front of their face, chirping. Too exhausted at this point to be scared, they stared at the bird. Then realization washed over them. "You.... You saved me... Didn't you..?" the kit rasped. The bird chirped again and hopped close, running its beak along the kit's cheek, grooming their wet fur.

Arden shivered once at the bird's touch, but somehow... It was ok. They weren't scared... For the first time in ever, they found their body not reacting in fear. Eyes wide, the kit lifted a shaking paw to scritch gently behind the bird's head as it pulled small bits of weeds out of their fur. "T-thank you..." Arden whispered. "Thank you so much."