ORIGIN

Way up high on the ceiling of Eridanus sat a peculiar stone. Black and white like zebra stripes, polished and clean, it appeared like some strange blot of ink as if entirely by the compulsion of something chaotic and strange.

Of course, in these caves, it could only be one thing.

Inside had grown a neonate. A bird, to be specific. Sooty feathers had grown and spread in recent days and now the space inside its banded egg had grown much too small. Suffocating, even.

The fledgling's mind told her quite simply, it's time to hatch.

As if in response, she felt the urge to tense her jaw as magicka pooled in her stone, then burst out with a force just strong enough to split the stone egg that held her to the cave's ceiling.

She plummeted with the discarded shell bits like a rock.

Thankfully, she landed on something rather porous and squishy. Its dome top suited her flared wings and tail perfectly and as the stone bits of her egg fell away, she remained in place at its peak.

The little sooty black and yellow bird didn't move. Little was, of course, an operative word for a bird with wings that could envelope a cat with little effort, not that meat was on the menu. Her stomach growled at the thought of food and though she could place no images to the words in her head, she knew their general meaning as if someone had whispered these words to her in the centuries it took for her magicka to settle and finally take form. She didn't think of these things quite so clearly, of course. A faintest thought like a lingering dream as her mind settled and dulled with all the new stimulation it was suddenly receiving.

She turned her head and eyed the space above her, pupils pinning to try and spot where she'd fallen from.

Much too far away for such small eyes to see. She opted to focus on something closer. She turned her head the other way and spotted the leaves of a tree nearby.

That looked inviting... but so far away. She'd have to be clever to get there. Perhaps she would find something to settle the growling in her stomach as well.

Except, she wasn't quite certain how to get up. Her wings were keeping her firmly in place and should she move them even the slightest, perhaps she could fall to her doom.

Falling even that short height had felt sincerely wrong.

Only doom could await her in the place she couldn't see, below whatever it was she'd landed on, which was high up, because as she looked to either side, it was obvious that the trees were stretching to reach the same height as this.

Quite a predicament.

"Hey kiddo, you alright?"

Curved face snapped to find the source of the new sounds, a singsong but warbling voice of sorts. Pinning eyes settled on the blue bird above her on a tree branch. Her first impression? Handsome! Though, she couldn't put words to the feeling yet. The darker fledgling keened softly in her throat, finding her voice.

The long moment before she found any words at all seemed to drag on.

What words she spoke were not in any language yet. A universal noise like a whine or a whimper but whistling and wispy. From the little bird's standpoint this was the only way to ask for help; the words just refused to come to mind.

The blue bird above her flapped her wings and shouted encouragement. The flapping caught the cockatoo's eye, that pinning action showing her interest, excitement and thought as she worked out the meaning of the other's words.

Oh. Fly. That felt like a familiar concept. Familiar like a story, though.

Not an experience.

She wasn't sure she knew how. Maybe the flapping had something to do with it?

Certainly that little blue jaybird hadn't climbed that high.

She wasn't sure how she'd get into the air, but maybe she could try?

She slid ungracefully the moment her wings moved and the shock was enough for her body to follow the motion and curl forward. Perhaps this spooked reaction saved her, however, because just as she felt gravity's full force, her wings caught the air. Instinct took over from there, though not very gracefully.

She screeched out an instinctive contact call the moment her wings began their rapid fluttering. Wide tail spread like a flat fan and four-toed feet became lost to the void of her under-plumage. She flickered back and forth between the trees until finally her little feet (and much of the rest of her) found a branch somewhere close to the cap she'd landed on. She'd lost sight of her new friend in the ruckus.

Another call, this time longer, not as screechy, still a contact call, searching for the little blue jaybird.