ORIGIN

It had been the most peaceful of eternities.

It was almost like an egg. The quiet hum, the gentle pulse, the light just barely filtering past the fragile shell, all just as it should be. The soul never stirred, never sighed, always content and comfortable, safe inside the polished agate walls. But the little bird’s feathers were growing close to the walls, close and not so comfortable. Beyond, the forest murmured.

A very long moment passed, so long it may have been many strung together. It was impossible to tell.

The walls which had shielded the little bird were close, close and cool and smooth. Time crawled on and the bird was soon pressed up against the agate from every side.

The nestling, for the first time, was uncomfortable, started shifting. Cracking the stone. A little beak pushed forward, the same as the stone but thicker and stronger, and shattered it.

The bird stuck a ruffled head out of the hole and let out a little peep. They blinked their silver eyes and scratched themself out of the stone chrysalis to sit on the ground, curious. They were a jackdaw, they knew that! Whatever that was, that was them. And they also had a name…a name they couldn’t yet say or think of as a word. All they could do right now was peep. But they could get up and look, with an unsteady flapping as they stood and started to hop.

The place was green and nice, very nice. It was dark, but this didn't seem odd at all to the young gembound, especially since the fungi provided plenty of light to navigate by. The little dew-covered blossoms seemed especially beautiful to the little nestling. They hopped along awkwardly, looking at everything with their bright silver eyes. Something white flashed in the corner of their vision and made them stop…could it be? They looked back, coming closer, and saw a plant with little bluish-white flowers of many petals, filled in the center with spot of yellow. Yes, their name! The little bird chirruped happily and carefully used the sharp bit of their beak to clip off the highest couple blossoms with some stem. They then gently picked it up in their beak and continued on the edge of the path. The chrysalis had protected them for a while, but now they weren't quite a fledgeling and there certainly wasn't a nest or a mother for them. Which meant, they'd just have to find someone else for a little bit.

The jackdaw fluttered and whirled around in surprise at the whine from behind them. It was a very large, fluffy, spotty cub. At least, it certainly seemed large to the baby bird. It was all sprawled out, which struck the jackdaw as rather curious. They hopped up to the cub, bringing their name along in their beak. They dropped the flower before the other gembound.

“peep?”

The agate-beaked gembound hopped around the larger one, twittering curiously. Why are you all laying down-like? Do you have a name? I have a pretty name! They didn’t know how to express any of these ideas, but they hoped their good intentions would come across.

Oh, that’s strange - the bird leaned in to examine the spotted cub's eyes. They were like the pretty gem in the cub's forehead, but paler, and they weren’t quite right…they weren’t sharp. Oh no, could they not see? But then, how could the jackdaw show their name? They peeped sadly, their name was the nicest thing ever!

It didn’t seem like the cub was understanding them at all. If anything, it was just becoming more frustrating. The jackdaw had an idea of language, but without a fully developed voice could do nothing with it. They could gesture, but the spotted gembound couldn’t clearly see, so that was unlikely to help much. Instead, they noticed that the cub was trying to touch them but missing, not having a good sense of how far apart they were. Something could be done about that.

The bird slowly came close and settled just in front of the cub’s nose, so that the feathers of their chest just brushed against it. They tensed nervously, ready to flap and hop away if…well, they weren’t sure what could happen but they certainly had the idea that they should be worried. The jackdaw tucked their head down and gave another tentative chirp.

Oh, a word! The little gembound could definitely recognize the language, even if it wasn’t very much. And they knew what they were! The ordeal was saying it. “I’m a, a, a chaknaw.” It came out funny in their little baby twitters, but it was close enough. They looked down at the clipped blossom, unsure how to communicate what it meant. “My name…” They knew that a flower wasn’t a proper name, but it was definitely their name!

The jackdaw let their attention turn outward as well, to a clump of glowing crystal and mushrooms. They hopped over, flapping their wings fruitlessly, and put their silver eye down to examine the angular stone. Where does the light come from? They tilted their head and prodded it, scraping with tiny dark talons. The crystal didn’t yield or react, so the bird instead turned to the pink-tinted fungus and pecked at it. Oh! It was unexpectedly soft, and the sharp beak went right through it. The little gembound squawked and pulled back, giving the juice left on their beak a look of irritation.