The Storm's Lesson

It's been a while since I've submitted any TeaFeathers stories, I'm so happy I get to share this! My awesome patrons funded this story and the accompanying illustration back in March, and I've been sitting on it while I ponder final edits to post it publicly. Special thanks to Almonihah, Crimson Alexander, and my room mate Nate Newlon (and awesome author!) for giving me crucial feedback.

This is the story of how Nym meets one of her very best friends, a raven named Kota. I hope you enjoy it!

www.patreon.com/Eskiworks

By the spirits, this wind feels good!

Nym glided easily along a high hot wind. The rusty canyon-carved land passed below her slowly, dotted with patches of green foliage. The breeze through her feathers and short red summer fur felt amazing on a peak heat day like this. Summer was in full swing. She was out on a short delivery run to the next village, a handful of letters and some salt in her pack. No need for her brother Fallyn to come with her this time, despite the policy of the courier's office to send people in pairs. In any case, Fallyn was spending the day with their mother, Karu, assisting in digging some new irrigation for the western surface garden.

She stretched her hind leg, carefully testing the strain from yesterday's load of heavy building materials. She and Fallyn had needed to recruit another Alecani courier team to help carry the load in a four-person rope harness, flying full bore the entire way to get it to its destination on time. While it had not been the most pleasant task, she enjoyed the extra company along the way. At first she babbled on a bit much for the taste of the other courier team, but as their journey progressed she focused her breathing to keep up the high pace they set. They had been late despite their efforts, thanks to the oppressive heat.

The route Nym had chosen for this light delivery was lined with good watering holes, so she had no worries about beating the heat. She had even left early in the day so she could stop and fish for a leisurely lunch. She licked her chops, salivating at the thought of fresh trout or bass, and took an indulgent moment to close her eyes and allow the wind to carry her.

Just as a droplet of drool escaped the corner of her mouth, she felt a sharp tug at her tail feathers. She teetered a bit in mid-air, snapped out of her fish flavored fantasies, and whirled her head around.

Nothing there.... Perhaps it's one of these cross breezes that's picking up. There are some storm clouds out there on the horizon, could be headed my way. I should focus on the path to the next watering hole.

And focus Nym did, until she felt another obnoxious tug at the other side of her tail.

What in the...!

With a flare of her wings she slowed, rolling to turn her whole body to face the mystery tail tugger. A dark bird about a third of her size was trailing her. It quorked playfully and flapped to catch up. A raven! Nym quorked back in near perfect raven pronunciation (Alecani are quite good with the avian languages). She positioned herself to allow the raven to catch up so they could fly by her side; perhaps she'd have a good conversation along the way.

“Ow!” The raven tugged at her tail again, hard enough to yank out a little tuft of fur from the very end.

“Hey, what do you want?” Nym enjoyed making new friends, as many Alecani do, but this raven hadn't just been pulling her tail to get her attention. He seemed to derive joy from attempting to pluck her rear end bald. He gave her tail another hard nip before she could roll away, and followed her down as Nym dove to shake him.

Nym was no slouch; she could fly with the best of them. Twists, turns, breaks, and hard climbing wasn't enough to make her breathe hard, but it also didn't shake the raven. Her annoying new shadow was letting out joyful croaks as he banked and swooped to keep up with her, managing a few passes to nip at her again.

Maybe if I tag him back a couple of times he'll back off.

Nym motioned to speed up, making him think she was going to try to outrun him. She allowed him to close on her, almost enough to reach her tail with that menacing pointy bill of his. Glancing over her shoulder to check his position, she broke hard, her wings and tail flaring wide. The raven zipped under her, wobbling a little in surprise, as she pumped her powerful wings twice to position herself right behind him and.... CHOMP. A decent sized black tail feather dislodged into her mouth. The noises from the raven were no longer pleasant ones, and Nym grinned with smug satisfaction.

Crack BOOOM

They both wobbled mid flight, as a peal of thunder rocked their senses. While Nym and her new shadow had been engaging in tail-biting combat, that storm she spotted earlier had rolled in quickly from the west. Hot as it was, a summer storm could be particularly dangerous to Alecani in flight. Their flapping quickly turned panicked, as they dove for cover. Best not test the wind spirits on this day!

Thunder detonated around them once more, Nym could feel her bones reverberate as she frantically searched for place to shelter.

That strike was close, oh gods!

Nym made it down to the canyon finding a thin crack. She wedged herself in just before another boom tore through the air. The sparse crevasse mostly served to shelter her from the now pouring warm rain. The clear bright day was now overtaken by deafening sheets of rain, almost too thick to fly through. The grey-blue deluge made it nearly impossible to see past the edge of her temporary hiding place, but her keen eyes did spot something. A falling dark mass, about the size of a raven....

Oh shi...!!

Without another thought, she launched herself into the coming rain, the water beating her down and making each stroke of her wings difficult. Lightning crackled in the sky above, the thunder a never ending series of jarring booms. Adrenaline pushed her forward and down, faster and faster, never taking her eyes off the plummeting, dark form. Her sopping wet wings struggled to control her descent, and just as she thought she couldn't stay airborne any longer, she closed on him.

The raven's body slammed into her chest with an unpleasant, wet thud, and Nym cradled him close as they fell together. The ground came up fast, and she tucked her wings to roll on impact. The mud cushioned the last of their fall, as they skidded and splashed their way to a stop.

Coated in muck, the two of them were a mass of exhausted, battered, muddy feathers. Nym groaned with pain. Was anything broken or sprained? Would she be flight worthy after such a hard landing? No major injuries it seemed, that was good. She looked down at the barely conscious raven. He was breathing at least, but she needed to get him somewhere safe and out of the storm to check him over. Her body shook and she steadied herself in the mud, her clawed paws slipping out from under her a few times before she scrambled out of the rain to a low cropping of trees.

It wasn't quite enough to cover them from the rain, and there was no telling how long this storm might last. It might be a good idea to expend the extra energy to set up further protection, even though she felt ragged from the effort of flying in that oppressive rain. Nym closed her eyes and focused, a faint green glow emanated from the ground around them in a circle. Sprouts of vibrant green plants poked up from the red dirt, growing with haste and grace to form a woven leafy canopy around them. The sound of the thunder and rain dulled inside their makeshift magical shelter, and Nym opened her arms to get a good look at her new raven friend.

She still had his tail feather stuck in her teeth when he rolled his head and opened his eyes. Nym was sure it wasn't the most comforting thing to wake up to, yet he gave his best tired raven smile for her. She smiled back and sighed with relief, stashing that feather in her now soaked bag. Nym conjured a leafy bed for him to lay on, and set him down gently. No words passed between them as Nym ran her hands along his body, checking for injuries. She had learned a fair bit of healing from her mother, and could treat most injuries in the field. Thankfully, he seemed to just be stunned, and needed time to rest and recuperate.

“I'm Nym,” she said in the soft guttural raven tongue. “I'm glad you're okay. What's your name?”

“Kota,” he replied in an imperfect Alecani accent.

Nym's face brightened. “You speak Alecani? Oh that's wonderful! Tell me, where is your family? I want to make sure you get back to them.”

Kota stared and quirked his head a little. “I... speak small 'Cani.”

“Ah... Sorry, I tend to ramble.” Nym switched back to raven. “It's pronounced 'ah-leh-kah-nee' by the way. You forgot the 'ah' before 'leh'.”

“Ah-leh-kah-nee,” said Kota, concentrating on each syllable.

“Yeah, like that.”

Kota ruffled his feathers (as much as mud caked feathers can ruffle) with pride. Nym grinned at him and raised her feather crest in response. Kota peered at Nym intently, and hopped an inch closer.

“Show more ah-leh-kah-nee speech for me?”

Nym's smile deepened, and she hopped in her seat a little with excitement. She didn't get to speak with corvids very often, let alone exchange language with a young one like Kota. “Of course!”

The two of them chattered away in both raven and Alecani in their little green shelter, the rain beating relentlessly at the leaves. They were so enveloped in their conversation that neither of them noticed the torrent slowly quieting to nothing more than a patter. When the rain waned, the sun made the interior of their leaf shelter glow a comfortable green.

Nym's ears perked up to confirm the passing of the storm. She was slightly abashed at having gotten carried away, glancing at Kota who seemed a bit embarrassed as well.

With a wave, the leafy stalks parted and shrank away into the ground, and they basked in the startling warmth of the sun for a moment in silence. Then the chattering resumed as they made their way to the nearest creek to wash up - Kota waddling in raven fashion and Nym walking upright to keep her pack out of the mud. Kota's pronunciation was getting good quite quickly, and they easily exchanged words in both languages.

They suspended their conversation to wash up. Nym needed to get most of the muck out of her wings to make it to her nearby destination. She would surely be offered a full bath once she arrived.

“Well, I have to get going,” she said

Kota paused his preening to look up at her.

“I was on my way to deliver this stuff, so...”

Kota tilted his head slightly. He said nothing.

“I uh... It was wonderful to meet you. If you live around here I might see you again. I live that way about five miles. You can come by some time if you want.”

Kota still said nothing. Nym was a bit baffled at his sudden silence.

“I'm just gonna... go now. Ok? You going to be ok?”

Nothing, of course. But he did slump a little, as he stared at her expectantly.

“Ok, bye I guess.”

Nym turned and took off, a little clumsy at first with her damp wings. She turned her thoughts to the job. She could reach her destination in less than an hour, and have plenty of time to take that bath. Her mother would surely have something to ease the aches from that hard landing when she returned home.

She was relishing the heat of the sun, turning newly learned raven words over her tongue, and so she didn't notice her slightly muddy newfound shadow, a quarter mile or so behind her. Likely she hadn't seen the last of Kota.