Name: Quill
Gender: female
Story:
A warm spring breeze gently rocked the budding tree branches above; the smell of fresh rain is thick in the air. A dark viscet slowly walked down a wooded path, a small stream lay at the end of the trail. She looked around, admiring the scenery and taking in a deep breath of fresh spring air. Change was coming.
Visiting the nearby stream and lying on the bank was one of Melody’s favorite past times, and she felt especially good about it today. But as it would turn out, it would be a very long day for the dark viscet. As usual, she takes in the beautiful scenery around her and listens to the chirping of birds and the slight hum of insects. However, among the sounds of nature was a distinct sound of stress. Turning her head, Melody tried to see where the sound was coming from. Following the noise, the dark viscet quickly found the source; a large bird, most likely a crow, was making a scene on a lower branch. It was holding… a viscet egg? Perhaps it had confused a birds’ nest and a viscet’s and snatched the egg for its breakfast. Either way, Melody had to do something about it.
She shouted up to the corvid, and only received two beady eyes glaring down at her, its expression unreadable. Taking a second to think, Melody backed up and glanced around. Picking up some sticks and twigs, she began throwing them up at the crow, trying to scare it and to leave the egg. She just needed to get the egg away from the crow so it wouldn’t become a meal. Finally, the bird gave a loud caw! and took flight, the egg rolling out from its claws and dropping from the tree.
Melody rushed to catch it as gently as she could, a few obsidian feathers fluttered down with it. Putting her ear to the egg, she sighed in relief to hear that it was unharmed. Though now… Now she had to find the parents. Surely they would be missing their unhatched viscetling? But she was unaware of any viscets nearby with the coloration on the egg that was scarily close to herself and her mother, Nova. But Melody tried anyway, abandoning her nice afternoon of sunbathing and setting out for the unfortunate parents instead. But there was no such luck.
All throughout the day, the questioned viscets seemed concern, noting the obvious similarity between her own markings and the egg, and were worried that Melody was trying to pawn off her young to someone else. She searched for days, but no trace of a black and blue viscet aside from herself. She then decided to keep the egg and raise it herself.
For the next few months, Melody would carry the egg close, keeping an eye out for those beady eyes. She would carry it to the bank by the stream, treating both of them to a bit of sunbathing. Warmth is good for the egg, right? The egg hatched not soon after, sitting on the warm riverbank. Melody only smiled and pulled her newly hatched daughter in close, sticking the crow feathers gently in her hair as a reminder of what brought them together.
Extra:
Melody was overprotective in the beginning. As time went on, the viscetling took a particular interest in birds, much to her mother’s worry. Obsidian feathers still shimmering in her hair, the young viscetling would often run down the familiar path by the river and listen to the singing birds, often climbing trees to see them up close.
The older the child got, the more Melody tried to keep up with her. As she grew to stand on her hind legs, Melody eventually became a ‘cool mom’. Melody couldn’t help being herself and loved to embarrass her daughter by breaking out into song and dance, unnecessary shouting nonsense, making ‘cool’ jokes and puns that result in heavy sighs and many eye rolls.
The rescued viscetling has been told the tale behind her ‘brave rescue from sure death’ from her mother, and treasured the feathers in her mane above anything else. Most days, she joins her mother and walks with her to the bank by the stream, studying the birds along the way. Sometimes even bringing seeds for them, and the bird enthusiast recruited quite a friendly flock of friends over time.
