Golden Glade Cock-a-doodle-bleep

Tack landed upon a branch, hopping along it. Chirping a little song about nautical directions, for he was lost. He had been flying...north? Or was it south? Thanks to that storm he accidentally flew through he was all turned around, now...Perhaps it was west. "Never Eat Slimy Worms, Never....Eat...Slimy...Worms." As he said each, he pointed his beak in a direction as if trying to guess what way to go.

Hey @Tack! I thought I'd do a rescue. :)

A lone Bat was meandering rather mindlessly through a shaded wood a few miles northwest of the Redhawks' plateau when it hit her. Suddenly and without warning, she felt as though someone had punched a hole right through her gut, taken a hold of her insides and torn them out to strew on the ground. She ground to a stop and dropped to the forest floor, curling tightly into a ball with a muffled cry of pain.

It wasn't actually a physical sensation. It was an onslaught of emotional anguish brought on by an errant thought of Wildfire, after observing a leaf aflame with color in one of the towering treetops. Bat had come to resent her mother, yet all of a sudden, she missed her so terribly that she ached down to the marrow of her bones. As a matter of course, she was flooded with thoughts of nomi, as well, and her brothers and sisters. The agony moved into her chest, which felt like it might abruptly collapse.

Writhing there on the cool ground among the first of the season's leaf litter, Bat remained utterly unaware of the bird chirping nearby.

Tack chipred to herself while in thought, trying to think of which direction was which. Was he meant to go to the left? To the right? Keep going ahead? He had no real sense of direction after that storm he flew through, so where was he even meant to go? Then he saw a wolf nearby, and wondered perhaps they knew! 

"Wolf! You down there! I have the need of demanding something from you, wolf!" he said down to the wolf, looking over to them.

The sound of an impossibly small voice wrenched Bat from her paroxysms. With wet eyes, she glanced around, looking for its source. It took her a while to look upward and notice the bird perched on a bough overhead. He looked a bit like a gull, with sleek pearlescent feathers and wings dip-dyed in black. It made her heart throb with another wave of homesickness. Bat wondered if this was what drowning felt like.

But there was a niggling curiosity brought on by the bird's presence. Bat swallowed a few times before she managed to speak. "Are you... did you just say something?"

The bird rolled it's head instead of rolling it's eyes, sighing. "Yes, wolf! Of course I said something!" he shouted impatiently down towards the wolf. Glaring down at them now. The bird inched along the branch to get a better angle above them, to look right down at them. And in case the wolf annoyed Tack...

"Do you know where this is, wolf?! Do you know where this is?!" 

Those were definitely words, though Bat found them difficult to decipher due to the high pitch. Her ears quivered in annoyance, though she was majorly intrigued by this development. Her homesickness fell to the side as she pushed herself upright, blinking wet, glittering eyes at the screeching bird.

"Do you know where this is?!" it—he? Let's go with that—shouted down at her in his tiny mosquito whine of a voice.

"Um... I don't know the name. But," she continued, sniffling even as she sorted through her jumbled thoughts a bit, "I live a little to the south and east of here." She swallowed the lump in her throat when reminded that she no longer hailed from Drageda. "Why, are you lost?"

Tack sighed, shaking his little head in response. "Yes! Yes, I am lost! Which was is south? Or east! Stupid storm through me off track!" the little bird explained, chirping with his little shrill voice as well. "I need bearings! Nauticals! North, south, east, west!" To anyone, he would have sounded very, very annoyed at this situation.

She couldn't really be sure but Bat thought the bird might be yelling at her. She quirked a brow, amusement at least helping to chase away her earlier blues. She didn't know what "nautical" meant but Bat had a pretty good sense of direction. She didn't really know why or how she'd become such a natural at it, though it would certainly be an asset as she grew into her identity as a scout.

"That's north," she replied to the avian's squeaky demands, pointing, "south, east and west." With each word, she used a toe to indicate. Because she didn't really understand her own reckoning of these things, she shrugged, helpless to offer the bird any real advice on orientation. But Bat hoped she'd helped, at least.

Tack nodded in confirmation as the little bird listened carefully to the wolf. He pointed his beak in each direction as he did so. So now he knew the directions. "Tack thanks you, wolf! He is no longer lost, and can find the desired destination!" he chirped gleefully, very happy about this now. Now he just had to figure a way that he could return thanks. "How may Tack return the favor?"

The bird's voice was even shriller than before as he gleefully thanked her. Bat's ears splayed and she couldn't help but think, Yeah, stop talking, in response to his question. But, of course, that was rude.

Fighting back a grimace and doing her best to smile instead, Bat shook her head. "It's all good." Tack? Weird name. But who was she to talk? "Good luck getting to your destination. See ya!" she added, hoping he would fly away now.

Tack huffed, not wanting to go without at least giving something back. But, the wolf did not wish so. So with a heavy sigh, the bird flittered from the branch. And off in the direction of east. Not to be seen again by this wolf, no doubt unless somehow Tack was lost again.

Bat's big ears didn't pick up on the tiny huff. She watched as the bird wordlessly took wing and quickly disappeared over the treetops. Only when he was out of sight did she somewhat regret sending him away. The sadness from earlier began to creep in almost immediately.

She knew another distraction would help a lot—and surely there were countless things she could be doing, particularly for her brand new pack—but Bat found herself sinking back to the forest floor and curling into a tight ball. She didn't start crying again, though she didn't move for a long time. She lay there, letting the full impact of recent events wash over her so she could begin the arduous task of processing her feelings.