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Feathers and Wonder // Part 5 Ke’tet was frustrated.
The entire SEM chip was corroded. The contact points were a mess of metallic flakes as well as some sort of corrosive green byproduct. This was going to take a long time to clean and then re-establish proper connection points—and then even
more time to figure out which connections went where in the circuit.
Ke’tet groaned, crown feathers twitching. It was just her luck that this environment would completely corrode the entire chip—and who knows how long this thing has been exposed to the elements anyway.
Andrew had said that he was only able to obtain flight recorders from three out of the five ships that have crash landed here. Of the other two, one had crashed into the nearby mountain side, scattering most of the ship to pieces. And the other, Andrew had said he’d spotted in the large lake nearby. So that really only left him with three options. He told her he had no desire to go diving or go treasure hunting on a steep mountain side.
She was learning that the human had limits, too, apparently.
However, even though there were two other flight recorders she could attempt repairing, she had realized immediately that they actually looked even more worse for wear. So she ended up working on the one Andrew had first shown her.
By the Highlands was it still a mess, though.
Sighing, she set to work preparing all the spare wires and equipment they had. Most of it was made out of scraps and parts from busted ships, of course, so nothing was ever
exactly what you needed. But he did happen to have a wide variety of tools—which made her feel a strange combination of both thankfulness and uneasiness. She knew he must’ve taken all of the tools he could get from whatever ships he’d salvaged from. No self-respecting flyer would ever be without a set of tools on a ship, so it offered up a wide selection. Only thing was, one of the ships must’ve been Arian because he had tools that were catered to her species.
That was a bit uncomfortable to find out at first but she eventually moved passed it once she had gotten to work. The tools were a big help as they fit perfectly in each alula.
When she first started working on the repair, Andrew had asked what she was doing with her wings. Ke’tet apparently creeped him out because when she had turned around with two different tools in each alula, she saw that he was both completely confused and weirded out.
She ended up explaining to the human that Arian’s had two additional gripping digits, besides their talons, on the ends of each wing-wrist. She did a little flap of her alula feathers to show how they both moved and rested in place, flush with all the other little feathers.
She remembered specifically what he had called them, ‘creepy little feather fingers.’ She had argued against the ‘creepy’ part, of course, but it hadn’t changed his mind.
She chuckled a bit to herself. What an odd thing to creep the human out.
Shrugging off her thoughts, Ke’tet dug around in the tool box with a talon to find what she needed. As nice as it was to have the proper tools, it was still going to be a pain to have to fix everything manually. She would kill for a set of repair robots right about now.
She sighed internally. There was no use in complaining about it. The human was finally absent from the cave—‘out collecting wood’ she vaguely remembered him saying—which meant
no interruptions and
no shenanigans. It was the perfect time to put all of her focus in.
She had to get this done—she
had to.
She set her crown feathers with a determined flick before reaching a talon over to the tweezers on the table. It was best to start scraping away all of the—
“GOTCHA!”
Ke’tet yelped as her crown feathers sprung open in complete alarm, eyes blown wide as she felt something grip on either side of her wings and lift her up from her perch. The shout alone was enough to cause a wave of near panic before she realized it was just the human. She was completely unaware that he had snuck up behind her. Those soft human feet and years of creeping silently in the woods had made him eerily quiet for such a large being.
Breathing quickly, Ke’tet turned her head around, eyes blazing and crown feathers as sharp as needles on either side of her head as she looked up at him. If the big smile she saw on his face was anything to go by, he didn’t have any remorse for his actions.
Ke’tet thrashed in his grip, quite furious and not at all amused by his behavior. “Andrew, I am NOT in the mood for this right now. Put me back down. I was in the middle of working on a very delicate part.”
The smile on his face faltered for just a second—which Ke’tet definitely noticed as strange—before widening.
“No can do, Feathers.” He said with a single shake of his head as he adjusted his hold, shifting her to one arm on the side of his hip—as if she were a very large football.
Ke’tet continued to squirm and thrash against his side.
It didn’t do much.
“What are you doing?! Put me down!”
He chuckled a bit, patting the air with his other hand. “Calm down. We’re taking a much needed break.” He said as he walked away from the cluttered workbench.
“WHAT?!” She somehow thrashed even more, uselessly, before suddenly going limp, glaring up at the human. “I’m too busy working on the flight recorder, Andrew! There’s way too much work to be done to be wasting time on ‘taking a break.'” She quoted with annoyance, mocking his tone.
“Nope. You need a break." He said, stubborn.
"Andrew—“
He cut her off, looking down at her as he rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Ket! You’ve been working on it for two weeks straight.
Two weeks. When was the last time you stretched your wings? Went outside and got some sunlight? Had anything to eat other than choking down those tree seeds?”
Ke’tet sulked under his arm, feathers lowering slightly. She didn’t want to admit it but he was right. Still, she didn’t want to take any breaks. She had work to do—she had to get this flight recorder up and running.
But one look at the human meant that she wasn’t going to get her way—no matter how much she argued against it. When the human was obstinate about something, she had learned that it was nigh impossible to change his mind about it.
A stubborn human was as immovable as a mountain, unfortunately.
“Fine,” She grumbled, her neck feathers flashing blue in annoyance one last time before acquiescing. “And what do you propose we do to, as you say, ‘
take a break’?”
She wanted to get this over with quickly—it was best to just get it out of the way.
The human paused for a moment, thinking, then made an odd sound with his free hand, the fingers making a loud snap. She flinched as he said, “I’ve got the perfect thing! You’ll like this, trust me.” He nodded to himself.
Blinking away her flinch, she eyed him suspiciously from his side. “You’re not even going tell me what we’re doing?”
"I think it’ll be better if it’s a surprise.” He said with a big smile.
Ke’tet looked down, not at all comforted by that. She squirmed a little defiantly under his arm again.
He laughed. “Cmon, I really think you’ll like it! Trust me.”
Ke’tet sighed and ceased her struggling, looking up at the human with tired eyes. “Okay, fine.” She grumbled before saying in a quick, quiet rush of breath, “Let’s just get this over with.”
"Alright! Good thing you're bundled up because we’re headed outside!”
Ke’tet’s feathers immediately pressed tightly against her head. That didn’t sound like a good idea to her. The temperature had finally dropped to, apparently, a typical deathworld range—it was one of the reasons why she hadn’t left the cave. And although Andrew
did end up sewing together a rather crude set of clothing for her to keep some of the heat in—which she was honestly grateful for—she still found it much too cold to be standing outside for any given amount of time.
So yes, the human’s enthusiastic attitude to such a thing was somewhat… dreadful.
She watched reluctantly from under his arm as he walked over to the gear table and grabbed his usual bag of supplies—something she noticed he always made sure to have when leaving the cave—and slung it over his opposite shoulder.
As he walked over to the entrance, he gave a glance down at Ke’tet. He watched as her expressive feathers lifted on her head.
“Will you put me down now?” She asked, slightly hopeful.
He smirked.
Ke’tet groaned.
“Nope!”
•─────⋅⽻⋅─────•
After a good amount of time trying to persuade the human to put her down but to no avail, she finally decided to try a different approach. Compromising. She proposed to perching on his arm without complaint—which was already a tall order, mind you—if he agreed to let her go.
The human eyed her for a moment before finally agreeing to the offer. Her crown feathers opened in delight as she gladly settled her talons against his forearm. She made a quick adjustment to her wings, trying to settle the feathers that were out of place due to his handling.
Ke'tet listened as Andrew’s boots made that distinct crunching sound on the cold ground as he made his way to… wherever it was they were going. Ke’tet thought about asking again but, well, a surprise was a surprise. She figured he wouldn’t tell.
As the human walked, Ke’tet observed that the sky was a bit gloomy—much like it had been all week with a persistent overcast of clouds. Ke’tet thought that it should’ve rained by now but she honestly had no clue how weather behaved on a deathworld. It seemed to be just as unpredictable as everything else on this world.
They continued most of the way in silence, the steady beat of the human’s gait carrying her along. He made a twisting way around the base camp’s cliffside, and headed upwards along some path that looked like it had been hacked away at some point but overtime was taken back by nature. The human ended up having to duck at some parts to avoid the low-hanging branches of young foliage.
The farther they climbed, the more Ke’tet was actually relieved that she was perched on his arm. She was still getting used to the gravity on this planet, after all. Although, she had noticed that she was getting stronger, little by little.
Before long, they made it to the top. At first, Ke’tet wasn’t sure how far up they had gone since most of the way up was blocked by dense tree cover, but as soon as Andrew walked up to the exposed rocky surface, Ke’tet’s eyes widened a bit.
They were pretty high up.
Past the exposed rocky ridge they stood on, Ke’tet could see a small mountain range in the distance and down below, a sweeping valley with rolling hills, all of which were covered in trees. She could even see a large lake nestled in between the hills.
Andrew lowered his arm a bit and Ke’tet hopped off. She watched as the human walked near the ledge of the cliff, stopped about halfway, then gestured for her to go ahead first. Ke’tet cocked her head at that, blinking for a moment before following the human’s silent direction. She walked past him all the way up to the ledge, wondering what this was all about.
That was when she felt it: A powerful current of wind suddenly rushed over her feathers—so strong, in fact, that it actually lifted her wings slightly from their folded position on her back. Without thinking, Ke’tet found herself opening them—it was as if they moved on their own accord. They were a bit unsteady at first due weeks of disuse, but then she found a sweet spot within the current and felt the cold air flow over her feathers in a buoyant stream.
She closed her eyes.
For just a moment, she felt like she was really flying again.
All too soon, the cold air became a bit too much for her to handle so she stepped back from the ledge. She suddenly remembered that Andrew was still behind her when she heard a slight chuckle rumble in the air. She felt a bit of embarrassment at that, but the feeling was vastly overshadowed by her great joy. Ke’tet turned to Andrew and couldn’t help the happy fluffing of her feathers—even the tail feathers seemed to fan out slightly.
Andrew chuckled lightly again, a small smile on his face.
But then Ke’tet’s feathers turned a bit shy, almost guilty. “Andrew, I… I don’t know what to say. I’ve been… a bit of a pain lately, I get that, and I just want to say—“
He shook his head, cutting her off gently. “There’s no need to say anything, Ket. I just didn’t want you running yourself into the ground.” He walked over and took a seat on a nearby, convenient rock. “I have every confidence that you’ll fix the flight recorder—it’s only a matter of time. And I understand the rush, believe me. I want to go home just as much as you do.” He said as he looked out into the distance.
Ke’tet looked down as she felt a stab of shame. Here she was, complaining about not being able to get home sooner when this human had been here for much,
much longer. Her feathers fell slowly, a flicker of purple shining—she had been outright insensitive.
How was Andrew not angry with her?
She dared to look up, slowly meeting his eyes. Ke’tet stiffened a bit when she noticed his eyes turn serious.
Here it comes.
He was silent for a second before his eyebrows pulled up a bit. “You can’t overdo it, Ket. You need to keep yourself healthy—that means eating more than you have been and taking care of yourself properly. I don’t want to find an exhausted or otherwise ill Arian on the floor because she’s too stubborn to take a break when it’s necessary.”
For a moment, she was frozen, a bit stunned. He was…. concerned rather than angry? She was confused at first but then realized he was right.
More than right. There was no sense in drowning herself in work. She knew she could get it done, but pushing herself was not going to fix it any sooner. In fact, it might even slow the process down since an exhausted mind was prone to making mistakes. Usually stupid ones.
She sighed. She had been… careless.
Again.
Ke’tet managed to turn towards Andrew fully, giving a small head bow in both apology and understanding. The human watched her for a moment, noticing the crown feathers laid back in silent guilt. He eventually gave a small, accepting nod in return.
Ke'tet raised her head and hopped up onto the rock he was resting on, facing the view over the cliff. She started a bit hesitantly but honestly. ”I suppose I should admit that this ‘break’ was actually nice.” She said while looking out over the view before turning her head to him slightly. “You were right, I really did need this.”
He smiled sincerely for a moment, but then it turned a tad smug. “And you thought it was a bad idea.” He said, crossing his arms.
Her crown feathers twitched. “I know when to admit my mistakes, human. I am not as obstinate as you.”
His eye sparked with a bit of mischief. “On the contrary. After what I’ve seen these past couple of days, I’m starting to believe that
you’re actually the stubborn one here.”
Ke’tet face flickered with annoyance at the jab. She smacked him with a wing, naturally. “Not even close. We don’t even compare.”
“Exactly.”
Smack!
"Geez, okay!” He said, rubbing his arm as he mumbled, “You’ve got a wicked swing.”
Ke’tet squinted her eyes at him, daring him to make another comment as she held her wing threateningly. She couldn’t keep the serious expression for long though when his face was one of such disgruntled sulkiness, so she started laughing, crown feathers bobbing freely.
She soon heard Andrew join in along with her and they both lost it.
It felt good to laugh.
After gaining control of their laughter, Ke’tet suggested they head back inside and Andrew had to agree after seeing Ke’tet try to hold back an involuntary shiver. They had been outside for a while, it seemed.
When Andrew offered an arm, Ke’tet hopped up without a second thought and they both made their way back down the cliffside, the human bobbing and weaving around the overgrown trail. Once at the bottom, Andrew let Ke’tet hop off again and they both took a little walk around the base of the cliff.
It was only a few minutes of walking when Ke’tet noticed something small land on her beak. She blinked in confusion. It was a tiny white flake of something. She was about to raise a wing to wipe it off when another one dropped down from nowhere and landed on her again.
Confused, she looked up.
Ke'tet immediately froze in place. Her eyes were wide as her feathered crown slowly opened up into a mix of iridescent blue and purple, an expression of awe and curiosity.
“What—what is this?” She breathed as she watched the little specks of sparkling white fluff float down from the cloud-covered sky.
She reached out a feathered wing in front of her to catch some of the mysterious flakes. A couple landed on her feathers and, to her amazement, she noticed that each one contained a unique shape and pattern. Before she could commit each design to memory, the white crystals began to transform into a wet blob as they beaded up on her feathers.
She blinked at that for moment before eagerly waiting for the next couple to land so she could observe their structures as well.
The human slowly walked up to her side and crouched down. He, too, reached out a curious hand and let a couple land in his palm. Due to the heat of his skin, any flakes that landed instantly melted but he still enjoyed watching the fascination on the Arian’s face.
She looked over to him after a moment, her crown feathers fanned out all the way. The two main feathers on either side of her forehead were pointing straight up, separate from the others, and Andrew thought it looked a bit goofy, but he was honestly moved by her pure expression of child-like wonder.
He smiled at her, the skin creasing at his eyes. He let out a gentle chuckle.
“This is called
snow.”
Ke'tet blinked. She looked at her wing again, watching a few more flakes land on the feathers. “
Snow.” She tried repeating back.
He nodded at the correct pronunciation. Then he reached a large hand over to her hovering wing and gently pointed to a single frozen crystal. "A single piece of it is called a
snowflake.”
"
Snowflake.” She repeated in a quiet breath.
She lowered her wing back to her side as she looked up at the sky again, completely entranced by the stunning sight. "This is… this is
beautiful.” She said with a small shake of her head in disbelief.
The human stood back up at her admission. ”It is, isn’t it?” He said while looking up at the sky with her.
The two were silent for a moment as the snowflakes started to increase in intensity. The ground began to show a thin veil of white as it settled over stiff vegetation.
Andrew felt a sudden nudge at his forearm and looked down. Ke'tet had reached out a wing, looking up at him with wide eyes in realization.
"This is what you meant, isn’t it. This is what you had tried to describe to me that one time—the falling water crystals from the sky.”
He nodded.
"You know, your description really didn’t do it justice.” She said somewhat flatly, her crown feathers settling back halfway.
He chuckled a bit before shrugging. “It was all part of the surprise!” He said with a wide, toothy grin.
She whacked him with her wing for the third time that day.
The two simply watched the snow fall for a bit after that, and Ke'tet couldn’t pull her eyes away from the sight. The odd phenomena was completely new to her and she wondered how such a beautiful and delicate-looking event could exist on a deathworld. There were thousands, no, probably
hundreds of thousands of tiny flakes that fell from the sky, each with a unique crystal pattern.
It would seem that this planet would always continue to surprise her. She’d never known something to be such a complicated mix of both horrifying and beautiful before—she didn’t really understand how it was possible.
She looked up to the human again, eager to ask how this ‘
snow’ worked but she immediately paused when she caught sight of his expression. He had seemed perfectly happy earlier, but now… she noticed that his smile seemed a bit… well it seemed a bit
sad.
With concern, she reached out a feathered wing again, this time gently, and brushed the back of his arm. Like always, he looked down at her questioningly.
The sad smile did not leave his face.
Her crown feathers automatically lowered an inch in worry. “You are sad.” She stated more than asked.
He looked a bit surprised at first as if she had caught him doing something he shouldn’t be, but then the sadness returned.
“A little bit, yeah.” He admitted.
Ke'tet’s crown settled fully against her skull now. Her voice was quiet. “Why?”
The human’s eyes seemed to wobble a bit. She suddenly saw a deep sorrow in them, the green darkening in an undercurrent of emotion. Her breathing picked up a bit as she stared. She had never seen him like this before, not once, and she was frozen, completely pulled in by their sudden depth of expression, by his sudden show of
weakness.
His emotions seemed to grow in intensity before he gently closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening them again—they were shining brighter than the sparkling snow.
“It reminds me of home.” He all but whispered, looking out at the falling snow again.
The forest was silent. Even the gentle breeze that was flowing in and out of the trees earlier had all but stopped.
It took a moment, but Ke'tet slowly reached the major bend of her wing up into his hand, pressing it into the skin. At first, the human was as stiff as a board, but his hand eventually closed a bit against her feathers. She could feel a slight shaking and tried pushing against his hand even more. At her insistence, the human seemed to grip a bit harder, desperate, as his eyes stared ahead unseeingly.
The two held on like that for a while as the snow continued to fall.
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A/N Wasn’t that a fun ride?
crying Also, someone brought to my attention that I should add chaptepart numbers. Unfortunately, I can’t go back and change the titles of previous submissions so I’ll just add a chapter number in the body of those posts. From now on, though, I will make sure to number each chapter. There is also an index for reader convenience. Hope that helps some of you.
As always, I love comments so feel free to drop one down below if you so choose. See you in the next installment!
Here is my Ko-fi for those who wish to drop a tip. Index //
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