_{The Modern Angels}

[Invitation ONLY.]

The Angel Tribe--The Researchers

Modern Angels Part One

           Brushing her wings with a special oil, Alvara, Tribal Mother of the Bewinged prepared to go out in a heavy storm. Aelis, small for her age was doing the same. Leader and student, both with drawings from charcoal covering their bodies like tattoos were so focused in their task that they were startled when another figure entered the hut. Aelis, shy quickly covered herself with a cloth while Alvara stood, not ashamed of her nakedness.

Kapalphatau, clad only in a knee-length loincloth, walked in, averting his eyes from the shy one. "Alvara, my dear one, I apologize for startling you. Perhaps I ought to have called out before entering your nest. You wished to see me?" he said respectfully, bowing slightly at the waist. His dark feathers and skin were slick with rain, droplets of water sliding from his bald head. As he spoke, he ruffled his feathers and shook them, shaking much of the water from them.

Hoktl opened one eye and watched him for a moment then resumed to sleep, perched in the corner behind Aelis, "No my prophet... It would have been rude to make you knock." Alvara said smoothly, comfortable in his presence no matter how much, or how little clothing she wore. It was custom for the Tribal Mother and her student to fly naked and covered in tattoo-like drawings from the ash of the mirkasa tree. In fact, this was the reason she asked to see him. "I need your help in this, last moon the copse of mirkasa I normally gather from was destroyed... I need you to tell me where more grow..."

"The entire copse? Destroyed? That is a grave loss indeed." Kapalphatau seemed grieved by the news. Then he put his right hand to his face in thought for a few seconds, tapping a gnarled talon on the wooden floor. "Hmm, I remember seeing a small copse several miles north of here, but that is much too far in this weather. There are a few isolated mirkasa near the river shore, but they are difficult to see if you didn't know they were there. Perhaps you'd like me to escort you to them?" Kapalphatau suggested.

"No need," Alvara responded instantly, "We will find them." One reason for this was that she didn't want her student distracted by a male. Aelis might only be of thirteen summers, but she was still growing into an adult. Slicking one last feather, the Tribal Mother lifted her wings up behind her and surveyed the final touch with a critical eye. Quietly ruffling her tail feathers, she turned her black gaze on the younger Bewinged, "Ready child?" She then bowed to Kapalphatau, signifying her thanks and his dismissal, "We shall leave right away."

"Wait, my lady." Kapalphatau, spreading one of his impressive wings over the doorway to stop her. "I ought to warn you. The Mirkasa trees sit at the foot of an embankment carved away by our last major flood, so the roots of the mirkasa trees are well exposed. But the embankment is of sandy soil, and I fear that this weather may trigger a mudslide. Be careful." Kapalphatau warned sternly, before folding his wing against his back again and bowing them leave.

Not showing the sudden alarm of this information on her face, the Tribal Mother nodded. "I will keep that in mind... thank you." She was not supposed to show emotion. That was a custom of the leaders of the Bewinged. Show no emotion, show no weakness, only show strength. Traditionally, the males were stronger then the females, but the females were faster and able to deal with the weight of the entire tribe on their slender shoulders. It was a matriarch-led society.

Leaning forward and craning her neck, Alvara nibbled on the feathers at the base of Kapal's neck in a very birdlike action. It was a very formal goodbye, one made by good friends. Whispering so as not to alarm the younger Bewinged, "I trust should something happen to us, you will be the first to come out to look?"

Kapalphatau replied with only a small nod before returning the preen. "Be careful." he whispered, before taking a step back and waving his right arm and right wing out, bidding them leave. "Listen well to the Tribal Mother, young fledgeling." he added.

Alvara covered herself with her wings as her student did the same, then bowed deep to the prophet as they opened the door from her nest, their oil slicked wings protecting them from the rain. "If anything Kapal, look to Hoktl if you grow worried..." With those last words, Tribal Mother and Aelis leapt into the storm, disappearing almost instantly.

Kapalphatau watched the two fly off until he could see them no longer, which was very quick. The rain was coming down even harder now. He turned and looked at Hoktl, who was still sleeping. After a few seconds, he sighed and stretched his wings. Tonight, he didn't feel at ease. He was already worried about Alvara. "Hoktl, my friend." Kapalphatau said. The bird was awake at once, eyeing Kap sternly. Kapalphatau beckoned the bird with his hand. "Come. We're going to follow this night." he said softly, before turning and leaving the hut. He spread his wings, unoiled, in the rain and took off, headed in the direction of the mirkasa trees. Hoktl chattered his beak in an irritated fashion before following.



          "The area that we are entering has been having major rainfall in the last day so we need to be careful of flash floods. In fact..." Ryan Pennsbrooke paused to take a nervous breath, "We're going into a recently flooded area. A native said he saw a huge bird, possibly a new species of eagle that landed where a flood has swept through... Our goal is to find the specimen." He swept his hand through his long hair and looked from one person to another. There were only a few of them, mostly exactly like him; looking for new species and or for personal knowledge, paying with money from their own pocket. He could only ask so much of them.

Ryan's blue eyes unfocused as he recalled the conversation with the man. He was a shaman from the local village and was disturbed by the strange bird, kept saying it was a bad omen.

Dr. Laura Tanner sighed on the inside. Flooding area meant debris and mud, which meant she might loose another shoe. Good thing she brought her backups, but... They were backups for a reason. She swung her camping pack off to put her notebook and pencil away; she'd need both hands. She couldn't complain, though. Discovering new bacteria or insects was nothing. Discovering a new species as noticeable as a new type of eagle was a huge privilege. Not only that, but exploring the Amazon Basin was... well, fun.

"In fact," Ryan began again, "The native also recalled that perhaps there were two, one being a chick." But a human sized chick nonetheless... Thought Ryan, grimacing at the thought of their mangled bodies covered in mud, "We must be careful, we don't want another accident." Although they had made an expedition here last year, they should still be cautious. A casualty would not be worth the trip, nor the hassle.

Annah nodded, tightening the straps of her traveling bag against her shoulders, shifting their contents to a more comfortable position, "I'm excited." She said after what seemed like forever, "The fact that we have such a wonderful opportunity to make this journey... to seek out new types of species... it's fantastic!" She had a small grin that quirked her lips.

"Well..." He replied solomnly, "Its what we're hoping for anyways, and we're going into harpy eagle territory, I hope I'm not the only one with a camera..." The hint was open. Clear pictures of harpy eagles in the wild were rare... even if it was raining.

"Oh, no worries, I always carry one!" Annah patted the bulky case that swayed at her hip, "I wouldn't leave home without it... I hope there might be one or two landed somewhere visible... I wouldn't mind getting a sketch done either." She gave a hopeful sigh.

"Good luck trying to sketch one when you're crawling on your knees towards it through the mud," Laura said matter-of-factly. "I mean, I'd applaud the effort and all..." She looked at Ryan. "So when are we starting out today?"

Ryan shouldered his own pack on his lengthy back and turned to head out in the rain, "We're packed and ready to go... the eagle or eagles could be injured." They left the lodge with a steady pace, keeping close together to keep from loosing sight of one another.

An hour and a half later they came upon a river that had recently sustained heavy mudslide damage. "Oh gods..." Whispered Ryan softly, picking up a huge mud covered feather from the soft ground, "Were we too late?"

"That could just be a discarded feather," Laura said to Ryan before trailing off as something caught her eye. Something stuck up at an odd angle from the ground. It looked like the hinge of a wing, covered in mud. She snapped into action. "Get tree branches," she said, looking around at trees still standing. "We need to have a little support getting to that." She pointed towards the find. "Just a few; it's not far out. We'd better hurry, this is unstable ground." She stood on a branch and unceremoniously ripped out an fern-like epiphyte that looked more common to the area, so she didn't feel so bad about destroying a rare species.

Annah looked at what Laura found and her mouth pressed itself into a grim line as she quickly went to work as well. She tugged a few large, strong looking branches over to the area. "Do you think we should all go out, or just one of us as a precaution?" She questioned, "I'll volunteer... I'm the smallest one and should something happened, there'd still be you two..." She reached into her pack and pulled out a length of rope, "We can use this too." She said.

Nodding, "Thats a good idea, we can always pull you out along with it..." Ryan said, his face blank at the prospect of what they were about to do. With experienced hands he tied it around her waist, "Do be careful." Something moved out of the corner of his eye but he dismissed it for the moment, no predator would be out in this rain, only a scavenger, which would prove easier to defend against. He wiped off water from his brow and eyes, flinging water from his hair as he shook his head and handed a part of the rope to Laura.

Laura saw the same movement, but just trusted the animal would be too put-off by the sight of humans to attack. She took the rope and gripped it tightly, not taking off her backpack and instead using it as extra weight to keep herself from slipping in the wet mud. "Stay on the branches," she warned, centering her stance for better leverage. It was extremely difficult to pull someone out of mud once they got in.

Annah nodded, "I'll be careful." She replied, starting out along the branches that were set before her. Once she'd gotten far enough she knelt and buried her hands in the mud near the wing, digging out slowly in attempts to clear the mud away from it.

A feirce-looking, black skinned man with fifteen feet of black-feathered flying power saw the humans near his friend. "I warned them, I warned them...." he said in his head again and again. There were only precious seconds left before Alvara and the fledgeling would be in mortal danger. With a feirce screech, Kapalphatau (for that was his name) folded his wings and went into a steep dive, and brought his feet so that his outstretched talons faced forward. "Better to give them a few cuts with my talons then for them to die in the mud..." he thought. He swooped over the head of the human Annah and pulled up steeply, catching the wing with his claws and bracing in deep. Kapalphatau strained his wings, flapping hard and fast, the veins bulging on his powerful chest muscles. After several long moments, there was a loud sucking sound, and Kapalphatau pulled Alvara from the mud and lifted her away, leaving the surprised human behind. He brought her to a rocky spot and set her down, then used his hands to clear her eyes, nose and mouth of mud. "Alvara, are you okay?" he said alarmedly.

Annah gave a noise of startlement and leaned backwards as the strange winged-man pulled the wing, and with it a woman's body from the mud. She sat for several seconds in silence before noticing that the woman was not the only one that had been stuck, a little lower was another figure and Annah quickly leaned forward, bracing herself against the branches which had loosened beneath her, and wrapped her arms about the figure's waist, nearly losing her balance in the process. Annah grunted as she pulled, feeling that she was slowly making progress. Sweat beaded on her forehead at the struggle, and finally the mud loosed its grip and she and the figure flew backwards several feet, causing Annah to lose her balance finally and plummet into the mud, still holding onto the other.

Laura's jaw dropped open, quickly filling her mouth with water. She coughed in time to feel her rope slack up and see Annah fall into the mud. "Roll onto the branches!" Laura shouts, her voice piercing the rainfall and confusion. "Now!" Meanwhile, her gaze drifted to where Kapalphatau had just been, and following it up to the rocky spot where he landed.

After making sure that Alvara was breathing, Kapalphatau stood and turned looking down at the struggling humans. Then he saw that they had pulled Aelis from the mud...he was glad that they did so, but at the same time, he didn't want her around them. He spread his wings again and dropped down, landing gracefully but solidly on a rock next to Annah. He gave her a threatening look, then reached down and scooped Aelis into his arms.

"Get her to safety!" Annah called to the strange man, not even worrying about her own safety just yet. She quickly made her way over to the branches that had begun to drift and began her own struggle to pull herself out of the mud.

Ryan yanked hard on the rope and pulled Annah to safety and stared hard and long at the bird man, "He can't carry both of them," His voice was sad, "The child is dead." Sure enough, only one wing hung from the dead girl's back, the rest a huge and bloody gap full of rocks and twigs.

A soft trill of a mourning cry came from where the bird man had left the other female.

Laura winced at the sound; it was very human, and she had not quite made the transition from complete disbelief. "The other one might not be in better condition," she mentioned. "She might have been in the mud for a long time; hypothermia is a real danger." Laura shook her head. "Alright, I wasn't the only one to see all that, right? Humanoid creatures with wings able to support them?" Thoughts and hypothesis floated in her head, trying to logically make sense of all that. It finally boiled down to: "Where the fuck did evolution put that out of?"

Annah shook her head and gazed at the ground sadly, why did something so young have to die like that? She hadn't willed them, but suddenly she felt hot tears spilling down her dirty cheeks.

Kapalphatau was in shock as he looked down into the dead face of Aelis, a mere fledgeling. He was brought back to reality by the cry of Alvara. He looked into the faces of the humans, his facial expression that of intense grief, then turned and took flight back up to where he had laid Alvara. Tenderly he laid Aelis down. She was dead, there was nothing he could do for her. He hurried then to Alvara's side and placed his hand on her forehead. She was cold to the touch. "My dear Alvara, I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. Fold your wings, or you shall become too cold." he said gently, his voice trembling a bit. He then took Alvara into his arms, cradling her like a child, and held her against him. He wrapped his wings around her, which were relatively dry from his rapid flight.

Trying to fold them, Alvara didn't open her eyes as tears leaked out and she uttered another cry of remorse, "Its all my fault Kap... all my fault..." The Tribal Mother wept heavily, clinging to the larger male with weak arms and her claws were clenched in tight balls. "I should have listened to you..."

Ryan watched them from where he had climbed, only hearing moans and hisses.

Laura frowned and followed Ryan. She could hear the communication between two individuals, although the difference was faint to her ears; that meant the larger female had survived. Or at least it might have been female. Covered in mud, they were all roughly generic. She started taking rapid mental notes for later documentation.

Kapalphatau was aware of the humans approaching them. He didn't want them close. His feathers ruffled and he glared at them, and a sound that wasn't birdlike at all, emanated from deep within his chest; a deep, rumbling growl almost like that of a jaguar.

Annah stayed where she had been pulled out of the mud, trying to reign in her emotions. She didn't notice the other two head off towards the creatures. After several minutes she finally looked up and noticed that she was alone.

Stiffling her cries, Alvara finally opened her red eyes and wiped the last of the mud from them and stared at the humans... "What... are they?" For a moment her despair was gone, replaced by slightly repulsed curiosity.

Kapalphatau didn't like the way the human looked at them. "I'm not sure..." Kapalphatau said softly, though his irritation was heard clearly in his voice. "But if they don't leave us alone, then they'll be like the fish I take from the river." he added.

"Um, I have the distinct feeling they don't like us here," Laura whispered to Ryan, not sure if these strangely humanoid beings could understand them or not.

"Its probably because we're starring at them..." Ryan replied, just as softly before climbing over the edge of the cliff and slowly inched his way towards them as non threatening as possible. Awkwardly, he let out a soft coo, "I just want to help..."

Kapalphatau, however, was greatly displeased by this action. In a flash he had let go of Alvara, opened his wings and launched himself at Ryan with a high-pitched screech, knocking the man down. Kapalphatau grabbed the man by the wrists with his powerful talons and dropped him over the embankment. He then turned and glared hatefully at Laura, as though daring her to come any closer.

Ryan crashed into the mud with a splatter, awed by the power this new being proved.

"Kap STOP." Alvara quivered, one hand clutching at Aelis' arm, "Stop. They tried to save... us." The Bewinged shuddered and shivered, "Maybe... they can help us." All anyone heard was low whistles and shrieks.

Kapalphatau's face fell as he heard Alvara's voice, and he let his wings droop. "But..." he started, but he knew she was right. Avoiding eye contact with Laura, Kapalphatau walked over to Alvara and covered her with his wings again. "I'm sorry, I just....I don't know what came over me."

When Ryan had been dropped over the embankment Annah quickly ran towards him, worried that he had been hurt. "Ryan!" She called, skidding to a halt and tripping beside him, "Ryan, are you okay?" She asked, breathing hard with worry.

Laura raised up, raising her hands and backing away. In doing so, she got a clear image of the creatures, but her mental notes took second place to staying intact. She didn't know if the human-bird would take offense at the raised hands or not, but it was all she could think of to do. "Look, bird-thing, I'm leaving," she said, her voice as calming as possible. "You can take care of... whoever, alright? I'm going to see to my own friend that you threw off the freaking cliff..." Laura didn't care what she said, as long as she kept talking in that tone of voice to keep situations calm.

Ryan coughed up some mud and took heaving breathes, holding his spinning head in his hands, "Ah... I'm gonna have bruises in the morning..."

"Kap..." Alvara said in his embrace, "Carry me to them, please?" Her eyes held tears and her body was weak and tender, in no shape to walk in.

"What happened to you?" Annah pressed, "I wasn't up there and all I saw was you fall." She quickly moved to check his injuries in worry, "Doesn't look like you got hurt too much..." She breathed a sigh of relief, "It's this mud... if everything had been dry you probably wouldn't have survived the fall..."

Kapalphatau made obvious his dislike for Alvara's request in his eyes, but nevertheless, he picked her up, careful not to hurt her wings, and turned to face the humans. They were all down at the bottom of the embankment now. The rain was letting up now. Kapalphatau opened his wings and fluttered down to them, landing several feet away. "What do you plan to do?" Kap asked quietly.

Laura bit her lip at Ryan's side; it was hopeless to look for injuries under all that mud, although it might wash off with some more rain. She looked up in time to see Kap and Alvara descend in the rainfall. A small gasp escaped her lips, reading their movements to try and see whether this was peaceful or an attack to drive the group from their territory. She stood, hoping that by making herself appear less vulnerable, the two might not attack.

The other Bewinged, one wing bloody and several gashes and bruises visible on her pale and unveiled skin gently put her feet on the ground, the mud sliding off her skin. Trembling, Alvara bowed to them, muttering her thanks and apologies to the humans, trying to let them know how she felt.

The words were obviously foreign and they could not understand. Ryan however, thought he knew what they were trying to say, "I... think..." He winced as a cut on his lip stung, "She is trying to thank us. This is... amazing! Annah can you get some pictures of them please, we need to see more of these!" He blushed, even apparent with the mud on his face and completely forgeting his injuries. Standing, he made his way over to Alvara slowly, so as not to annoy the male who was obvious very protective of her.

Once Ryan was within a few feet of Alvara, Kapalphatau let out a threatening hiss not unlike that of an angry goose and flexed his taloned feet. "I'm not sure they understand you. But perhaps the Great Eagle will grant me their tongue." he suggested. It was not uncommon for one of the Bewinged Prophets to suddenly be able to speak a foreign language, if not for a very short time.

Laura flinched at the sound, her arms straight against her sides as she tried not to move. These were some sort of modified human, alright, but they still had properties of wild animals. "Ryan, as much as I'm thrilled about this, it's... a little dangerous. Maybe we should..." She furrowed her eyebrows, looking apprehensively. "Annah, snap a few photos and we might want to leave. They could get territorial at any moment."

Ryan halted instantly at the sound, though his eyes held the other's more hawklike ones, "I know... but they are part human, this one seems less aggressive and the markings she has and the way he is protecting her, could mean she's either his mate, or the leader."

Alvara cocked her head at him, the action very hawklike as she focused the closer eye one him and slicked back her hair, "You think you can speak to him?" She whistled to Kap, keeping the human's gaze.

Kapalphatau closed his eyes and prayed a silent prayer to the Great Eagle. He was silent for a few moments, and took a deep breath. Then, with his eyes still closed, he spoke. "I can try." he said. But rather than the words coming out in the Bewinged language (though Kap was speaking bewinged and Alvara could understand him), the words came out in plain english, though with a heavy accent like a Japanese accent.

Her mouth dropping open, Laura almost lost her balance and had to steady herself on the rocks behind her. "He... speaks English?" she wonders aloud, but that was about all she could manage to say before shutting up in stunned silence, her mind whirring with more possibilities. If they weren't the first to discover these people... Had previous explorers been here and died? Laura shuddered. She wasn't really ready to die.

Kapalphatau took another deep breath and ruffled his feathers. "I speak the language of your kind. Why have you come into out territory?" Kapalphatau asked, getting straight to the point.

The Tribal Mother's eyes narrowed at Ryan and he swallowed as she backed off, all sign of weakness gone as she went to Kap's side, her wings folded and touched his arm and his wing encircled her.

Ryan swallowed again before answering, somewhat puzzled, "This land belongs to Brazil, a country, we heard from a local villager that there had been a mudslide, that they had seen two huge eagles. We... had hoped that they were some undiscovered species..." He wilted under the male's harder gaze.

Kapalphatau cocked his head to the side as he pressed Alvara against him with his massive black wing. "Brazil? I've heard of no such thing. This is the territory of my people, and of our Tribal Mother." Kapalphatau said adamantly. As he spoke, there was a loud cry being them, and Hoktl the harpy eagle came swooping down and landed gracefully on Kapalphatau's shoulder. "Do your people have names?"

"Laura," Laura replied, finally speaking up. She squared her shoulders, firmly meeting Kapalphatau's gaze. She kept repeating that she shouldn't be over-intimidated by an oversized chicken. And she was nobody's people. "My name is Laura."

"I'm Ryan, this is Annah..." He said, slowly overcoming those rapter-like eyes and instead focused on the new arrival of the harpy eagle.

Alvara looked up to Kap then back to them, not understanding what they were saying.

"Ryan, Laura, Annah..." Kapalphatau repeated, then spoke in bewinged to Alavara. "They say this land is called Brazil. Their names are Ryan, Laura, and Annah." he said, then resumed his speaking in english. "I am Kapalphatau Tengotshepsut, and this is my mate, Tribal Mother Alvara." he said, motioning towards Alvara. When he was being introduced to Laura, his gaze was on her longer than the others. Now his eyes moved over to her again, and he looked her up and down once, before quickly averting his eyes again.

"Brazil?" Echoed Alvara, her words not whistles but in a well imitated version of english, with the 'z' more of an 's' sound.

Ryan's eyes widened at that, then responded, "Tribal Mother? So she is the leader of your people?"

"Yes, she is the leader." Kapalphatau replied. "Now why are you here?" he asked again, not satisfied with their previous answer.

Laura uneasily went up to Ryan's side. The way Kapalphatau was looking at her made her nervous, but she wanted to visibly support him. "We're on an expedition to discover a new species," she said, like she had pitched to the grant committee. "There were sightings of large birds in this area that were not obviously indigenous. We came here to analyze them and ascertain if they were a new species or simply a larger version of a migratory bird..." She trailed off, caught up again in Kapalphatau's wings. "And wow. I am so getting more funding."

Annah had brought out her camera ages ago and snapped multiple pictures of the two beings, though now she was crouched and was running her sketch pencils over her drawing pad, occasionally gazing up. Once or twice during the conversation she had flipped to a new page.

It took a while for Kapalphatau to take this all in, since he still did not understand some of the words she used. "You came....you were paid....to...to study us?" Kapalphatau asked slowly, hoping he was asking it right. For a moment he looked a little unsteady, but then it was gone. Kapalphatau relayed this information to Alvara. Then he turned to the people again, speaking mostly to Laura. "I suspect that we are the 'birds' you seek."

"Oh no," Annah looked up at him, "We weren't paid to come out, we paid for our own trip out. It's amazing to discover new things..."

"And yes, you are the, er, 'birds' we sought," Laura answered. "Sort of. You aren't... exactly what we suspected."

Alvara glanced between them until Ryan spoke, "Well Laura here has sponsers for certain things, as well as several degrees from college, colleges are our schools. She has certain people pay her for research, but not exactly for the whole trip. Where as... Myself and Annah are paying for this ourselves. This is our fourth time coming to this... this forest. But this is Annah's first time with us."

A few of the things Ryan said went right over Kapalphatau's head, but he did understand that the only reason they were there was to see the Bewingeds. This bothered Kapalphatau. He looked to Alvara. "Alvara, these people are here to study us. I don't like having them in our forest. What shall we do?" he said to her.

Twittering nervously as her wings constantly refolded themselves, "I don't know... We can't kill them... that doesn't seem right... but if we let them leave, they will bring more. What would be wrong with letting them meet our people, maybe they will be appeased. Why don't you ask them?" Alvara said all of this softly, her face still a controlled mask even as her bird side showed everyone how uncomfortable she was. Hoktl however had his feathers so close to his body in fear and suspicion that she didn't even ask him his opinion.

"Maybe they'll take us to their tribe," Laura whispered to Ryan. "But the bigger one seems against us."

Kapalphatau sighed thoughtfully, before facing the humans again. "If we allowed you to come into our tribe for a night or two, would you leave and not come back afterwards?" Kapalphatau said in a blunt fashion. "Is Alta your leader?" he added, calling Ryan the english pronunciation of the bewinged word for "tall".

Twisting his head at the word, Ryan looked pained before reluctantly nodding, reluctantly lying. They themselves would maybe not come... but others would. He looked to the two woman, sighing but kept their gazes, "We are all equals." but mouthed, 'should we?'.

Laura paused, understanding Ryan's hesitation. Then, slowly, she nods.

"Only a day or two?" Annah frowned slightly, though she understood that they were interfering with their lives, and that they were most likely making the bewinged uncomfortable, finally she shook her head, "It should be fine..." She murmured.

With that said, Kapalphatau picked Alvara back up. "Walk directly west of here. If you stay your course, you will come upon our nesting ground." he instructed. Then he spoke to Alvara. "You shall have to ride upon my back if I am to carry Aelis home." he said sadly. He helped Alvara onto his back, then flew up to where Aelis lay. He took her cold body up into his arms. Then, with a significant amount of effort, he took flight towards the nesting grounds, due west.

Laura sighed and took out a compass. "In order to effectively study a culture, we should be there for months; years even," Laura muttered, making sure he was going west and not tricking them into getting lost. "I guess we'll just have to make due."





Modern Angels Part Two <= to the Bewinged village...