_{The Modern Angels}

[Invitation ONLY.]

The Angel Tribe--The Researchers

Modern Angels Part One

Modern Angels Part Two

Alvara was thinking about a few days earlier...Steel/Aeo- Mature Audiences Only!



        Her thoughts came back to the present with a jolt as they came within view of the village.

Kapalphatau came soaring over the trees, heavily laden with the bewinged on his back and the dead girl in his arms. He made a low, sad hooting sort of cry, a call to the village announcing a death. The rain had subsided and was now only sprinkling. Kapalphatau landed gracefully, if not a little harder than he usually would, and kneeled so that Alvara could get off his back easily.

A young Bewinged man by the name of Zusoir was first to approach the new arrivals. He took in the situation, and felt himself uncontrollably fall to his knees in front of Kapalphatau. Zusoir reached out to touch the late child, but restrained himself, and instead his fingers floated inches away from her broken body. "What...what happened?" His brow furrowed, his gaze finally meeting Kapalphatau's. "It was a torrent! I told you not to go!" A concerned anger rose in his voice, "Why would you not believe me?"

Alvara stood fully and almost fainted, leaning herself against Kap's shoulder, "Its my fault Zusoir," She whispered softly, collasping to her knees beside the other Bewinged.

Kapalphatau folded his wing around Alvara. "It was a freak accident, Zusoir. The young one was inexperienced." he said in an attempt to take the blame off of Alvara.

"But still..." Zusoir's eyes fell back down to the child's small body. "it was a young life prematurely ended." He brought a fist to his mouth, steadying himself. He turned away, "I suppose we should commence her burial arrangements?"

"Yes..." Alvara replied, fairly close to blacking out, "We should."

Kapalphatau sighed sadly. "Very well then. I shall prepare her for burial in the temple." he said. "But first, let me take Alvara to her bed." he asked, indicating that he wanted Zusoir to watch over Aelis for a moment.

Again, Alvara tried to stand but let her mate pick her up and take her to their nest. "I will need a healer," The Tribal Mother said to the small crowd of mostly adults and one left to fetch her.

Kapalphatau took Alvara into their hut and laid her down on the fur-covered bed. "Rest well, my love. I shall come to you when it is time for the burial ceremony." he said softly. Then he got a cloth and water from the stone basin. Then he came and began to wash Alvara, cleaning the mud from her body and rinsing her scrapes and cuts. He was swift and touched her tenderly, and it took only a few minutes. "The healer will be here soon." he reassured, then turned and left, but not before covering Alvara with a warm fur.
"Zusoir!" Kapalphatau called as he approached the scholar. "Would you fetch the scroll of burial rites for me? I shall be in the temple." he asked as he picked Aelis up again. He had brought a small sheet from the nest, and covered Aelis' bare form as he picked her up.

Zusoir nodded in reply to Kapalphatau and made his way to the archives. As he browsed the shelves for the appropriate material, Zusoir sighed. It was an unfortunate accident, but he was still frustrated that any of them had gone out at all in the rain. Finally, he plucked the correct scroll from the shelf and hastened towards to Temple. He knew he would arrive before Kapalphatau, so he waited inside, staring intently at every little nuance.

Kapalphatau arrived shortly after Zusoir, and motioned with his head for him to follow. Kapalphatau made his way to one of the more obscure rooms, in which there was a stone table and shelves of liquids used to prepare the dead. Kapalphatau gingerly laid Aelis on the table, and began first to clean her. "Thank you, Zusoir, for retreiving that. I also wanted you to come here, because I have some bad news." Kapalphatau said quietly as he wiped mud from the girl's one remaining wing, then folded it snugly against her back.

"Bad news?" came Zusoir's surprised voice. "You mean, this isn't it?" Absentmindedly, he handed Kapalphatau the necessary tools for the burial preparations, waiting for the next bad thing to be announced.

Back in her hut, Alvara subjected herself to their healer, an older Bewinged with a gentle touch. She could not help but think that this new... encounter would prove harmful to her people. She had known about humans, but only information, she had never seen them before. On the other hand, she knew that some had experiences with them, but not to this degree. A change was coming, and she tried her best not to fear it.

"While we were down by the riverbank, we came upon a group of...of wingless people. Humans. They say that their country has sent them to 'discover' us, and they want to 'study' us. But they agreed that they would leave us alone....if we allowed them entry into the village for a few nights." Kapalphatau explained as he spread salt and embalming fluid over Aelis' body, than began wrapping her loosely in strips of white cloth.

"Wingless People?" squawked Zusoir, nearly dropping some salt, "I've seen them!" The bewinged chittered happily, "I've never spoken with one, though. What are they like?"

Kapalphatau's expression grew dark. "I don't like them." he said, his voice low.

"Don't like them?" Zusoir cooed, tilting his head to the side. "How can you not like someone you've barely even met?" He smiled, "Besides, they're completely different. It would be fascinating to learn what it's like...you know...living wingless."

"You sound just like them when you say that. But they are so strange...they wear cloth over their entire body. And I don't like the way they looked at me and at Alvara. I'm not comfortable having them in the village." Kapalphatau went on.

"You're not comfortable having anyone in the village..." mumbled under his breath, still assisting his comrade. "Well, I still think it'd be a great idea...two groups of people meeting one another...interacting with one another for the first time!"

"Maybe. Well, she's ready." Kapalphatau said as he fastened the final strip of cloth near Aelis' feet. When suddenly, in the distance, he heard the tell-tale shouts of the sentries; "INTRUDER!!! INTRUDER!! Away with you!" the sentries squawked. Kapalphatau raised his head. "The humans have arrived. Come let us go to meet them. The priest will finish the preparations." Kapalphatau suggested, before beckoning Zusoir to him while he walked from the room, out of the temple, towards the sound of the sentries.

Zusoir scampered behind Kapalphatau, eager to meet these humans. As he followed, Zusoir quickly preened some of his wily feathers, so as to make a good impression.



Ryan sighed as they walked, having changed into more clean and dry clothes as he talked with his two female companions, "The government is going to jump all over this..."

"Like a fat kid on cake," Laura agreed. "It's the find of the century. No... longer than that. These are... mind-boggling. Everybody and their mother is going to want in on this."

"But still..." Annah said uncertainly, "I know that it's a fantastic find and all but... I don't know, I think that we should refrain from telling anybody. It could cause these people a lot of hell..."

"It could cause their deaths..." Ryan admitted, "The greatest moment in our lives, and we have to keep it a secret." He thought for a moment before staying silent.

"But we owe it to the world to reveal this," Laura argued. "Who knows what sort of value to the human race this could be? Not just possible genetic value, but intrinsic value. Winged humans?" Laura shook her head. "A scientist should never cover up the facts."

"But should we think of their fate more then ours? We have technology, they have thrived being left alone, what if our government order's their deaths so they can disect them? What if they see that they are animals and can be killed? I'm sorry Laura, but I have to take Annah's side on this..." He looked at her with apologetic eyes.

Annah nodded, "I can't just knowingly put these people into some sort of trouble." She said softly, "It is an amazing discovery, but I think that we should count our blessings because we are the ones here and now."

Laura fell silent. She knew these kids were too soft to be real scientists. Emotions like this just got in the way. Laura steeled her gaze. Action would be taken, but not now... She still as of yet had to rely on their cooperation. "Mmm," she said aloud, verbally agreeing. "Maybe I need to think more about this."

However Ryan knew what she was thinking, "Laura, at least get to know these people, and treat them like people, ok?" They didn't realize they had been walking for quite a while now, "We must be getting close..."

Laura waved him off, refusing to answer. Of course she would treat them like people; that's how an anthropologist got data, by living among them as one of their own. But she was still thinking of publishing it. She looked around and frowned, seeing the first signs of civilization. "Looks like those branches have been cultivated," she points out, looking up.

The sentry that had been hidden above them screamed a challenge, being young, naked and had the coloring of a falcon fell through the trees. He didn't touch them, just screamed and swiped his claws at them. The Bewinged had dark paint all over his body, twigs and leaves sticking to him to add to his cover.

Ryan ducked with a yelp.

Laura performed an excellent evasive maneuver in falling over backwards. She covered her head with her arms, shouting for him to stop.

"Stop please!" Annah called, raising her hands in a surrendering gesture, "We were invited here by Kapalphatau and Alvara!"

The Bewinged landed on a low branch and hissed, each of his feathers raised in aggitation. Suddenly he stopped as a series of whistles sounded from not to far away as another native backwinged and landed on an opposing branch. They twittered to each other before glancing back at the three humans.

"Y-yeah," Laura said, bringing herself to her feet again. "Alvara. Tribal mother. You'll let us through now?"

Annah kept a wary eye on the two conversing bewinged, wishing that she knew what they were saying, though she didn't move from her spot. Annah didn't want to alarm them after all.

Ryan looked up and saw the Bewinged called Kap approaching them with another fellow Bewinged.

"Let them pass, friends, they were invited." Kapalphatau called out, making eye contact with Ryan as he spoke. "I see you've arrived in one peice." he addressed the humans. "This is my comrade, Zusoir. Welcome to our village." he said, though he did not sound too happy about it at all.

"You, you speak their human tongue?" whistled Zusoir in amazement. He turned to the humans."Hello!" Squawked Zusoir, twitching his wings open. It did not occur to him, at first, that he was speaking in the tongue of the bewinged. The realization of the language barrier set in as the explorers stared at him. Zusoir leaned over towards Kapalphatau, chittering, "Tell them, I say hello."

"I... think that sound meant hello..." Ryan whispered to Laura and Annah, not sure if they came to the same realization as he had. "Um, hello Zusoir...."

"Yes, Zusoir says hello" said Kapalphatau, having overheard Ryan. "This is our way of saying hello." he added, then said hello in Bewinged, which sounded roughly like a low, short whistle while rolling an "R". Then Kap turned to Zusoir. "Is there an empty nest where we can house these creatures? I think they shall need one on the ground." he asked.

"Empty nest..." Zusoir chittered on, his gaze raising as he thought. "Oh! They can stay in my nest!" Zusoir clapped his hands together. "It's far too large for just me!" He addressed the humans once more, "Would you like that?"

"I'm going to have to practice whistling," Laura mused, not understanding a word Zusoir said.

"Zusoir has invited you into his nest, to stay while you are here. Will you accept?" Kapalphatau said curtly.

"We will accept his hospitality," Laura said, hoping she was going along with their culture. Zusoir had seemed pretty sincere to her, and not the fake offering of some societies. Laura smiled broadly at Zusoir--he was much more friendly than Kap. Raised her hopes about the whole adventure, really.

"Will we all stay together?" Ryan asked Kap, "Perhaps I should stay with you and Alvara? In our culture it... isn't appropriate for us to sleep in the same... room." The man blushed heavily.

"Do they accept?" Zusoir asked Kapalphatau excitedly.

Kapalphatau considered Ryan's request. "The male...at least, the one I think is male...claims that in their culture, it is considered inappropriate for the males to sleep in the company of females. He requests to sleep in my nest and send the females off with you. What say you?" Kapalphatau asked Zusoir.

"Oh?" whistled Zusoir, a confused look on his face. Zusoir touched Kapalphatau's bicep, "But how will we communicate without you?"

"Come on, scholar, don't tell me that you can't communicate without words. Use your hands, point to things, use body language. You'd do fine." Kapalphatau suggested.

"Oh, yes..." Zusoir cooed. "I...I'm just all flustered from the excitement. Well, come along with me." he whistled to the women. He laughed apologetically, forgetting to mime out his words. With great dramatization, he gestured for them to follow him.

Laura cocked an eyebrow at Ryan. She was surprised at his comment; they hadn't shared at tent or anything, but most people just wouldn't care. She shrugged it off and smiled at Zusoir, following him immediately.

Kapalphatau watched as they left, particularly, he was watching Laura... the way she moved was different, she was much more graceful on her feet, and the way her hips swayed... Kapalphatau tore his gaze from her, somewhat embarrassed, then looked at Ryan. "Very well then, you can stay in my nest." he informed. The sun was just beginning to set.

"Alright," Ryan said, "I look forward to talking to Alvara, she is better I trust?" He tried to strike up a conversation as the ladies turned another way and followed the other male. Bewingeds openly stared at him as they walked, the females wearing a long cloth with another leather strap wrapped around their hips, keeping the cloth to them over the tail. The males simply wore loincloths, some wearing rain ponchos.

Zusoir chittered on in the bewinged tongue, trying to act out his words as much as possible. "You know my name is Zusoir. Who are you?"

Laura heard the Bewinged mention his name and point at her and Annah, so she pointed at herself and said, "Laura." She then pointed at Annah. "Annah." She hesitated for a second, then let out a short, low whistle, trying to roll her R's at the same time; a crude, heavily-accented version of a Bewinged hello.

"Ah!" Squawked Zusoir, "Yes, yes...hello, Laurrra, Aannaah." Zusoir bowed to each woman as he said their name. He rolled the "r" in Laura's name, and elongated the syllables of both names. "You are tired from travel, yes?" He mimed the act of sleep and pointed to both Laura and Annah.

"Er, sleepy?" Laura asked. "Sleepy." She nodded and mimed the same thing, showing that she agreed. Laura wished Zusoir would talk in one-word sentences; it was hard enough to try and learn a language when you only had to memorize one word at a time.



"She has been under the care of our healer." Kapalphatau said simply as he led Ryan into his own nest, and closed the door behind him. "Alvara, my love, I have the male human with me." he called out as he entered, warning her of their prescence.

Alvara lay on a nest of feathers, down, and animal skins, dressed in a similiar outfit that the other females had worn, although hers had been dyed bright green. The markings had been redrawn upon her skin and her face was a calm mask. "Hello," She whistled, rearranging herself on the couch.

Kapalphatau leaned over and nibbled the feathers of Alvara's neck while he embraced her. "I wish the human wasn't here. I wished to have you tonight." he whispered. The sound would have been like a whining coo to Ryan.

"You still can my mate..." Alvara cooed back, her tail feathers rustling, "We just have to be quiet." Her arm leaned down underneath his tail feathers and pinched his bottom, "Here's your cloth," She handed him a clean loincloth.

Kapalphatau blushed and covered himself with his wings as his thoughts became obvious in his anatomy. He clipped his loincloth on and tried to settle down. "Where shall we sleep the human?" he asked, changing the subject. He then looked over his shoulder at Ryan, who had followed him as far as the doorway, then back at Alvara.

Slightly more innocent, Ryan had no idea what was going on, he was too busy looking at his surroundings, noticing the slight adornments and looked back to the two Bewingeds.

"Well, he could sleep right here." Alvara chittered softly.

"If you are okay with that, than it is fine, my love. He shall need nesting material." Kapalphatau said. Then he turned to Ryan. "What sort of material do you use for your nests?" he questioned.

"Uh, we use blankets... pillows... a mattress. But all you have is feather stuff?" Ryan looked finally at what Alvara was laying on and winced when she stood, revealing several bruises that had not been visible before.

Kapalphatau took a second to understand what Ryan said. "So...you...sleep with cloth? And a mat? Alvara, do we have those things?" Kapalphatau said the first part to Ryan and the second to Alvara.

Patting the pile with her claw, "This will be fine, I'm sure we can give him some more skins if he gets cold. Would you tell him we sleep when the sun sets, except for the few owl Bewingeds?" She hinted something with her hips and stepped gracefully to the side, bowing to Ryan, who looked at the place where she had lain.

Kapalphatau nodded to her, then turned to Ryan. "We sleep when the sun sets. We can give you some of the furs from our own bed. We have quite a few of them." Kapalphatau said tersely, wanting now to speed up getting Ryan settled so he could be with Alvara. Without waiting for an answer, Kapalphatau gathered a considerable pile of furs from the bed and arranged them on the couch by the wall next to the bed.

Ryan nodded his thanks, taking a notebook from his backback and began to take notes, "Thank you Kap." Then ducked quickly as a loud cry sounded as Hoktl, forgotten until now flew in and settled down on a perch, settling down to sleep. "Hoktl will keep an eye on him," Alvara whispered, sauntering off to their sleeping quarters.

Content that Ryan was situated, Kapalphatau then went off to join his mate. "Shall I dance for you tonight?" he asked with a loving smile. A dance was absolutely necessary for the first mating, but afterwards was optional, akin to foreplay in humans.

"If you want..." She smiled up at him, for she had settled down on their bed, which was more full and larger from their combined efforts. The feathers from their first night were already braided into her hair, accenting her features nicely.

Kapalphatau considered this for a moment, then reached back and unclipped his loincloth. "No, I want you now. My dance would be clumsy, anyways." he cooed as he crawled into bed with his mate and kissed her tenderly. "It's been a long day for you."

Alvara settled with cuddling him for a moment before letting out a controlled sigh, "Things are going to change from here on out aren't they?" Refolding her wings against her back she looked her mate in the eye, "Do you think we should have killed them?"

"You know I would have preferred to do so. But we can't now, now that they're guests." Kapalphatau lamented before holding Alvara to him, his eyes closed. "I love you so much, my beautiful bird." he said, diverting the subject off of the humans.

"Killing them would have made us animals..." His mate whispered softly, nuzzling his neck and preening him, "Animals cannot love, we can." Moving over him, Alvara kissed him passionatly.

Kapalphatau returned the kiss, tasting her lips with his tongue. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him, his thigh pressing between her legs. "Animals cannot love, perhaps, but they still protect their own. All the more reason for us to protect our own. I wish to give the humans one night and a day...then we expel them."

Unclipping the belt, her long cloth fell away as she tossed the leather to the side, "Expel, but... not kill..." Alvara nipped his nose letting out a soft twittering song.

Listening intently, Ryan could hear them making sounds that sounded a lot like a human couple kissing and shook his head. It seemed the Bewingeds were a very sexual race, but he hadn't seen many children, maybe there was a high child mortality rate. Hoktl, the huge harpy eagle watched him with dark and hooded eyes but eventually fell asleep. Although, Ryan was sure that if he made to look through the doorway the eagle would have a fit. So, the researcher settled on taking notes of what he had learned and drifted off to sleep himself.

Back in the nest, Kapalphatau gave Alvara a soft kiss before turning Alvara over and positioning himself on top of her. "Very well, I shall not kill them. Now that we have that settled, let's get to more important matters..." he replied suggestively, before leaning over and drawing Alvara into a deep kiss...



Annah watched Laura and Zusoir converse silently, Laura seemed pretty good at mimicking the bewinged, and Annah felt a moment's jealousy that the other woman was already starting to comprehend things. Annah was able to understand the jist of what the bewinged was saying but she knew that it would take a while for her words to be spoken clearly, and she was always embarrassed pronounced things wrongly. She frowned slightly and gazed down at her sketchbook, which she ran her fingers over constantly, the glossy cover always seemed to sooth her thoughts, and right now she needed to sort things out in her mind.

"Oh," cooed Zusoir, "Sleeeepy." He smiled at the human word as he said it. "Aanaah, sleepy?" He kept his voice calm and reassuring, though he was ecstatic meeting the humans and already learning a word. "Hungry?" He asked in the bewinged tongue, rubbing his stomach for indication.

Laura's eyes lit up at the communication, as excited as Zusoir. Ah, here we go, she thought, grinning widely. "Hungry," she said in Bewinged, mimicking taking a bite out of something. Her accent was thick and the word, but it was understandable, if just barely. "Hungry," she said again in English. She looked down, pondering her empty stomach. "Actually... Yes. Yes," she said, nodding her head. "Hungry."

"Hungry!" Zusoir parroted in English. He also had a thick accent, having a tendency to lengthen syllables, namely those with vowels. "We, uh, go," he pretended to run in place, "to my house...my..." Zusoir put his arms above his head, hoping they would understand it was a roof, "home. And we will...eat." The bewinged brought his hands to his mouth and pretended to chew on invisible food. "Yes? Follow!"

"Go, home, eat?" Laura mimicked, questioning. "Yes." She grabbed Annah's hand. "Come, let's go try the local cuisine," she said, tugging gently on the girl.

Annah blinked and nearly lost her grip on her sketchbook as Laura dragged her after Zusoir. "Food?" She said, their conversation finally catching up with her own thoughts, and she nodded.

Zusoir led the two women, probably a bit more speedily than he needed to, towards his home. It was a nice-sized "nest" which resembled a hut. "This is my home!" squawked the bewinged, presenting his home as if it were a mansion. "it is alright if you look around." Zusoir pretended to look around his own place before indicating for the girls to do the same. "I will go get food."

Laura scanned the inside of the room, putting her camping gear to the side, as far out of the way as possible. "Isn't this amazing?" she asked Annah, pulling out her notebook and furiously writing all she had learned, including rough outlines of what certain words sounded like. "I wonder if they eat grubs here."

"This place is indeed amazing..." Annah nodded her agreement, looking around, "I can't wait to learn more about these people!"

Laura looked at her notes, complete but so inadequate for understanding a species. "So, Annah," she said, trying to make conversation. "I saw you drawing. You like art?"

"Oh yes," Annah nodded, "I love to draw, I feel it captures the moment better than a photograph can, and you can always break a camera, but breaking a sketchbook is much harder- especially since I've got a waterproof glossing over the pages."

Laura smiled. "Yeah, I'm not very good at drawing unless it's a part of my notes," she said. "I usually just go with a photo." She pulled out a camera case. "It's a clunky one, but I know the basics of fixing it," Laura said, pulling out an older-looking camera." She grinned at Annah, pointing the camera. "Say cheese!"

Annah couldn't help a small chuckle and shook her head, "I'm too tired to have my picture taken." She said, "Not to mention, falling in that mud pit- I'm surprised that I'm even recognizable right now..."

"Alright, maybe later," Laura said, putting the camera back. "Although we should probably get used to the mud around here."

"Probably," Annah nodded, "But I don't think that they stay dirty, a lot of them that I've seen in the village are really quite clean..."

"I don't know how often they're near the ground," Laura pointed out. "I think this is one of the only houses not in a tree."

"True," Annah shrugged, "But this is a blossoming forest, I have no doubt that there's a river somewhere or other." She shrugged, "I wonder what kind of food Zusoir is preparing." His name was foreign on her tongue, but it wasn't so difficult to pronounce.

As if on cue, Zusoir entered the nest. In his arms were a couple of small dead rabbit-like animals and some fruit. He set them on the ground near the women. "I...did not know..." He pointed to his head and shook it, "What you eat, so I brought meat and fruit."

Annah nodded her head, "Both are good," She said out loud, "Do you cook your meat?" She mimicked making a fire and pointed at the dead animals.

"Fire?" chirped Zusoir, wiggling his fingers as he raised his hands. "Not often." he shook his head, then looked up at Annah as he raised a finger, "but we can, if you want." He went to the hearth that was lit usually for warmth and kindled a flame. He prepared the meat as the fire steadied.

Annah nodded in thanks, moving closer to the fire as well to help him some, "We always cook it..." She said, "We humans are frail creatures who are made ill and killed so easily..." She wasn't really so much talking to Zusoir anymore and hadn't made any signs to help him understand.

Unfortunately, when Annah spoke, Zusoir had taken up much interest. When Annah did not mime out her words, he began to look troubled. He looked back down to the preparations, straining to listen to her words as if he focused enough, he would some how attain their meaning.

Laura looked on, slightly worried at Zusoir's intense expression. "Uh, do not worry," she said to Zusoir, shaking her head and holding up her hands apologetically.

Zusoir nodded in understanding. He put the animals on the fire with a stick. There were so many questions to ask, but where should he start? "Why..." He held up his hands in a shrug, "are you," he pointed to Laura, "here?" He indicated a finger to the ground.

That made Laura pause. She could guess his meaning, and that he wasn't talking about his hut. How do you put 'to study your people in order to gain a deeper understanding of your culture' into pantomime? Finally, Laura just tapped her brain and pretended to read a book, hoping they had some sort of writing system that would help him to understand that one. "To learn," she said.

"Ah..." whistled Zusoir. He removed the animals from the fire and offered them to his guests. "For knowledge." He pointed at the marking on his chest, then pointed to his own head.

Annah nodded at his reply, "to learn," She mimicked with a small smile, taking the offered food, "Thank you." She said gratefully.

Zusoir assumed Annah had said some form of "thank you" in the human language, and therefore spoke in his own language, "You're welcome." As Annah and Laura ate, Zusoir busied himself with his bed, getting it in order for his company.

Once Annah had eaten enough she leaned back and opened her sketchbook once more. Her keen green eyes fell on Zusoir who was currently busy as her pencil rushed across a clean, glossy page.

"Do..." Zusoir turned back towards Annah and Laura. He paused for a moment, then rephrased his thought in order to better mime out his words. "You...sleep...here? Yes?"

"Yes?" Laura replied in the Bewinged language. "Sleep here." Laura paused, then added in her own language, with just enough question in it and spreading her hands in a general inquiry gesture, "Okay?"

"O....kay?" Zusoir's head twitched to the side. He mimicked Laura's gesture. Then, he shrugged his hands up, "Is 'Okay' same as 'Yes?'" clarified the bewinged.

"They are the same," Annah nodded, "'okay' and 'yes' are same." She slowly gesticulated with her words hoping that it wouldn't be difficult for him to understand her.

Laura grinned. "Yes," she said. "Er, yes?" she added in the Bewinged language. "Sleep here?"

"Oookay!" chirped Zusoir, "Sleeeeep heeere." He smiled happily, proud of his human words.

Annah released a soft peal of laughter at his enthusiasm and nodded, "Stay still." She pointed at him before pointing at herself and holding herself still, and to clarify she pointed at her sketchbook, indicating that she wanted to draw him.

Zusoir kept apprehensively still. He didn't quite understand why he had to be still while Annah wrote notes. He looked to Laura, confused.

Laura smiled again, then drew in her own notes a crude picture of Zusoir, holding it up for him to see. She tilted her head towards Annah and signaled for him to wait. In the meantime, she began to write a few more things down around her picture, including notes on anatomy, height, and apparent social structure. More often she glanced at Zusoir to add more details about things like the wing placement, but she tried to keep it discreet.

In a few minutes, though, Laura was yawning. It had been a long day. She shut her notebook and began eyeing the bed. "Alright, I'm going to sleep," she said to Annah, tugging off her shoes and socks and looking through her bag for clean, comfortable clothes.

"Goodnight then!" Annah said without looking up from her drawing. After several more minutes Annah finished the drawing and held it out to Zusoir for inspection.

Laura held her clothes and looked around for a place to change. "Do you mind?" she asked Zusoir, miming changing clothes, not knowing if nakedness was standard or taboo. She honestly didn't mind either way, but if it was taboo, he was going to have to turn around.

Zusoir looked at Annah's drawing, amused. He looked up at Laura, responding with a whistling "No..." and shaking his head.

Annah flipped the book closed and put it back with her things, "I like to draw..." She said, signing the basic points of what she'd said, "And I like being out here," She waved her arms around, "In nature where things can be beautiful and thrive without human interference..." She gave a soft yawn.

Zusoir saw the yawn. "Annah...sleep!" He gently took her hand and hurried her to his bed.

"I think I will..." Annah nodded, "Didn't notice how tired I was..." She didn't really know how to sign it, but did her best.

Laura frowned, not knowing if Zusoir had denied her the ability to change or just said he didn't mind. She shrugged and turned to strip off her wet top without showing too much. If he didn't like it, he'd look away. "Annah, if you don't want to catch a cold, you might like to change," she called to the younger girl, taking off her bra and quickly putting on a dry shirt, then changing out of her wet, long pants and underwear into dry, cotton shorts.

Zusoir stopped, unsure of Laura's words. He looked to Annah, then gestured for her to speak with Laura. The bewinged stepped back, taking no heed of Laura's clothing change.

Laura leaned to both sides, stretching a little before sleep. She yawned like Annah, heading over to where Zusoir had taken Annah and sat down in the bed, laying back. It was actually quite comfortable, and she couldn't help but close her eyes in exhaustion before she was all the way on it, not quite asleep but dangerously close. She mumbled something and slid further onto it, barely conscious enough to make the choice to take up as little room as possible.

"Sleep well." cooed Zusoir, allowing Annah to do as she wished.

Annah nodded at Laura and moved back to her bag. She easily slipped out of her wet and extremely muddy garments and into a clean, long t-shirt and pair of shorts.




Modern Angels Part Three <== the next morning...