Sciuri wasn't quite the early bird her aunt was, but she had made it her goal to one day wake up before Gliri left the den in the morning. So far she had yet to accomplish it, but she held out hope for the future. It was just that her days were so full she fell asleep totally exhausted and had not learned to wake before she was actually done sleeping.
So far Iuri had been awake for several hours. Once Lipi woke she'd dutifully reported that she was going to go outside and play, but she'd stay close to the den. She didn't like to worry her family, and both her father and aunt seemed overly inclined to worry. It was usually best to tell her mother these things.
Playing alone hadn't been a great deal of fun, but Iuri didn't doubt one of her siblings would eventually happen her way and then they could play together. A part of her hoped it would be strange Aylin, because they could get up to the best games of pretend together. But any of them would do, really. She could wrestle or hunt with Lua, or talk with Serali about her strange dreams, or just play with Cass. Her family was most excellent, she thought.
She was thinking about how wonderful her family was when she saw a dark shadow circling lower to the ground - a bird of some sort. If only she was bigger, or at least not alone. Then she could catch it. Just the other day Gliri had told a story about a bird that would grant you wishes if you killed it and convinced it to give you three feathers from the crown of its head before it died. Iuri wanted to try that.
Immediately she discarded her concerns about being alone. If she had people with her, they would have to share the bird's feathers. Not that she was unwilling to share - she'd been brought up to share - but she didn't think three feathers would share very well between two people, or any number besides one or three, really. It would have taken too long to go back to the den and fetch someone anyway. No, this was an adventure Iuri was meant to have all by herself, obviously.
There was a bit of an issue initially for her because she couldn't decide how she wanted to approach the bird. On one paw, she liked the idea of sneaking up on it and pouncing and actually capturing it, but she didn't think it very likely she'd succeed in doing so. The bird looked pretty big. On the other paw, she could just walk up to it, explain her purpose, and hope that it would consider itself captured and give her the feathers for having been spared the embarrassment of being pounced by a cub. Though that didn't quite take care of the killing part, and she wasn't sure how important that was.
Once that was settled, however, it turned out that Iuri preferred a compromise between the two extremes. Which meant that she would approach the bird from an oblique angle, but make no effort to slink or sneak as she did so, giving the bird the opportunity to notice her approach and make an effort to avoid and evade her if it chose, but still allowing her to draw closer in a fairly unobtrusive manner. She was very proud of her compromise, and liked it a great deal until she tried to put it into action.
In practice, walking toward something and trying to saunter casually but quickly and still look like you're not walking toward it at all is a very difficult thing, and Sciuri only managed it, really, because the bird turned around to peck at something on the ground and didn't seem to notice her approach until she was only about ten yards away. When it did notice her, it turned, moving very awkwardly on the ground, and looked at her quite deliberately with one eye, making it very clear it had seen her.
"Hello there," Iuri called, abandoning the pretense of not being headed toward the bird. "I'm going to capture you."
The bird hopped a short distance away, using its wings to steady itself. This close, Iuri could see that the bird's wingspan was quite impressive, even when the wings weren't wholly unfurled, and she realized that the creature was actually of a size that it could probably capture her if it chose to. She didn't like the thought of that, but it was too late to turn back now, so she continued strolling forward, feigning nonchalance, even though she had already revealed her purpose.
"Understand, I don't want to hurt you or kill you," she continued conversationally, lying with a smile. "But there's a story about a lion who captures a bird and in exchange for its freedom the bird gives the lion three feathers, and each feather grants the lion a wish. I was thinking we could work out something like that."
She figured in the back of her head that maybe if she had to kill it, the fact that she was getting close enough to take three feathers would also mean she was close enough to get some kind of hold on the bird and kill it if she had to. That would really be something to tell the family about. Her first hunt and kill! She tried to keep the predatory grin off her face as she briefly entertained that fantasy.
Her prey squawked at her in a faintly menacing way and mantled, spreading its wings to look more imposing and intimidating. Sciuri was appreciative of the display, but also determined to come away from this venture successfully. So she came closer still, keeping her eyes trained on the bird as she approached. It was watching her with the same intensity. When she was within the bird's wingspan it squawked again.
"Stop right there. I'll give you three feathers, if that's really what you want, but you mustn't come any closer. You can pick them up once I've gone."
Sciuri nodded and sat down to show that she would do as the bird asked, watching as it twitched its wings and tail experimentally, and then twisted its head around grotesquely to bury its beak in the feathers along its back. After a few minutes, during which Iuri sat as perfectly still as she could, the bird produced three smallish feathers. They were large enough to show the pattern of the bird's markings, but obviously not crucial to its ability to fly.
Iuri almost started forward to collect them, but when she shifted her weight the bird clacked its hooked beak at her in an almost threatening manner to warn her back. Then it fluttered to the dead hare it had been picking at throughout her approach. It seized the corpse in its talons and with an effort took to the sky, screeching something Iuri couldn't understand.
She darted forward and pinned her feathers to the ground with her paw, and then carefully collected them and picked them up with her teeth, determined not to damage them as she transported them home to show her family. It had been a good adventure.
