While Tari was off doing her own thing or resting or whatever it does while he went out to hunt... Hermes was off hunting. Well, not hunting anymore, he'd caught a nice big snake and was currently tearing into it. He was glad for these little bits of peace, for both of them. Tari had been so upset lately, not being able to find her children like she wanted to. But when she got some time to rest and relax, she was always happier afterwards. And he was always full, so the two of them were both fairly content.
His feathers ruffled as he pecked at the snake's carcass.
Coeus saw the blue feathers peeking through the green green grass and she froze. Finally. Finally she'd found blue feathers to complete Papa's fur jewerly. The black feather he'd brought back before was a lonely feather, all by itself with just a few knots and pretty grey pebble stones. There was no color and blue was Papa's color. At least that was what Coeus had decided. Blue feathers was what he needed.
Coeus started to sneak closer carefully. For some reason she had this instinct to be very careful and not be so stalky like she normally was.
Just in case.
Creeping closer, she was happy she hadn't pounced. It was a living bird that was attached to the feathers and she didn't want to startle it or make it fly away or anything like that, but she really really wanted a blue feather. While still a good distance away, Coeus cleared her throat and shyly greeted the bird, "Hmmm ... Hello? I'm Coeus."
Hermes glanced up, his sharp, curved break flecked with the snake's blood. His crest rose curiously and he blinked for a few moments before his vision settled on the small, furred creature. Looked like a cub to him, but then any small, cat-like creature looked like a cub to him.
His head tilted to one side in a jerky, curious manner.
"Hey there, babe. You lost?" He had a bit of a high voice for a male, but it was bright and friendly.
Coeus shook her head still very shyly. In fact it barely moved. "No." She bit her lip and looked up at the long necked bird. His feathers were the prefect shade of blue. They really were. "Papa is over in that direction hunting for our family and the females are probably which my siblings. Some of them are a hand full." Coeus muttered staring at the pretty tail feathers.
"Ah, well that's good," Hermes replied and he stretched his wings out with a bit of a shake. He tilted his head to one side again and took a step towards the cub. The bird noticed that she seemed to be fascinated by him... was it himself in general, or did he have blood on his feathers?
"I take it you haven't seen a secretary bird before, have you?" That tended to be the reason. He'd once been mistaken for a flamingo. Gods, that was embarrassing.
Caught staring, Coeus looked down at the snake meal and the ground. That wasn't polite. How was she going to ask him if she was being rude? People didn't respond to rudeness. At least not the way they should. Taking a deep breath, and still speaking softly, "You have beautifully blue feathers."
She didn't know what a secretary bird was. She didn't know how it was different from any of the other birds in the area at all. And it didn't really matter because of the blue feathers. But she made a mental note to ask Papa or Zeno when she got the chance today or tomorrow.
Hermes' crest rose again in something akin to the raising of eyebrows, which the bird certainly didn't have. His eyes narrowed with his smile and he gave her a flourishing bow, one wing flicking out then bending to cross his waist.
"Thanks, babe, though I can't take credit for what my parents gave me." At least he assumed they were his parent's colors. He'd never met them, after all.
He straightened, then.
"So, then, if not lost, is there something else you needed?"
Coeus fidgeted, her tail twitched with nerves. "Umm, well, this cheetah told me to be happy I had to take up a hobby and the only hobbies I had thought of at the end of meeting him were fur jewelry and Papa is going to be the first one I make one for, because he's Papa and I found a black one and some nice round small pebbles with holes in them as beads and the everything but I'm still missing a blue one." Coeus rambled, not able to meet the pretty birds eyes, so she stared somewhere to his left.
"Blue really is prettiest and all and I was wondering ... well ... Can I have one of your tail feathers?!" At the end of her rambling Coeus stared to get loud enough to yell and the tail end of her speech was a yell no question about. And she was panting.
Hermes blinked again, fairly surprised at how... interesting this cub was. And she seemed determined to get a blue feather for her father's jewelry. His goddess had feathers tucked behind her ear, but those were special, they were her father's after all. Well, supposedly anyways.
Would he part with one of his? Wouldn't it hurt? He needed his tail feathers, that was for sure. He certainly wouldn't he parting with one of those.
His look turned uncertain and he clacked his beak in thought.
"Not my tail feathers, I need those," he replied with a shake of his head, but he turned and started preening, trying to find... With a bit of a squawk, he came back with one of his back feathers in his beak. It didn't have as much dark blue as on his tail, it still had a bit at the tip, and he dipped his head to her level, head tilted a bit in questioning if that would do.
Coeus shagged at his refusal, her shoulders rounding and her head heavy. She should have expected it. After all, it probably hurt and all. And she wouldn't like it if someone had come up to her and asked for a fluff of her tail tuff. She couldn't have expected a bird, blue or not, to be willing to give a feather either. Coeus didn't notice him preening. In fact she started to turn away, "Ok, thank you for your time."
Maybe something else blue? Because blue feathers were hard to find.
Or she should stop trying to make the jewelry in the first place. Maybe this was a sign that she wasn't suppost to be happy.
“Now, now, hunny, don't give up so easily," a soft, motherly voice said and a huge paw dipped under Coeus' chin to lift it up. Tarishi had been watching for a while, invisible to both her dearest friend and the cub. The goddess was huge, though she was normal size for a god. She didn't hide any of her divinity from the cub and held a soft smile on her face as she looked from the cub to her Hermie.
"I think my Hermie has something for you."
When his goddess appeared, Hermes fluffed up. It had been the first time in a while that she had gone invisible on him, but he couldn't be annoyed at her over it. He took the feather into his claw, holding it out to the cub.
"You can have this one, if you'd like."
Coeus startled a little bit at the appearance of the HUGE lioness. She was huge. Huge. She caught herself staring and looked away from her kind face. Huge but very very pretty. She was prettier and bigger than Papa. And Coeus had never met anyone bigger or prettier than Papa. To distract herself from the lioness, Coeus looked back at the pretty bird and saw him holding out a blue feather to her. Coeus forgot about the hugeness and prettiness of the lioness and smiled, brightening up, standing taller in excitement. "Really? I can have it?"
Coeus gently and carefully took the pretty blue feather in her mouth and smiled even more around it. "What do you want in exchange? I can give you some of my tail tuff, even though there isn't a lot there, and it'd probably hurt, but since you gave me your feather, I can give you some tuff."
"Naw, babe, I don't need anything. Consider it a gift," Hermes replied with a wave of one wing.
Tari's own golden wings readjusted themselves on her back as she laid herself low to peer at the cub.
"Hermes is a very special bird, hunny," she said with that pleasant smile of hers still plastered on her face. She reached out and gave the cub a light pat on the head.
"That feather is a very special gift, from the right-paw servant to a goddess. You take good care of it, and maybe some day we'll come back to visit you, mmkay?"
Coeus wanted to snuggle pounce the pretty bird. It was the first time anyone but Papa had given her anything. Anything other than pounces and snuggles and cuddles anyway. He was .... the best bird in the world! AND he was blue!
At the pat on her back Coeus refocused on the big pretty lioness and nodded at what she said. "Ok. But Papa is going to be wearing the feather because it's for Papa's all white mane that is very fluffy. He'll take very good care of it." Coeus said neverously again, concerned that if the big lioness returned to find that she'd given the blue feather. Papa she might get mad. And she didn't want to lie to the lioness either. Not that she really ever lied at all, but she especially didn't want to lie to her.
A thought struck her suddenly. "But if Papa has the feather, will you still be able to find me? If you wanted to visit?"
Tari tapped one toe against the little female's nose with a little laugh.
"That's all right, hunny. Don't worry, I'm good at finding others when I know where to look. I have a very good memory," she replied and sat up, giving Hermes a little nuzzle.
"We need to be going now, you run along home, little one."
Hermes leaned into his goddess' nuzzle, always pleased when she was affectionate with him. He knew it must have hurt her to say that she was good at finding creatures she was looking for when they both knew she had been failing miserably at finding her babies. Still, it warmed his heart to see her so taken with the cub. A part of him considered suggested she try again or even adopt a cub, that maybe it would help her cope with losing her own.
But, no, that would just be cruel and he would give his own life before he ever did harm to his goddess.
Coeus sat for a split second than nuzzled the big lioness's side before turning her attentions to the pretty bird. She took the feather from her mouth. Coeus gave him a snugglel, cold-nose rubbing against his side before giving it a affectionate lick. It was the most affection or feelings she'd consciously shown anyone except for Papa. And Papa didn't get the cold-nose, wet licking kiss at the end of a cuddle. "Thank you!"
Coeus dashed off with the precious feather in her mouth again.
She wasn't going to show Papa until it was done, but she would head back to Zeno and tell her about her adventure and her new hobby!
Tari watched the little one go with a sigh. She had missed that, all of that. Her babies, if they were even still alive, had grown up without her, she'd missed every second of their young lives.
Hermes was a little surprised by the affection from the cub, but let it happen, even giving her a little pat with his wing. When she had run off, his goddess sighed and his heart went out to her as he turned and carefully preened her sun-colored mane from her eyes.
"It's okay, babe, you'll find them. We just need to keep looking." He smiled at her nod and not two heartbeats later, goddess and companion were rising into the sky with powerful beats of huge wings.
