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(I am RPing as the female.)

He is perfect.

I still remember the first day we met, at the shores of Lake Ha'tama. I'd just been minding my business, stalking a few fish, when I heard it - the soft growl of an Adahy. Immediately I whirled, feathers puffed up to make myself look bigger, and I froze. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, with his grey and turquoise coat, but in his eyes was a grief I had seen many times. I was so startled I didn't consider the oddness that a male would be in this sacred place.

His glorious feathers were crumpled against him, limp and unkempt, but still...I longed for a moment to touch those feathers, to rub my face against them and lick them until they were clean and healthy again, to groom him back into the gorgeous creature he was. But I resisted - I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn't feel this way, not for this stranger, and certainly not for one of them. But...

His eyes were dull, slightly blood-shot. In his mouth was an egg, clearly bearing the curse of my kind. He set it down in front of me, and I watched. After a long moment he whispered, voice hoarse, "Take care of it. For me..." Then he began to approach, his steps unsteady. Immediately I moved, afraid to get too close for fear I wouldn't be able to separate.

He was moving past me, towards the lake. What did he think he was doing? Now at the edge, he lowered his head -

"STOP!" I whirled into action, grabbing the male by his feathered rear and pulling him back. "You fool, the waters here are deadly!" I stepped in front of him, snarling, trying to appear as hateful as possible though I truly felt something else. He whined piteously, legs giving out as he collapsed down into the disgusting mud. He was still horribly conscious - I could tell, from the whimpers emanating from his beautiful, tainted throat.

This Adahy had seen something horrible.

Slowly, shaking in fear, I took a stride closer. And closer. And closer. Until finally, agonizingly, I nuzzled the deadened fluff of feathers on his head, inhaling his scent. So wonderful...And yet I could feel his body shaking, not in fear but in pain. I drew back to look down at him. His eyes were squeezed shut, teeth clenched.

The night was coming, but...it didn't matter. Against my better judgement, I joined him in the mud, squelching a bit as I lay next to him. For hours we lay in near silence, except for his sobs and whines, and finally I pushed against his side. To my shock he did not draw away, but instead pressed closer, twisting his neck until his head lay on my out-stretched fore-limbs. The stranger was delightfully warm, and I relished every moment. All this time, a darkness crept in my mind, and a shadow squeezed my heart. He was suffering.

By now the moon was at its full height, and yet I still lay with him, unwilling to leave this beauty alone when it was evident he was in such pain. I took to nuzzling his neck, preening his feathers silently while he continued to grieve. Why was I doing this? These creatures had banished my kind into the darkness, left us to die...No, his ancestors had. It had been many years since the Di'taki split away, so long that the original elders were long dead.

Finally I could stand it no longer. Gently, slowly, I uttered, "You have suffered much." Though I spoke slowly, the slight slur of my voice was apparent. I had never been able to speak as well as the others, for some reason, even as a child. I chalked it up to a mutation.

A shiver zoomed through the male's body, and he snuggled a bit closer. I thought I would receive no reply, when finally he began, "The Adahy I loved is...dead."

That night we spoke of many things. Fools and elders, and his beloved that was gone. She had died in birth, giving her life to bring her clutch into the world...except that the only egg that remained was of the Di'taki. He refused to comment on her further than her horrific death. He had been there...he had watched as she struggled, screamed as she bled, but ultimately he was powerless against the illness that had taken root within her body.

I listened to the grisly tale in silence, unwilling to interrupt the torrent of despair that was now spilling from the male. Finally he fell silent too, lying his head back against my legs, whimpering. I returned to preening him. Already now I felt attached to him, as though we had been born together and would always be together. It never crossed my mind that our tribes would not approve - we could live without a tribe, after all. After all of this pain and trauma, after the trust that he had showed me so far, could I leave him here? No.

"You came here to die, didn't you?" I felt him nod, his eyes closed tight to the outside world. I turned my eyes to the egg, lying forlorn in the mud some distance away. "Your child...why are you so eager to give him up?" Immediately he hissed, climbing to his paws.

"I am not eager!" His feathers stood on end as his little body quivered in rage, "I don't want to give him up! I want to raise him myself, with my mate, with..." Slowly his furor dissolved, leaving him deflated yet again. I simply stared at him, unflinching, used to such fits of rage. The Di'taki were not a stable sort. Slowly I stood, mud dripping from my legs as I approached his offspring.

"I have an offer."

He looked at me, swallowing his whimpers for the moment. I continued, "Take your child and go, south. South of here is nothing but forest, an area relatively unpatrolled by your kind, and forbidden to mine." A small zing of pain zapped me in the chest - suddenly I was forced to acknowledge our differences. But it made no matter. "Directly south you will find an outcropping of rock - you will know it when you see it. You will be safe there."

The male staggered over to me, taking his egg in his mouth without a word. He gave me one last, sad look as he padded off through the forest. Why would an Adahy trust me? Because he had no reason to live. If I lured him into a trap, what would he lose? His life? His life was worth nothing to him anymore. Why had I given him the egg, make him a target, detracted from myself? Because, perhaps, in his children he could find a reason to live. Even if we were separate, even if we never saw each other again...I could rest knowing he had a better chance than when I had found him earlier that night, struggling on the verge of life and death.

Slowly I began to pad after him, suddenly feeling as though I were being pulled to him by the same force that pulled me to the earth. How could I return to my tribe now, knowing I could join him in his solitude? By now the sky was streaked with pink, and the sun was rising. Soon more Di'taki would arrive at the pond, for the fire had been lit all night. But they would only find the our prints, and would dismiss it nearly instantly. No one would look for me, and it had been apparent no one would look for him, either.

I could see a turquoise glow up ahead. Sure enough, he had found the rocky den I had sent him to. Already he had taken to coiling about his beloved egg. Silently I approached, until his eyes snapped up to me. "You...why?"

I shook my head silently. It was a question that would remain for another day.

It has been quite awhile since then - many moons. His egg never hatched. It was a terrific loss, just another way the cruel fates had cursed us. By now we had accepted each other as the only of our tolerant kind, grown even closer, and...well, I learned that I was not the only one who was in love. He was pained and broken, that much was sure, but I did not mind. I merely lay with him, silent, ever-listening. During the day I filled the role of caretaker, hunting, patrol, everything. He was in no condition to work.

Though we ate scantily, we remained healthy. Slowly his mind began to heal, the tears in his reality mending and stitching together with time and care. His sad shell slowly fell away, revealing a personality stunning enough to match his perfect form. Optimistic, energetic, intelligent...he is perfect. Ever since we met, I have never been able to get him out of my head, even when I am in the midst of the forest, away from him.

Tonight, we revisited that night in our memories, watching the stars in the sky outside of our den. Never for a second had I doubted my decision, and I still don't. As it turns out, he had never given it a second thought, either. His previous life had died with his mate, and I had never truly lived in the first place. On this night, lying shoulder to shoulder and looking up at the sky, I knew I had found true freedom.

Perhaps we would be captured, killed, persecuted by our kind. Maybe a storm would strike and kill us both. Another disaster may smite us both in our beds. But it didn't matter - we had drank from the pond of happiness. Whatever happened to us now was just a bit of added spice.

Female Di'Taki Response: When they first meet.

I wear time in my feathers, my emotions reflected in the darkness, only sometimes can I see the light. I feel lost in this place, as if I have no purpose. Always doing what I am told, always obeying the elders, the elders of the doomed race, are we doomed?

Not destined to mate, because so many males are infertile. So many future husbands, but a vacancy hangs between all of them. A vacancy that does not belong, the child is gone.

All I am left with is companionship, love. What is love? I have no sense of the word. I wouldn't know what to do with a gentle voice if I heard it, wouldn't know a smile if I saw one. I need to take flight.

I have acquired a taste, something to satisfy. A taste for a mistake. Run when they tell me not to, do what I want to do is right without feeling forced to. The advice I have shunned, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm much better off the way things are, better off alone.

I hear a shuffling, from where I sit. Like a wave through calm ocean of my oblivion. Then I saw another, an Adahy, a male. Why is he here? Why is he talking to me? How dare he come on to me when I was feeling just about settled.

"You don't even know me yet you run to me like a fool! How could you understand the depth of my emotions, the heat of my soul? You should leave now before you fall into the abyss and burn. I caution you, don't expect my demeanor to change, it's hard for me to be kind even to myself."

"Although, now that I am close to you I somehow loose my veil of sorrow and replace it with desideratum. Now what is it? What do we do? Become runaways? Or do you do this to every gal you meet?"

"You are like the clouds, gentle and soft, have you come to set my soul at ease? You eyes are dangerous, this is dangerous for us even to be near each other. Ah, but your presence is so sweet. It's to late, I let you come to close, and now you have set your spell on me."


"This love is insane it could kill us both. Maybe death is our only release, the only way we can be truly together, unbound and free."

"What's happening between us. It's really happening, touch me I'm real. I touch you and it's real. You say our feelings are real too. I believe this. What will come is already on it's way, with the role we must play. Even before we met eyes the wheels of fate were already turning."

I don't understand, I'll never understand, but I must try, for you, for us. I want to know that it will be okay, I'm not sure that it is.

Their eyes meet once again, "Our future is now, and you are all I need. Everything about our love says stop. If we do this it will have to be whole-hearted, it could end bad."

When I'm kissing you I feel a thumping in my heart, now it won't stop, I feel as though it has just started. Now you have me in love.

I turn to him as we lay together now, "You're to good at what you do, and all I want is to kiss you again. Nothing, not the trees, the flowers, the air, can simulate your presence there is nothing else for me. Nothing that will satisfy me the way you do. Do you see the moon? There is love everywhere between it and us. Our love causes it to spread and grow like wildfire. It could be the end of us all."

Our love resides in courage, the colors rich, and we both glow in the light.