Porthole

Tale of an Owl (Space Cadet undated)

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Blogging Circle of Friends   (E) A group for WDC bloggers. #1901868 by Lyn's a Witchy Woman

Day 2934: November 28, 2020 prompt: Use these words in your post: fir tree, owl, snow, ornament, crystal, and clouds.

We stared at it thinking... what is it? It sat there mum. Deep in the fir tree covered with snow, as white as the snow. It didn't move.

We thought it was dead and too scared to find out otherwise we grasped our crystals as they began to hum. Someone was thinking about us! Finally.

We had gotten lost in this unfamiliar landscape of frozen water. Ice dangling like ornaments where the weak sun melted and the frigid air refroze. We had no word yet for 'icicle'. A land of mirrors and sparkles deceived us to wander under the trees until a breeze picked up and erased our footprints. We weren't sure how to get back. That way? Or...

The clouds swirled above us, around us, would have picked us up. We held onto the trunk of a tree. And looked up. That's when we saw it.

Was it sentient? Could it speak? Did it know the way out? If it did... would it help us...

We held the crystals to our brows to receive the message. The vibrations were strange. It didn't seem garbled, just different. Perhaps due to the cold. Perhaps we were too far away. Perhaps because we were scared?

Perhaps we'd better find a way out. I looked up once more. I saw two eyes looking down. Had we made too much noise? The crystals vibrated again, stronger this time.

We listened harder. All we could hear was a whoosh. Of what? Then a sound came from the white object. Had it decided to speak?

We didn't understand. It spread its wings. It had wings! It looked frightening all of a sudden. We held onto each other, trembling.

It swooped down to a limb closer to us. It eyes were huge. It's beak could have torn us apart. We made the mistake of looking at its claws. We were someone's supper. We closed our eyes and felt the passage of air, the soft whoosh.

We felt the claws grab us, the wings flap and lift us. We opened our eyes to see the forest open before us. It was headed straight for our campground.

We landed with a plop and let out cries. Our companions hurried to us. It perched nearby. What was it, we sobbed.

One of our group smiled and twitched his ears as if he understood the soft sounds coming from it. He spoke in return, nodded as it flew off.

What was it?

Four Ears laughed. It's an owl, he said. Be glad she wasn't hungry and decided to help us. She says that the storm will get worse tomorrow, that this breeze is nothing. That the temperature will plunge and we'll be frozen meat dressed like this. She sounded worried.

We looked at Four Ears as he advised the others to pack up and be ready to leave within the hour.

He came to us to thank us for finding a new friend. One can always rely on the kindness of strangers, he said, then advised us to hurry.

Note: I will somehow work this into a side story for my Space Cadet series. Four Ears is my main character. He has a name (I don't know it yet) but this is what others call him. Since they land on alien worlds... with all the risks that that implies... it seems fitting that an owl would help them and that his translator implants and keen hearing would come to use. And as a Xeno he would definitely understand how kindness was everywhere to be found. Also: crystals vibrate and can be used for communication.

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