(from MG novel, The Pool of Knowledge)
Sanunique and Pickard landed at a stopover along their migration path with thousands of other birds for rest and recuperation. For days, they’d followed the earth’s magnetic fields. Now they were enjoying the wetlands, a place to refuel by harvesting wild rice. Some pulled apart cattails to find its juicy root at its base. Occasionally, they filled the sky with a flurry of wings as though they were sheltering a secret.
At water’s edge, Sanunique stood talking with Pickard. “I should’ve have never abandoned Liana,” she told him. “I should’ve waited.”
“Don’t keep beating yourself up,” said Pickard, who always followed Sanunique on their migrations. “Why wouldn’t you think she was a cowbird?”
“Doesn’t matter. I left her to die. Wrong. I can’t forgive myself.” Sanunique flew in a dizzying spiral before returning to his side. “I didn’t feed her, do the things mothers are supposed to do for nestlings. No wonder she’s confused about who she is—human or bird or both?”
“Both,” said Pickard.
“She doesn’t think of me as her mother. Cleo reserves that place in her heart; she’s the one who fed her and raised her. Am I jealous? All those years, I could’ve helped Liana to understand why she couldn’t speak.”
“But could you have given her an understanding about humans—how they lived with their own desires. It was part of her education. Liana couldn’t speak, but she’s learned how humans felt. We will need their help in finding find the 0 +1 egg. Now she’s learned to speak to them,” said Pickard.
“But that’s only a part of her transition. Her words will evaporate like dew. She will need me by her side.”
“And you will be there.” But he didn’t have easy answers. He could see that his friend, always proud and resourceful, was picking her feathers apart with worry. This had to stop. After all, she was their leader, and how could they safely arrive at their next destination if Sanunique’s inner resources were focused on what she thought were her failures as a mother? What if she couldn’t concentrate and they got lost? Pickard had watched her assume her place as a young fledgling. She had circled the Earth, not once, but three times. Yet here she was with her head tucked beneath her wings.
“Did you forget already?”
Sanunique raised her head and looked at him, her purple eyes dim. “Forget what?”
“Armantrout sent you the dream. Don’t you remember? You asked me what I thought about it. All afternoon we tweeted outside the marketplace. Armantrout said he’d deliver Liana to the candlestick maker’s house.”
“It was a dream,” said Sanunique. “A feathery wisp that hummingbirds find in the trumpets of flowers.”
Pickard didn’t know what else to say. “What about la guida? Was she a dream also? You can’t deny her note.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She left a note in your nest saying that you would hatch the first flying woman.”
“I don’t care. They forced me to give up my child,” said Sanunique, hitting her beak against a reed. “The two of them made me believe it was the cowbirds’ fault. But it wasn’t true! None of it! They lied.”
“No,” said Pickard. “Armantrout and la guida wanted to make your loss easier.” He nestled closer, still keeping a respectful distance. “Dear Sanunique,” he said. “It’s hard for me to see you in such pain. But you have to know that each year we build our nests and then what happens? We feed our children until they get stronger and they fly away. And what do we do? We shout encouragement and let them test their wings. Most of the time we never see them again. Liana is no different. You must keep hope alive,” he said, “and believe that one day we will find the 0+1 egg and heal the world. And maybe it will be with her help, but one way or another, we will find it. We must.”
Sanunique rubbed her beak against his. She heard the birds talking to each other in the tall grass and sipping water waiting for a sign to begin their flight again.
“Pickard, you are my best friend,” she said. “You and your family the raven clan, have never wavered in your belief that we would find the 0+1 egg, although sometimes, I too, have doubted that possibility. But maybe now with Liana… Dear friend, all these years you have flown by my side. I will return to her in the spring,” she said, “and try to explain.”
Sanunique flew into the air and called out to the other birds. They flew over the water in a great rustle.