Chapter Three

The sun peeked through the blinds warming Zephyr’s cheek and waking her up. She stretched rubbing her eyes with her claw. She turned to her side to say good morning to her fiancé only to find that he had already gone. There was a note on the pillow where he had been only a few hours ago. It read:

My love, Zephyr Lyart

Zephyr I love you so much. Last night was the first time I felt I could tell you just how much you mean to me. I never had the right words but now I don’t have to worry because I know you feel the same way I do. I am truly a blessed Winglie. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone as special as you. I can’t wait to see you tonight. Sorry I have to leave like this but, work calls.

All my love,
Oainix

Zephyr smiled contently and starred at the letter for a moment longer thinking of last night. Although Oainix had to work early in the mornings, he had pampered her all night until she drifted off to sleep. Her eyes trailed off to the clock beside her bed and she jumped as the clock blazed the time at her. 8:47. The day was wasting away and she had to be at a meeting with the Triad in thirteen minutes.
She leapt out of bed and grabbed her clothes. She stumbled to the door and just managed to get her shirt tied at the top before there was a knock at the door.
“Just a minute!” she yelled and struggled to tie it under her wings. The door pushed open slowly and Zephyr screamed as she turned her back to the door.
“Zephyr?” Oscoro stuck his head through the doorway. “Look, I just wanted to apologize for last night. I think I might have had too many RL’s and I just wanted to make sure that no one got-- IS THAT A TAIL RING?” Oscoro pushed the door wide open and pointed blankly at the golden ring.
Zephyr finally got the knot tied and turned to face him. “It’s ok, I’m fine.” She pushed him out the door and went out after him. “Nothing happened, maybe you should just lay off the RL’s.” She locked the door behind her and said quickly, “Thanks for asking. Now I have to go before I’m late for a really important meeting so we can talk later, ok? Ok!” She leapt off the porch and started to sprint down the cobblestone road.
“Hey! You didn’t answer my question!” Zephyr paused mid step and turned to face him. “Is that a tail ring?”

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She grinned, “Yeah it is. I’ll tell you all about it, well not all about it but I’ll tell you when I get back!” She waved and took off running again rounding the corner in a few quick strides and didn‘t see Oscoro grit his teeth and turn in the other direction.
Making it to the landing pad in less than a minute she leapt off and pulled her body into a tight ball falling rapidly towards the clouds. In seconds she had gained speed and opened her wings to catch herself before falling into them. She narrowed her wings and elongated her body becoming more streamlined. Picking up speed she put all her force behind each beat of her wings. The wind gathered behind her and pushed her along even faster like she had summoned it from across the land.
The scenery below her was a blur as she flew along the ridgeline of the Yahto mountains. A cool stiff breeze from the snow covered tops made her shudder and focus in flying faster. She passed one other Winglie on her way to Pacifios but they were going in the opposite direction. Before she knew it the mountains fell away below her and the ocean spread out as far as the eye could see. Only a short distance ahead was where the meeting was already taking place, in the city that always floated above the sea.
She touched down heavily on the landing pad and the guard saluted her with his spear. She nodded back and asked, “Sir, do you know if the meeting has begun yet?”
The guard looked at her but didn’t drop his salute. “It has been in session for only a moment, Peace Talker.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled taking off down the main road, making her way towards the Council Building. It still made her feel odd to be saluted and not called by her name. When she was appointed Peace Talker, there wasn’t much change in her own city but in the others she was looked upon with more respect. Winglies fell over themselves to get out of her way and gawked at her in awe. Though they respected her she’s heard their voices behind her back numerous times. Most think she’s too young and she won’t be able to complete her mission. She hoped to prove them wrong.
The streets were full that morning but the crowds broke as she came near them. Making it to the Council Building faster than anyone else would have been able to, she hopped up the steps four at a time. The whole building echoed her steps back at her and the entrance door loomed closer in front of her. She knew that she was about to be scolded for being late so she gritted her teeth and put on a solemn face before placing a claw on the door handle. She tried to think of a good reason for being late.
Inside the meeting room there was an uproar when she walked through the door. Everyone who was seated rose to their feet as one.
“Miss Zephyr! Where have you been?” The oldest looking Winglie seated at the head of the table rose last and put both his claws on the table. Leaning over he knit his brows and said, “We have been waiting for you.”

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“Ok Miss Zephyr, that might be true but could you take a look at this?” The Senator dropped something into the claws of a Winglie that stood to his right side. As he got closer she could see that it was a small box. “Tell me if it looks familiar to you.”
The Winglie opened the box. Inside was a small blood stained pendant that had a tiny red flame engraved into a stone made of onyx. The chain was silver laced with gold and there was blood on it too. Zephyr blinked and looked confused. She had a pendant specially made for him and had given it to him for his birthday last year. Slowly she reached for the pendant and gripped the chain in her claws.
Raising it out of the box it spun from front to back and then to the front again. Her eyes fixed on it as she turned it in her other claw. On the back was a small engraving barely visible that said “Never alone again.”
She gasped and dropped the pendant back into the box. Her hands were shaking as she placed one over her mouth and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to look at it anymore. It definitely belonged to Oainix. But who’s blood was on it? Was it his or was it from someone else?
“Miss Zephyr? Have you identified the object?” The Senator looked at her from the other end of the table.
She could feel the room pressing in on her as she searched for the strength to speak. All the diplomats in the room leaned in closer to her, waiting for the final word, wanting to know if it could possibly be a lie.
“I-I do know this pendant Senator.” She stopped and lowered the claw from her mouth. She put both claws on her lap and curled them into a tight fist looking down at the polished oak table in front of her. “I gave that pendant to Mr. Lyart last year as a gift.”
“Ah-ha!” The Winglie to the left of the Senator leapt to his feet and pointed at Zephyr. “I knew it! I knew that Lyart was no good! I bet he has been working against our plans for peace since the beginning! I say we hunt him down and turn him over to the Hirsuits so they can do what they want with him. He deserves nothing less, the dirty scoundrel.”
The Winglie grinned evilly at Zephyr. The grin did nothing for his sickly complexion, he looked like the type of Winglie that could waste his whole life inside without ever seeing the light of the sun, and not care. His scrawny wings were tiny and ill formed. They didn’t even look strong enough to hold his own weight in the air. He wore a black suit that loosely fit hit wire-thin frame with jagged hook-like claws starting at the shoulders and running the length of the sleeves. Zephyr shuddered thinking he had a look that not even his own mother could love.
“Sit down Mr. Santur, that’s enough.” Senator Kinison motioned for him to take his seat. And said calmly, “We can’t do that, not yet anyway.”
“Sir! If they have control of Lyart, they might be willing to have talks of a treaty again.” Santur gave Kinison a longing look. “I could lead the search party myself.”

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He was much too eager to go flying around for his own good and everyone there noticed it. It was well known that there were many in politics that didn’t trust half-lings. Santur seemed to be one of them.
All the more reason for me not to like him, Zephyr thought.
Oainix had never been known as a trouble maker, quite the opposite actually. He was the Winglie to go to if you ever needed a favor. Always willing to help out a friend in need without asking a question. It was true that he did work for the Winglie Army but he wasn’t a fighter, he worked in the armory. He took great pride in cleaning and maintaining the many weapons that were stored there and hoped that they would never have to be used again.
Senator Kinison asked the question that was on everyone’s mind, “You? You would go flying around to look for him?”
“Well, not exactly.” He stood again as if to plead his case. “I was thinking that I could lead it from here. Play the role more as the Head Supervisor of the search.” One of the Winglies groaned and tapped the name plate sitting in front of him. It said “Algaf - Head Supervisor.” Santur continued without looking at him. “First I would send a party of ten or maybe twenty to each of the three cities. From there, they would talk to friends and family, put up wanted posters with his picture on it and search every building from top to bottom. If he wasn’t there, they would move on to searching the ground.”
“You’ve already thought about this I see, but you fail to realize what a wide scale project that would be. You would need far more than twenty to form a search party to perform all of those tasks.” The Senator shook his head.
“I’ve only thought of it just this moment Senator. If I were placed in charge though, I could do it correctly. And besides, you have to be ready for anything, I always say.” Santur made a ball with his claw and put it over his heart.
How winglies like him ever get into places of power would always elude Zephyr, but she knew that there had to be a lot of underhanded plots going on to keep him there. Lots of mouths being hushed with talons. She grinded her teeth together. Dirty politics always made her sick.
“Yeah, you just wait for anyone to do something wrong,” she hissed from between her teeth.
“What?” Santur’s half closed eyes fell on her with a look of disgust. “You would be just the type to side with a criminal, especially him.”
“Oainix is not a criminal! This has to be a misunderstanding.” Her face grew red under her scales. First they strip her father of his title and make him a common criminal, and now her fiancé. She had to find out what was really going on. It just had to be a mistake.
“Well no matter what you say, his records don’t exactly agree with your image of him.”

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“What are you talking about? How would you know anything about his personal records?” Her face hardened as Santur beamed like a spot light had been turned on over his head.
Senator Kinison raised a claw bringing and end to their discussion. He turned his head to look at Santur and said, “Miss Zephyr is right. Mr. Santur, how exactly did you obtain these records?” Zephyr couldn’t help but grin when his face lost its glow.
“Sir, as soon as I’d heard I made it my duty to do some research on this Winglie. I have also done my homework on the laws of the Hirsuits in the past. Based on that, I think we should hand him over when he is found for the safety of the cities. Down there we could be cleared of all relation to him and it would also be very beneficial to the Peace Talkers’ mission.”
“That’s enough Mr. Santur. You had only heard of this mornings news when we did so your excuse of researching then doesn’t fit with the story but that will be taken care of later. For the time being you should focus on your own meager responsibilities and leave others to theirs. We do have to find Mr. Lyart but he will be tried here, and if he is found guilty he will also be punished here. It would be wrong of us to put his life in the hands of the Hirsuits without a fair trial. Right now they are smelling blood and will take out their anger on anyone that is placed in their path and no doubt crave more after that.”
The winglie across from Santur was wearing a military uniform decorated with many ribbons and medals. A large scar ran from the bottom of his right ear to his chin, it looked old and ragged like it had never healed properly. He looked around the table of Winglies as he said, “Would that be so bad? We could end this easily. There would be no need for the loss of lives like the last time. My soldiers have been training day and night for the past fifty years, some of my higher ranking officers have been with me since the end of the War of the Sun.”
He folded his claws in front of him as a shudder ran through the room. Talking of the War of the Sun like it was nothing but a small mistake made everyone waiver for a second.
The military Winglie continued, “One of my men could destroy at leas 1,000 Hirsuits without breaking a sweat. Their feeble forces are no match for our power. With the recent advancements in battle tactics and weapons the ground could easily be ours. Why should we try so had to appease them? They should be trying to please us.” He paused to let his words sink in and gain effect. “We could crush those who oppose us and then force the rest to obey.”
“You are saying we should enslave our ground-brothers? Get them before they get us? General Mace, have you gone mad?” Senator Kinison shook his head as the general opened his mouth to reply. “Another war is not what the people need right now. All we should be worrying about at this point is finding Mr. Lyart and setting up defenses around the cities incase the Hirsuits are enraged enough to try and launch an attack on us. That is all.”

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“A war might not be what they need, but it’s what they want. The wounds of the Winglies have been tended over these years but the pain is still there. Everyone lost someone dear to us.” He pointed to a Winglie close to Zephyr and asked, “What about you? Did the Hirsuits take someone from you?”
The Winglie nodded sharply and said, “I lost my father. He was taken in one of the last days of the war.” His voice trailed off and he looked away from the general’s gaze.
General Mace nodded and stood. He made his way around the table as he talked. “I lost my younger brother. Somehow, he was placed in a scout platoon who’s mission was to find the enemy and prevent them from sneaking into the ground camp that was set up. It had to be the darkest night I can remember. His platoon was about to come back to camp when my brother heard a cry from the bushes nearby. Upon investigation he discovered a small Hirsuit that began to cry at the top of his lungs upon being found. My brother always had a soft heart for the young so he tried to calm it’s crying. Then before anyone had any idea what was going on they were ambushed and surrounded by a pack of wild Hirsuits.”
“His comrades tried to fly away and run but my brother stayed and bravely fought them all to give them a chance to escape, one by one they were beaten back into the darkness that they had appeared from. After a while one of his cowardly comrades came back to look for him. He was where they had left him but the tortured marks that covered his body, the deep wounds that tore to the bone were too great. They carried him back to the camp solemnly, he was barely alive when I made it to his bedside”
“He spoke to me like he was already on the other side. His eyes never looked at me, always at the ceiling, and though his body was bandaged the blood had not stopped flowing. He croaked out a few words before passing. ‘Don’t let my death be in vain.’ I promised him right then and there to make every last Hirsuit pay for thinking of lifting a paw against a Winglie. His soul left his body shortly after, but he’s still in my heart, and I’ve not forgotten my promise.”
The room sat in thoughtful silence. The general stopped by his chair and sat down quietly. Zephyr looked around at the faces of the Winglies around her. The general had struck a chord with them and some were choking back tears. Others looked around in silent anger. No one had anything to say about his moving story except for Santur.
“We have all had our share of suffering in the past. There is no need to suffer now. If we capture Lyart and hand him over the Hirsuits would never see an attack coming. General Mace,” he looked across at the general and extended a claw in his direction, “you soldiers have been well trained.”
I trained them myself. I would trust each and every one of them with my life,” he nodded and shook the claw that was extended to him.
“Senator Kinison, this plan is perfect. There would be no way that the Hirsuits would be able to mount any resistance on such a short notice.” Santur looked at the senator with wide eyes.

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“General Mace, Mr. Santur, give me a few days to think about this. First we will find Lyart and then, once we have him in custody we will take a vote to determine what will be done next. This is a democracy and nothing will be decided by a single Winglie.”
Zephyr sat in silence listening to the arguments at hand as her mind drifted back to Oainix. How could Oainix do something like that? He had been with her all night, she was sure of it. On the other hand, she hadn’t taken notice of when he did leave. Even with all the proof against him, with the entire Triad rising against him, she knew in her heart that Oainix would never do anything like that.
“Miss Zephyr.” She looked up slowly into the eyes of the Senator. They were very kind eyes, full of understanding and knowledge of a long life in the sky. The times were changing and the room was filled with Winglies that were only half his age at the oldest. Most of the old ways and ideas were gone but they still lived on with him. “Miss Zephyr,” he began again, “we are going to need any information you might have as to the whereabouts of Mr. Lyart. We are going to need to question him ourselves.”
Zephyr nodded her head, she loved Oainix with all of her heart so she couldn’t just hand him over, but she really didn’t know where he was so she was glad that she didn’t have to lie about that but, she would have to find him before they could get their claws on him. Any kind of delay to their plan would help her out.
“He let for work this morning. I saw him out the door with my own eyes. We weren’t apart for a moment all night until he departed. From there I can only assume that he went to work. He works for the armory, you should know that yourself General. He takes great pride in his work and hates to show up late. That was the only place that he could have gone.”
“Then how do you explain the amulet?” Santur yelled in anger.
Zephyr shook her head calmly. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how it would have been in the possession of the Hirsuits either. You have already made your point with me Mr. Santur, and I’ve told the council all that I know.”
“Alright, Zephyr.” The old senator smiled warmly at her. “I know this must be hard for you, I believe that you and Mr. Lyart are pretty close, are you not?” Zephyr didn’t reply. “Well, you are free to go home for now. We’ll send word for you when you are needed again. For now maybe it’s best if you just relax and let us do what we need to do.” Senator Kinison nodded at the Winglie near the door and zephyr stood shakily to leave. “We will need to keep the amulet though, I hope that you understand..”
Zephyr nodded and turned to look out into the huge lobby. “I understand, Senator. Thank you.” She strode out the door with her head held high. Voices from the room followed her out as the door shut behind her. They were all talking about how to find Oainix but none spoke louder than Santur.
She continued walking until she heard the door close and latch shut far behind her. Once she was sure that she was not being watched she sprinted to the opening of the Council Building. She rushed through the doors and jumped into the air when she reached the steps. She didn’t care if it was a fly-zone or not. Some Winglies on the ground stopped to watch her overhead. Flying in a public place was forbidden by all except law enforcement Winglies.

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She soared over the buildings and zoomed to the edge of the city heading westward. There were two shadows low near the ocean behind her. The slow movement from below had caught her eye as soon as they had started to tail her. The senator was a trusting Winglie but he wasn’t senile in his old age. He knew that she would want to get in contact with Oainix and the best way to find him would be to follow her. She flew as fast as she could praying for a good tail wind to help her get in and out of her house before anyone that might be following her got there. Her heart raced and pounded in her chest as she retraced the path back to Moirai arriving there in less time than it took to get to the meeting this morning. When she wanted to, she could fly faster than anyone before.

And the plot thickens, I suppose. Chapter 4, coming to you tomorrow. :)