"Water&Wings(Chapter Two)" by Katherine Nicole ´dys´ VanHoorn

"We do WHAT?" He could feel blood roses in his face, turning the pale beige to scarlet. His PANTS? Take his PANTS off? WHat was he....?

"I have to give you new pants. I won't let you wear pants made of cows. Poor innocent animals who never even know that they'll end up like this."
Tenku sighed, adjusting the mound of seaweed. "Look, I'll make us both some nice seaweed pants. YOu'll like 'em!" It busily went looking across and beach. Sparrow was almost afraid to ask what it was looking for. He found out soon enough, though. Tenku came back with what looked like an arrowhead in one hand and he watched it sharpen the knife on a nearby stone. It was going to CUT his pants off. Well, he supposed that made sense. The leather was dried so tight
it would NEVER be PULLED off. So he simply sighed and braced himself, feeling Tenku's reassuring touch against his arm before it started. It wanted him comfortable, to not fear what was happening.
It would be all right. It was all all right. "I'm here," it whispered, "and I have protected a hundred before you, and will a hundred after you. I know what I'm doing, child."

It grinned at him, clearly seeing the humor about just who was the child. Then it took a deep bretah and went to work.

He tensed, feeling the rock slicing away. But Tenku was careful, and it never cut his skin once. Barely scraping at one point, but quickly Tenku pulled back just enough to keep from drawing blood. And slowly, bit by bit,
his pants came off. At last, he was naked save for the collar and chain at his neck. It smiled slowly, nervously up at him, asking without words if he had done all right. Sparrow nodded, pulling at the tight collar around his throat. "Could you do this, too? Please?"

"Oh, of course." A few moments later the collar fell and the little thing giggled. Sparrow frowned. "what? What's so funny?" It just pointed at his neck and he blinked, confused before, a moment later, it hit him just what was so funny. His collar. He had worn it for so long, and gotten so burnt this time,
There was probably a nice big line of white where the collar had been, an absolutely perfect compliment to everything ELSE. He sighed and shook his head,
then blinked as Tenku took up the bundle of seaweed again. "What are you going to do?"

"I told you, silly fish. Make pants for us. Shirts aren't really too nessecary, but we can't let anyone see my legs. Wings aren't a big deal. A bunch of people have wings here."When SParrow only blinked at him, he nodded earnestly. "They do! I've seen them when I go flying. They just think I'm a ghost. That's why there's no one at the beach. They think it's haunted."

Just nodding, he laid on his side and watched Tenku work, taking big leaves of seaweed and tearing them into tiny wet, slimy strips. Soon he grew sleepy, laying there in the shade and he fell asleep finally, arms curled to his chest, hair falling in his eyes, legs stretched out behind him, the grass soft and green and just like a bed beneath him.

He dreamed he and Jagkie were standing together in a crowded street in a city he didn't know. In his dream, Jagkie wore the leather collar with the chain, the leather pants. Jagkie's shock of green hair was the same, his eyes and wings were... but he looked frightened, somehow, and smaller. Younger. Sparrow reached out for him but the crowd swept Jagkie away. He yelled for him, running after him, crying out. Jagkie disappeared, but once in a while he saw a bit of greenish hair and so he kept running. Into an alley, he followed his dream and he stopped, shuddering as he looked at the man standing behind Jagkie. The man was tall, and his skin was very pale. His eyes glowed red in the dark alley and he reached out with fingers painted black, like dying roses. The man's wings, darker than the night even, such a contrast to Jagkie's blue-gray-purple-green ish color. Wait.. Jagkie kept his wings inside... Sparrow shivered as the man touched him, touched his face. It didn't hurt, not like he had expected it to. Actually, it felt.. it made him sleepy. He wanted to dance with it, sway side to side with this hand touching him. Jagkie yelled his name, in a voice that wasn't Jagkie's but was the voice of a scared little boy and he opened his eyes, staring between the dark man and Jagkie. "Can't let anyone else touch you," the black-winged man murmered and as Sparrow tried to pull away his grip grew tighter. Crows flew around him, getitng in his hair and pecking at his wings. The ground turned to quicksand beneath his feet and was sucking him in. DOwn he went and he saw the dark man holding Jagkie, running hand's through his friend's hair as he murmered, "mustn't let anyone else love him..." the last thing he knew was the soffucating gritty blackness of quicksand flowing into his eyes.

he sat up quickly, eyes wide and he stared into Tenku's startled eyes. He must have been asleep for hours, for one, long pair of pants was already done and drying in the sand, held down by rocks so the wind woudln't blow it away. The other, shorter, pair was slowly being made, or actually, quickly being made by Tenku's skilled little hands. The sunlight wasn't as strong and it must have been very near sunset. That was all that made since, he thought. Tenku frowned at him, its wings folded tightly up against its back. "what's wrong?"

Everything, he thought. "Just had a bad dream, is all." He forwned and looked at the pants drying not far off. "Can I put those on, soon? I'd really like to." Tenku nodded and just kept on with his work, so Sparrow stood up. His back ached, his wings ached, his arms ached. Amazingly, his legs were fine. His wings must have covered them from the sun, while he laid there. He went over and pulled up the pants. Greenish black, with the texture of seaweed. Slightly rough, and if they got wet, slimy. But they were perfect for what he needed and he wondered how the little fish had made them so well. He coudln't see a seam anywhere except at the crotch. Pulling them on, he blinked. "They're too big!" he called over to Tenku. Still, he coudln't get his mind away from Jagkie's eyes in the dream, so unlike Jagkie's eyes had always been. They had never been that frightened. And the dark man... he simply shuddered, shaking his head. No. Don't think of that.

"They're supposed to be. Use this." Without looking up Tenku tossed hjim a length of dried black seaweed. This didn't even have the greenish shine the others did. It was pure, sleek black. He tied it around his waist, so that his pants hung on his hips just the right way. "Thank you."

"No problem." Tenku stood and set his own pants out to dry, putting them under the rocks the sam way he had done Sparrow's. He smiled and pulled out what appeared to be a comb made of seashell. "Let me comb your hair and wings. If they get too much more tangled no one will trust us when we go to town." Sparrow smiled. he hadn't seen hismelf in a mirror since the wreck and he was sure he looked like a lunatic, wild-eyed, tangled bird-nest hair. He sat down with his back to Tenku and wiated. Soon he felt it, working on his left wing first. Slowly, ever so slowly, combing through tangles in the feathers, combing until it shone sleeky-sleek like cat's fur. Then the other wing. And then, his hair. He tried not to wince as the comb was delicately pulled through tangle after tangle until he was certian half his hair had been ripped out. The Airfiash turned him around to look at him, and looked up. Smiling. "You look beautiful," it said, softly. And Sparrow thought, rather bizarrely, just because I look like a kid doesn't mean I can't have adult feelings. Then he cleared his throat, nervously. Tenku blinked, startled out of his reverie, and jumped up and go comb his own hair. Sparrow held out his hand and smiled and Tenku relinquished the comb reluctantly and sat with his back to him.

"I'm warning you, Sparrow. I haven't combed my hair since my last Protected died." Sparrow mentally made a note to ask Tenku what he meant by Protected later and begna his work. He didn't bother with the rubber-feather wings, you coudln't comb those, he saw that right off. Instead, he began to work very quickly and efficiently on his hair. Combing the spiky tangles until they went like water through his comb. The two long clumps in front already did, and when he was done, the sun was beginning to set, turning the sky to a rainbow of reds and purples and yellows. He watched the light begin to die, humming under his breath. Feeling, for once, a little happy.

Tenku was watching him, he noticed after a few minutes. It made him a little uncomfortable, but that was okay. He knew Tenku didn't mean anything by it. "You said something about going to town?"

" Tomorrow. First light. We'll go to town and see if anything hasn't come up about your ship and your friend." Looking up at him, it struck him that Tenku really cared for him. It smiled again, enough to show the cute fangs. Then it began to use the extra seaweed to create a bed for the two of them. Its own pants had dried and it pulled them on. The two of them went to sleep there, that night, laying next to each other for warmth as the stars shone down on them like Tenku's eyes did, like angels watching over them. They slept the way some brothers sleep, and finally, as the night crawled closer to dawn, the way some lovers sleep; curled against each other, sharing warmth. They were not lovers, not in the slightest. Sparrow felt nothing but friendship of the highest regard for Tenku. Tenku, on the other hand, had already fallen in love. But that was part of the game. That was part of his soul, his spirit, his purpose in life. And tonight he simply slept. He'd tell everything tomorrow. Everything.

The next morning Sparrow learned about what Tenku was. Airfish was jsut a name the legends had given him. His sole mission in life was to be a Protector as best he could. "Every lifetime," Tenku said, choosing his words carefully,"I find someone here on the beach. I take them, for their entire lives, as my life. I protect them from any harm that I can. I am their constant friend, companion, advisor. When they die, finally, hopefully of old age I weep for them for a year and then return to the sea to wait for the next. You are the, uhm... twentieth, I think. The last was a married woman whose husband tohught I was a child by some vicious sea-god." He grinned again. "I let them think whatever they wish. But, I have to warn you, Sparrow." He looked yup at him and Sparrow sighed. This was going to be something bad. He could feel it, in his bones. "I fall in love with everyone I protect. I cna't help it, it just happens. It's part of who I am. Sparrow, I.. I already love you." Quietly, hesitantly, as if it expected him to run, to hate it with a passion. He felt no such emotion, in fact he felt rather calm. He udnerstood. He understood loving something and not getting love back.

"All right. We'll deal with that. I don't.. don't think I could love you that way, but if you'e with me my whole life, I will always love you as my very best friend." He laughed again. "Besides, Jagkie, if he's still alive." His laugh faded. WAS Jagkie alive? It was such a thought, something so new to his mind right now. he WOULD be. Sparrow prayed he would be.

"Okay, then. You know everything about me." Tenku stood, mvoing gracefully and easily with his wings folded. Sparrow folloed him and they walked into the forest, until they found a well beaten path. Tenku led and Sparrow followed, watching all the birds, hearing the unfamiliar songs. Every once in a while he saw a flash of light. "Wild Magic," Tenku explained when he asked. "It comes from the animals." Sparrow nodded, confused. Wild magic. Once he saw a deer watching him, a doe, dainty and delicately powerful. A fawn was at its side, half-grown, with the spots coming off. Both of them ahd flashes of light near their hearts. Wild magic. What a beautiful thing to have. The path became gradually wider and more beaten until, there they were, in a village. It was a large one. Theyw ere on the edge of market square, where lots of people were milling around. About one in three had wings of SOME sort. So he and Tenku appeared to fit right in. They walked, and he admired the necklaces and fruits and things to barter for. "Pretty," he murmered, seeing a cross on a chain. He loved it. Would have to buy it sometime soon. Tenku did all the talking,a sking people if they had heard about the shipwreck. Sparrow followed him silently, eyes darting around at people when theyw eren't looking. Most of them probably thought he was an idiot, defective somehow. Tenku came back with a bit of fruit. He tossed it to Sparrow, who ate it quickly. He hadn't realized how HUNGRY he has.

"You're going to love me, Sparrow. He's alive. Your Jagkie. They said someone by that name is staying here, a survivor from a shipwreck jsut off the coast. From what he knows, the ONLY survivor." Tenku's eyes were bright and happy and when Sparrow laughed and held him he showed his fangs in his happy smile. Now, to find him... well, they didn't look for long. He was simply walking along, looking for an inn, when he saw it, the flash of green hair. He rna after him, Tenku behind, and finally he saw him.

It was Jagkie. And Sparrow had never wanted to cry more in his life. Not because he was happy.. but because he was frightened of what Jagkie looked like, what he was wearing, and who he was with.

"Jagkie?"

END OF CHAPTER TWO