Part Three (Finale)

Zapdos let out a screech. A pure, unfiltered, primal screech.

As his feathers lit up again, Carrie quickly skittered behind the closest pillar, even if she knew she was no longer the target. Another crack rang out, accompanied by a flash, though both of these were now weaker. Swishing of wings and clacks of talons followed as the birds leapt and glid around the hall in battle – or more of a chase, as Bouquatro only avoided attacks or disrupted them with more leaves.

Either way, Zapdos seemed fully occupied, and Carrie could gather the courage to move again. She dashed from behind one pillar to another, gradually making her way to the shelves.

“Please,” Bouquatro panted, barely dodging yet another bolt, “stop attacking! I-I don’t wanna hurt you!”

“Hurt me?” The laugh that left Zapdos’ beak was too aggressive to be authentic. “What could you possibly do to me? Throw some leaves? My feathers would fry them before they reached my skin!”

“Zappy, please –”

Another bolt shot at Bouquatro. He jumped, avoiding the main blow, but the tips of his tail feathers were charred.

Carrie shook her head, but quickly focused back on the task at pincer – she’d reached the shelf. And the idol was right there! And… also there? And also over there? Why would he have so many —

Ah, no, none of these was actually what she needed – they were idols, yes, but not of their mother. The long, thin beak and spiky plumage revealed the figure to be Zapdos. These, too, must have been made by the electabuzz… in other words, worshippers. Carrie clenched her mouthparts and began to climb, hoping that the right idol would be somewhere on the higher shelves.

“Stop it!” cried Bouquatro. “You know what our mother thinks about fighting!”

Zapdos spat. “Of course you’d bring up Mother! You always hid behind her! Always tattled on us when we just put you in your place! She spoiled you rotten, sheltered you, and that’s why you’re so soft! So soft that you empathise with mites!”

Bouquatro frowned and sighed. “Fine, then. You asked for it.”

“Ooh, I’m shaking all over! The weed wrangler’s about to unleash his wrath upon me! What’re you gonna do, tie together blades of grass to trip me?”

Bouquatro didn’t answer. His petals began to glow.

Carrie flinched, remembered what she was doing and stopped watching. There were no more  shelves above her, only the top platform… but another idol stood atop it, and she had a good feeling about that one. She gripped the side of the shelf with a pincer as she’d done before – though her arms were quite sore by now – and started yet another climb.

At the back of her mind, she awaited a screech from Zapdos, something to show Bouquatro had attacked, but none had yet come by the time she had all of her legs firmly planted on the top of the shelf. Perhaps Bouquatro was charging up something very powerful… or it was as part of Carrie feared – that Bouquatro didn’t have the courage to strike against his brother after all.

But at least she was where she needed to be. She skittered to the idol and studied it carefully. Her eyes widened in elation as she recognized the patterns. This was it! That crest, that beak, that platform. She wasted no time and grabbed onto it – though made sure not to activate it yet.

Alright. Now what she needed to do was get back down, point the idol at the window and click on the light. Though then she would be spotted right away. Or maybe she could hide behind the metal perch? Zapdos would still want to see who set the idol up, but those precious extra seconds could allow Bouquatro to attack and fend him back off. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

But… how exactly would she get down while carrying the idol? The wooden sculpture stood nearly as tall as she did. She could grip onto it with one pincer only, perhaps, but she needed both to climb.

Could she try to hold it with her tail and legs? While it sounded cumbersome, she didn’t seem to have a choice. She lowered the idol onto its side and positioned it between her tail and legs as well as she could. The result was awkward, but with enough determination, it would hold – and she wasn’t about to give up now.

As bolts still flashed in the background, she dragged the idol to the edge of the shelf. This was the trickiest part. She reached her pincer down and grabbed the side of the shelf. She extended another, but as she’d suspected, it couldn’t reach below the other. She’d have to grab it while she was falling.

She took a deep breath and let it out. Then she jumped.

She reached for the side of the shelf.

She grabbed it.

Her pincer slipped.

Oh crap.

Her fall only lasted an instant, and ended with a body-shocking thud against the marble floor. She did not hear anything for a while —

No, she heard the rain outside.

She did not hear sounds of battle.

She looked behind her. Zapdos stared right back. His feathers charged with white lightning, and the air around him began to crackle.

“You…” he growled, ready to unleash his attack. “You keep your dirty pincers off my stuff!”

Crrack!

“…Huh?”

The noise had not come from Zapdos. Instead, it had come from above.

A web of cracks spanned a sizable area in the marble ceiling. From a few, tiny roots peeked out.

Zapdos realized too late what it meant.

The ceiling gave way with a deafening rumble and collapsed. Debris crashed down onto Zapdos, squeezing the air from his lungs and pinning his body down to the floor. Dust spread to the scene for just a split second before the rain washed it away.

Bouquatro breathed heavily, legs stiff as stone. The glow was gone from his petals.

Carrie clambered onto her feet and looked at Zapdos. She saw no motion – through the rain newly pouring in, anyway. The orbs of lightning illuminating the temple had burnt out, too.

Finally, Bouquatro moved. He ran to the rubble and leaned in, beak almost touching his brother’s. A second later, he sighed in relief.

“Still alive,” he breathed. “Just unconscious.” He extended his vines and began to move the chunks of marble off Zapdos’ body, heaviest first.

Carrie hesitated long whether to approach – but before she could decide, Bouquatro spoke again.

“Can you give me the beacon?”

It took a second for Carrie to realize what he was referring to, but right after, she picked up the idol and skittered around the debris to hand it to Bouquatro. He took it in his talons and set it upright on a level enough piece of debris.

“Cover your eyes,” Bouquatro said, and Carrie did as instructed, guessing what was soon to come.

A bright light overtook the hall. Unlike last time, though, Carrie was spared the blinding, and she noticed she could bear the light with her eyes open as long as she didn’t look directly at it. Squinting, she watched the raindrops glimmer around the tower of light.

“I thought you didn’t want to get your mother involved,” she said quietly.

Bouquatro sighed. “This feels like enough of an emergency.”

Carrie rubbed one pincer against another. “What’ll happen when she gets here?”

“I’m not sure”, answered Bouquatro, sitting down. “But I doubt she’s going to like that I nearly k…”

He quieted, a deep frown distorting his face. He squeezed his eyes shut tight.

“Are you alright?” asked Carrie, slowly approaching.

Bouquatro sniffled. “I just…” His voice wavered. “I didn’t want to hurt him…”

Carrie blinked. Even after all Zapdos did… he feels bad about hurting him.

“I’m sorry if this is rude, but…” she began. “Why?”

“Why?” Now Bouquatro blinked, confused. “W-well, he’s my brother, for one…”

“But he… sorry, I have to be direct – he was terrible. He wanted to kill my whole colony! Why would you — why would you feel sorry for –”

Carrie quieted as anger flashed in Bouquatro’s eyes. No, what was she doing? She couldn’t yell at a…

Just as quickly, the anger faded, and Bouquatro looked away. “No, I… I understand. He was terrible. But it’s not like I can just turn off this feeling. Or that I’d want to. I fear that… if I didn’t care for a specific someone, I’d have to choose where to draw the line on who to care for and who not to, and… I worry what would happen were I to draw it too far.”

Carrie paused to think. Finally, she scuttled to Bouquatro’s side and lowered a pincer onto his leg. He flinched, and Carrie flinched, but just as he calmed right after, so did Carrie.

“I don’t think you’re in danger of that,” she said. “I doubt you could stop being kind if you wanted to.”

A bittersweet smile rose to Bouquatro’s beak. “Thanks.”

For a while, they stayed still, only listening to the rain. Then, Bouquatro jumped.

He turned to answer Carrie’s startled gaze. “Sorry, I just realized,” he started. “I think it’d be safer for you to wait outside. Zappy might try to attack when he wakes up. He won’t be very strong, so he’s no danger to me, but he might be to you.”

“Ah, right.” Carrie got onto her legs and backed away from the unconscious thunderbird. All that sentimentality had made her forget her fears.

She headed for the entrance, but stopped halfway and turned around. “Um… I still have no shell,” she said. “So I don’t know if I’ll be safe out there, either…”

“Oh. Hmm.” Bouquatro stroked her chin with a wing-leaf. “What about these marble chunks? Could you craft a makeshift shell from one?”

Carrie eyed the boulders. “Hm. Maybe. Worth a try, at least.”

She skittered over and chose a chunk that already had a slight depression on one side. She grabbed it with her pincers and began to drag it, but as it drew a piercing screech from the floor, Bouquatro grabbed it with a pair of vines and rolled it over to the door.

Carrie looked at the white streak on the otherwise pristine marble floor and winced. “Shame about the floor.”

Bouquatro shrugged. “I doubt it matters after what I did to the roof.”

The two shared a brief chuckle, after which Carrie begun work on her new shell. She requested Bouquatro not to watch, and he obliged. Repeated spitting of corrosive fluid was not a particularly pretty sight. After a few minutes, as she’d finally managed to carve a hole big enough to withdraw in, she waved temporary goodbye to Bouquatro, exited the doors and settled outside.

With her new shell as protection, she could let her guard down and lose herself in her surroundings. Even with Zapdos knocked out, the rain stayed torrential. As the water landed, it mixed with mud and gathered in the ditches dug in the earth. A constant, crashing stream led the waters to the edge of the hill to fall into what Carrie speculated were further gutters. The whole electabuzz settlement seemed to have these laid around so that the rains wouldn’t flood and destroy their homes and orchards. Shame that her colony lived on ground too level and soft for that to work. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore… but it all depended on whatever Bouquatro’s mother would decide.

She lay down on the marble and looked to the sky instead. Dark clouds still swirled above the island like a second sea, equally stormy as the first. Only the first didn’t have roaring thunder and flashing lightning among its waves.

But, actually… neither did this one.

No lightning had flashed since she came out, and no thunder roared.

Where had they all gone?

CRRRAACK!

A flash, a rumble, earth-shaking. Behind her.

She turned around. The shockwave had destroyed the temple doors and thrown them onto the ground as smoking splinters. Through the doorway, cold light flickered.

A bolt of lightning wouldn’t last that long. Something had lit up within again. The orbs? Were they recharged?

No, that wasn’t important. She needed to know if Bouquatro was okay.

With trembling legs, she dragged herself into the doorframe. Her friend’s name stuck to her mouth, unable to be shouted.

A figure, blinding white, stood in the middle of the hall. Spiky feathers. Long, straight beak. Fierce glare.

In front of the figure lay a charred body of another, similar in shape and size – but lacking wings. They’d been burnt off. Just like the flowers on its chest.

No breath could enter or leave Carrie’s body. Despite the overwhelming brightness searing her vision, she could not move her eyes.

The blinding figure opened its beak.

“I am the god of lightning.”

Carrie flinched at the volume of the speaker – much louder than Zapdos had ever been, even when he had yelled from the top of his lungs.

The figure slowly walked towards her. Carrie wanted nothing more than to turn around and flee, but her muscles had frozen solid.

“This is my island.”

He stepped over the corpse without reaction. No reaction, while his brother’s heart had ached from only knocking him out. Monster. He was a monster!

“I decide what beings live here.”

The figure brightened even further, which Carrie could not have imagined possible. The edges of his silhouette wavered, broken by arcs of lightning crawling across his body. Crackling filled the air.

He was ready to attack. The opportunity to flee, had there even been one, had gone. The only choice Carrie could still make was to withdraw in her shell – but she knew all too well that it would make no difference.

“You are not one of them.”

As is the case for all creatures nearing death, her instincts took over, drawing her underneath her shell either way. At least that way, that pointed beak and those burning eyes would not get to be the last sight she ever saw.

She heard the crackling surge, and thought of her family.

—

Finally, that annoying bug was gone.

Zapdos watched the smouldering remains of the dwebble with contemptuous eyes. The bitter scent of burnt flesh tickled his nostrils. He briefly thought of the meal it could’ve made for some electabuzz if cooked more slowly, but shook his head and walked past, descending the temple steps into the rain.

He wasn’t done yet. Some other day, he could’ve been, but today he’d finally gotten a clue as to where the rest of those bugs were hiding. Those cliffs that had collapsed must have been near their nest if that’s where Bouquatro had been planting his seeds. One quick visit there, and he’d be rid of those vermin for good.

Actually, it’d be over even faster now that he was supercharged. He was lucky to have made this day such a stormy one. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to attract that lightning and have it strike the vitality right back into him. He might have even died. Because of his loser brother and a tiny crab. What an embarrassing fate – but at least he knew his worshippers would have avenged him.

Zapdos spread his wings and flapped himself into flight, undeterred by the barrage of droplets. Once comfortably far from the ground, he swerved to his right and turned around.

What the…

The blanket of rainclouds tore open in a wedge-shape ahead of him. The deep blue sky peeked through with its faintly gleaming stars. At the center of the rift floated a figure cloaked in golden light. A trail of sparks followed its tail, and stray colors reflected off its feathers – red, yellow, green, blue, purple…

Zapdos clenched his jaw. So Mother saw the beacon after all…

And she had seen him, too, judging by her heading straight towards the temple. Not that he could possibly hide with feathers so bright at the moment.

Nevertheless, he headed for his mother, greeting her innocently as soon as he was close enough.

“What is the matter?” she asked, softly but hurriedly.

“Oh, that? There-there’s no matter, Mother, I only activated the beacon by accident. Sorry to be such a bother!”

She didn’t seem to listen, only staring at the island below. “Your island is flooded,” she said and looked back to Zapdos. “You really shouldn’t make it rain that much. It’s not good for the ecosystem.”

“Alright, sure, got it. But there’s really nothing here, you should get back to your duties.”

Mother frowned, suspicious.

Damn it, thought Zapdos, she’s not buying it…

“My duties have been quiet for a long time,” said Mother, “and it has almost been two hundred years since my last visit. I may as well do it now, see how you’re all doing.”

“No, Mother, please, w-we haven’t even had time to prepare –”

But Mother already swooped down, headed for the temple. Zapdos followed, trying his best to convince her not to bother, but she’d made up her mind.

“Oh, what happened to your house?” she said, eyeing the large hole in the roof.

“Just, um, an accident… I’ve got it under control, really…” Don’t go in, don’t go in…!

But she did.

She dove in through the hole and into the darkness left by the plasma-spheres that had shattered from the lightning before. Her warm glow illuminated the inside of the temple, and right as her talons met the floor, she saw —

“Booky!” she shouted, hurrying to the blackened body of her son. “Booky, are you…”

Zapdos trembled. There was no hiding it now. She knew. But she didn’t know the story…

“I-it was an accident!” he swore, landing next to his mother. “I was making a storm, and he flew in, and-and he got struck, and I brought him here for shelter so I could, uh, get some electabuzz to treat him –”

“And you didn’t want me to know about this?”

“I thought I could maybe get him healed and you wouldn’t have to worry –”

“Look at him, Zapdos!” she snapped, causing him to recoil a few steps. “He’s dead! No electabuzz can heal that!”

“I, uh, I-I was…”

“Forget it,” she said — ordered. “I’ll scold you later. Time is of the essence.” She spread her wings, and her glow strengthened. Flames of red, green, blue and every other color began to leak out of her beak.

Zapdos’ eyes flicked between the body and his mother. “Wait, what are you…”

She opened her mouth and breathed the flames onto Bouquatro’s body.

Instead of consuming whatever was left of him, the fire seemed to do the opposite. Every feather, every leaf, every petal of every flower materialized back, as if burning in reverse.

Zapdos’ eyes bulged out of their sockets. She can — she can do that?

Finally, as everything had repaired itself and Bouquatro looked as well as he ever had, the fires vanished into thin air.

Was he —

“Nnggh…”

Zapdos jumped back. The noise had indeed come from his brother’s body. The body that had been a blackened corpse just seconds ago.

Mother leaned closer to the body and nudged it with a foot. “Bouquatro,” she said quietly, “Bouquatro, please get up.”

Bouquatro squeezed his eyes shut further, as if refusing to wake up – but the more Mother nudged him, the more awake he clearly became.

At last, he opened his eyes. “What… Mother? What’s going on?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Mother said.

Bouquatro squinted, confused – until his eyes quickly widened in realization. He hastily stumbled to his two feet despite his mother’s recommendations to take it slow.

“M-Mother,” he panted, “Zappy –”

As he spotted his brother in the room, he quieted, frozen. Zapdos gave a stern glare while Mother’s eyes were still elsewhere. Don’t you dare say a word.

But Bouquatro glared back. Wha…

Bouquatro raised a wing and pointed right at Zapdos. “Mother, Zappy… Zappy has done horrible things!”

“What?” Zapdos squawked. Perhaps he hadn’t been clear enough. He glared again with twice the intimidation. “Uh, Booky, aren’t you overreacting a bit?”

“No!”

Zapdos’ heart jumped to his throat.

“No, I’m not overreacting!” continued Bouquatro, unaffected by any scowl Zapdos would give. “Mother, Zappy attacked me! He attacked me because I told him to stop making it rain so much! He was making it rain too much on purpose, so that the dwebble and crustle that live on the island would drown, and Mother – those mon are not feral!”

Mother’s beak jung ajar. She turned to Zapdos. “Zapdos, is this true?”

Blood rushed in Zapdos’ ears, nearly deafening him to the outside world. “N-no,” he finally got out, “no, that’s not…”

“I can prove it!” Bouquatro pressed on. “Ask the dwebble, Mother! And ask my –”

He stopped, horror on his face. “Carrie! Where’s Carrie?” He limped out of the temple, looking around. Seconds later, he screamed.

Zapdos’ gut sank. There was no way out of this anymore.

Mother hopped after Bouquatro. Bouquatro turned to her with teary eyes, barely coherent in his speech, but it seemed that Mother understood.

“Booky, it’s alright,” she said. “Please calm down.”

“Calm down?” Bouquatro cried. “Sh-she’s dead! How could this be alright in any kind of –”

“I can revive her.”

Zapdos scowled. Revive her, too? That mite?

“Wh… what?” Bouquatro sobbed. “No, you can’t, don’t try to…”

“I revived you, too! Just a moment ago!”

Bouquatro sniffled, trying to get a word out, but unable to decide what exactly to say.

Right then, a realization flashed in Zapdos’ mind like lightning in a pitch-black sky. Mother and Bouquatro… they hadn’t given him so much as a look for the past half a minute or so.

A spark of hope ignited in his chest. Perhaps he could flee! As repulsive as the thought of fleeing his own island was, he didn’t know what Mother would have in mind as punishment, nor did he want to find out.

As softly as a falling feather, he bent his legs. He had to gain as much height as he could during takeoff – but thankfully, that supercharge seemed to power up his muscles as well. He separated his wings from his body just a smidgen, and…

Jump! He’d left the ground. He raised his wings and beat them down, repeated, repeated, ascended through the hole in the roof. Yes! The hard part was over. He let his feet touch the roof and began to run —

“Wh- Zapdos!” called his mother, and while it made his heart jolt, Zapdos kept his pace. Once he reached the edge of the roof, he leapt into flight.

He almost laughed as his wings caught the wind. Never had it felt so sweet.

Yes! He thought, chest burning with triumph. There’s no way they’ll reach me now! I am, and have always been, the fastest of the family!

Now, let’s see. I think I should fly away from the islands as long as I know I might be followed, and when the heat dies down, I can return and hide away at Molly’s or Arti’s. Probably Molly’s. While it’s sweltering hot over there, I can always take a dip in the ocean to cool down, while with Arti I’d just be stuck with ice everywhere. And I think Molly’s always understood me better than Arti, who might just go and squawk to Mother about my return. Then I guess I’ll wait until Mother leaves again and then return to my island, chase Booky off if I need to —

A change in speed interrupted his thoughts. Rapid deceleration, to be more precise.

What? He blinked. Wh-why did I slow down? Did the winds change? It doesn’t feel like it —

He glanced at his wings. A light blue glow had surrounded them.

Heart pounding, he looked behind her. Mother was approaching, the same kind of blue radiating from her eyes, and in her beak – rainbow flames.

Zapdos screeched, and that screech echoed for miles.

—

“Carrie?”

Carrie stirred. Her body felt heavy.

“Carrie, can you hear me?”

“Nngghhh…” She squirmed, trying to find a better position to lie in. The ground was cold and hard, really not a great place to fall asleep on… why had she done so there?

Wait, was she out in the open?

She flinched and opened her eyes. She was shelterless! An easy meal for any bird flying by! And her shell — she had no shell!

She screamed and scrambled to her feet, glancing around for the nearest nook to hide in.

“Carrie, it’s okay!”

“Huh?” Carrie looked to the direction of the voice. A familiar face stared back. Oh, thank goodness, Bouquatro was there. She didn’t have to worry about predators. But wait. What was that other figure behind him…

Before she could wait for her vision to sharpen, it darkened completely as Bouquatro buried her in his plumage. “Oh, Carrie! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

He then paused and drew back, exposing the outside world to Carrie again. “You are okay, right?”

“Uhh…” Carrie blinked rapidly. “I think I am, but… what happened?”

Bouquatro beamed. “The beacon! The beacon worked! Mother came here and brought us back to life!”

“Back to…”

Carrie quieted as she remembered the last events before she’d awakened. She turned around and looked at the shards of marble behind her.

“We… we died,” she mumbled, eyes wide.

“Yeah, but Mother revived us! She’s awesome!” cheered Bouquatro.

The other figure chuckled behind him. “Thank you, dear.”

Carrie could now see it — her more clearly. She was a large bird, even larger than Bouquatro, and the sight of her sitting on the marble platform was breathtaking. Curled golden crest, bushy golden tail, body and wings mostly red and white but glimmering with all the colors Carrie knew – and probably many more she could not see. She realized this was the creature whose likeness that idol had mimicked.

“Oh!” Bouquatro stepped aside to show the figure better. “This is her, by the way. This is my mother! Mother, this is Carrie. She’s the dwebble I told you about.”

The figure nodded gently and looked directly to Carrie, freezing her with sheer awe. “Pleased to meet you, Carrie. I am Ho-Oh.”

“P-pleased… to meet you, too,” Carrie managed. “You really, um… brought us back to life?”

“I did. It is within my power.”

“Wow…” Carrie sighed. She’d been right – the mother of Zapdos and Bouquatro was indeed no less powerful than them, but she hadn’t been expecting power over death!

Bouquatro suddenly frowned. “How come you never told us you had that kind of power?”

Ho-Oh sighed. “Well, it’s one I rarely use. In order for life to thrive, there must be death. Because of this, I make it a point to only use it when death is caused by my own carelessness. And I consider this situation to qualify…”

She sighed again, and turned back to Carrie. “I’d like to apologize for the damage my son has caused. I thought I’d raised him to be a protector of life, not a destroyer – but judging by what Bouquatro has told me, this was not the case.”

The reminder of Zapdos’ existence made Carrie shudder. “So… where is he now, anyway?” she asked, glancing around for any sign of the thunderbird.

Ho-Oh stood up and stepped back, revealing a small lump of yellow fluff. It extended its neck and opened its beady eyes. A weak peep left its pointed beak as it cautiously looked around. As it set its eyes on Carrie, part of her expected it to glare, recoil, anything negative – but all she saw in those eyes was curiosity.

“If I couldn’t raise him right the first time, maybe the second time’s the charm,” Ho-Oh said, sitting back down, and the chick burrowed back into her warm plumage.

Bouquatro tilted his head. “But Mother, who will watch over the skies while you’re here?”

Ho-Oh only smiled. “The skies have been fine for a long time. Besides, the Eons know to keep an eye out for trouble if I ever happen to get caught up in something else.”

“The Eons?”

“Remember Uncle Latios and Aunty Latias?”

“Oh, them. Vaguely, yeah.”

Ho-Oh nodded. “In any case, Booky, I have a job for you to do.”

“Huh? What kind of job?”

She raised her wing and gestured all around them. “I want you to restore this island to its former verdancy. I want no mon to go hungry anymore!”

Bouquatro’s eyes sparkled. “R-really?”

Ho-Oh’s warm smile answered for her.

Bouquatro squeaked with glee, rapidly flapping his wings – so much that Ho-Oh had to warn him not to blow his dwebble friend away. Bouquatro promptly stopped and apologized.

“So, Carrie,” he said, “do you want to come with?”

Carrie meant to say yes, but reconsidered as her eyelids drooped without warning. “Mmm… I’d love to,” she said, “but… I think I’d better get back to my colony and get some sleep. I feel like I’m about to pass out…”

“Ah, true,” replied Bouquatro, nodding. “You have had an exhausting day. Let’s go – I’ll carry you there!”

Carrie nodded back, and soon she found herself on Bouquatro’s shoulders again, securely fastened in place by his vines.

“Have a safe flight, you two,” said Ho-Oh, waving a wing. “In the meantime, I’ll go have a chat with the electabuzz tribe. There’s likely a lot I’ll have to set right…”

“Good luck, Mother,” said Bouquatro with a wave back, then jumped into flight and headed for the cliffs.

As Carrie lay down on Bouquatro’s back, his soft feathers welcomed her tired body with open arms. Gently, they began to pull her under to the land of slumber – but a sudden question entered in her mind, yanking her back to the world of waking.

“Hey, Bou?” she began.

“Hm?” Bouquatro turned his head to her. “What is it?”

“After you’ve finished work on this island… can you still come visit me?”

Bouquatro smiled. “Of course. And I’ll bring you plenty of magosts.”

Carrie lay back down, a smile of her own in her eyes. “Thanks, Bou.”

She let herself fall asleep, even if the trip wouldn’t be too long, and dreamed of endless berries.

—

THE END

—