The soft, rising sunlight cast a flush of orange across my room, making everything seem warm and peaceful. Birds sang and chirped as they skitted from branch to branch in the lazy breeze. Blankets held me in their snuggly embrace. It was the perfect scene where you could just lie in bed for hours, somewhere between sleep and awake, and just soak in the serenity.

Unless you have a sister shaking your shoulder.

“Kestrel, please get up,” Wren pleaded. “We have to get going.”

“Ugh, nooooooo… Let me sleep…”

Wren shook me a little harder. “Please? Mom won’t be happy if you fall asleep again. So come on.”

“Kestrel is currently out in the field. Please leave a note and I’ll make sure she gets it eventually.”

“That isn’t funny! We have to go!”

“You’ll never get me out of this blanket cocoon, and you know it,” I hissed, drawing my shell of blankets tighter around me. “I’ll get up after I turn into a butterfly.”

Wren sighed but asked, “And how long will that be?”

“About four to seven hours, give or take,” I replied nonchalantly. “In the meantime, enjoy the meeting.” I turned on my side where Wren couldn’t see my face.

I heard Wren sigh again as a knock came from the door in the hall. Wren left, leaving me to snuggle even further into my cocoon. I heard my sister talk with someone for about a minute before footsteps re-entered the room. “Wren, I’m not getting up, so just go on and I’ll catch-”

I was lifted, blankets and all, into the air by someone who was definitely much stronger than Wren. I tried to squirm out of their grasp, but I was trapped in my own cocoon! I was thrown over their shoulder like a sack, and they strode out of my room. I struggled against the blankets and the new person, but their arm wouldn’t budge. Something smacked me in the face. I pulled my face back to see blue feathers.

That jerk.

“Cyane! Put me down!” I demanded while pounding against his back with an arm I had managed to free.

He didn’t reply; instead, he entered the dining room, Wren on his heels. I was about to protest again, but I was suddenly flung off his shoulder. In about five seconds, I was untangled from the blankets, plopped in a chair at the table, and had a plate piled with eggs and fruit in front of me. Cyane sat at the other end, and Wren started folding the blankets before setting them on an empty chair.

Cyane shrugged and said, “Wren told you to get up.”

“I said five more minutes,” I tried to be angry, but I started yawning, so the effect was lost.

“So does Cal, but he always ends up sawing logs the next second. So do you. Huh.” He twirled a feather that had fallen from his wing between his fingers. “Sometimes I realize how much you two are alike. Maybe I should reconsider my life choices.”

“I don’t know whether I should be insulted, complemented, or kinda disgusted.”

“Anyway,” Cyane drawled, “We did let you sleep for about half an hour. Now you really need to get ready. Mom will absolutely lose it if I didn’t get you two there on time.”

I groaned, letting a crushed mash of fruit fall back onto the plate. “Do we have to go? It’ll be soooooooooooo booooooooring!”

“Of course it is, but we have to go. It’s important that we help Mom uphold her image.”

I flicked a mango chunk at his head, hitting his shoulder by accident. “Please, everyone loves her. I don’t get it, but I guess the rest of the Harpies like an overwhelming, frantic workaholic. She’ll be fine without all of us.”

Cyane picked up the mango, returning it with a flick of his wrist. It hit me square on the nose. “It looks better when we’re all there.” Wren nodded quietly from her seat. “Plus, I hear there’s going to be a special guest.”

“Oh please, like that’ll work.” I threw half of a strawberry and it landed in his ever-tussled feathers on his head. “The last ‘special guest’ turned out to be an ambassador talking about trades with the Hurpiti. It was so boring, I think some of the council members fell asleep! Nope, not happening.”

“Kes,” Cyane said slowly, picking off the strawberry and tossing it in my lap. “If you don’t go, it’ll be your head.”

I groaned, my chin dropping onto the table. “It’s not like we have an actual effect. We show up, support mom, and sit there of hours on end! So what if I want to miss this one meeting? There’ll be others that are just as boring.”

Cyane sighed. Wren wrung her hands as she watched us. They know I’m right. Our attendance is just a show that’s pointless. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would notice if none of us showed up, but we’ll earn mom good graces if we do. It’s not like she’s using us; she loves us and she’s a great mom. It just feels so… empty. Like a trophy, something to display that doesn’t have any use. I don’t like that feeling.

Right now, I really want to fly.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Neither of them tried to argue, but they clearly weren’t ready to give up. After another moment, Cyane shook out his wings. “Alright, I guess you don’t have to go,” I perked up, surprised that he relented. “But,” Of course there was a ‘but.’ “That also means I’ll have to take my offer off the table.”

My curiosity peaked, I leaned forward, the feathers on my head beginning to rise. “‘Offer?’ What offer?”

Cyane sat back in his seat, resting his feet on the table as the chair’s front legs lifted off the ground. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested.”

“Try me.”

“Well, Cal and I really want to make sure that everything goes right in Wake, so we were planning on spending a month away to prepare. Turns out, the Harpies are having this major trade route negotiations with the Naiads coming up so I won’t be able to go. Cal’s still going, but he doesn’t want to spend that whole time by himself. So… he says he wants you to join him.” His wings flapped as he spilled the last detail. “Interested?”

My head was buzzing, my feathers at full alert. My wings had completely unfurled, twitching in excitement. “Of course! I’d love to go!”

Cyane smirked. “I knew you would. You just have to sit through the meeting and you’re good to -”

I was out of the kitchen before he finished his sentence, my feet feeling like they were floating. Weeks of just me and Cal in Wake? Planning his wedding and seeing the city? Of course, I want to go! Who cares about some boring meeting? I won’t miss this!

What are we going to see? What are we going to do? Can I actually make Cyane wear a bow? Oh, I can’t wait!