LUC

I spent most of my travel thinking about what would make the perfect present. I was always in the air, save for when it rained so hard that the weight of soaked wings felt like tree branches sewn to my back. I had to stop then, using the time to catch up on sleep. I was last at this market less than a year ago for salt and furs. Most of the merchants were female, and when in concentrated numbers, females were hostile to male bad behavior just enough to create bearable civility. No male would risk being banned from the market just to fight me.

When I was in sight of the cliff market, the conviction made way for feelings of nervousness and dread. I could see the other Helli — they were like dots on the cliff tops, their shiny hairs being the darkest shade of whatever color their skins and feathers favored. Coloring didn't mean very much. It was sometimes attractive, yes, but for the most part, it just was — often hinting at family lineage or one's location of origin. Helli who lived high up were often duller colors — grey, brown, black, and muted red and orange browns. Helli who lived closer to the mountain forests, and suspended mangroves were more colorful, coming in almost any color imaginable, but mostly deep vibrant green, blue, and red.

I pushed past my discomfort, flying closer. The market stalls were carved right into the walls of the cliff's mountain, and stores hosting mostly circled the corners. The cliffside was shielded from the harsh sun, due to the neighboring mountain curving into it to form a canopy over the location. Ropes were hanging from the makeshift ceiling, holding onto baskets, animal skin bags, and displaying fabric for sale. My feet touched the floor at the edge of the cliff as I landed, and my eyes flickered, taking in as many of the Helli as I could in the process.

Some of them looked over at me to inspect me too, but most of them didn't even look up, engrossed in bartering for the items they wanted. There was so much noise. I walked into the crowd, keeping my head low. Almost everyone was a little taller than me. Females were generally smaller and leaner than males. Their breastplates were slightly higher and more protruded than a male's. Their voices were ofter, and their facial features appeared much larger on their smaller heads. They also tended to like adornments more — wearing wooden and metal bangles and armbands, covering their chest and pubic area with woven material. Sometimes they would dangle beads in strands of their hair and the lobes of their ear. It was the reason why they tended to be most of the traders and buyers. They liked things beyond food and shelter.

When I had been in my flock, I had gotten along with my clutch sisters quite okay, and in extension the females in the greater flock. They had been friendly, but I knew I was deemed inadequate because of the lack of reciprocity when I did try... earlier in my adolescence. The memories made shoulder feathers stand up as I stared at items stacked up on the bare floor or rugs. Some sellers had their items in baskets or piled up on raised stone slabs. The fanciest stores have tables and chairs carved out of stone or wood. Most of the sellers stood, while others sat down as they talked to customers or amongst each other. Some artisans worked on engraving and painting right at their stalls, occasionally looking up from their work to call out to potential traders.

"Looking for something, runt?" I blinked, turning to lock eyes with a female Helli. Her feathers were a bright orange while her skin was a muted almost brown shade of the same color. Her hair was woven in an intrinsic pattern that culminated into a tight bun at the back of her head. The hairstyle framed her face in a way that made her forehead look bigger than it was. She smiled at me, showing off her canines. "You look like you're having a hard time. I have just about everything. I'll barter with you. I don't bite." She smiled at me, eying the bag that sagged from my waist belt in anticipation.

I approached her stall, looking at what she had. Mostly processed food — fruit, roots, and seeds ground into powder and pastes. Jamie's teeth were small — not strong enough to eat very much. I wondered if she would give me a serving of some of the items for some truffles.

"Can I?" I asked, reaching for a soft slab of what smelled of ground fester seeds encased in a leaflet covering. I ate a lot of it myself, but Jamie found the shells hard. She nodded, and I picked, examining it for a bit. "What would you trade it for?"

The female's closed and opened her eyes, letting out a small weave. "What do you have?"

I looked at her, dropping the item. "Some truffles, mushrooms, and herbs from the surface."

She looked unconvinced. "If you go to the surface often, I don't think that's all you have," she said, leaning forward. "You're small runt, the right size to get into those little walkways and entrances those creatures make."

I knew what she was talking about. She wanted something human.

I nodded, reaching into my bag until my fingers grazed the edge of one of the metal items I had. I pulled out the square shard, slipping it across the table. The exchange was more stressful than it should have been. I knew there was a low chance anyone would approach me for my items, deciding that they weren't interested in trading for them, but just taking them. A small possibility was higher than zero regardless, so I tried to be discrete.

The female looked at it, making a content chirping sound as she turned it in her hand. I was unsure of what the metal itself was supposed to be — but it was purer than anything Helli mined from the mountains and surface by themselves. It would probably be processed into jewelry.

"Do you have something more reflective?" she asked, looking up at me expectantly. "Like when you see yourself in the water?"

I nodded, reaching into my pouch again, producing a circular plate, and another that had an irregular shape, probably broken off something larger.

The female purred. The sound was low and deep in her chest. "I want all three."

I looked at her table again. I did want the food, but not a lot, since I wasn't sure Jessie would like it. "I only want that one," I said. "All three for just that sounds unfair."

The female frowned, "agreed," she said but didn't let go of the pieces of metal.

"Is there anything else you want? I'll go trade for it, and save you the trouble of doing it yourself," she muttered, still not letting go of the bits of metal.

"Writing slabs," I said, deciding not to push her to return my things. "Lots of it."

Helli wrote on thin slabs made of tree rubber. Sharp objects were used to carve into the rubber, and ink was used to fill the engravings and make them stand out. Whatever Jessie wrote with, seemed less complex and easier to use, but he'd had to leave so much of it behind at the cliff nest.

"Writing materials," the female repeated, standing up from the carved stool she was sitting on. "Stay here, and hide these. I don't want anyone nicking them off you while I'm gone," he muttered in a low tone, finally releasing the pieces of metal. I nodded, watching her stand to her full length before walking and disappearing into the crowd with a basket full of food in her hand.

I waited patiently, and when she got back writing slabs, a container and ink, and a carved wooden stylus were in the basket instead of food. I thanked her as she handed them to me.

"My trade?" she asked, ignoring my thanks. I nodded, removing the pieces of metal from my bag again before handing them to her. She purred again, caressing the surface of the most reflective one. "If you see any more of these, you know where to find me."

I gave her a weak smile as I closed my bag after putting the items I'd traded for in it. I slipped back into the crowd, less nervous now. I got some salt for myself, a couple of medical herbs, and a hunting whistle to mimic a mating call for a burrowing animal that lived near surface creaks. I stopped in front of a fancy stall, stacked to the brim with highly detailed figurines. My eyes flickered at two in front, and then at a wooden bracelet painted in a soft green color.

"What would you like for these" I asked, pulling the items in front of me. The female at the stall stared at me and then at the items.

"What do you have?"

My hand moved to my bag. "Truffles, mushrooms, and herbs."

She didn't look impressed. "Do you have anything by those flightless things on the surface?"

"Yes, I do have human stuff."

"Hue... man?"

"Yes, I..." I trailed, stopping when I realized what I'd said.

I shrugged. "I call them that. Helps to name them."

The female narrowed her eyes at me but didn't say anything. "Show me what you have then?"

After my day walking around and trading, the only human things I had left were metal engravings — small, with hooks and circular holes at the end. I assumed they were jewelry or pendants. They were all yellow, orange, or grey ore color.

She churred approvingly. "These will do," she said, examining the pendants with her fingers.

"Runt, you seem to know a lot about these creatures... these... hue-mans," the female drawled, her head cocking to the side as she eyed the human trinkets she was bartering for. Her long bony fingers reached out to pull the items closer to her, and they made a sound as they scrapped across the surface of her stall. I quickly picked up the bracelet and figurines I had chosen, stuffing them into my bag before she decided to change her mind.

"I don't know that much..." I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.

"You know what they're called, that's more than most of us can say," she said, as her pupils wobbled in excitement. Her dark yellow hair flowed with the head movement, catching the ray of sun seeping through the crack of the canyon. "I have a question for you."

I simply nodded, churring nervously.

"Do you know how to keep them alive?" she asked casually, taking me aback.

"I — what?"

"Do you know what to do to keep them alive?" she asked, staring up at me from her seat. Her collarbone was prominent even under the light yellow feathers that dusted her chest, neck, and shoulders.

"You see, I've been trying to get into the business of accruing and trading them as pets — like we do with the Mathi, and Goshie, but they're not as resilient as the creatures from here," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "They die very briefly after I get them, just before I get them, or right after I sell them, and now someone's screaming at my table for a refund," she went on.

The Mathi and Goshie were fairly intelligent aerial creatures that Helli sometimes kept as pets for entertainment. My heart sank. I... I didn't know any of this was going on. I'd been away from my flock for three years, and even before then, I hadn't interacted much with other Helli outside my immediate family. Humans were being kept as pets — or at least, a failed attempt was being made.

Well, a pet was one of the first things you thought of when you got Jessie.

I swallowed the spit at the back of my mouth, feeling my throat bob as I sat in my thoughts. Yes, but that was before I knew he was so much more. He was a person — my mate — if he would have me.

"See runt, I'm not asking you to give me business info for free," the female said when I didn't say anything. "What I think is happening is that they're sending me mostly sick ones. These creatures live in packs, but they seem to reject a few every once in a while, and I don't want the rejects. I need a few with good temperament. Ones that don't wail as much, or have breathing problems. They don't even eat meat, they look disgusted by it."

I nodded at her, not too sure if there was anything I could say without putting Jessie in danger. It didn't seem like whatever this operation was had figured out that crop milk helped with their breathing issues, but then again, it was hatchling food and food you shared with a mate that couldn't leave the nest. It wasn't the first thing to come to mind.

It was the first in yours. I blinked at my thought, hoping the female couldn't see the anxious raising of my feathers.

"Look, I have a map here," she continued, licking her lips as she pulled a rubber leaflet from beneath the pill of stacked rocks that served as her stall, she unrolled it, exposing the drawing of the surface below.

"See these marks here, that's where they live, but I bet you already knew that," she made a chuffing sound, moving her long black nail over the surface area of the map. "There might be some interesting spots you don't know about, that might help you find some scrap worth trading. There's a very high demand for the metal. Not sure how they make that stuff, but it's gorgeous."

"If you can manage to nick a few — healthy ones, and guarantee me they won't die, runt, you'll have a hoard so big you won't even know what to do with it," she said, smiling, the corners of her eyes wrinkled up with the movement. "Here, have the map. I don't want anything in return. You know what I want, get me that, and consider the fact you'll never have to hunt a day in your life again."

She pushed the map my way, and my fingers curled around its edges, I brought it up to my eyes, trying to recognize the places I already knew. There were a few, I even recognized the sinkhole I had found Jessie in. If I'd saved him but left him behind, what if another Helli had picked him up and brought him here—

Anger pooled in me as my imagination ran wild. He would have died. I would have never seen him again... He was alone right now, what if...?

"T-thank you," I managed through my shaking worry. I should have never left him alone. The female smiled, not noticing my emotional state she nodded her head. I stepped away from her stall, blending into the crowd before disappearing into the sea of other Helli.

The trip back was a fever dream to me, all that was on my mind was reaching Jessie as soon as possible. My wings ached with the ferocity of my flapping as I threw myself forward as quickly as possible. My breathing only relaxed when I was in view of the mangrove tree that hosted my nest. I quickly found its entrance, dropping to the floor of the nest before scanning the area for Jessie.

I was standing in a corner, eyes wide and face red, and then he wailed, long and hard like he'd been holding it in for days. His face grew wet, and I noticed he was blinking back water from his eyes. They feel with ease, damping his features and making his eyes red. I moved forward in shock, gathering him in my eyes as I smoothed down his hair, and tried my best to dry his face. He kept wailing even in my arms and burying his face in my shoulder where the sound of his crying was muffled.

"Jessie, okay?" I asked, squeezing him tight. "Jessie, okay?"

He nodded into his neck, heaving before violently shaking again. "Y-yes," he mumbled.

"Jessie, okay," he repeated as his grip around my neck tightened.