She flashes me images of Zeph and Treno snarling at each other and frames it all with the worry she feels, then flashes me the nest again.
“You think they’re fighting because they want a nest?” I ask her, confused. I’m, like, one hundred percent sure I’m not understanding her correctly, but she nods at me excitedly. Guess I speak better Pigeon than I thought I did.
It’s cute that she thinks something so simple could help, and I hate to rain on her nest, but this is my chance to help her understand. “Pidge, they’re not fighting because they don’t have a nest. They’re fighting because they hate each other. They’ve been on separate sides of a dominance battle for most of their lives. That’s where the tension is coming from. Unfortunately, there isn’t shit we can do at this point to change that. Maybe if we can end the war, that could pave the way for some common ground, but I don’t know.”
I pause, hating to explain this part, but she needs to know.
“Pidge, there’s a chance that nothing we can do will ever bring them together.”
She seems to consider that for a moment and then flashes me the nest again, like she’s certain it will fix everything.
I study her, ready to argue my point and try a different tactic for getting her to see what I’m saying, but I shrug instead. What do I know? It makes no sense to me, but that doesn’t mean she’s wrong. At this point, what can it hurt?
So I get on board. Let’s build a nest.
“What do you need? Like twigs and things?” I ask, liking the contentment that ripples through us when I don’t fight her on this.
I look around for some sturdy looking branches, but Pigeon zeroes in on a tree to our left. I gape at it. It’s at least twenty feet tall and has a trunk as thick as our gryphon waist. I open my mouth to argue that a whole tree isn’t some branches, but Pigeon must speak better Falon than I realize, because she sends me an image of all the branches that are on the tree and her ripping them off with her beak.
I look around us, but there’s no sign of the guys or any patrols, so I once again put my if it makes you happy hat on. If it gets us on the same page, then what does it hurt? Pretty sure she can’t rip a tree from the ground anyway, so it will be a mere gesture of goodwill on my part.
This is exactly how we start repairing things. By trusting each other and supporting decisions that don’t make the most sense at the time to one side of us. I can give her this, and maybe in return, she’ll do the same when it’s something important to me.
“Follow your heart,” I concede, and elation floods me.
I can’t help but smile as Pigeon circles the tree, assessing the best plan of action to take it down.
“I support that you need to do this, Pidge. I just don’t want you to get bummed if this doesn’t solve the issues between the guys. There’s more to things than just the gryphon side of this,” I remind her, and I wonder if Ryn’s, Treno’s, and Zeph’s gryphons are also battling with them like this inside?
Pigeon isn’t dumb by any means, but she definitely operates under more instinct-driven guidelines than I do. Are we the only ones? Is this because she was trapped for so long and hasn’t experienced life firsthand and hasn’t been able to learn the way of it all? Or is this just a gryphon thing?
“Truce?” I ask Pigeon as she traces the height of the tree with her eyes, still sizing it up. “Can we both try harder to listen and trust each other?”
Pigeon turns from the tree and studies me for a moment. She flashes me an image of her stomping on a cage.
“I’ll never do that again, I really am sorry. Even if I don’t understand or agree with something, I promise we’ll work it out. No more holding back or shutting each other out. That goes for both of us,” I offer, flashing her images of our mates and her with a closed beak. After a moment, she extends her talon-tipped hand for a fist bump, and I brush my small knuckles against hers and feel a massive weight lifted off my chest.
“Alright, Pidge, let’s Paul Bunyan the shit out of this tree and get back before we get caught.”
I shake my head as she excitedly refocuses on what I think is an impossible task. I’m adding that line to the list of shit I’d never thought I’d have to say to someone. These days that list is getting seriously long.
Pigeon flashes me an image of her handing me a beer can, and I crack up. Well, she’ll probably get me killed, but at least I’ll go down laughing. I guess I should find some comfort in that.
“What the hell?” Zeph shouts as Pigeon hands over the reins of our body so I can explain why she just shoved a massive tree through the roof hole of our cave.
Thanks, Pidge.
I climb down the branches, which is no small feat since I have no fucking clothes on. Again, thank you, Pidge. My feet hit the floor of the cave, and Ryn pulls off his shirt and hands it to me. I don’t have time to thank him or try not to drool over his muscles before Zeph is in my face. I ignore the feel of his body against mine as he invades my personal space with his anger issues.
Shit, we need to stop surprise shifting, because we are running out of clothes. I get now why all of their clothes have ties holding them together on the sides. It’s so the ties break and not the clothes themselves from a shift, but I’m not seeing
