//------------------------------//
// A Feast For the Birds 
// Story: Urohringr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Eat up, little one!" Rayvinne said, plopping a wooden bowl of dried insects onto the table before Kera.  "They were twitching as of ten minutes ago!"

Kera gasped, her jaw hanging wide.  She tilted her tattooed face up, eyes sparkling.  "You mean... you guys actually catch and serve dragonflies here?"

"Mmmhmmm!"  Rayvinne grinned.  "If the local fowl can eat them, then why can't ponies?"

"This is officially the best... crater... ever!"  Kera practically shoved her muzzle into the bowl and began scarfing away.

"Erm... n-not too fast, darling," Bellesmith said, patting Kera's shoulder.  "You don't want to get a... erm... thorax stuck in your throat."

Rayvinne giggled.  She fluttered over and sat at the table across from Belle and Pilate.  The meal was being served inside a long wooden hall built atop one of the center platforms.  The curved wooden body of the tower ate into the interior's frame.  Dangling lanterns full of lightning bugs illuminated the rustic interior from above while the Noble Jurists and several Durandanans sat, ate, and chatted merrily.

"You're quite protective of the filly," Rayvinne remarked.  "Are you an instructor?"

"Hmmm?"  Belle looked up from where she was biting onto an apple.  She gulped the bits down and said, "You mean as in a teacher?"

"Funny you should ask," Pilate spoke up with a proud smirk.  "She used to teach extensively as a professor back in Mountainfall."

"Is that located in... Lead's Mare?"

"Heh... Ledomare," Belle corrected.  "And my beloved gives me too much credit.  I was mostly performing science experiments with the goal of expanding Ledomaritan physics within the region.  I only occasionally taught other ponies on the side."

"But never foals?" Rayvinne remarked.

"At the time, I wouldn't have imagined it.  But these days, I'd say I'm rather fond of the idea."  She smiled at Kera.  "Kera, here, we found in a city called Blue Nova.  She was estranged from her original family, so we took her under our own wing... mmm... as it w-were.  We've been inseparable ever since."

"I imagine a long voyage together creates a strong bond," Rayvinne said.

"Oh, absolutely," Belle said with a nod.  She chuckled lightly.  "These days, I swear, more and more ponies make the assumption that we're mother and child.  I'm surprised you didn't do the same."

Rayvinne cocked her head to the side.  "Mother...?"  She blinked, then giggled.  "We all only have one mother."

Pilate's ears twitched.  "Do you mean that figuratively, or...?"

"We owe our lives and our legacies to the Valkyrie," Rayvinne said.  She gestured with one hoof while grasping a wooden mug full of milk with another.  "She gave us both life and purpose.  Durandana—the staging ground of her righteous will—has been ours to protect, populate, and enjoy for as long as our feathers can carry us."

"Just how many families live here, approximately?"  Pilate asked.

"Mmmff..."  Rayvinne finished her sip of milk, swallowed, and said, "One, of course."

"One family?" Pilate asked.

"Yes.  Foaled from one mother—the Valkyrie—as I've stated before."

"But then... then..."  Belle's eyes narrowed.  "You don't have a father and... a-and a mare whom you call you parents?"

"Hehehe..."  Rayvinne's feather's twitched as she smiled.  "There was a mare to gave birth to me, of course.  What?  Did you think that all Durandanans believed they sprouted out of the tree branches?"  She slapped the tabletop and laughed.

Pilate and Belle laughed weakly, squirming in their seats.

"Ahem..."  Rayvinne tapped her chin.  "Hmmmm... her name is Ferlanna, I believe, and she lives somewhere in Central D.  I was her fifth-born... or sixth. Eh, whatever the case, I wasn't the First-Born, but it's just as well."  She smirked.  "I'm not giving up my flight and fun for scrolls anytime soon!"

"And..."  Pilate leaned forward, his metal brow furrowed.  "...your father?"

"Heh... how am I to know?"  Rayvinne shrugged.  "Could have been any one stallion... or any three, if some of the stories of Lower Central can be believed."  She leaned over and nudged another pegasus sitting next to her.  "Am I right?  Hee hee hee!"

"Hah hah hah hah!"

"Oh... uhm..."  Belle gulped, trying her best not to grimace.  "That's... uhm..."

"Quite fascinating!" Pilate managed.

"Braaaaaaaaaak!"  Kera belched, then grinned up at her foster parents with a gossamer wing or two sticking out of her muzzle.  "Isn't this place super?"

Pilate reached over blindly and patted her mane.  "It's certainly taking my breath away..."

Several seats away, another cluster of Jurists sat.  Ebon Mane was busy examining the bowls resting in his hooves.

"The size of these melons is amazing!" Ebon exclaimed.

"Heehee... Don't flatter them so hard, Ebony!" Props said between bites of cabbage.

"And they're so ripe too!"  Ebon gawked at the others.  "You think that the remoteness of this location allows for larger fruit and produce?  I mean, it's not like the crater has too much ecological competition going on!"

"I don't really give a crap," Josho said, his chin already battered in crumbs and juices.  "Mrmmmmf... if it goes down my throat and can come out the other end without killing me, then I'm good."

"Oh, if only that was true of everything that was shoveled your way, old stallion," Zaid said.

Props giggled.  "Good one!  High hoof!"

"Give it to me, blondie!"  Zaid and Props slapped their hooves while Josho groaned.  "Now..."  Zaid glanced around, fidgeting.  "If I could just find some ketchup, for the love of Goddess..."

"Seriously..."  Ebon cooed.  "A single basket of these things could feed the Jury for a month!"  He glanced aside with eyes sparkling.  "You think they'll let us take some with us?"

"Heh... if they see how much it makes your day, Ebon, then I'm absolutely sure of it," Eagle said with a warm smile.

"Erm... s-sorry..."  Ebon blushed, dropping the fruit back down into a larger bowl in the middle of the table.  "I guess I get too excited when it comes to foodstuffs."

"Hey, nothing to be sorry for," Eagle said between bites of roasted poultry.  "Food and cooking food is your life blood."

"Mmmm..." Ebon smiled, his cheeks slightly red.  "It's worked out for me so far."

Eagle glanced down at Ebon's side of the table.  The stallion's plate was completely empty.  Eagle was about to say something, but he stopped himself.  He glanced nervously at the other Jurists around the table, but they were all too busy eating.

Just then, Smythe flew in and sat down across from Eagle and the rest.  "Sorry I'm late," he said.  He leaned over towards the stallion beside his seat.  Both kissed on the lips, briefly brushing feathers before nuzzling each other and sitting straight before their plates.  "I had to check on the stables.  One of the young calves had gotten out and knocked over the storage containers."

"Heh... ever Sivrem's errand colt, eh, Smythe?"

"Yes, well..."  Smythe smirked wryly.  "He pays well..."

"Hah hah!  I bet he does!"

"Heh heh heh!"  The pegasi all nudged and patted each other before digging into their meals.

Eagle stared at the stallions sitting across from him.

"Eagle...?"

The ex-mercenary barely blinked.

"Eagle?"  Ebon leaned in, looking worried.  "Is everything alright?"

"Hmmm?"  Ebon glanced at him.  "Oh, yes... I was just..."  Eagle sighed, his ears folding.  "I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"When I first joined Crimson's company, I had hoped to make my father proud of me," Eagle said.  "But I eventually had to wake up to the truth.  He would never accept me for who I was..."  He gulped.  "And for who I chose to love."

Ebon nodded quietly.  "I remember you telling me..."

"So, when Rainbow Dash and her friends flew into my life, the Noble Jury became a means of escape."  Eagle exhaled out his nostrils.  "And the chance for a new life.  An opportunity to find a place where... well..."  He gazed down at his plate, picking at his food.  "A place where I could live as I was meant to and not feel like I was despised for it."

"Oh..."  Ebon glanced at the amorous pegasi sitting across from them.  Chewing on his lip, he glanced aside.  "Well... m-maybe this is it, Eagle.  For all we know, maybe this is the sort of place you could call home."

Eagle chuckled dryly... then chuckled some more.

Ebon glanced at him, ears twitching.  "What's so funny?"

"'Funny' isn't the word for it.  'Comforting,' perhaps."

Ebon simply stared.

Eagle smiled warmly at him.  "I haven't felt that need to 'find a home' in—like—forever.  I think it's because, for the last few months, I've felt truly happy... as if I finally had what I was looking for."

"Heh..."  Ebon grinned.  "Good thing you stumbled upon the Jury, huh?"

Eagle reached over and placed his hoof atop Ebon's.  "Who said anything about the Jury?"

Ebon blinked.  He then smiled, his eyes misty.

Eagle smiled back.  The two stallions leaned their muzzles together—

"Ketchup!"  Zaid's forelimb bumped wildly past them, snatching a bowl from the table.  "Finally!  Thank you!"

Ebon and Eagle wobbled on their bench, struggling not to fall to the wooden floor.  Both stallions sighed, then chuckled between themselves.

Several seats away, Rainbow Dash watched as a bowl was slid right in front of her.

"There you have it!"  Kitsune said before sitting down beside Sivrem and Jerrio.  All three First-Borns smiled across the table at Rainbow.  "Flying squirrel meat!  Spiced with pepper and honey roasted."  She winked.  "Just like we promised..."

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow's wings drooped as she leaned... leaned... leaned away from the meaty morsels.  "Whew..."  She glanced down the table.  "Praise Luna that Floydien decided to stay on board the ship along with Roarke."

"Is something the matter?" Sivrem asked, eyebrow raised.

"It's my fault for not giving you guys that big of a hint earlier, but..."  Rainbow gulped and slid the bowl towards them with a nervous smile.  "I'm what you would call... uhhh... an anti-meatatarian."

Jerrio's brow furrowed.  "You don't eat the lesser creatures of the sky?"

"Where I come from, pegasi consider all creatures to be equal," Rainbow said with a grin.  "We are sentinels of the land, sea, and air.  It's our job to look after nature.  So... to eat the flesh of animals is a total no-no, since it contradicts all of that."

"How fascinating," Sivrem said, smiling.

"Eh..."  Kitsune shrugged.  "Suit yourself."  She then thrust her muzzle into the bowl and scarfed down a heavy helping of rodent meat.

Rainbow tried not to throw up.  She shaded her right eye with a hoof and gazed away from Kitsune.  "I-I think I'll just stick to the greens," she said with a cracking voice.

"All of your friends participate in eating meat," Sivrem said, pointing down the long table.  "And yet, you do not?"

"Please, Sivrem," Jerrio droned, preparing his own plate.  "She's made her point.  Don't feather her about it."

"Nah, it's okay," Rainbow said, clearing her throat.  "As I flew east across the world, it became obvious to me that several cultures like to do things their own way.  I'm just one pony from a land with its own rules, so why bug other ponies about stuff that doesn't click with me?"

"Hmmm... if the world outside of Durandana is truly as vast as you make it seem, then it helps to have such openness of mind," Sivrem said.  "You undoubtedly have the soul of a traveler."

"Yeah, well... y'know..."  Rainbow lazily plucked a head of broccoli from her plate and balanced it on her nose.  "I get around."

"And what a fortuitous circumstance it was that brought you here," Sivrem said with a smirk.  "No doubt the Valkyrie willed it."

Jerrio's eyes darted towards him.

Rainbow thrust her muzzle up, flipped the piece of broccoli into the air, and scarfed it on the way down.  "Mrmmmmf..."  She gulped.  "No offense, but—like—isn't the Valkyrie dead?"

"Ah, perhaps, but her spirit endures.  Her purpose and her command is embodied in all of us!"  Sivrem reached over and caressed Kitsune's mane.  "As well as her passion and joy."

"Nnngh..."  Kitsune batted his hoof away.  "How many times do I gotta tell you?"  She gulped squirrel meat down and smirked devilishly.  "Not during a feast.  You'll only belch in my face!"

"I do not—ulp—belch!"

Kitsune and a few nearby pegasi laughed.

Rainbow chuckled.  "I would... uh... like to know more about the Valkyrie."  She leaned forward, ruby eyes squinting.  "As well as the Gold Lights."

"And I'd be happy to tell you—" Sivrem began.

"I think..." Jerrio leaned in.  "...that would be something best related by the Gray Feathers in person."

"You forget, Jerrio," Sivrem said, squinting mischievously at him.  "I am soon to be a Gray Feather myself."

"And until that time comes, you're the best flier and leatherback herder in all of Durandana," Jerrio said in a stale voice.  "Best to leave the telling of the scrolls to our elders."

Sivrem sighed.  "Ah... very well.  I suppose you'll next tell me that the Gray Feathers of Central would be best for this."

"You know me too well, Sivrem," Jerrio said with a smirk.

"Not as well as Jagold," Kitsune muttered, summoning a long-distance "Eeep!" from a blonde shape further down the table.

Jerrio rolled his eyes.  "Yes, well, somepony's gotta keep an eye on tradition."

"Will I be seeing the Gray Feathers this evening?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm afraid not.  They have Last Light to attend to," Sivrem said.  "Besides, why the hurry?"  He pointed with a hoof.  "Tonight, you rest under the mist and stars of Durandana.  Tomorrow—before First Light—you can join me and my flock.  After taking care of the leatherbacks, we'll fly to Central tomorrow.  The Gray Feathers of the Middle Tower will be sure to tell you everything you seek."

"Heh... that sounds pretty darn cool, actually."  Rainbow's wings fluttered.  "A day spent with the fastest pegasi this side of the world."  She gulped.  "The only pegasi this side of the world..."

"I prefer the first," Kitsune said.

"Yes, well, I prefer the second," Jerrio muttered.

"And I prefer them all!"  Sivrem stood up.  "And everything!"  He raised a glass high.  "A toast!  To ponies inside and outside the realm of the Valkyrie!  May a swift wind carry us to love and the grave beyond!"

Several pegasus voices cheered and whooped.

"Gaaah!  Josho!  You spilled my ketchup!"

"Jee... I am so very sorry..."