Songbird's Forte

by The Infinity Doctor

The Friend

Elizabeth stepped out of the barn, the sky now painted dark blue, mixed with streaks of reds and oranges. The darkening skies looked beautiful to her, the only window in her home usually gave her just a small peek at the outside world. But now- now she had the entire sky to look at! The thought filled her with giddiness- she could feel the grass beneath her feet! The wind blowing through her hair! And best of all, Songbird was with her. True, the closest thing she had to a parent was recovering...where was that train of thought going? Shaking her head, she continued her journey towards the farmhouse. The sound of wingbeats filling the air reached her ears, and she turned, searching the sky behind her. She found a dark shape coming down, its wings beating slower as it approached the ground.

"Artemis?" Elizabeth asked, curious as to why her new friend was here.
"Just call me Art," the griffon responded, smiling as she ruffled her wings "everyone does."
"Oh...well...um...I'm just...Elizabeth..."
"I'm sure you're not 'just Elizabeak'."
"Elizabeth."
"That's what I said."
"No you did-"
"Sure I did! Now, what's up?"

"I...uh, the sky?"

Artemis burst into laughter, the sound quickly dying to a chuckle as the griffon wrapped an arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, and a wing over her back.

"You and I...are gonna be great friends, I can tell." she grinned.

Elizabeth blushed, trying to hide it from her new friend. No-one had ever touched her before, except for Songbird, and when he did, it didn't feel as soft as Art's embrace. She compared it to hugging a brand-new pillow, filled with dozens and dozens of feathers. Songbird gave great hugs, but this felt nice too.

"Y-yeah..."
"Hey, wanna go inside? You must be tired after today!"
"But...but you don't live here, do you?"
"No," she admitted, releasing Elizabeth "but that doesn't mean I can't be hospitable."

She stopped for a moment to question her logic, but was soon interrupted as the griffon scooped her up, the young girl in her arms as she flew towards the house, laughing with every push of her wings. Elizabeth however, was just the opposite, shrieking as she dug her nails into the humanoid's sides, clutching them for all they were worth.

"Putmedownputmedownputmedown!" she cried.
"But...we're only a few feet off the ground!" Art argued.
"Yes, and that's the problem!"

Elizabeth refused to look anywhere else, shoving her face into the griffon's furred stomach as her small arms still clutched her back.
The rushing wind soon died, and she felt her own two feet touch solid ground once more.

"Th-thank you." she said shakily, clutching Art's shirt.
"No problem..." the griffon replied quietly "I figured you weren't afraid of heights, especially with-"

She nodded to the barn.

"I...I wasn't...I mean..I use to dream of flying with the Songbird, maybe with wings of my own, if my books were right..."

A pregnant pause dominated the small space between the two.

"So...what happened?" Art asked curiously, leading Elizabeth towards the farmhouse.
"The...the guards...Quick Wit...I think..."
"Oh...yeah..."

"Well, um, let's see about getting you to sleep? Good?"

"Um...sure...I...I guess..." she said, glancing back to the barn one last time.

Author's Note:

Ta-da!

Comments

[3volve]

yay i like these type of bioshock story the ones that deal with big daddys and song bird i can tell if the girl gets kidnapped mr bird is going to kill alot of bugs