A mere flap of monstrous wings brought the creature on the move, his eyes scanning the forest trees for an easy target. It had been three days since this Harpy Eagle had eaten, and the gnawing feeling of hunger deep within his stomach was causing him to feel queasy and raved. Taige wasn’t one to feel weak, and as pronounced leader of these lands, he kept himself with a head held high, and eyes darting about to look for intruders or other eagles that wished to join him. Claiming the skies that he controlled now wasn’t hard, for his six foot wingspan and angry outlook gave him the appearance of a leader, as he was; so no bird challenged him or probably every would. but that was all far from his mind now, thoughts elapsed in the cauldrons of bubbling air that he was riding on, high up in the atmosphere.

The horizon was clear for today, and with not such a cloud in sight, the sun could be seen newly rising over the Bika mountaintops. A fresh, new dawn could bring even the spirits of this feisty, arrogant male like himself, up and they very well did. The cool air around him cooled his body temperature, and his feathers ruffled as the opposing winds hit from each side, tempting him to spiral or drop. But the Lead Male did not such thing, soaring higher and higher until finally gliding back into the forest depths below, his eyes still wary for prey or predators.

Not many things could ambush him in a forest such as this; especially from a hundred feet or so up. Alas, some had been known to snatch birds of prey clear out of the skies, usually other birds of prey themselves. Taige had come into contact with only one male that he couldn’t beat, and that was his own, scarred and battle worn father. Two years ago the males had departed from each other, both trying to get over the fact that the other was trying to override him. Taige wanted his father’s position, and his father wanted to dominate and take control over Taige. In the end, both parted ways, and became leaders of their own clans.

A sudden movement caught his quick, ebony black eyes, as a creature of much smaller magnitude began scampering over the forest floor, high-tailing it for the burrow that was ten feet away. It was a rabbit, fresh out of hiding. The small hopping animal had noticed Taige, and was trying to travel as fast as it could before being picked up by the powerful bird above. Unfortunately for the bunny, he didn’t make it to the safety of his dirt burrow, before talons the size of half his body picked him up, crushing him instantly and quickly filling the satisfaction of the kill. Prize in claw, Taige began scouting about, looking for a place to perch and devour his meal. A tall oak, with wide, sturdy branches that could probably hold triple his weight, came out in level, horizontal directions. They were perfect places to sit and eat your meal in peace, without having to land atop the leaf-littered ground.

Summer had gone by quickly, this past year, and fall was now reigning down on the creatures of this region. Snow or hail would not fall for many months, but the weather would soon start to be disrupted, and the entire ecosystem would chill and become icy in some places. For now, sitting on a thick brown branch, tearing away at the rabbit held in his talons, Taige had an inner peace to his stubborn, rude outlook on life. Of course, not all peace would last long. A yip and a snarl caught his attention, as he looked thirty feet down the tree, to the forest floor below.

Small and stubby, slow and inexperienced, unprotected wolf pups sat at the trees base, barking and tumbling with one another; they were the symbolism of youthfulness. Yet a small rabbit doesn’t fill a big bird’s gizzard easily, and the young ones bouncing around, oblivious to his present, would quickly top it off and allow him not to eat for a few days, at least. But catching these little bits weren’t usually easy, for a group of puppies has to have a group of adults somewhere, and a pack of full-grown wolves were more than a match to himself. True, he could take out a few by landing down upon them, like he did the cabybaras; but by the time he had recovered from swooping to get another, ten more would be pouncing on his back, and once he lost his wingspan, that was it.

Luckily enough for him, no wolves were in sight, only their scrumptious little pups sitting directly at his talons. A nerve struck him as he thought about the sensation of death by a wolf pack, but he quickly knocked it away. These were his lands, his skies, and whatever prey stumbled upon them, that was their own demise. A single flap of his gigantic black and gray wings sent Taige swooping down, five feet from the pups and closing. Just when he was within range, another, much deeper snarl echoed in his ears, and the male leader had to twist and double back on his wings, to escape inches away from the jaws of an Alpha Male and the rest of his wolf pack. Irritated, and close to just giving up, the harpy eagle cried out with an ear piercing screech-call, which was crisp and clean in the dawn’s fresh air. The main wolf male, the Alpha himself, snarled and barred his fangs at Taige, daring him to come back down and have another try at his pups.

But the eagle knew better than that and sat, seething, on the branch where the blood from the rabbit could still be scented. Afraid and with their ears plastered back, the pups were quickly led home, with the big male the last to go. With one last look back at the oak tree, he disappeared back into the black forest, from whence he came. Still aggravated from getting cheated out of his meal, Taige turned his attention away, and scoured the skies above him. Should he take flight?

The soft beat of light wings quickly brought senses back to Taige, as he turned atop the branch, and looked behind him. Allotted on a branch close to him, the female seemed graceful and petite; like she had beauty and she very well knew it. But this male eagle saw nothing of that. He saw a plain, ordinary female with strange markings and even stranger weight percentages. At first he ignored her, but the tingling sensation of him turning his back on another and just letting them fly free within his boundaries didn’t settle on his mind well. Eventually, this yearning urge to turn finally consumed him, and Taige brought his broad chest to face the female, his dark black eyes glaring at her in a fashion that couldn’t be brought as ‘happy’ or ‘cheerful’ to anyone; that way she would actually get his message.

‘Hello there handsome… Quirking an eyebrow at her, the Leader hadn’t heard that word in so long, that the memory didn’t find its way into his quirky mind. But it seemed as if it were a simple greeting for every bird that she stumbled upon, especially males. For all he knew, she greeted females the same way; either way, he didn’t care much. Turning and flying down to her branch, the wood swayed a bit under his emense weight but did not cease, splinter or crack, so he wasn’t worried. That’s what they had wings for, after all. About the female, was a sense of elegance, pride, confidence, and beauty that Taige had to strain to compute. He hadn’t seen that much beau—. The male quickly stopped himself, the frustration from his semi-dark soul within forcing him to keep out of the light areas of his life, and his eyes turned from a gazing dreaminess, to the hard onyx that they originally were.

Taige snapped his beak once, seemingly filtering out the words that were to follow his actions. If he was to be mean to the female, one of two things could happen. One, she could be frightened and fly away quickly, warning no other eagles or eaglets to come into the area because of the feared ‘he’. Or, she could buck up and “snarl” at him right back, making him feel humiliated and even more agitated. Neither of the two choices sounded likely to his accusations, so he thought of the possibility of having a chance. What if he was pleasant to the female, and kept his rude or careless comments to his own mind? That would probably save him the snarling or the flying, and could more than likely earn him a clan member. Studying her now, he continued his speech but not before eyeing her frame. Nice… His mind thought up…quite nice.

“Indeed I was, m’lady. Just trying to get a scrap to eat in the mornin’”. His accent was a bit on the countrish, southern side, and he wasn’t really too good at ending his –ing words. “The wolves are our brothers, whether we like them or not. That male and I have a battle of the Kings; we both own these lands, I the air and he the forest floor. As long as I stay away from his b’ndaries and he stays away from mine, usually no problems occur. Although, I say the jok’ez on h’em. I can fly down there; he can’t ‘xactly run up here.” A slight smirk on his beak was flashed away. It wasn’t his place to be asking questions about where this female was from, or why the eagle had come to him in the first place. She had obviously been spying upon him as he ate and hunted, so what did she want? Acceptance? Maybe.

“Just a random quesgion, but why’z you out here so earlay, wi’d no male atcha’ wingtips?” He raised an eyebrow at her, flashing his eyes once more and ruffling the feathers around his neck and chest. Taige wasn’t flirting, being descent or even kind to the female, or at least he wasn’t trying to be. To get anywhere in his lifetime…some types of decency would be needed to be met. This was just one of those times.

Eyes darting back and forth within the female’s distance, the male eagle sighed and listened to her quietly. He didn’t exactly have time for this angry chatter coming from the female, but Taige decided that for a while at least, he would put up with her and see where she went with the conversation. His black eyes lit up a bit in amusement as she said that she had no male for her to hold there; which meant that not eagle had come her way romantically. Making sure to show no emotion at all, he simple nodded. Taige had meant to simply ask why she was flying alone, for most females were with a clan, a male, chicks, or the loners were outcasts and had been banned from their former family.

But this one still chattering before him surely didn’t have a male or family, and seemed to be in too good a shape to have been banned from a clan and trying to rough it on her own. She was obviously a powerful loner, like himself; of course he was only lone because no one had yet joined his clan and flown about his territory. Maybe she would want to join? The very thought of a bird such as this accepting his proposal sent shudders down his feathers, causing him to ruffle them and then flatten them once more. Her tone was rich and pure; definitely that of a female, and maybe even one who was flirting with him, in the way that Taige was feeling she was. For some reason, she seemed different than all the other, very weak and dainty, females that he had met flying about. Most of them ended up dead by the hands of predators looking for an easy kill, or by their own lack of experience and the ways of the skies.

Taige brought out his wings on either side, the large span of them taking up trice the width of the branch and both of the birds. And when she finally finished her little speech of questions and accusations, she asked him his name. Quirking an eyebrow at her and snapping his beak once in curiosity, the Harpy Eagle slowly brought his wings back to his side, quickly folding in around and behind him. His mind whirring, the male looked up at her, and bowed gracefully. Even though he didn’t have patience with most, this one before him brought out the inquisitiveness of a male that still had a bit of chivalry and politeness about him when it came to the opposite gender that was this female.

Thistle… Her name was the name of a very fragrant plant, of which he had stumbled upon many times in the field not far from where they stood, chatting. It was a few miles away, but you catch a few high-circling wind currents, and you’re there in a flash. It was a purple flower, making good when your wounds are sore, to help ease the pain and take your mind away from reality. Taige was intrigued that both of their names started and sounded the same, and a hint of a smile came across his face at such. But this female had come to him talking, and expected speech in return, so he backed up a bit to give her room, and began to talk to her in the only way he knew how, returning the favor of his name, and regretting the fact that he had spoken a bit harshly. Of course, Taige was no male eagle to back down, and so while doing so, he puffed out his feathered, white and black peppered chest; while doing so he also placed his eyes upon her, and held up his ranking feathers atop his head.

“I’m Taige, Lord of ‘dese lands, mate t’none ‘n fadher t’none eider. I took over l’dershihip just a corter’ offa s’nris ago, when Iwuza’ sun revolutia y’nger. Fer many days n’ nights, I had’ta search for odher eaglez ta’ come er way, so that I culd sumday ferm’ a clan dat would c’nsist of the poorest of b’areeds; the most p’werful birds in da worlds, a’ course, Eagles. Us Harpaiy Eagles er da strongest a’ all da winged, flyin’ birds, and er competiteerrs ta all dose who stand in ar whaay. Al’dough I’m not da polite t’pe, I will make en acception since I didn’t f’rmally entroduce meself in da first pal’ace, n’ m’de ‘eferences regardin yur marital status ‘n yur verri’ bird ‘a prey status widout nowin ya person’ally. Me apologies, Thistle.”

He made sure to emphasize her name, since she seemed to be repeating it over and over in her mind, and smiled when she heard it being spoken. A lot of eaglets and eagles alike were like this, and even though Taige hadn’t seen many that were so obsessive over their name, but many had been seen with an obsession of jewelry, power, offspring, or other valuables that so many were deprived of. Shrugging off the thought to simply the fact that this Thistle liked the sounding of her own name and there was no problem with that, the Clan Leader ruffled his feathers once more. For some reason, that always relaxed him and relieved the stress and anxiety being built up on the hunt, or even flying in the skies above. Such a big bird had to have powerful, steady wings to hold him up in the blue openness around his vast territory, and Taige was quickly tired out if he flew for more than a hundred miles or so.

But like all other birds of prey, his pride outstand his tiredness and even now, he wished to go curl up on the bank of the trees not even a mile away, in his large cozy nest in the top of the tallest Maple around. It had bits of down and feathers he had found in other, abandoned hawk and eagle nests, and sticks, mud, leaf litter and many other debris littered the seven foot “home sweet home”. Home… That sounded nice right about now.

Amused at the fact that she too was very abrupt and liked more to say what was on her mind rather than hide it and give it away slowly by dropping little hints, the Lead Male of the lands that both bird’s wings flew in, now raised his head once more, a smile hinting upon his beak. And yet before he could speak, she apologized for herself. Was she asking to have her application to join the clan revoked? Surely not, as Taige watched her come out of some distant memory, that the southern male didn’t exactly want to get into at the moment. If she wanted acceptance, Thistle would learn the ways of the land; when the seasons changed, and what the lay of the land looked like. But that would be over years and years, if the female actually stayed that long, which Taige didn’t expect. None stayed more than a year or two, before flying off to find something more exciting, or dying from predators, hunters, or betraying Taige himself, and having them murdered in front of the rest of the clan.

The eagle had owned two clans before, and so this was no different; this acceptance question that he had been surely anticipating. thingying his head mentally at Thistle, a slight chuckle came from his beak, and he nodded his large, flumed crown feathers spiraling upwards in curiosity once more. Taige kept his wings by his side, and simply hopped up to the next, thick branch; obviously wanting the female to follow. Both were already very high up in the old Oak tree that he had come to revere, but twenty or more branches that thinned more and more above them, provided a perch at the very top; it was thick, horizontal, and didn’t have any other type of twig branching off from it. Winking in Thistle’s direction coolly, he lifted his large wings once more, and with a great heave, lifted his heavy body off the wooden branch, maneuvering expertly through the tight squeezes, until the male eagle reached the top, settling nicely on the five foot branch length.

A great wind gust suddenly flew through his feathers, and the skies seemed to darken a bit with an oncoming storm. The two birds of prey should be safe for a few minutes at least, before any rain or serious thunder boomed overhead. Soon I must be heading back to my nest in the trees around the river. It will be time to take shelter, and sleep out the storm. Taige planned on leaving Thistle, or if she really did want to join his clan, she would come with him, and help him set up one or two more nests above the huge, main cluster of three regular eagle nests, that proved to be one giant, forgiving luxury to the eagles and eaglets to come. If the two birds of the Eagle Clan stabilized their clan’s nest and made sure that it would be able to withstand the storm front that was sure to be a half hour or so behind them now, it would prove to be sufficient to attract other eagles as well; seeing a large, sheltered structure was an obvious sign for loners looking for redemption and help.

Loners were exactly what Taige needed right now, but for right now, he had Thistle sitting below him. “Yur w’lcum ta join me in meh landez, Thistle.” He grinned, knowing not if she had settled on the branch with him, or if she were still ten feet or so below him. Either way, she would surely hear him over the thunder cracks coming from the storm system just a hundred or so miles away from them. It was coming on fast, and worried Taige a bit that the birds wouldn’t be able to get the nests ready in time, or the rooftops to build in the branches directly above to keep the rain off their heads and backs during the storm. If this could succeed over the fact that there were no leaves to be found and twigs, leaf litter on the ground, and mud was all they had to work with, he would be able to sleep good tonight.

“Soon, we’re gonna need ta go bak to mah nest site, settin uppa rooftop or two fer tha starm that’s a brewin’.” He smiled, fluffing up his feathers to protect himself from the incoming moisture. It wasn’t raining, but the cold, wet sensation that one feels before the stormcloud settles overhead was unsettling for him, and he shifted and moved constantly atop the branch. Raising an eyebrow, Taige looked over at Thistle. What was she thinking, exactly?

///Okay, the thread that Horus has made, ‘A Flight To Remember’, will be following this one. It is in the right place, and, it should cause a little bit of drama, lol. I’m also posting with my fish eagle there too, so I can have more musy, and longer posties . I’ll lock and Archive this one when you post once more.///

Looking confident, and with a little spark of confidence as the female joined him atop the branch, the Lead Eagle sighed and nodded his head; for an answer to her yearning acceptance question. He would need more femmora eagles to join his clan, if he planned on expanding and making it great. The Eagle Clan would dominate, with the help of the biggest breed of bird of prey ever known, all the other clans around them, and take top leadership over the closest, best lands that they would find. But for now, Taige was eager to get out of the storm, and out of the way of howling winds and icy rain. Thistle too seemed to share this frustration about flying while a storm surged only a few tens of miles away. Such wind environments could change in an instant, and send the specimen caught within spiraling down, and plummeting into the hardly-packed ground. Not wanting to deal with the air currents when they acted in such ways, the male spread his wings far and out, and they stretched all the way past Thistle, and a foot or two beyond her on his left side.

A crack of thunder in the distance made him lift off in a hurry, quickly pumping his wings directly upward, so that he could be beyond the mist that would more than likely, soon be rising from the ground’s surface. The nest itself, a quarter mile away or so, wouldn’t be that difficult to spruce up and become worthy to hold another eagle comfortably. Even at the very moment that he thought of it, two of the large birds of his kind would be able to fit and sleep upon the nest bed, but the roof would only carry over to reach one of them. Most likely, with an egotistic personality, that would be him sleeping comfortably, and her getting rained on. A smile formed on his beak, as Taige thought of her, dripping wet and shivering; but he should soon learn not to treat others like this, and for now, the female would be safe from the rain, just as long as they got to the next in time to finish it.

He had been lazily sprucing it up here and there, for such a while, that it had a few clumps of his feathers here and there. Random branches and leaf litter where he didn’t care to move, since Taige didn’t sleep there, cluttered the outside barriers, and provided a spikey landing for all who didn’t know the nest site well. Focusing on his flying in the ever decreasing temperature of a soon-to-be storm ridden area, the harpy eagle focused his very keen eyes back to Thistle, who had to be somewhere close behind him. Opening his beak just far enough to let out an ear-piercing screech, and to allow her to see his position more clearly, the male took off, destined for his place of rest, and sanctity.