Tag: candara songbird

Keeping Warm

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Bowman – Snow.

This is Fairy Tales canon. Bowman is newly 19, and it takes place the winter after the events of Bowman of Wellwood.

Reading Time: ~5-10 minutes

The main room was cozy and warm. Candara had Prayed all morning to bring warmth coursing through their home branch, and the Earth Spirit’s magic granted them a warmer home despite the bitter cold outside. The breeze leaking through the shaded windows promised that stepping outside would require several layers.

Bowman was restless as he was every winter, but he didn’t feel like going out just yet. In the deadest part of winter, his wings twitched with shivers and the desire to fly both. Today, he remained inside with the others to avoid that chill.

Continue reading “Keeping Warm” →

Bowman Meets Birdie (2/2)

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On the flipside of Bowman Left Behind, another very important event happened during Bowman’s childhood. Here, he is ten, having lived with his aunt and uncle for a little under a year. That year was hard on Bowman, coming to adjust to a new home life. He was very worried that the addition of a new baby to the family would shove him aside (like many children might worry). The alternative was much sweeter and a huge step towards making Bowman who he is.

Read Bowman’s story here.

( Part 1 )

“Bowman, this is Rischa,” Candara told me, her voice tired but joyful. She handed the swaddled baby to me, making sure I supported the fragile head in the crook of my arm.

Rischa was light. Even my skinny arms had no trouble holding her up. A tuft of soft brown hair topped her head, framed by the silky green blanket wrapped around her. Her brown skin was a bit darker than mine, more like Larxe’s. I brushed a hand along her round, chubby cheek.

Rischa opened her eyes in response to my touch. It was like twin suns lit up in her face. Shining gold stared up into my vibrant green, like daylight meeting the canopy.

“Hi, Rischa,” I breathed. I was awestruck. Her tiny round face looked up at me, little lips parted in a circle of confusion or perhaps hunger.

She gurgled a little and squeaked. Squeaked, almost like …

“She sounds like a baby bird,” I commented with a laugh. “Little Birdie.”

Candara smiled and reached over to comb a hand back through my hair. It sprang back. I hardly noticed either event. I was too busy watching Rischa’s pudgy face as her eyes shut again. The baby heaved quite a sigh of contentment and drifted off once more. It was exhausting, being born.

My wings opened slightly, wrapping around myself and Rischa as I held her. Candara chuckled and said “I suppose I don’t need to ask you to help take good care of her, Bowman?”

I shook my head and finally looked up.  “Uh-uh. I’m gonna take care of her. I’m gonna be her brother. I’ll always look out for Birdie.“ I’d never made a more earnest promise in my life.

Bowman Meets Birdie (1/2)

Neon Bright1 Comment

On the flipside of Bowman Left Behind, another very important event happened during Bowman’s childhood. Here, he is ten, having lived with his aunt and uncle for a little under a year. That year was hard on Bowman, coming to adjust to a new home life. He was very worried that the addition of a new baby to the family would shove him aside (like many children might worry). The alternative was much sweeter and a huge step towards making Bowman who he is.

Read Bowman’s story here.

When they finally let me into the room to see Candara and the new baby, I was as angry as I’d ever been. Here I was, ten years old and just barely coming to terms with the fact that Larxe and Candara were my parents now, and they were having a child of their own. One that’d replace me, I was sure of it. Less than a year after my father left me with them, because he couldn’t even look at my face without thinking of my dead mother.

The mother I lost the moment I was born.

I tried to hide the sullen expression on my face. In truth, I’d been terrified. When Candara left for a secluded space far down the stream, her belly big with the child that was ready to come, I worried. I wondered what would happen if she didn’t come back, child in her arms?

It was still playing in my mind. The image of her midwife and best friend returning with a frail baby in her arms and no Candara in sight. The same way I was brought home to my father.

Instead, Candara had returned with a weary smile and sweat making her hair stick to her forehead in messy locks. Her wings formed a cloak all around her body. Larxe and the midwife led the new mother into the bedroom. I had been told to wait while they cleaned the baby up and checked her health. Her. My new cousin was a girl.

That meant she’d be a Songbird, like her mother. Like my mother was.

“Bowman, come see your cousin,” Candara greeted me. Her warm, inviting voice drew me out of my thoughts and over to the bedside. Larxe stepped back to make room for me, brushing a hand over my wild hair as I passed.

When I was right next to Candara, she met my eyes with hers. Something in them told me that, even though Candara hadn’t given birth to me like she’d given birth to the child bundled in her arms, I was no less hers.

The hard look on my face dissipated.

Bowman Left Behind (3/3)

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This heartbreaking short story gives some detail to an important event in the life of Bowman Leafwing. Bowman’s later years would be impacted heavily by this, and the emotional backlash would stick with him for a long time. In this story, he is recently nine years old.

Possible trigger: Abandonment

Read Bowman’s story here.

( Part 1 ) ( Part 2 )

I matched him, reaching towards his hands. They were so big compared to mine. And, I knew, callused from his work as a knight, constantly training to keep the village safe from things like foxes snooping too close.

But right now, his hands were shaking. I barely brushed one before he flinched away from me. “Bowman, don’t make this harder on everyone,” he told me, and I looked up at him again. I pleaded with teary, bright green eyes for him to stop. To give me another chance.

He didn’t.

My father glanced apologetically at my aunt and uncle. “He doesn’t have much back at home. I can get it to you some other time, but … I should go.” With that announcement, Larxe nodded once, his brow knitted with melancholy.

“No!” I finally wailed, trying to follow him. My aunt was there suddenly, her arms wrapped around me and her wings slowly following suit. My father had a defeated slump in his gait as he hurried out. I watched him desperately until he was obscured by one of my aunt’s protective green wings.

I only struggled for a few minutes after he was gone. But there was little I could do, especially after Larxe knelt to hold onto me, too. Candara was crying softly as I tried to escape her. My tears came with more desperation than hers. My wings strained against hers but it didn’t work.

You’ve got strong wings. You’re a Leafwing.

“I’m a Leafwing,” I whimpered. I stopped, letting more tears come while my aunt and uncle, now my parents, held me. They waited a long time as I cried my eyes dry. Dad wasn’t coming back.

Dad wasn’t coming back.

I don’t know how long I stayed in that state. Eventually, I buried my face in Candara’s embrace, desperately seeking her motherly patience and comfort. Her hands brushed my wings softly and she hummed a broken tune through a tight throat until I fell asleep, exhausted in her arms.

Bowman Left Behind (2/3)

Neon Bright1 Comment

This heartbreaking short story gives some detail to an important event in the life of Bowman Leafwing. Bowman’s later years would be impacted heavily by this, and the emotional backlash would stick with him for a long time. In this story, he is recently nine years old.

Possible trigger: Abandonment

Read Bowman’s story here.

( Part 1 )

He stood up. He was tall, like his dad had been, and like I might be someday. But I was still only two and a half inches tall. When my father was at his full impressive four inch height, I had to look straight up to keep him in my desperate, pleading gaze. I scanned his face, Praying to the Spirit that I’d find something there. Something that’d end this nightmare before it was too late.

“Bowman,” he said, trying for his authoritative, fatherly tone. But his voice was wavering as he looked at me. If this was so hard, then why was he doing it? “Bowman, I’m going to go, and you have to stay here with your aunt and uncle. Okay?”

I glanced aside at Candara. She was still sitting, watching me with watery eyes of her own. Larxe remained by the wall where he’d stopped, after I got away from him. Then, I turned my eyes back up to my father, a determination still burning along with the hurt in my eyes.

“It’s because of my flying lessons, right?!” I blurted, and his eyes widened a little. I latched onto his surprise like I was drowning and it was a low-hanging plant over the stream. “Th-that’s … I’m sorry, dad! I know I haven’t gotten stuff right but I can try harder. ”

There was that wince again. Like I’d physically struck him with something sharp. This, I was realizing, really was difficult for him to do. But I didn’t care. He was doing it anyway. “Bowman, that isn’t it,” he said, his voice even closer to breaking now.

I almost shot back an immediate reply, but choked on a sob instead. I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Candara, trying to comfort me while tears kept slipping past my defenses. When I could finally speak again, I quit trying to hide my tears and my voice was husky and desperate.

“Dad, I’ll be the best flyer in the whole village! Just please don’t leave me!” That elicited a quiet noise from Candara and a step back from my dad.

Bowman Left Behind (1/3)

Neon Bright2 Comments

This heartbreaking short story gives some detail to an important event in the life of Bowman Leafwing. Bowman’s later years would be impacted heavily by this, and the emotional backlash would stick with him for a long time. In this story, he is recently nine years old.

Possible trigger: Abandonment

Read Bowman’s story here.

Larxe could not hold me back any longer. I knew exactly what I was hearing, and I was desperate to put a stop to it. I had to change his mind. I had to make my father see. I could definitely do better so he’d be proud of me.

So he wouldn’t abandon me.

I marched into the sitting room of my aunt’s home. My father sat on one cushioned bench, his eyes watery with tears. Candara, whose eyes were just like my own and just like my lost mother’s, had fresh tear tracks down her round cheeks. Both of them looked at me as I entered. I’d come in with purposeful steps, my skinny shoulders set and my wings rigid. But now they fell slack behind me.

“Dad, no,” I said, my voice higher pitched and weaker than I wanted it to be. “You don’t have to get rid of me, please!”

I knew nothing I said would work when I saw the grimace on his face. Like my words raked across his skin with poison. “Bowman, that isn’t … I mean …” He floundered for an answer. How does one tell their only son that they don’t want him anymore? The tears shining in his eyes threatened to break free the more he looked at me.

“Y-you don’t need to leave me here,” I repeated. “I’ll do better. Whatever you say, dad. Don’t leave me …” The tears built up and spilled past my eyelids, no matter how tight I tried to close them to stem the flow. I felt like a lightning storm was bringing the entire forest down around me.

His silence roared in my ears. I knew. He would never listen to me. My father had made up his mind.

My father had given up on me.

Pronunciation guide

Larxe: LAR-zeh

Candara: KAN-dra