A "Winds of Change" Story
The four of us started walking down the beach away from Jon and Bryan. I was mildly curious about what Bryan wanted to talk with Jon about, but I guessed that one of them would tell me if they thought that it was important.
Maxine and Janet were talking with each other about something while Kim and I held back a few steps behind. After a couple minutes of not saying anything, Kim asked, "Is something wrong, Brian?"
I looked back at her, but my mind was still far away. I was trying to sort out what had happened over the last couple of hours, and wasn't having much luck. It wasn't that I was confused about what had happened to Jon, that seemed pretty clear, but rather what happened after Maxine made Jon my double for a little while was giving me a little pause. At first, there wasn't anything all that odd about it, other than the fact that Jon looked like my twin. But, as I showed him how to fly, something seemed to change.
Ever since the first days that I learned how to handle myself in the air, I realized that I was just a little more a bird up there. The instincts I needed to fly, and the instinct to hunt, were all a little stronger while I flew. Never anything overpowering. It was like walking past a store in a mall that sold fresh cookies. You felt drawn to it, but you could override it. In the few months since the Change, I'd spent a lot of time in the air, a lot of hours flying. I'd met up with perhaps almost fifty different species of bird, from birds as closely related as a harpy eagle to as distant as a toucan.
But tonight was the first time that I'd started feeling aggression toward one.
It was stupid, and that disturbed me even more. I not only knew that Jon was a friend, but that he was only going to be another eagle for a few minutes. But the longer that I spent with him in the air, with each passing minute, I started feeling like driving him off. I started feeling territorial.
At first, the thoughts were all in the back of my head, but they started to come to the surface. I was more than just a little relieved when Jon told me he felt comfortable enough to go on his own. I'd flown back to the beach and landed, and once again felt normal. I put the thoughts out of my mind.
Then Jon nearly killed himself. I was in the air the moment that I realized he was falling, but I knew that I'd never make it in time if he didn't get control himself. As it was, I was still a few minutes off when he finally did level off. I was still feeling concern for him when we met up as he flew slightly shaky in the air. By the time that we got back to the beach, though, those aggressive feelings were coming back. They vanished once Jon was himself again.
Now, I was mulling all that over. I'd only felt strong instinctive reactions twice, and both times they had been unusual situations. Once when I crashed on my first attempt at flight I folded myself into a ball as I sailed through that window, and a few days before during the riots, when my anger started channeling into a predatory response.
But this wasn't the same. I wasn't under much stress. I, personally, wasn't in any danger. Even the quake hadn't shaken me up much.
Kim looked at the faraway look on my face again. "Brian? Are you all right?" she repeated.
I shook myself out of my thoughts. "Yeah, Kim. I'm okay. Just thinking about...something. Kim, do you mind if I ask, well, how much do you think like an eagle?"
The question seemed to catch her a little off guard. She thought for a second, "Times like now, pretty rarely. When I shift, though, it's a little harder to stay focused on what I want to do and not what the eagle wants to do. Why do you ask?"
I thought about telling her what happened up there, and was about to when I was stopped by a loud electronic beep. Kim sighed and looked at the small beeper she had tied to her ankle. "Damn, it's the station. I hope they don't need me to come in."
Janet heard the beep and turned her head back, "I doubt it. Small quake like this they'll be fine with the crew on duty tonight."
Kim shrugged, "Probably, but I'd better find a phone. One of these days I'm going to have to get a cellular I can carry in norm. Brian, can you give me a hand? It'll be faster if I fly."
I nodded and held out an arm, "Want me to come with you?"
She shook her head, "No, I'll only be a minute. I'll meet everyone down at the restaurant." She hopped lightly into the air, shifting as she landed on my arm. Spreading her wings, she fly out first over the water, then circled quickly back and toward a small group of buildings brightly lit in the dim light of dusk.
Maxine, Janet and I started making our way down the beach some more. Looking back, I could make out Jon and Bryan still talking back there. As the light of day faded, though, my vision was rapidly going. In less than an hour I wouldn't be able to see well enough to fly comfortably. When I turned back, I was startled to see what looked like a hairy weasel clinging to one of Maxines antlers.
I didn't say anything at first. I was suddenly aware that I was staring at the sable as if she was dinner. I tried to get the thought out of my head, but somehow the fact that I hadn't eaten in several hours seemed to be overriding the reality that this was Janet.
Maxine didn't seem to notice my dilemma. She smiled as Janet climbed onto a shoulder. "I think I see why sable is so expensive. The fur is so soft."
Janet chattered a little and jumped back to the sand. Maxine knelt down and touched her on the head, and the small creature started to expand out back into Janet. "Maxine, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to do that again."
Maxine looked worried, "But, you asked me too..."
"Oh, I'm not mad at you! I just wasn't all that comfortable being that small. I think that I'd have to get used to it."
We resumed our walk down the beach. We hadn't walked more than a few steps when Maxine turned to me. "You want to try being a normal eagle?"
In truth, I didn't really want to. I wasn't afraid of it, really, but I'd never given it much thought. So few winged birds were shifters that I'd never even tried to figure out how to trigger the shift. It didn't seem worth the time. Besides, I was so close to a normal eagle now that it didn't seem all that important. As I was now, I had more endurance, wider wings and arms. Why bother to shift?
But, before I could stop myself, I said, "Sure. I'll try it."
Maxine smiled and reached out a hand. For a fleeting second, just before she touched me, I wanted to back away. I had a bad feeling about this.
The next thing I knew, I had fallen on my beak in the sand. I quickly pushed myself back to my feet with my wings and looked around. I felt a little disoriented, but I knew that I was in norm shape now. I glanced up to see the two suddenly huge forms above me. Janet was grinning widely, but Maxine had a look of mild confusion on her face. "That's odd." she said quietly.
Janet stopped smiling and looked at her. "What?"
"Well, he flash shifted. My power doesn't do that."
"What do you mean?"
"There are a few types of shift. My power has always induced a slow version, like Jon's, where you can see the changes as they happen, even if they are fast. Some people shift instantly, with a flash of light. Brian just did that."
While they talked, I stated feeling more a more confused. I knew that something wasn't right, but with each passing second I was having a harder and harder time figuring out just what it was.
Maxine looked at me on the ground, reaching out a hand to touch me. "Brian, I think I'd better shift you back."
In that instant, all my confusion ended. I realized that I was on the ground, vulnerable, with two large animals coming after me. I stumbled backward a few steps, opening my wings and fluffing my feathers, making myself as big as I could, and let out a loud scream. The larger, antlered animal seemed startled and stopped. A little clumsily at first, I flapped my wings against the still warm sand and took off as fast as I could. I heard a voice below me, but it didn't concern me all that much so I paid no attention.
I circled back over land and looked at the sky. It would be getting dark soon, too dark to fly. I needed to find a safe place to land and sleep for the night before then...
Copyright 1997, Brian Eirik Coe
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