Twilight Grotto

Small rocks were the size of boulders to the tiny, skinny hatchling carnotaurus as she stumbled around the mountainside. Her adventure had been fun at first, after spending so long laying sickly in the nest she had hatched in. She had enjoyed the feeling of freedom and what felt like a nice day, but now after being out in the open for so long the sun felt too hot for her to be comfortable, the air too thin for her to catch her breath, and she was getting very tired and it was getting increasingly hard to catch her breath. Right now she wanted nothing more than to be home and curl back up in her parent’s nest for another few days.

Boonsong leaned heavily against a rock, her breath weak and wheezy. Everything kind of looked the same as it had the entire time she was wandering, and all together not as interesting as she had hoped her adventure would be. More grey stone, more distant snow on the top of far peaks, more sparse dull, green grass and shrubbery and tall, thin pine trees. They were a lot like her, she decided.

She glanced around, her breath scratching in her lungs. Somewhere covered that she could rest in would be ideal, somewhere out of the sun and out of view of anything with wings. She had heard bad stories about hatchlings being plucked off of the mountain by giant birds. It had been fine when she still felt like she had enough energy to run away, but now that she didn’t… the feeling of vulnerability sent a chill up her spine.

The small carno pushed herself off the rock with a raspy huff. There was a crevice that looked relatively close that she could squeeze into, that would be enough cover for a bit of rest.

The closer she got to the crevice, the more she realised it was considerably larger than it looked from further away. She would not have to squeeze into it, she could just walk right in. There was just enough light shining in from the entrance and reflecting off of the pale stone to illuminate the area well enough for her to see where she was going, and it was deep enough that she would be safe from prying eyes and snatching talons. It was… a very deep crevice, actually.

Her raspy breath echoed in the small cave that she now found herself in, her quiet “Wow” almost swallowed by the heavy stone walls.

Nova rubbed the sleep from her eyes, peering over the ledge she was sleeping on towards the faint sound that had roused her from her light slumber. This was supposed to be a safe cave that only tapejara could enter, but… her mother had apparently not accounted for the appearance of a tiny carnotaurus while she was out looking for food. Nova crept forwards along the ledge until her head hung over the edge, where she could quietly and safely observe the carno from a distance.

It did look like it was just a little thing… Her wingspan was probably almost as big as the carno, if not bigger. She decided very quickly that this stranger was not a threat, but a potential source of entertainment while her mother was away.

“What’s your name?” she chirped from her ledge.

Boonsong jumped at the sudden voice, stumbling on unsteady legs. She caught herself before she fell, but her hide still burned with embarrassment. She couldn’t quite see who it was that spoke to her. The voice came from up, but it was very dark up there, with the reflected light not quite making it far enough to give much in the way of detail.

She swallowed and stood a little taller, trying to at least pretend to be confident despite the shake in her legs and the hoarseness in her small voice. “Boonsong. You better not be anything bad! My parents will eat you. My grandpa Gaboon, too!” She had to stop and take a breath between every couple of words, the fright of the strange voice making her heart race.

Nova laughed lightly as she crawled over the ledge and fluttered down to the ground. “Do I look like anything bad?”

The look on the hatchling carnotaurus’s face and the way Boonsong flinched back again, losing her footing this time and landing on her rump, told Nova that the answer was a very intense yes. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you,” Nova hurried to say, taking a couple steps back into the shadows of the cave.

Boonsong’s breathing was coming a little too quickly, a little too shallow, like she couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t even get up on her feet to run away. She had thought that in entering the cave she was going to get away from the giant birds that the pack had described, but here she was cowering in front of one.

“It’s okay!” Nova rushed to sooth her. She took another step back when Boonsong still looked panicked by her presence. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I thought it would just… be fun if we could talk. It’s boring laying here all day.”

“Are you sure?” Boonsong asked, her voice trembling when she managed to actually get enough breath to get the words out. “You’re not gonna eat me, or pick me up and take me away from the mountain?”

That seemed a little better. “Certain,” Nova assured. “I like to eat fruits and bugs and stuff anyway. That’s where my mother is right now!” 

When Boonsong looked frightened again at the mention of another, larger flying thing that would be coming back at some point, Nova hurried to change the topic. “You need a drink? There’s a little stream of water in here. I think it goes somewhere further into the mountain but I’ve never been able to find a way through.”

Boonsong watched, an uncertain look on her face, as Nova awkwardly walked along the floor of the cave deeper into the shadows. “It’s not very far,” the tapjeara assured. The quiet sound of Nova dipping her beak into water was tempting enough - Boonsong’s throat was dry after her excursion, and her lungs ached. Slowly, she stepped further into the cave, away from the light bleeding in from the crevice. She followed the sounds of moving water, hesitant even though she was trying very hard to put on a brave face.

Her eyes had adjusted enough to the dark to see Nova waiting for her by the water’s edge, her eyes bright but patient. “See? Nothing scary in here.”

Boonsong still looked a bit doubtful but the tempation of a drink was enough for her to put her doubts aside. She ducked her head and drank deeply from the thin stream that was both born from and disappeared into the rock after a short meander. It was cold, and clean, and crisp. The first drink hit her like a kick in the stomach, but it was worth it for her thirst to be quenched and her throat to be soothed.

When she finally slowed, Boonsong lifted her head from the stream and glanced towards Nova. Her breathing was still a little wheezy, but her voice at least sounded better. “Are you sick too?”

The tape gave Boonsong a bit of an odd, almost apprehensive look as she shuffled her feet. Sick? Was the carno sick? Was she infectious?

“No?” Nova tilted her head, thoughtful. “I usually don’t go outside unless it’s dark out. It’s safer for me and I’m too big for my mother to carry me now.” She spread her wings, showing off her dark colours with a bit of pride. Her mother often said how beautiful she was growing up to be. Even if it was just a mother’s bias, it made her feel good. “Harder for carnivores to see me since I look like the night sky.”

Boonsong sighed. “Oh.” She sounded disappointed that that was the answer. She had hoped she was not the only one that suffered like this, that she might have a friend for company when she was feeling particularly poorly, like she was starting to now that the adrenaline rush of encountering a stranger was wearing off.

Nova clacked her beak uncertainly, trying to figure out what to do. She didn’t have any younger siblings, she wasn’t sure how to deal with a sad, sick hatchling.

“If… you want to stay here for a while, this is a safe spot to rest,” she offered. “My mom’s really nice! We’ve helped hatchlings get back to their family before, kinda. When you feel better, I bet we could help you find back to where you came from if you need help.”

“No thank you,” Boonsong said quickly as she sat down near the water. Sleeping sounded good, but not the rest. “I know where I’m going, ‘m just sleepy.”

She had been serious when she said that Gaboon would probably attack the tapejara. Nova seemed nice, Boonsong didn’t want her to be eaten.

Nova settled down on the stone nearby. It was not quite as comfortable as the scraped-together nest on the ledge that she had been sleeping in, but she wanted the company while it lasted. It didn’t feel good, thinking about letting this sickly little hatchling wander back off by herself, but… she was still learning how to fly properly. She couldn’t even follow her from the sky in secret to make sure that Boonsong got back safely. Maybe her mother could, if she got back before Boonsong decided she felt well enough to leave.

“Have you explored much of the mountain?” Nova asked, curious and eager to fill the silence now that she had a friend to chat with. She had been all over with her mother before she got too heavy to fly on her mother’s back. Boonsong seemed quite adamant that she knew where she was going, for being so small - and for not having wings to help her get around quickly.

Boonsong opened her eyes a bit more and gave a quiet “no.” Others of the pack that were her age had been able to wander all over. She was left behind. Maybe for good reason, since she couldn’t even make it out and then back again without feeling weak.

Nova thought for a moment, now looking for a way to distract Boonsong, or hopefully cheer her up. “You probably haven’t seen the Midnight Cave then, have you?”

Boonsong perked up a bit, more curious now than sad. When Boonsong didn’t say anything else, Nova took it as another “no” and shifted herself to be a bit more comfortable.

She turned her head to point her beak skyward, towards the roof of the cave. “There’s only a couple stars in here, but somewhere in the mountain there’s supposed to be a giant cave that’s full of stars.”

Boonsong tilted her head as well, following Nova’s gaze only to be struck in awe of what she saw. Exactly as Nova had said, there were stars inside the cave here. Just a couple, but they glowed a bright blue, twinkling somewhat.

“Maybe when you feel better, we can go find it one day!” Nova said brightly. “I think it’s near here which is why there’s some of the stars in this cave. Maybe connected to the water… “ She glanced towards the stream. It sounded sometimes like there were whispers coming from the rock, but she could never tell what they said.

She turned back to Boonsong, preparing to ask if Boonsong could hear anything from the water too, but paused when she noticed the hatchling’s slow, steady, wheezy breathing. She had fallen asleep, just like that.