CALLI: FLYING THE COOP
Taking place during Adventure Log XXII: On The Move
Calliandra had snuck out of, and into, Eudicot Manor numerous times through her life. The same tricks she once used as a child still worked to get past their household guards, which no longer delighted her. She’d have to leave a note about tightening up security. Even easier now was sinking through the shadows to the tall stone building, as she used her hairclip to aid in camouflaging her against the bushes in bloom through the front garden. The familiar scents threatened to pull her into nostalgia, but she couldn’t risk it out in the open. Following three lengths behind the patrolling guard, she reached the reinforced trellis under her window as the figure turned the corner, and climbed up before the next would round again. Still careful to minimize the damage to the flowering vines entwined upon it as much as she could, even in her rush. The climb had always been the hard part.
Once inside, she gave in to the melancholy, and tried to commit everything in her life-long room to memory. One of the few places she’d been allowed full control. She ran her hands over her lavender silk bedding with a pained longing and thought of the hard weeks of ground-sleeping ahead of her. She’d spent so little time in it of late it already began to feel like someone else’s. Steamer trunks had been brought in, and her more expensive possessions had begun to be packed away with care. She knew larger furniture, and much of the mundane items would be left behind. Easier to purchase new when they reached their destination, and in a perfect world it would still be here when they returned. Was the world ever perfect?
Gingerly pressing her sensitive pointed ear to the bedroom door, she listened, but heard no one moving, so continued to take her time and select some changes of clothes for the journey. She didn’t know what type of situations they may end up in, and wanted to be prepared. She grabbed some small things off her desk, left a brief note with her love and a warning about the blind spot by the gate, and as she kissed the letter to leave behind, her old journals caught her eye on the shelves above. She ran her fingers along the spines, each labeled with her full name and the dates contained within, and she found her hand halt over one that seemed more battered than the others. She slid it out, and memories rushed past of the fated night her life changed forever. She stuffed it in her bag, not entirely knowing why. She was entrusting them to protect her life’s writings in her absence, every thought she’d even penned to paper, without abusing her privacy- but that time felt too personal by far. After a moment’s hesitation, she took the journal from years later when she became the only survivor of what should have been a simple coach ride. If her parents ever missed her enough to read her journals, she didn’t want them to relive those moments. Her nightmares played them through enough for all. Her heart hurt for Archie, who suffered without parents to console him, and wondered if he still had his own nightmares.
She returned to her bedroom door, and satisfied it still sounded clear, slid it open. Down the hall she saw a faint glow to the right, her mother was either still awake or had fallen asleep while reading in bed leaving the lantern burning. She stood still, counting heartbeats, and when no shadows flickered to indicate movement she dashed into the next nearest door- her bird room. She knew Treble and Clef would be sleeping, but it had already been nearly a week since she last saw them, and it would be much longer again. If ever. It pained her to realize in this moment how old they were. She entered the cage, and gentle whistled a few notes. She hadn’t lit the sconces, so she couldn’t see their vibrant plumage inside their nest where they stirred and made confused chittering noises, but she knew which dark lumps were them. The two liked to snuggle together at night in a nest she’d lined with an old blouse of hers she’d shredded for the cause.
“It’s me, little darlings.” She reached in, and felt two sharp pinches as they bit down on her finger. “I deserve that. I know. I’m sorry… but I didn’t want to disappear on you without a goodbye. I hate that you can’t understand. I hate that you’ll never know. I know how much it hurts…” She felt tears begin dripping down her cheeks. “And I’m such a hypocrite. Because this is for your safety- I can’t take you with me. I only hope they treat you well.” The birds had sleepily nuzzled against her hand as she spoke, sensing something was wrong. “You were my best friends for so long. I love you both. And hopefully, it’ll only be a couple of months more, and everything can get back to how it was before- only better. Much better for everyone. We’ve done so much good, my friends and I. You’d be so proud if you knew. So just stay safe for me. I promise to spoil you both to make up for it. I’ll be able to have the outdoor area built for you two to fly when it’s nice.” She felt the small, warm bundles breathing heavily against her hand, and Treble made a fed-up sounding squawk. “Right, sorry. Sleep well, little darlings. I love you.”
She’d stayed too long. She slipped back from their room into her own, out the window, and past the guards into the night. Upstairs, in the double-hall she’d snuck through, on the other side of the dividing art wall that ran the center length of it, Mimosoideae Eudicot stood crying silently in the dark, having heard all of it, and knowing if she’d confronted her daughter she’d never be able to let her go, but loving her too much to stand in her way.