One Call Away

It didn't take too long for the male to join her, and she peeked up at him from under her lashes. She blinked rapidly when he said that she had a beautiful voice, bashfully turning to the side as her ears stood half masted. She wasn't used to singing to just anyone, but it had been quite some time since she had sung in front of a complete stranger. It was a love that she had gotten from both her parents, and seemed to be the only one of her siblings that did. Civetta let out a loud chip when he said that it was her fault she had stopped singing, and the bird hopped up and down on her pale head. "But Finch is shy and gets embarrassed easily! I couldn't let her do that, I wouldn't be a good friend. She doesn't sing for just anyone you know! It's a very spe-" Finch cut the little bird off by shaking her head abruptly, a look of complete horror on her features. For the love of all that was good, she could really eat that bird right now. The finch chirped angrily and fluttered to a dry stone, narrowing her beady black eyes at her friend. Finch shuffled on her paws, first mistake. Her left leg slipped from under her, and she blinked as she ended up laying on her belly, paws hanging over the edge and getting soaking wet. She was so shocked that it took her awhile to realize that the water was freezing cold. Yelping, she stood up and scampered backwards, lucky that she didn't fall right in. Peeking up at Tib, a sheepish smile split her lips. "I'm just making things worse for myself..." she said, shaking her head as she stood stalk still. "But... thank you," She said softly, almost too soft to be heard.

Finch looked past him at the rest of the river, when she noticed something she hadn't before. This was the first of many falls, the river opened up to a shallow pool below them, before dropping down to create a new waterfall. Oh, that was stunning! She realized that it was like that all the way down, each pool broke down the cliff until another waterfall was formed. She looked back at Tiburtius, most of her embarrassment gone. "I bet we can find a cave behind one of those waterfalls. Wanna try?" she asked, her gray marked tail wagging behind her. Without waiting for an answer, she trotted of to the next drop in the hillside. He asked what language she had been singing in, and she glanced at him over her shoulder. "Oh, Italian. My whole family can speak it," she said timidly. Not paying attention again, she nearly slipped right down into the next falls, which was not as loud or as tall as the first one. She shook her head back and forth, man, this was making her really clumsy! Staring at her paws as she made her way down the hill, she peeked at the smaller break of water, but only a sheer face of rock was behind that one. Disappointed, she started to head to the next one. This part of the river was so shallow, it would hardly cover the top of her paws if she stood in it. How that all gathered up to create a rush of water, she had no idea.

Clearing her throat, she realized she had been quiet for quite awhile. A smile flicked on her lips softly, before she looked down at her paws and then back up to him again. "So, you mentioned brothers. Do you have a lot?" Finch's family was huge, but she had learned that not everyone was like that. She paused for only a moment, going to head down to the next break of the cliff, forming a slightly larger waterfall. The walk down to this one was more sheer than the last, and she really had to be careful. Gingerly picking her way down, she paused when she saw something sparkling in the ground. Oh! A pretty rock! Civetta had seen it too, landing nearby. "Look Finch, another pretty to add to the collection!" the bird chirped, digging at the stone with her clawed foot.

"SPEAK" "SPEAK ITALIAN" "CIVETTA SPEAKS"