the balance of the blue jay

“Then we should be friends! Nobody who likes flowers is a terrible person, after all.” Aster nodded affirmatively, as if this settled the matter on whether they could be friends. “Do you have any favorites? I think it’d be funny if asters were my favorite flower, but I think cherry blossoms are the prettiest.”

She jumped, landing on the birch tree’s lowest branch. “Birch, though? I don’t even know if these can be considered flowers…” She tapped the budding “flower” with a wingtip for emphasis. “I mean, this looks like a worm! And not even an appetizing worm, so it’s a double shame.”