Bigger than you know

Artorias' gentle touch brought a happy wiggle to Zephyr's growing tail feathers. His early life before he'd met the wolves was a blur in his young memory, remnants of his mother owl and the harpy eagle who'd killed her fading more as each new day passed. What luck that his egg had been hatched in the castle walls surrounded by such unlikely would-be-friends and family instead of somewhere like the Bifrost, where the ocean or its predators surely would have taken him. He shrunk a bit at the thought, stepping closer to the Aegis so his wing touched the wolf's leg as they crossed the warm sand.

His question had Artorias rephrasing his lesson and Zephyr's head swung round to listen attentively to the amendment. So it was possible he could swim. The chick looked down at his talons, remembering Gwyn's companion's insistence that a raptor was only as good as his talons. Were those gulls raptors too? Did he want to be a raptor or a gull? As Artorias finished speaking his beak turned back to the water with renewed interest, squinting out into the distance where the birds played on the waves.

The offer of a lesson piqued his attention once more, his beak falling open in enthusiasm. "Oh yes, I want to learn to swim!" His talons alternated carrying his weight as he marched in place excitedly upon the sand. Was swimming more like walking, or more like flying? Worse case, Zeph supposed, he could simply ride upon Artorias' back while he swam. If the Bifrost hadn't been tempting him with it's newness, he might have requested they leave now to get back to the Hallows ASAP for his first lesson.

At the mention of Briar and potentially making her upset, Zephyr gave a solemn nod. The antlered female was as treasured a family member as Artorias or Lia was, and if going on the adventure without her would make her feel left out then it was out of the question for the chick. Having been abandoned himself, Zephyr knew he'd never be able to forgive himself for instilling that feeling into someone he cared about. "Okay, we can wait until I'm bigger." He agreed. "And when I can fly, I can visit Sirius and Basilisk and everyone else anytime I want, right?" Already his stubby wings were pumping at the mention as if one day miraculously he'd simply beat hard with his wings and lift off into the air. The day couldn't come fast enough, not with the knowledge that he had so many friends out in the world that they couldn't all fit in their castle.

Artorias took a seat upon the sand and Zephyr looked back at him, momentarily confused until he realized that, right, they weren't crossing the land bridge today. He gazed out toward the blurry continent in the distance with longing but refocused quickly with Briar in his thoughts. It would be a worthwhile adventure for them all, and he could wait... hopefully.

Entertaining himself and exerting his 'freedom', Zephyr plopped his rear into the sand. It was not entirely comfortable on his tail feathers, but they were still mostly soft, fluffy, and malleable down, and somehow managed to find a form beneath his bum. Pushing his legs straight out through the grains, the young raptor proceeded to bury his talons, pull them free and then bury them once more. Another of Artorias' words caught his ears and he contorted himself around - half-buried in the sand - to question it. "Artorias, what's Grandpa?" It was not an especially foreign word but Basilisk called Sirius grandpa. "Is it like how people call you Aegis?"

"Zephyr"