Between Two Worlds

“Some things I am forbidden from discussing with you. And your personal future is one of those things. Now come on, we need to hurry and try to follow that bird before we lose it.” Kat says.

We walk for a couple of hours, with me leading the way. At some point, we lose sight of the bird, more than likely when I was questioning Kat. I tried following in what I assumed to be its general direction, but the skies have been bird less. Kat has placed a lot of trust in me, expecting me to be able to know where to go. Truth is, I was only half listening to Altair, as he had just proposed to me, and I was trying to decide if I wanted to actually marry him.

The trees start to look funny, and it pulls me from my thoughts. They go from tall and skinny to tall and wide, the bark changes from smooth to rough looking. The leaves go from small to large. Then I notice the ground starts making squishing noises, each time I step down. We seem to be in some sort of swamp. Even the bird calls sound different than the ones we have been listening to.

“Are you sure we are going the right way?” Kat asks.

“Yeah, I’m fairly sure. He said something about the royal bird living in the swampy area.”

“Well, we are here, and I haven’t seen that bird in a long time.”

I think back to the picnic with Altair, slowing down my pace. What was it that he said? I was so busy enjoying my time in his company that I didn’t pay much attention. Come on, think! He spent a lot of time telling me about this bird like he knew I would need to find it. After he proposed, we walked through the swamp, holding hands. We had to be careful where we stepped. But why? Oh, yeah, that’s right. “They nest on the ground.”

“Where on the ground? Any specific spot? Under a tree, or near the water?” Kat asks.

“I’m thinking, give me a minute.” Where did he say? Something to do with grass? “I think it was in some of those tall tufts of grass over there,” I say pointing to some thick yellow grass growing a few feet away from the base of a thick swamp tree.

Kat leads the way and pushes the grass to the side. “I think I see something purple down here.” She says reaching her hand down.

“Is it an egg?” I ask, standing back a few feet.

“Oh, yeah. It’s definitely an egg.” She says and then she mumbles something else that I can’t quite understand. I guess it’s her native tongue. And then she’s pulling her hand out and something long and orange is attached to it.

“What in the world is that?!” I ask panicking.

“Snelp. A cold-blooded reptile. Poisonous.”

“What?! Are you going to die? Do I need to take you to the medical building? Is that allowed? What do I do?”

“I’ll be fine. Copaie are immune to their venom. Just surprised me is all.” She says. Kat carefully unhooks its fangs from her arm and tosses the snelp in the opposite direction of me.

“I’m glad you reached for that egg and not me.” I say.

“Me too. You would have been dead within minutes.” Kat says nonchalantly. She takes the pack off her shoulders, and then opening the pack, she digs for the smaller drawstring bag. She reaches back into the grass and gently lifts an egg out. She carefully places the egg, inside, before zipping it back up. “Two clues down and four more clues to go.”

“Won’t the egg break in that bag with the rock?” I ask.

“No. The shell is as hard as a rock. I could feel it when I picked it up.”

“Man, I would hate to be the bird to lay that egg.”

Kat lets out a hearty laugh before answering, “Me too, girl. Me too.”