On this day, Uuffi felt totally and utterly deserted. Jozlyn was gone for the second day, and he'd just discovered that Theor, the other human mage who lived in Draygon's Keep, was gone, too. Neither had told him where they were going or when they'd be back. Even the three tabbin were missing. Uuffi wondered if the magin had taken the tabbin with them, and felt even sadder.
Daylight had almost ended. The a-a sat in a tree near the tower that housed Jozlyn's room. He tried calling again, "Jozlyn--Jozlyn--Jozlyn--Uuffi want Jozlyn--want Jozlyn--squawk!"
"Uuffi!' called a small human's voice somewhere below him. "Uuffi, there you are! Come down and play with Traci."
The a-a flipped forwards so that he hung upside down from the branch and stretched his neck further to see the human chick. She squealed and giggled at him, then jumped up and down.
"Come on, Uuffi. Come down and play with me. Don't you want a scritchin'?"
A scritching! Traci wants to scritch Uuffi, the a-a realized. "Oh--goody--goody--Traci scritch Uuffi--scritch Uuffi--squawk!" Uuffi dropped from the branch and spread his wings and tail to brake his plummet. He landed on the ground near her.
Five-year-old Traci squealed with delight as Uuffi waddled over to her. She plopped down on the grass and he climbed into her lap, butting his head against her tummy. She began the scritching session, being careful not to hurt the a-a by accidently jamming the base of his feathers into his skin. Uuffi responded with tiny little twitters of pure joy. At least here was one human who hadn't forgotten about him.
A-a and human chick were so absorbed in their interaction with each other that they didn't hear the two adult humans approach them, watch and softly comment to each other, then approach closer. The first that the a-a and girl were aware that others were present was when they heard a human male's voice.
Uuffi recognized the man as Ethan, who seemed to spend a lot of his time in a room or around the grounds of the Keep with many of the human chicks in tow. Uuffi knew they called it "school," and if you went to school, you'd get smart, but he really didn't understand that concept. He just knew that humans liked to be called smart.
Uuffi raised his head to look at Ethan who had knelt beside the chick. The human female was called Pollyn and was Traci's mother.
Traci giggled, "Uuffi's lonely and wanted me to play with him."
"Yes, I can see that," Ethan smiled. "Uuffi, how about coming to school with Traci tomorrow? You can play with the children and find out what we do there."
The a-a stared at Ethan for a few moments, then said, "School--school--Uuffi go to school--learn smart stuff--Uuffi learn smart--Squawk!" He started to bob up and down, which is what an a-a does when excited, but slipped off of Traci's lap rather ungracefully as the fabric of her dress shifted. Quickly he stuck out a wing to steady himself until he regained his balance. On terra firma, he spread both wings, flared his tail feathers, raised his crest and ran around in circles, squawking, "Uuffi go to school--to school--school--smart--smart--smart--school--smart--squawk!" Folding his wings, he bobbed up and down several times, then ran over to the laughing Ethan, raised a foot and waited. The three humans were laughing at his antics and he enjoyed all this attention. |