Book 5: Chapter 31 (1/2)
“Whew, this is the life, isn’t it?” Emile asked. He was lying on his back, his legs kicked out in front of himself. His wings were partially spread, and his posture was terrible. He arched his neck, tilting his head back, and a woman placed a grape into his waiting beak.
“After what we’ve been through,” Susan said and bit into her grape. She let the juices flow down her beak before swallowing the fruit whole. “We deserve this.” She patted the side of the woven hammock she was laying in with her wing, and another grape was fed to her. After finishing that grape as well, she turned her head towards Emile. “Do you think we’re actually holy messengers?”
“Of course,” Emile said without hesitation. “Phoenixes often fill holy roles. Think about it. Whenever people see us when they’re child is born, they think their child is blessed. When we fly over a farmer’s field, they cheer for us. Isn’t that what Mom told us? You don’t think she’s lying, do you?”
“I don’t,” Susan said. She bit on another grape. It must’ve been grown on the river water because this cluster of grapes was the most delicious she had ever eaten. “If we’re the holy messengers, do you think Tafel is the messiah?”
“Probably,” Emile said. “But who knows when she’ll get here? Does she even remember we exist? We’ve been lost for so long, and she hasn’t come looking for us yet!”
“But the prophecy of these people said the messiah would arrive shortly upon the arrival of the holy messengers.”
Emile rolled his eyes. “What are you worrying for? Why do you always ask so many questions?” He sat up and pecked a few grapes, swallowing them down one after the other, finishing off the cluster. “Just go with the flow. You don’t have to be so alert all the time; learn to relax a bit.”
Susan snorted. Before she could say anything, two pale people entered the hut. “Holy messengers, the messiah has arrived.”
Susan sat up, and the two phoenixes exchanged glances with each other. “Well, that was awfully quick,” Emile said. He nodded at the pale people. “Bring her to us.”
The two people left, and not long after, Tafel entered the hut. She glanced at the women standing behind Emile and Susan, eyeing the platters of fruit and drinks they held up. Instead of greeting the phoenixes, Tafel’s eyes shifted downwards towards the woven hammocks they were resting on. Finally, her gaze landed on the plush pillows that seemed to be made of some kind of wool. She made eye contact with Emile and Susan. “Hi.”
“Hi?” Emile asked, raising one wing in front of Susan’s face, blocking her from speaking. “Is that all you have to say to us after abandoning us in a dragon roost? Do you know how many times we thought we were going to be eaten? It wasn’t a lot, but it doesn’t have to happen often to be traumatic!”
Susan coughed. “I told you not to hide in the sleeping dragon’s mouth when we played hide and seek.”
“Shush,” Emile said, glaring at his sister. “I blocked your face with my wing for a reason.”