Chapter 7

Azuki flew through the mountains, following the winding river but staying away from the road, catching updrafts where she could, human tears flowing from her toki eyes. She felt weak and wobbly from her ordeal, but she must fly away, far, far away, where she could never harm anybody ever again through her terrible ability to turn into a girl.

***

Shota labored after Azuki. She was such a large bird and he was such a small one that he knew he could never keep up. He couldn't even see her. He had to out-think her. Where was she going, and why?

Shota didn't believe Azuki was simply getting to safety with the idea of returning later. Her flight was too purposeful, too powerful, and too directed. Azuki wasn't always right, but she was always determined, always in pursuit of a goal. What might her goal be? He'd have to figure it out, and to do that he'd have to think like Azuki: like a toki.

Shota rummaged through his brain for every fact he could recall about toki as he flew over the tops of the trees by the river trying to spot his sister. They were waders, he knew, not swimmers or tree-dwellers. They lived in wetlands like the swamps that occurred in lowland woods or by lakes and streams, or in estuaries, or by the sea, which he remembered they liked the best. Places where they could catch the small fish and water creatures that they ate. Personally, he preferred seeds, but toki were different.

He decided he would follow the river valley until it took him to the sea. That seemed like the best course to follow, the natural route Azuki would take.

***

Azuki labored long and hard until she did not think she could fly another stroke. She was so tired! Hungry, too. While finding food as a bird was not difficult, it took a lot of time and a lot of food to keep her going. She didn't need to find lodgings, because she could sleep there!

Just off to the north, the river she followed merged with a stream. Where they joined there was a bar made of rocks, piling up in the current. On the rocks, and wading in the water beside them were birds. Water birds. toki? She circled and came in for a landing.

Squawk! There was a huge flapping of wings and a terrible commotion. Azuki had come down a little too close to a group of birds who were not, after all, toki.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm very tired. Are there fish? Who are you?" Azuki didn't know much about other birds, except the ones that lived near her mountain home. Other birds hadn't seemed relevant to her when she was living mostly as a girl. She liked making and fixing things, learning how to do things. That wasn't important now.

Squawks echoed all around her. The noisy birds looked at each other; they looked at Azuki. They preened and posed, inviting her to admire them, each trying to outdo the other. A bold one stepped forward and struck a pose. She was all white with a crest on her narrow head. Her feathers caught the last of the sun's golden light, sparkling as if jeweled. These birds were really quite beautiful, Azuki thought, except for the squawking and the posing. The bird that stepped forward was smaller than Azuki, though still big, and she trembled with a combination of bravado and nerves she couldn't hide behind her elegant stance.

"We're egrets," the white bird replied. "And you're NOT!" came a chorus, as the other egrets danced, flew, landed, posed, and, above all, squawked, as though this were the world's greatest joke but they kept their distance.

Really, Azuki, thought. These are very silly birds! Several of them began to dance together in a line, matching steps to squawks.

"I'm a toki," Azuki replied. All the egrets drew their heads back on their long necks and stared.

"Toki don't live around here." The first egret sounded certain. "You'll have to look further to find toki."

"I have been living south of here, but there were no toki there." Suddenly, finding other toki struck Azuki as an excellent idea. "I am looking for other toki," Azuki said. "Can you tell me where they might be found? And may I rest here and eat?"

"Room to share, food to share," chorused the egrets, all of them doing a little shuffle. "How did you get here?"

"Flew," Azuki said, rightly figuring that this simple response would distract the silly egrets as they tried to figure it out. She was right. The white birds muttered and nodded sagely to each other as if she had said something profound. "But I'm lost and I need to find other toki," Azuki concluded.

"Waaaaay to the north," one older bird fishing a little pool squawked.

"Across the sea," said another, grabbing a fish and swallowing.

"On an island," a third added. At this, all the egrets started laughing and poking each other, for the entire country was a series of islands, some bigger than big and some smaller than small. Azuki knew that, but didn't know why it was so funny.

"East, too," said the old bird, head stretched out and up after swallowing a fish. He shook himself into a bold pose and stretched his wings before settling them. "Now, where is that place? It's a big island, and it's near a big human place on the really big island. Gets very cold there. Egrets live there, but I never wanted to go. Too cold. SQUAWK!"

"How do you know?" asked the egret who spoke first.

"I used to know some toki," the old bird replied, cocking his head gracefully. "Here, toki. You look hungry. Come, fish. Plenty for all."

Azuki joined the old bird in the stream and soon collected herself a nice supper. It wasn't warm, and there were no vegetables, soup, or rice, but she was a toki, and raw water creatures were what toki ate. Humans did, too, and they tasted good, but humans ate them with something! At least she was full, and at least she was safe among the egrets, if they would only quiet down. When daylight fully faded, at last they did, murmuring as they prepared to sleep, adjusting their stances for maximum effect. Azuki tucked her wings neatly, folded one leg into her belly, curved her long neck to cuddle her face into her warm wing feathers and fell asleep.

***

Shota flew into the night, but exhaustion and hunger overcame him, too, and he settled into a big pine tree, where the birds already roosting cautiously welcomed him to a vacant perch. Plenty of seeds here, he thought with satisfaction as he eyed the numerous cones, but it was so late he only ate enough to stanch his more immediate hunger pangs, and then settled in to sleep.

***

Azuki woke to egret squawks, as the white birds laughed, leapt into the air, flew in circles and lunged for prey, posing whenever they could. The sun was already well up! Hungry again, she fished for her breakfast, and then sought out the old bird, who was again fishing in what seemed to be his private pool, one leg tucked up daringly.

"Good morning, Sir Egret," she said politely.

"SQUAWK!" The older bird lunged for a fish, but it slipped away. "Good morning, toki. There's plenty where that came from," he added as he could see Azuki was about to apologize for startling him and allowing the fish to escape. He ruffled his feathers, assumed a pose, and craned his long neck, turning his head toward her.

"I need to find my people," Azuki said. "Do you remember the name of the human place? Or the island where the toki live?"

"Toki, I do not. All I ever knew is that it's an island, a big one, to the north and east. Just what I told you before. We birds do not always know human names for places." He regarded her quizzically, and Azuki wondered if he could tell she was a bird-child. Though he posed, he didn't strike her as being nearly as silly as the others; she'd heard that age brought wisdom. Maybe even to egrets! "Nor do we much care," he concluded with another SQUAWK.

"North and east then," Azuki said, determined to find other toki. She'd failed at being human. Maybe a toki was what was supposed to be. "Thank you for your hospitality," she said, including the curious group of egrets surrounding her.

"Plenty for all," the egrets chorused. "Go north and east," some of them added, as if this were new and vital information.

Azuki nodded and extended her wings.

"You can always ask somebody," the old bird reminded her as she downstroked and rose into the sky, describing a brief circle in farewell.

North and east. She could do that, and she did, all day long, until she smelled the sea and the mountains flattened into a narrow coastal plain. A huge cloud bank wrapped the coast. There were no other birds flying, and ultimately she couldn't see in front of her. A gentle rain drizzled onto her wings and fog enveloped the world. Azuki looked for a place to land.