Charlie jerks his head up at that. “Photograph? Someone likely saw you, but are you sure on photographed?” He shakes his head, frowning. “It might be nothing, but we still don’t know what species you are. You could be perfectly normal to see around here, or something that will cause a stir,” he says.

  Shiners nods. “Tell us what happened exactly,” he says. He is a little less concerned but still knows it could be a problem. He gives a nervous little twitch that I feel through his wing as he pulls it back.

  I give a small nod.

  I clawed a little at the ground, feeling excited that someone wanted to take a picture of me, but it also made me shudder a little in nervousness. If I wasn’t anywhere near local, would they try to capture me, or just keep an eye on me? Heck, would they try to band me? I fluff my feathers up at the thought.

  Charlie nods. “I wonder just how big a deal this is. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re fine as long as you don’t get injured. It might start rumours and people looking for you,” he says. “When I get back to civilization, I’ll try to figure out if anything pops up. Though, let’s get back to the story. I believe we should be nearing when Shiners and I catch up.”

  Shiners nods his head. “Well, when we finally caught back up with you, we saw you on the ground eating. We gave you some space to try to not spook you. Something felt off, I mean more than before. You were eating, but none of your other signs you usually give.”

  Charlie gives a small sigh, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before nodding. “It took us a few moments to realize you had been eating a carcass. I was confused, and I admit it took me a moment to reconcile what it was. But Shiners pointed out it’s natural; your body had new requirements and likes.” He gives me a small, genuine smile. “You are still you, even if your taste in food has gotten almost as bad as before,” he says.

  I roll my eyes. I say defensively. This causes a groan from Charlie, who rolls his eyes.

  I’m still bothered, but the fact they accept me is good. Not that I plan to tell John or Frank if we ever tell them. Maybe also not my parents, though that might be harder to keep from them.

  Shiners fluffs his feathers a bit beside me. “So, are you going to eat that, or can I have it?” he asks, pointing to the rabbit leg. I glare at him as a bubble of MINE surfaces briefly before I grab it.

   I say with a small frown. It looks good.

  Shiners rolls his eyes. “You know how to do it; you just have to let yourself. Best way is to let gravity do it for you. You’re more able to swallow things than you realize. Tilt your head back and let gravity do the work for you.”

  I nod my head, eyeing it. It isn’t that big, just bulkier than I would expect to be able to swallow. I lean in and grab for it, holding it in my beak, and then the eagle has me manoeuvre it so that it’s straight in my beak before swallowing. There’s a small moment of panic and discomfort, but soon it easily settles into my belly. The feel of it going down my throat and the little taste of juices feel good as I click my beak in a birdish version of smacking my lips. I say, to my surprise.

  Charlie laughs, giving a wince. “Okay, that is weird. I see both how you can do it naturally and how it looks like I’m going to have to figure out how to perform the Heimlich on an eagle.”

  I nod, giving my neck a little wiggle to remove any lasting discomfort. I say, feeling silly now about being worried.

  I think back to the previous day as I think about it. I say, trying to express what I was thinking into words.

  Shiners gives a small groan and a laugh. “I guess that’s better than most eagles, who I think tolerate me around because I’m too much of a hassle to chase,” he says, but smiles. “I’m glad you calmed down. Wasn’t sure what we’d do if we had to spend all day chasing you because you fled. I mean, we still chased you, but because you wouldn’t stand still for a second.”

  I give an exasperated sigh,

  Shiners nods his head, "Sorry about that, and I kinda get it, it kinda felt odd on my end, like I mentioned earlier it was like you were there, but not quiet. Wich does honetly suck since it's much harder to get you to stop when you don't acknowledge my words. Once you finished your meal you started to preen your feathers, an then went FULL alert staring at something."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Charlie laughs at the memory, " I thought you got spooked or were about to flee, when I noticed a squirrel nearby, and I could almost literally hear your thoughts, 'SQUIRREL' as you spread your wings getting ready to take off."

  Looking away trying to hide my embaressment as my nares burned slightly,

  Shiners laughs at this thinking, "Hmmm interesting description bushy mouse..." he says thinking but shrugs it off. though it seems like something was rattiling around in his head.

  Charlie adds, "The second you spread your wings I was already running hoping to catch you and stop you from chasing it, but you were already in the air flying towards it as the squirrel took off."

   I think feeling embaressed to so give into the instincts.

  Shiners picking up on my reaction laughs, "Hey it's natural, I'm intelligent and still give in at times. Least you didn't catch the squirrel as it dove into a tree, instead you decided to fly off and we attempted to follow you."

  Nodding I feel better as my nares turn red. I ask.

  Charlie had just started eating a sandwich when I mentioned the eagle. He began choking and coughing, and I was about to say something when he managed to gasp out, “Oh no, that happened,” trying to contain his laughter.

  Shiners nods his head. “Oh yeah, that was so much fun to watch, hilarious really. Believe me, it happened, maybe not quite the way you remember.”

  I look between the two of them in confusion. I ask, trying to piece together what’s so funny.

  Charlie laughs, putting the food down before he chokes again. “Mike, do you remember that trail near my house we walk down from time to time?” he says.

  I stare at him in confusion. We’ve done a few trails, but what does that have to do with... oh god, it hits me. There’s a statue of an eagle, wings spread and crying near the entrance. I say, now more embarrassed than I was about eating carrion. I see it clearly now; it was a big wooden statue. I see myself circling it and giving skrees of outrage at the challenge, then attacking it with my talons and beak, scuffing the surface until it finally toppled over as I triumphantly skreed in victory.

  Charlie chuckles, shaking his head. “Yeah, it was so funny. Shiners was trying to get you to lighten up a bit and play, and you saw it and just started attacking it. Luckily no one was around, or we might have had more photos out there,” he says.

  Shiners laughs so hard he almost falls over. “See, this is why I call you bird brain, you’re not much smarter than an average eagle,” he teases.

  I shake my head at this, grumbling something about annoying sky stealers. I ask curiously.

  Shiners gives a small grin. “You actually did pretty well. It wasn’t exactly an expert-level game, as the wind wasn’t super high, but for a beginner you did well. Though I do think there was more of you when we started to play the tree surfing game, you seemed to rather enjoy that even if you were confused."

  I nod my head,

  Charlie shakes his head. “You’re both crazy. I was half expecting you two to fall off and hurt yourselves,” he says, taking another bite from his sandwich.

  Stretching myself out a bit, I just shake my head.

  Shiners chuckles. “There was that one eagle that kept hitting on you, not sure the sex, but I think it was male. Really seemed to either want to chase you off or show off his skills.”

  Charlie laughs. “Wait, you think that was a male? I thought it was a female. Either way, it kept trying to get your attention.”

  I groan. I roll my eyes.

  Shiners laughs. “Hey, maybe you can trick him into getting you food. You’re definitely a fine male eagle, I can see why he might hit on you, even if he’s confused.”

  Charlie laughs. “Oh, I’m telling John and Frank this as soon as we decide to let them in on it,” he says with a shake of his head.

  I just groan.

  Charlie laughs, and I can see the gears in his head turning. “Now I wonder what the love poem was like,” he says, trying to give a dignified look and failing. “Ohhh, madam, your breath smells of rotten fish and dead deer, it’s the most beautiful fragrance.”

  Shiners laughs. “Well, that would definitely work on me if it was some cute, smooth-talking female raven.”

  I give a small stretch, I just shake my head as I look back to Charlie. I say.

  Charlie looks at his watch. “It’s about ten-thirty, so I could maybe make it to lunch,” he says with a smile. “But you’re sure you’re okay?”

  Shiners smiles. “I think he’s fine. If he’s well enough to be embarrassed about being hit on, I think he’s better,” he says, then gives me a more serious look. “There is one more thing we should discuss, to avoid what happened yesterday from happening again.”

  I gulp as I look at the fire, now nothing but glowing coals. I’m not sure what they’ll discuss, but hopefully it’s not quite as bad as what they’ve talked about up to now.