"Yip!"
"Hi, Shiro." Colin grinned, as he met his Comrades again on the fifth night since he joined Nakama World. "We've got a lot to do tonight, don't we?"
"Yip." Shiro wagged his tail.
"Auu…" Sonia complained to Colin the moment she saw him. "Auu…"
Rall and Bubba were sitting side by side, staring at the wall again. This time, though, they were looking at all their pawprints side by side (and Colin's handprint above them).
Meek was back. And she'd brought with her some of the softest hay Colin had ever felt. She was busy putting it all together into a round ball of some sort.
"A nest…" Colin figured. "For your babies, right?"
"Mik." Meek nodded, and grabbed a nearby leaf to add to her nest.
"Hey, Meek, why don't you add your pawprint to the wall?" Colin suggested.
Meek glanced at the wall, scurried over and tapped a spot on it, down-left of Sonia's. "Mik."
Colin blinked, suddenly noticing it. He hadn't seen it earlier because it was that small. "You already did…"
{I should put names under those pawprints.}
He had a lot to do tonight. So much that he'd gone to sleep an hour earlier than he normally would…
"Wonder if Katrin or Edward's around yet?" Colin said, going over to the window.
It was then that he saw it. That huge bird.
It was big… as big as the king of birds that Lynn rode, maybe even bigger. It was white, with deep blue feathers at the edges, and lighter blue ones like an upward swept collar around its long, slender neck.
"That's a big swan." Colin said in amazement. "A beautiful, big swan."
It sat there in Farmer Edward's new pond, as gentle as the waters carrying it. Colin looked at it, and suddenly thought it seemed sad.
"It's almost crying." Colin realized. "Why…?"
"Yip." Shiro nudged Colin. He nodded to his left.
There, sitting on a bed of leaves was the large egg they found yesterday.
***
"Is this yours?" Colin asked, a minute later.
The swan looked a lot bigger up close. He felt sure now that it was bigger than the bird Lynn rode. The thing was huge. Sad, and gentle, but HUGE.
{If it gets angry and attacks me, I'm totally going to die…}
But he did cut down the branch that it nested in. He did take her egg. She would be right to punish him for it.
The big swan stared at him with rich blue eyes, as blue as the edges of her wings. She studied him intently.
{At least she doesn't look so sad any more.}
"Sorry we cut down that branch. We didn't know you nested there." Colin said. "We found your egg and… well…"
The swan dipped its long, arching neck and took a close look at her egg. She inspected it from all angles.
Colin held it out, saying nothing, nervousness keeping him in place even though the egg was heavy and his arms were getting tired.
At last, the great swan drew back, and seemed to sigh.
"You can have it back…" Colin offered weakly.
The swan paused. She looked to the sky, and then looked to Colin.
Slowly, she bent her head and touched Colin's with it. Colin stood there, frozen, feeling the softness and warmth of the swan's feathers as her forehead pressed against his.
Then she drew back, and let out a cry that echoed through the sky.
{That wasn't an angry cry. It wasn't even sad.}
{That sounded like… a command.}
And darkness shrouded the land.
***
Colin stood there, not knowing what to say or do, as clouds covered the sun and it started to rain in seconds. Great, heavy drops fell around him as he held out that egg towards a swan that seemed as confusing as the sudden rain that fell.
Lightning crackled as the rain grew heavier. The clouds that gathered didn't seem to thin at all, instead growing darker and darker every moment. The swan cried out again, and thunder roared in response.
"Uh…" Colin put down the egg, stepping back. "I…"
The great swan grabbed him. Colin had time for one yelp before he was swept off his feet in the beak of that giant swan and set on top of her back.
{What the…?!} Colin stared, as her wings covered him completely. Amidst her thick, two-feet long feathers was a sort of saddle.
{This swan is someone's Comrade!} Colin realized, just in time for lightning to strike down directly in front of him and the swan, and the roar of thunder deafened him.
Colin felt fritzed out as his ears rang, but somehow, he hadn't died. {The swan protected me… that's why she's covering me with her wings.}
The great swan lifted her head to the heavens and cried out once more, a sound that echoed through the whole farm. The storm clouds cleared. The sun shone again.
Five seconds. Colin knew, because he counted. In five seconds, the whole storm disappeared and the only proof it ever happened was the wetness of everything around him.
"Uh…" Colin began, but the swan grabbed him again, and set him back on the ground before her.
He saw it then. The big egg he'd brought had shattered. Pieces of eggshell were scattered for ten feet across the pond's shore.
"What…" Colin gaped, looking around for burnt omelette.
He never found it. He did, however, find something completely different.
He found one big baby bird.
"It… {hatched}?!" Colin jumped, seeing the clumsy thing in the water in front of its mother. It was as big as Fireheart.
The mother swan nudged the baby to Colin. The baby swan bumped into him and Colin fell over backwards with a thump.
"Hey… what…?" Colin began.
The baby swan inspected Colin curiously, then let out a shrill "Kirr!"
"What are you doing? Are you trying to feed me to your kid?" Colin gaped.
A voice behind him laughed.
***
The guy behind him was a knight. The silver armor said it all. His fair face under that frame of short red hair even looked like a knight's.
More to the point his armor had the picture of wings that looked exactly like the swan's on the front. Colin felt sure that this was the knight who bonded the giant swan.
"Who are you?" Colin asked.
"My name's Shinji." He answered, offering Colin a hand. "We stop by here from time to time during missions. The ferryman didn't like us using Sunshine Lake too much, and with this pond here, we figured it would be a nice spot to rest on long flights. Farmer Edward was kind enough to give us permission."
"Oh…" Colin paused. So, Ed knew about this. "Are you a friend of Ed's?"
"Not until recently." Shinji replied. "I'm a Wind Knight. We're couriers, basically. We travel the world delivering packages."
"I've heard of you guys." Colin nodded. "Fast and far."
"That's us." Shinji nodded. "That kind of job is impossible without a Comrade like Rain."
"Rain…?" Colin turned to the big swan. "Why do you call her that?"
"She's a Storm Swan." Shinji explained. "You saw how she called that storm to hatch her egg."
Colin whistled. "A swan that controls the weather…"
"Just rain and storms." Shinji said again. "But then, she's one of the strongest Storm Swans around. Your little cygnet there probably won't be able to do that until she's at least an Elder."
"A what…?" Colin blinked. "And what do you mean, my little cygnet? What's a cygnet?"
"A baby swan." Shinji explained. "Rain practically pushed her hatchling to you. That means she wants you to take care of her baby."
"Me…?" Colin stared. "Bond a Storm Swan?!"
"Yeah." Shinji looked around. "We stop by here a lot, so we'll probably see you from time to time. You're Colin, aren't you?"
"Yeah…" Colin said. "How did you know my name?"
"Katrin told me about you." Shinji said. "But you're never around, always traveling somewhere. Like me, I guess."
"You're based here?!" Colin jumped.
"Me? No, no. I'm based at Heaven's Mirror Lake. Know where that is?"
Colin shook his head. "Not a clue."
"It's far from here." Shinji told him. "About an hour's flight on Rain. It's on the next continent."
"Wow…"Colin sat down on the grass. "That's far."
"Not really." Shinji answered. "They're pretty close together, compared to the other continents. Now, come on. I'll give you a ride to the Comrade Home where you can bond your new Storm Swan."
***
"This can't be right…" Larissa said, looking over Colin and the Cygnet.
The five of them (Larissa, Colin, Shinji, the mother and the baby Storm Swan) were at the front door of the Sunshine Town Comrade Home. Shinji had asked Larissa to open the roof entrance, and Larissa had asked what-for… which eventually led to this.
"What's wrong?" Shinji questioned. "Why can't it be right? My Comrade gave her hatchling to Colin. What's wrong with that?"
"They touched, didn't they?" Larissa frowned.
"Bowled him right over, she did." Shinji nodded.
"And she's not running away?" Larissa asked.
"She's obviously right here."
Larissa paused. "That's… strange. I've never seen a Storm Swan accept a Green Badge so easily before."
"With her mom's approval, and being newly hatched?" Shinji pointed out.
"Still…" Larissa shook her head. "Something like a Storm Swan is way too powerful for most Green Badges, especially those who got to green only last night. He'll have trouble commanding her."
"He'll just have to buck up, and fast." Shinji shrugged. "Or he'll be stuck with a rogue Comrade that eats all his food but doesn't do what he says."
"That's not funny!" Larissa flared as Shinji started laughing.
Colin started getting nervous at that point, but he thought, {why not? I need to advance really fast just to avoid the Green Men anyway. This just gives me one more reason.}
What did he need to get to Blue Badge? Thirty mission points. Three hundred levels in total by all his Comrades. {I have a lot to do.}
"What's her name?" Larissa asked, eyeing the big cygnet.
Colin scratched his head. "I dunno. The daughter of rain should be… puddle?"
Larissa choked as Shinji burst out laughing. While slapping Larissa on the back, he made a suggestion. "Tell you what, Colin. The sound she makes is 'kirr', right? Why don't you call her 'Kirin'? Depending on what language you're looking at, it could mean either 'giraffe' or 'poet'."
" 'Poet' sounds nice, for a swan." Larissa coughed.
"Kirin…" Colin thought about it. "Sounds good."
"Well, if you're going to do this, let's do it." Larissa said, waving Shinji away. "Come with me, Colin."
"Okay…" Colin followed her.
Behind them, Shinji waved goodbye and took off without another word.
{Oh, great… I wanted to ask him about so many things…}
But he was already gone.