Tributes: Atreus, Domiinuk, Erullu: Nokt Tributes: Atreus, Domiinuk, Erullu

Erullu didn’t mind the big brutes of harpias for the hunting, they had proven they could throw their weight around, but that really wasn’t what she had been hoping for when it came to partners for the tribute to Nokt. Why couldn’t it have been two other chiros? Or even a lycan? They were still more agile than a harpia. And they still had five toes. It’s a shame the announcer at the end of the race hadn’t been more specific that the partners she choose would be with her for both of the remaining trials. She might have asked her rider to pick differently. There was nothing to be done about it now though. The chiro sighed as it shifted its wings from where it hung upside down on a cliffy just behind the two harpias. The unlikely trio had found it was easier to communicate this way given the height difference when the chiro was sitting on the ground. Here their riders could be level with each other despite the harpias still being both firmly planted on the ground.

They watched as several other trios, pairs and solos went before them. They had not drawn an early spot when the lots were drawn for this trial. Not that any of them were exactly eager to be the first to jump into the frigid night air and see how big of a mess they could make with such a massive size difference between them. Oh sure, the harpias were very similar in size and wingspan. It made them very balanced. A great pair for the trial, even if they only begrudgingly accepted it. But the tiny chiro? Arguably the lightest stryx at this entire gathering? Unless she was planning to ride the harpias around for their display, many in the gathered crowd were uncertain what the trio were expecting to do.

Thankfully, the two riders of the harpias knew better than to show their cards before playing. They’d had a week since the hunt to prepare for this night as the moon had slowly grown until tonight when it showed its full face down upon the gathered crowd. Small campfires that had burned down to smoldering embers were scattered around the grounds and small parties huddled around them for heat, but didn’t try to stoke them high lest they miss part of the aerial displays going on above them. The relied on the slow glow and thick furs to keep them warm through what was surely going to be a long night.

The runner came along to let them know it was their turn next, and after acknowledging that they looked at each other for confirmation, “Like we practiced it?” the others nodded. So they took to the skies as the proceeding pair arced gracefully over one another, climbing well behind the fields to give them room so that they could start already in the skies.

They circled until the others were done and well clear, and the single torch confirming they could begin was waved. The harpias siddled closer to one another, much like they had upon first meeting each other, though that had been on the ground and not several thousand feet in the air. Still, closer and closer they soared next to each other, slowly folding the wing that was closest to the other harpia, tucking the long primaries back under the secondaries, bending slowly at the elbow to bow the wings back to a semi-furled position. And above these two entangled wings was the little chiro Erullu, her comparatively tiny wingspan spread wide as she centered herself above the two partially folded wings, each belonging to a separate stryx. Gently, she pulled her feet up close under her belly as she let her outstretched wings rest her weight spread across the backs and furled wings of the haripas.

Three moving as one, they spiraled down, the chiro perched precariously upon the harpias as they descended until they were only several hundred feet above the ground. Then, as one movement, the boys unfurled their wings, lifting them in unison as the miniscule chiro pushed off their shoulders with her legs, springboarding off their bodies as she shot up into the air. Within two quick wing beats she felt her rider lean back in the harness, using her weight to add momentum to help the chiro flip over her back, completing a loop at the xenith of her arc. The harpias, now with the full use of both their wings, had circled around to close the gap between the somersaulting chiro. They banked hard, turning nearly vertical as they swooped around the tiny chiro as she fell from the loop, obscuring her in their mass of feathered plumage, but then didn’t emerge beneath the wing beats of the giant harpias.

The crowd stared on in shock, where had the chiro gone? There were surprised gasps as the harpias broke from their tight circle to pull up, wings beating hard. But there, beneath the harpias hung another form. Hanging with one foot grasped firmly in the talons of each royal harpia was the little monochrome chiro. The harpias flapped with all their might, climbing slowly in the air with the chiro in tow. That was certainly an unusual display for the evening, it was the first time anyone had seen two stryx climb in the air with a third being carried by them.

The two young men riding the harpias looked at each other as they felt the powerful muscles of the stryx underneath them tense. Was it now? They nodded, and as one, yelled for their stryx to throw. With wings spread to their fullest, tails flared and the harpias backwinged as they flung their powerful legs forward and up, using the chiro as a counterweight for their own paired back flips as they released the chiro at the top of the arc, flinging her up and above them as they went tail over head backwards in a dramatic flip, streaking down to the ground to flare at the last moment, both massive royals sticking the landing, talons sinking into the earth. Both soil stryx bowed low as the tiny chiro spiraled down to land in the middle of the two large males, thus ending their performance under the full moon of winter.