Stryx Advent Scraps: Advent 15

Sitting by the ocean, watching the sunset, with a small sketchbook and pencil in hand. This is exactly how Kida loved to spend her evenings. The large pile of smelly fish next to her, well… she could really do without it.

Glancing up every now and then from her work, she watched her dark-feathered Corva wait in the shallows. He was almost as still as a statue, his beak pointed down towards the water as his cyan eyes watched for movement below the surface. Whenever a fish was unlucky enough to cross his path, his beak darted forward, quickly snatching up his prey. Having just caught another, Gula waded back to the shore and deposited the fish on the pile.

“Nice work, puffball,” Kida muttered with a smile, just barely glancing up from her sketchbook to witness what looked like a glare. The powerful smell of the fish pile was killing her sensitive nose, but she knew he would get tired and they would pack it all up soon enough. He had already been at it for an hour, after all. The royal Corva toddled back into the water and took a seat, waiting for the fish to grow comfortable with his statue-like presence again.

Her attention focused back onto her sketchbook, Kida couldn’t help but feel like they weren’t alone on the beach. Her ears twitched nervously as she looked behind her, but saw nothing among the trees. Letting out a small ‘Hmm’, she turned back to watch her Corva, who didn’t seem to be bothered like she was. She took this as a sign to relax and get back to her work, not noticing the light footsteps behind her.

It wasn’t until she heard the click of a beak and squishing of fish that she glanced at the pile, almost jumping back with a startled squeak at the unexpected visitor. It was a small hawk, with red and white striped feathers, their ice-blue eyes staring at her and the Corva as they munched on a fish. They didn’t seem frightened by the cat’s reaction, likely because they knew they could make an extremely quick getaway.

“What the hell?” the cat exclaimed, making an uneffective shooing motion with her hand. The hawk seemed to make a slight chittering noise in response. Kida’s ears twitched again as she heard the familiar splash of Gula catching a fish, looking back at him, still very confused by the sudden appearance of this visitor.

As Gula turned to make his way back to the pile of fish with his fresh catch, he spotted the strange hawk and his crest immediately shot into the air. His neck feathers puffed up and he opened his beak, letting go of the fish he had just captured as he let out a very angry caw. The Corva charged forward, splashing through the shallows of the ocean towards the hawk, who had eaten a few fish already and was hastily loading up another trio into their beak.

Seeing the intimidating, black-feathered bird storming towards them from the water was enough of a warning. Gripping their fish tightly, the red and white bird turned and sped off into the trees, leaving Gula behind in the sand as his water-logged feathers slowed him down. All the while, Kida just continued to stare, absolutely dumbfounded by what had just occurred. A slight cracking of branches and leaves in the distance, followed by the wild flapping of the hawk taking off, was heard by the duo. They watched as the hawk quickly darted through the pink sky, taking a mouthful of fish with them.

Gula let out an annoyed huff, shaking the sand from his feathers as Kida shook her head, starting to pack up the fish into a large bag that the Corva could carry. “I guess we’ll be wrapping up for tonight. It’s alright, they didn’t take much,” she reassured her mount, patting his wing slightly. “Let’s head home.”