.><. Llusernau .><.
The Sashohan territory was faring no better than the neighboring kingdom. Messages of scarcity were worrying the crown and those in the know. Nau was one of those owls. It worried him as well. He didn't have much for leading in his hollow bones but he knew this was not a good situation for the owls in the area. Or the animals in the area.
Rumors of a famine had been quickly spreading throughout the owls who were smart enough to piece the struggle to get enough food. So far no owlets had gone hungry. The crown was not doing well either, trying to disperse any food found evenly. Such was the Sashohan way. They depended on communication and community.
Nau cocked his head to the side, perched in a pine near the perimeter of the territory. His black eyes narrowed as he examined the trees and the grass below. Even the stream below seemed to be struggling. He hissed a quiet sigh and stretched out his greyscale wings, lifting off. He settled into the wind, somewhat gliding and peering at the ground, watching.
.
He landed shortly in a lush weeping willow tree, on one of the firmer branches. But it still wobbled, though it's roots were planted deeply amidst a pond, a beaver dam created this oasis. He noticed the water dimished since he'd been there last. His spirited were dropping as he glanced around. The wind was whistling, as were the voices nearing the top of the massive tree.
He lifted off again, bursting speed and landing by the crowns' nest. He glanced down at the nest, memories flooding him momentarily. "What are we to do?" and "I don't know.." were pretty much all he understood of his parent's chat. The whirring, hooting tones hushed as his wingbeats disruppted the conversation.
"Sorry, mother, father, have I interrupted?" He hissed, as respectively as he could manage to the pair of sooty tytos. Their erie heads swivled toward him. "Not particularly, what do you need Llus?" The king responded in a hushed, rushed tone. Nau was hesitant to speak. He was hoping for an update but never really worked out what or how to ask them. He reeled his head away and puffed out his feathers, debating his words.
Certainly I should ask for information of this, he thought, What about the Wilikars? Surely that southern kingdom would be better. After all, they'd always been better with prey than his own territory.
"I was just, uh, wondering about news. I was out for a flight and the grass seems to be wilting. I saw hardly any life." He explained, somewhat vague. The pair of larger owls looked at each other in a distainful expression. "Thats about all we know, the prey is only getting thinner." His mother was the slightly bigger owl. Amara. She squealed as she spoke.
The male, Nocturn was thinking. "I've thought of sending a party to the Wilikar kingdom. But tempers may be short with the lack of food." He confessed. Nau took a moment to let this sink in, his head pointed at the ground. He sighed.
His gut- or in this case, gizzard- was churning. His feathers bristled. "It would be wise, if we can keep an alliance of sorts it would be best if we did not have conflict in this mess." He shook his head. Nau offered a thank you and turned. Leaving by air.
.
How could it all just be disappearing? It wasn't like the population was expanding that rapidly. Was it?
He began crabbing on the wind, aiming for a nearby place to rest. The moonlight filtered oddly, but he had no issues spying out a place and landing on that same pin oak branch. A place to sort his thoughts. Safely hidden away.
.
(Took me a hot second sorry!)
Sunny
