Parrot Island
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 118322
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Poor, confused, lovesick Bella! She squawked in distress, crying, "No! Phelyp!" but unable to generate anything more specific as she was separated from the man she had loved. She tried to bite Nate over and over, and eventually he stuffed her into a sack, though he very nearly shed tears doing it. To him, it seemed that her mind had broken from the changes to which she had been subjected. Phelyp didn't put up too much of a fight. If she was ever restored, assuming the love potion lasted, she would return to him, but if not, he really wasn't interested in caring for a parrot for what would surely be the rest of his life. Nate traveled until he could pass her off to someone he trusted, who in turn passed her off to someone else, who was paid generously to travel to an island off the coast of the kingdom of Hadar covered in dense jungle. All the while, she was referred to only as "pretty bird," and eventually, though she still knew the word "Bella," she had rather forgotten that it was her name. When Bella was released, her avian instincts compelled her immediately to stretch her wings, although she had never flown before. The other parrots welcomed her at once; though she knew many words, they knew none, as they had never heard human speech before. Nate had failed to take this into account when he'd sent her, assuming he'd be able to easily identify her by the words she knew, and drastically underestimating the population of parrots on the island. Within days, her most basic of vocabulary was out there, being passed around by the entire eclectus population. Now, poor Bella was still highly distressed and bewildered, her mind torn in many directions. She remembered being a knight, she missed Phelyp desperately, and she wished to still be human, but she was also quite comfortable in this environment, thanks to her new form; this jungle was very well-suited to what she had become. So, she slowly assimilated into the parrot population, and they grew used to her in turn. It was very, very soon that Bella began the mating process--as soon as she'd built a nest, really. It seemed that females very rarely left their nest hollows, which made sense to her. Within the first few months, she had viciously fought off one other female who had tried to intrude on her nest, and had mated with four males. Unfortunately, she suffered a great deal of distress after laying two eggs. One source was the fact that her nest hollow was quite small, and may be inadequate for rearing these young. The other source was the human part of her--the part that was in love with the herbalist whose name was, in her fractured mind, no longer connected to her memory of him. Things were not supposed to happen this way... She missed him so much. She remained in her little nest for about a month, being regularly brought food by a variety of males. She shuddered a bit the first few times this occurred, as it was done via regurgitation, but she got used to it very quickly. When the eggs hatched, and she saw that one of them had the bright green feathers indicative of a male, she knew at once that, with her low status and vulnerable nest, he was a dangerous waste of resources. was suddenly completely overcome by pure violence guided by instinct, and she snaked forward, snapping up the tiny bird in her powerful beak and hurling him from the nest. She was dazed for a long moment. What had she done? She had killed her own offspring... The bird part of her knew it was necessary for survival, at least this mating season, but the human part was overcome with horror. She sadly said the word that she always said when she was in need of comfort: "Phelyp." She raised her daughter until she fledged, all the time yearning for her beloved. Fortunately, by the next mating season, things had improved; her nest was better fortified, and this time, when both her babies turned out to be male, she knew she could raise them both. Some years went by before anything changed. The more time passed, the less she remembered from her human life. She always knew there was something she wanted to return to, but she kept losing details regarding who or what or why. She kept using words from her old life, as did the other parrots of the island, but she had forgotten what most of them meant. She had spent four years on the island when...
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7/26/2021 1:11:51 AM
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