Wings of Purpose

Chapter Three “The Holiday” “Attitude defines our path” The eagles returned to Tall Poppy’s home with Kite. Moment and Fearless could tell that something was wrong. Baby looked miserable, and Tall Poppy was not talking to Intellect and Kite looked as usual surprised by all the events that had taken place. Intellect explained everything to Moment and Fearless. Moment understood totally about taking Baby to see her family but Fearless agreed with Tall Poppy and did not understand it at all. That evening there was stillness in the air and no one spoke to each other. In the morning, everyone woke up to Moment singing away and packing up some things. Baby was helping and she looked brighter and happier. “What’s going on?” Intellect said in a curious way, “We’re going to the beach for a holiday”, Baby chuckled. Intellect could see Baby looked happier and so joined in the excitement, and helped Moment get organized for the trip. Tall Poppy was in a rather grumpy mood and said he was not going. Baby, looked at him with her big brown eyes, pouted and reached out her wing to him. He could not resist and reluctantly said that he would go. Fearless had decided not to go; he wanted to go away on his own for a while. Moment knew he needed to test his newfound inner strength and smiled at him in an encouraging way. Intellect asked Kite to join them and he said he would love to. They set off for Eagle Bay, it was about a four hours flight and they intended to spend a week resting and enjoying themselves at the bay. They arrived at the beach in the afternoon, the sea was crashing on the rocks, but the bay was calm, the water turquoise and the sand was as white as can be. There were a few other eagles at the beach, but they kept entirely to themselves. They set up camp on a rock above the Bay; and Baby was immediately checking the place out, with Tall Poppy following behind her to make sure that she did not get into mischief. Tall poppy had become very fond of Baby and was determined to look after her. Moment and Intellect got Kite to fetch a few things that were needed for the camp, some sticks and something soft for them to sleep on. Kite did as he was told and Moment and Intellect sat down and talked about how wonderful it was to be at the beach and feel the sea air. Baby decided that she would talk to some of the other eagles. She noticed an older eagle with a dignified stance standing near the ocean looking out to sea. This eagle was called Spirit and he was in a meditative stance. “Hey mister eagle, what you doing”, Baby could not resist. Spirit ignored her hoping she would go away. Baby walked over and started to pull at one of Spirits feathers, trying desperately to get his attention. Tall Poppy came on the scene, just in time and told Baby to stop irritating Spirit. Everyone knew who Spirit was, he was one of the most respected eagles and he had strong magical powers, he was not an eagle to mess with. Baby was not impressed and instead of listening to Tall Poppy she jumped up and down in front of Spirit pulling faces and poking out her tongue. Spirit realized that his meditation was useless with this baby eagle carrying on in front of him. He opened his eyes and looked deeply into the eyes of Baby. In that instant Baby was frozen, she could not move and was just like a statue on a rock, she also had a contorted look on her face and her tongue was pushed out to the side. “I am so sorry Spirit, she is young and gets a bit carried away”, Tall Poppy was apologetic. Spirit raised himself up and spread out his wings, and stood tall on the rock, he was truly a handsome and awesome creature. Tall Poppy felt so small in his presence. Spirit said, “She must learn one of life’s lessons to respect the silent state of a high ranking eagle”. Tall Poppy knew not to argue with Spirit, and so he asked him how long he would leave Baby in that condition. “Until I feel the time is right”, replied a determined Spirit. Tall Poppy ran back to Moment and Intellect, he explained what had happened and begged them to help Baby. Moment and Intellect flew at once to see what had happened to Baby. Spirit had gone into another meditative trance and Moment knew that now was not the time to ask Spirit to release Baby from being a statue. Moment knew Spirit very well and decided that she would enter his trance through her spiritual powers. She raised herself up in the air and soared high into the sky. Moment focused her mind on Spirit and tried to lock into his thoughts, as he stood on the rock. There was a silence that came over the Bay and the feathers of all the eagles stood up on end. Moment had special powers similar to Spirit’s and the connection of the two could be felt across the bay. Spirit sensing her presence joined her in flight and all that could be seen from the ground was two birds locked together, head to head, Moment’s forehead resting on Spirits. Intellect had to sit down and calm her nerves, this could be a battle or a sign of peace, and she was just not sure. Tall Poppy was sitting next to Baby, hoping she would be all right. Kite had passed out on the ground; the events of the day were too much for him. Then Moment raised her head away from Spirit and the laughter of Moment and Spirit could be heard for miles. Baby was released in an instant and Tall Poppy hugged her in excitement and then remembered that he did not do things like that. Baby was aware that she had overstepped the mark and Intellect stroked her feathers and told her that she must apologize to Spirit when he came down from the sky Spirit and Moment descended they looked like long lost friends. It was obvious that these two eagles had a strong bond. Baby said sorry to Spirit, and he accepted and gave her one of his feathers, “Keep this as a reminder to respect the spiritual side of yourself”, said Spirit’s. Baby looked puzzled, but decided that she had said enough for one day. Intellect decided that they would have a party to celebrate. They invited all the other eagles at the Bay. Spirit declined and said he had business to attend to. Moment and Spirit locked glances; there was obviously unfinished business between them. The other eagles now held Moment in awe and decided to come to the party. Everyone brought along food and it was decided that they would do the eagle song and dance to it. Eagles in the Sky Eagles up on High Everywhere we go No one really knows Spreading out our wings Rising on the wind Commanding all the things That the spirit brings The eagles sang this like a rap song but the dance that they did was a bit of a disaster. Baby and Intellect in their exuberance kept tripping everyone up by accident. The eagles were more elegant off the ground than on the ground, that is for sure. Everyone had a great time and the laughter of the eagles was loud and infectious. While everyone was partying Tall Poppy sensed that a storm was on its way. He went out and searched for a cave for him and his travel companions to stay in, which he found. Moment had also sensed the storm and was glad of Tall Poppy’s initiative. Baby was fast asleep and she would need to be carried to the cave. They all followed Tall Poppy to the cave and set up their new camp. In the morning the storm had come into the bay. The wind was howling fearlessly. The eagles were trapped in the cave for the day and one of the eagles would have to go out to get food. Baby had woken up sobbing and it was obvious that the memory of her family was still impacting on her. Moment comforted her and told her that everything would be OK. In no time at all Baby was up and about, wondering why they could not go out and play. Intellect tried to amuse her, but Baby was frustrated at being cooped up and was making a nuisance of herself.