4 Change

Nobody expects a baby, much less an abandoned one, to be taken in by magical birds. If that were that case, Oriole wouldn't be here. Luckily, she is.

Oriole couldn't understand her situation at the age she was in when the Benedictio fugae family took her in as their own. Soon, she will understand and hopefully accept it. But for now let's just focus on the present.

Oriole giggled as Feather's head tickled her skin. That happiness only lasted a moment as her smile turned into a frown. Her eyes, filled with joy, suddenly filled with sadness. Emotional hell broke loose as Oriole watered the emerald grass with her salty tears. The Benedictio family jumped. Why was she crying all of a sudden? Her wings behind her flapped the ground as if they were throwing a tantrum on their own.

Feather backed away. Ki watched her in confusion while Irma knew exactly what was going on. {Dear, do you know if Oriole ate anything? She must be hungry...}

Ki widened his eyes. Of course. If her parents had left her there on purpose, they'd probably expected her to die from starvation. It'd be slow but at her age, she'd have nothing to rely on if Ki had left her there. {Of course! No, she hadn't ate anything so I found her...}

Irma nodded in understanding. She turned to the natural tree house and flew off. Everyone except Oriole as she was blinded by her tears. Everything was in a blur in her eyes.

Irma returned with a plastic container of strawberries, ones you would find in a grocery store. She forcefully opened the container and held out a strawberry in her talons. Oriole didn't take it. Irma titled her head in confusion. {She's should be hungry, why isn't she eating?} Irma asked. Feather spoke up.

{From what I know about humans, when babies are hungry, they drink from the body of their mother. Right here...} Feather pointed at her fluffy chest with her wing. {So, maybe she needs something to DRINK as her food.}

Irma nodded. {She can drink from the river. It's clean and natural so I'm pretty sure she'll have no trouble.}

Everyone nodded. Feather stayed by Oriole's side as her parents flew to the tree house. They entered the tree house and looked around. There were a bunch of food to the left of the trees such as millets, seeds, fruits and vegetables. On the right were materials that the family found useful around the forest. The couple waddled to the cluster of materials and dug around until Ki pulled something out with his beak. It was a sippy cup they collected in case of preserving something inside. The couple flew away and to the river. Upon landing, Ki turned to a Cockatoo, using his talons to pry open the bottle. Irma grabbed the cup and dunked it into the river, filling the cup with the clear water.

Back at Feather and Oriole, Feather did everything she could to calm Oriole down.

{Shh, Oriole, you'll be fine, Mama and Papa are bringing your drink, just calm down.} Oriole couldn't calm down. She was so hungry.

At last, the birds arrived back to the girls. The sippy cup had already been closed off, ready for Oriole to drink.

Everyone helped out to get Oriole comfortable: Ki collected all the nearby leaves and put it under Oriole's head, making a makeshift pillow. Irma held the cup, ready to feed Oriole and Feather...Feather was there for support.

Finally, Oriole took the bottle and sipped. The water was refreshing and thirst-quenching. Oriole finally calmed down as she whined happily. After all day, she had finally relaxed and was slowly drifting off to sleep. Oh how she needed to sleep badly now. With one final happy whine and drink, Oriole had closed her eyes to visit Dreamland.

In reality, everyone watched her drift off. Irma gently pulled away the sippy cup from Oriole's lips. Everyone turned into seagulls as they carried her away into the safety of the tree house. The branches were actually quite comfortable and big for her to sleep I peacefully.

The family sighed in relief. What a day...

They all turned small to parrotlets, each huddling together with Oriole to keep her warmth. The sun was setting now.

🌒6:30 PM.

Early, but birds sleep early all the time, so did babies. This was no exception.

☀️9:38 AM

All the birds in the tree house pulled their heads out of their backs and stretched their wings. Feather ran up to the entrance of the tree house. It was a really bright, sunny day, perfect to take a dip in the river. She was excited; she lived swimming.

Feather turned to her parents, the question of heading out to the river at the tip of her tongue when she noticed: {Mama! Look!}

Everyone turned to where Feather was mentioning; the baby. They all turned. She was still there but something was different. Her soft, slightly bald head was now green.

Ki flapped his wings in realization. {I forgot about her transformation!}

When the blessing of the Benedictio fugae transfers to the person by the bird, it'll take from overnight to up to 24 hours for the person's body to adjust to its wings. Their body also adjusts to a few other things such as hair and eye color. Depending on what color the Benedictio fugae is, their eye colors will change. Since Oriole's Benedictio fugae (Ki) is green, her hair and eye color turned green overnight. If the person's eye/hair color was already their fugae's color, it will turn a different shade of the color. If the blessed person's hair is dyed in the color of the Benedictio fugae, it will no longer be dyed hair, but turn natural.

Oriole's hair color would've originally been a tortilla brown if Ki never gave her her blessing. Now, her body is adjusted to the blessing which means her hair and eyes are green.

Irma glared at her partner. {How could you have forgotten such an important thing?}

Ki glared back. {You forgot too!}

{You were the one who gave Oriole the blessing so she's YOUR responsibility!}

While the couple fought, Feather sneaked around them to Oriole. Her hair was so pretty, she was excited to see Oriole's eyes once she woke up.

As Feather couldn't contain her excitement, she turned into a Bald Eagle. She rotated around Oriole and grabbed ahold of Oriole without harming her. She flew through the leaves of the trees and flew outside. She landed and let go of Oriole. She waited and waited until finally Oriole awoke with a soft whimper. She stretched and awoke, half asleep as she looked around her surroundings. Her eyes landed on Feather as she made a soft noise. A strand of hair feel in front of her eyes. Oh, hair! Oriole giggled as she played with it and curled it in her fingers.

{Okay, Oriole.} Feather chirped, even though Oriole couldn't understand her. {Let's help you with your powers!}