2 Julie

Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings." -Victor Hugo

Year 2300

The jagged rock passed so close over Julie's head it ruffled her sleek brown hair as it whistled overhead. Gritting her teeth, Julie Naya stooped lower, gathering up her own armful of stones. The dust clinging to them trickled down over her newly clean brown tunic vest and smeared her sweating palms, but she ignored that. The blood was pounding in her ears, and all her senses were hyperaware. Inwardly, she was berating herself furiously. How could you let them corner you like this? She took careful aim at the chest of the nearest boy, when a lightning twinge of pain lanced up her arm. Julie dropped the rock, fighting the urge to swear as she chanced a quick glance upward.

Above, a different sort of fight was taking place. Five or six large, tawny birds had ganged up on one. The creature caught in the middle was a handsome male gyrfalcon, not quite grown to full size. His black and white speckled plumage was, at the moment, being forcibly thinned out, especially on the wings, as the merciless talons of the other birds raked at him. Nevertheless, he fought on gamely, backing up his claw swipes with rasping screeches. His yellow eyes blazed.

"Hang in there, Icarus!" shouted Julie hoarsely, her throat clogged with the dust her boots were scuffing up. For the eighth time she glanced around the narrow stone alley the gang had boxed her into, looking for an escape. No use. The leader of the street bullies, Pete, was hefting an enormous rock from hand to hand, blocking Julie's way dead ahead. He laughed sneeringly, showing several missing teeth. The ones still attached to his gums were a filthy yellow.

"You thought yous' could jump me, challenge me, and get away without some lovely bruises on yer face?" he growled mockingly, laughing again. His gang obediently laughed with him. All their voices sounded like tumbling gravel.

"Back off, Pete," said Julie threateningly, grabbing up another rock. She knew she could never actually beat Pete in a hand-to-hand fight. Should have thought of that before you started this, genius, she told herself snidely. But she still might be able to bluff her way out of this.

"No chance," snarled Pete, advancing with his rock, which Julie thought looked a bit more like a small boulder.

Seeing Pete move forward, the harried gyrfalcon dove with a furious screech, only to be caught by the vicious claws of a scraggly female hawk.

"That's it, Eris!" crowed Pete, looking up at the hawk. "Hold that bloody chicken while I take care of 'is precious bond…"

I'm so sorry I got you into this, Ic. Julie directed the thought desperately at the struggling gyrfalcon.

The reply came jabbing into her brain, taut with anger, directed not at her, but at the bullies. I will hurt them if they hurt you Julie. It is they who should be sorry. And they will be. Oh yes, they will be. Kreearrrkkkk! The reply mingled with a falcon battle screech. Julie felt a surge of pride for her brave bond.

"Do what you want with the feather duster, Eris," Pete continued aloud. Julie spared a moment to loathe Pete for speaking out loud to his bird bond. He could just as easily have formed the comment in thought, as was typical, but Pete seemed to delight in voicing all his insults so Julie got the full benefit.

The red-tailed hawk, Eris, gave a wicked squawk of fiendish delight and nipped the gyrfalcon hard on its neck. Julie felt a stab of pain in her own neck and winced involuntarily. Anger drove her to raise her rock again. "Blast it, Pete, let go of Icarus or I'll kill you."

Pete laughed once more. Julie really despised that laugh. It rocketed around inside your head and jarred your brain with its cruelty. "Oh ho, little miss Naya is getting angry," he cooed in a mock baby voice. "I'm so terrified, oh no…"

All of a sudden, one of the tawny birds of prey overhead gave a scream of alarm. Eris, Pete's hawk, let go of Icarus in a flash. Julie could almost see the flashing eyes of the antagonizing birds dilating with fear. Pete froze, dropping the rock he was clutching to the dirt with a loud thud and a puff of dust. And then Julie heard the noise, a soft, almost inaudible whisper that was utter music to her ears.

As though it had dropped straight out of the clear blue sky, a huge bark-brown shape hurtled straight into the middle of the throng of attacking birds with a booming "WHOOT!". The birds, all except the gyrfalcon Icarus, scattered with squawks of terrified surprise as though shot from cannons. Feathers flew as the birds, moments ago so brave, fled as if for their very lives in every direction. A grinning look upward from Julie showed the hawk Eris herself, fleeing toward the center of town with an absolutely colossal owl on her tail, its beak snapping ominously.

Pete swore when he saw the owl, his face draining of color. "Oh damn, it's Beroli. Come on, we're out of 'ere. But I'll not ferget this, Naya, you can bet my bond on it."

Julie laughed openly, a feeling of glee welling up in her. "Your bond's having her stinking tailfeathers chased all around town right now, Pete. I'm not worried."

She watched as Pete and his gang began backing away, trying hard to make a dignified and menacing withdrawal. But they threw dignity to the winds when a long shadow, silhouetted by the sun, appeared around the corner. Boots thudding on the cobblestones, the six boys beat a retreat as fast and disorderly as their bonds'.

Still grinning, Julie turned to face the approaching tall shadow with relief. Icarus floated down onto her shoulder, churring with bird laughter to match his human bond's mood. The gyrfalcon's weight was familiar, his gentle grip was reassuring.

"So," Julie called out, "Mr. Scary Beroli to the rescue again, huh?"

"Hey, I just saved your butt…again. Do you think it's a very good idea to get smart with your brave and noble rescuer?"

Luke Beroli trotted around the corner and leaned against the wall of the alley, grinning at her. He was about a head taller than she was, and at fifteen, two years older. He had bright hazel eyes and hair a shade darker than wheat that was combed all over his head in no particular way. A fringe of it hung down over his forehead, and he was always brushing it out of his eyes on habit.

Julie folded her arms across her chest, pretending to be annoyed, but his teasing grin was so infectious she couldn't keep a straight face. "I'm really glad you showed up when you did. Pete was about to let Eris pull poor Ic's head off and then whack me with a rock."

Luke grin vanished to be replaced by an uncharacteristically ugly look. "Mud for brains, that one. I almost feel sorry for his bond, except she's just as rotten as he is…Hey, here comes Athena."

With a near silent whoosh, the giant eagle owl came swooping back over Julie's head and landed neatly on the leather pad buckled to Luke's shoulder. Her forbidding talons curled under, so as not to stab him. She swiveled her huge head smoothly to look at Julie, and then hooted. As always, Julie felt a pleasant shiver as the hoot rumbled through her bones with its depth of tone.

"Thank you too, Athee. You came just in time," Julie said affectionately, using two fingers to smooth the brown feathers between Athena's ear tufts. The eagle owl blinked her orange eyes lazily and hooted again, more softly.

"So, who started it this time? Wait, wait, let me guess…you." Luke raised one of his pale eyebrows, smiling wryly.

Julie hid her embarrassment by scowling at him.

"Well…yes, but only because Pete was insulting Mother Acko again!"

Mother Acko was the oldest person in the whole village, and it was she who had looked after Julie as far back as she could remember. Whenever Julie thought of peace, safety, and family, the stooped, graying figure of the old woman came to mind. She walked with a limp and had a croaky voice, but Julie loved her anyway, and anytime anyone made a smart remark about her, Julie's blood would start boiling. The only two people she had in the world were Mother Acko and Luke, after all.

Luke had been her best friend since she was four and he six. Everyone in the village had marveled about their powerful friendship, the way they seemed inseparable. It had surprised no one that Julie had accompanied Luke on the all-important ritual of his bonding to Athena when he turned twelve, and he on hers to Icarus two years later. Julie had always known it was just one more sign of their friendship when both their bird bonds had chosen names straight from Greek legend. In fact, Julie remembered, Luke had teased her unmercifully when the two of them borrowed a book on Greek legends from Mother Acko. She could still see him rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter when they discovered that Athena was a goddess of wisdom and knowledge, and Icarus had been a foolish young man who had tried to fly to the sun with false wings. Icarus, even though he had been a mere fledgling on that day, had hopped over and pecked Luke in the head with his tiny hooked beak as though he understood his name was being ridiculed. That had made them both collapse in laughter.

Luke's fingers snapped inches from Julie's face, shocking her out of her reminiscences. "Sorry," she said in response to his exasperated look. "Just thinking."

"You think too much," snorted Luke, but he reached over and good-naturedly ruffled Icarus's dappled head feathers. "I'll bet you could have beaten Eris, right, big guy?"

Icarus shuffled on his leather bond pad, bobbing his head fiercely. Next time I will get them. Next time we will fight so hard, they will flee with half their feathers missing!

Luke chuckled. "I'll bet you will, Ic."

Normally, people could not hear each other's bird bonds, and it was considered somewhat impolite to try and talk to someone else's bond. But bird bonds also adopted in part the feelings of their humans, which meant that Luke and Julie could converse freely with one another's bonds simply because of their longstanding friendship.

At that moment, a raspy voice called quaveringly, "Julie? Is that your voice I hear? And Luke?"

Julie's head snapped up. "Oh no," she breathed. "Mother Acko! She'll know I was fighting! She never understands why I do it…she'll kill me!"

"For that matter, I don't understand why you pick fights you can't win with Pete…" began Luke teasingly, but Julie grabbed his shoulders. She actually had to reach up to do it now; Luke had grown three inches in the last year.

"Back me up, okay? You know Mother Acko loves you…she'll let you get away with murder! Please Luke?"

Luke pretended to think, screwing up his face and sticking his tongue between his teeth exaggeratedly until Julie shook him again, nearly dislodging Athena. The eagle owl hooted indignantly.

"Okay, okay, I'm your friend, remember?" he grinned at her. "I'm not going to take off and leave you. At least not this time…"

He moved up alongside her, quickly brushed some of his bangs into his eyes, ruffled his hair a little, and adopted his best innocent face. Even at fifteen, it made him look simultaneously pitiable and dashing, a combination no woman, especially Mother Acko, had ever been able to resist.

Mother Acko rounded the corner at that exact moment, her sharp bright eyes darting about like a hawk's. The village elder spotted the two of them immediately and hobbled in their direction. She was simply dressed in her brown robe and gray shawl, which she always said were the only clothes she needed in the world. She leaned heavily on a thick wooden cane with its head carved in the shape of an owl's head, which was fitting. Mother Acko's bird bond was seated on her shoulder pad; an ancient, graying Great Horned Owl named Jujo. One of his yellow eyes was permanently sealed shut, but the other, though affected with cataracts, was still bright. He hooted gruffly at them as Mother Acko came closer. Julie felt a twinge of guilt and hurriedly tried to brush off some of the dust coating her tunic vest. Somehow when Jujo hooted like that it always sounded very reprimanding.

Mother Acko's sharp eyes took in all the details in a second. Her eyes narrowed as they rested on Julie, and she exhaled an exasperated sigh. "Fighting again, Julie?" she asked shrewdly.

Julie opened her mouth to reply, but Luke stepped in. Julie felt an overwhelming rush of gratitude for her friend as he struck a dramatic pose and said quickly, "She was merely defending your good name, my dear Mother Acko. You know Julie feels duty bound…" He was cut off in the middle of his eloquent speech by Mother Acko rapping him on the nose with her cane.

"Charmer!" she said, pretending to look fierce. "I know your tricks by now! Let Julie answer for herself!"

Luke backed up so his nose wasn't pressed against the cane and gave Julie an apologetic "you're-on-your-own" face.

Julie took a deep breath, brushing more dust from her shirt to buy time. Icarus whistled reassuringly in her ear.

"I was fighting, Mother Acko. It was Pete and his gang…they were making fun of you and I couldn't stand it anymore…"

"Julie, how many times have I told you, I am too old to care what people like those boys think of me!" croaked Mother Acko exasperatedly. "Did you honestly think you could defend what honor I possess by tackling Pete Sutton?"

This was why Julie hated it when she got caught. The way Mother Acko said it, everything Julie did sounded so incredibly dumb in retrospect. Face burning with embarrassment, she could only stare at the ground. Icarus began to squawk something in her defense, but a growling hoot from Jujo cut across him. The ancient owl shuffled his feet and rasped loudly at Icarus several times. The gyrfalcon dropped his head in much the same expression of mortification as Julie.

"Come on now, we're going home. And you'll need a bath as well."

Julie looked up, face even redder now. "Mother Acko! I'm not five, you can't tell me when to take baths like I'm a little kid!"

"I can when you start street fights like you're a little kid," said Mother Acko firmly. "Say good-bye to Luke now, and tell him thank you. I assume it was he who rescued you from the fight?"

Julie ground her teeth. This could not possibly get any more embarrassing. Was it so obvious that she couldn't have gotten out of that fight without Luke?

"Thanks," she said heavily to Luke. She managed to meet his hazel eyes and saw them glimmer with familiar understanding.

"It was nothing, and you know it," Luke said, his voice suddenly becoming serious. "After all, I've been bailing you out of tight spots since you were four." He lowered his voice so only she could hear. "You know they're only afraid of me because of…you know."

Julie nodded. She knew only too well why Pete and his gang were afraid of Luke, and she had sworn, as a best friend should, that she would never reveal that to anyone.

Luke gave Icarus a quick scratch on his head and mock saluted Julie and Mother Acko. Then he turned on his heel, causing Athena to hoot indignantly again, and walked off toward his own home with his mother on the edge of town.

"That boy…" said Mother Acko, shaking her head, but her wrinkles deepened as she smiled. Then she took Julie by the shoulder that did not have Icarus on it, and steered her in the other direction, cane thumping evenly on the stones of the street with every step.