[lwa dreams] bird on a wire

Hazy and disjointed.

I stood under a streetlight, moths and other night-insects buzzing around the halogen glow, my hands clasped loosely in front of me.

Feeling something fluttering between my fingers, I raised my hands to my face and saw that I held a handful of tiny magpies. Their little black beaks poked out between my fingers here and there, and shiny black eyes peered up at me. I felt their collective heartbeats against the thin skin of my palms and the sleekness of their feathers.

"You know what you need to do, girl." Ghede's voice from behind me, just out of the circle of the streetlamp's thrown light. "You have to let them go. They have a job to do."

I threw my hands up in the air and spread them far apart. The little birds burst into the air in a shower of black and white. I watched them circle around my head, their bodies growing larger with each pass before they shot out into the darkness and out of my sight. My night vision has never been good and standing under a streetlight, attempting to see beyond was futile. Their calls and cries drifted back to me, however, and my spine gradually turned to steel under their song.

I felt his hand on my shoulder, but didn't turn to look at his face.