[Previous entry: "The Gribbit"] [Next entry: "The Sea"]

01/12/2005: "Zuri"

Zuri
by Selena Thomason, ©2004

(first published in Alien Skin Magazine, www.AlienSkinMag.com)



Zuri's feathers fluttered in the breeze as she looked anxiously at the horizon. Night would come soon. She cooed into the wind, hoping that someone would hear her.

She had been calling for what seemed like hours, but no one had responded. Her mother must be looking for her, she told herself, trying not to panic. She just had to be brave enough to stay put and keep calling. Eventually she would be found.

Time was running out though. Night would bring the Weylin. She knew what happened then. No one left out in the open survived long after dark.

It was her fault, she knew. They had been out searching for berries. Zuri had found a rabbit and stopped to pet it. When the rabbit hopped off into the tall grass, Zuri had run after it and gotten separated from her mother. Mama always told her to stay close. She was probably angry at her, but Zuri decided she would rather face the harshest scolding than stay out after sunset. Her cooing became a shrill, frightened caw.

A rabbit bounded through the grass. It stopped and looked at Zuri as if wondering what she was doing there.

"I know," she said to the rabbit, "I shouldn't be out here. It's nearly dark." The rabbit looked away, down a barely noticeable break in the grass, then back at the Zuri.

Zuri remembered her mother telling her that rabbits hid in holes in the ground. Maybe the rabbit knew a place safe from the Weylin.

When the rabbit took off down the path, Zuri followed. She struggled to keep up with the rabbit who seemed to be moving faster and faster, as if racing the darkness that was advancing from the horizon.

They came to a small clearing before an outcropping of rocks. She followed the rabbit behind the rocks. The rabbit looked back at Zuri before disappearing into a hole.

Zuri looked around hoping for a cave entrance or a rabbit hole large enough for her, but there was none. Still she was partly hidden by the rocks. She started to call for her mother but abruptly realized the sun had already set and that the sound may bring the Weylin. She crouched behind the rocks and waited.


Zuri's mother Lir was furious but her anger was quickly being overwhelmed by panic. The sun had set and night was sliding across the land. The search party she had gathered was making quiet rumblings about turning back. She moved faster through the grass and called louder, hoping to be heard over the gathering wind. The searchers glanced anxiously at each other. She knew they were worried that the sound would draw the Weylin, but she didn't care. She had to find her daughter before it was too dark.

She began to run through the field, her vestigial wings fluttering as if they might suddenly remember how to fly. She came to a break in the grass and paused, unsure of which way to go. Then she noticed a small path where something, or someone she thought hopefully, had trampled the grass. She followed the broken plants until she came to some rocks. She called Zuri's name, but the night wind had begun its howling.

The rest of the searchers caught up with her and pleaded with her to come back to the caves.

Her best friend tugged at her urgently, "It's almost dark, Lir. We have to get inside. There's nothing more you can do. The Weylin are surely coming. We can't stay out here."

Lir turned to see that all but a couple of the searchers had already headed back.

She stood there heart-broken and desperate. She thought she could hear the screeching of the Weylin in the wind. They would be searching for dinner. They would swoop down from the skies and grab their meal with long, sharp talons. They would perhaps even nibble on their catch as they flew it home. Eons of primal fear pulled at Lir. Survival instinct struggled against motherly love. The other searchers, even her friend, began to head back to the caves. Lir turned reluctantly to follow them.

A rabbit burst from behind the rocks, scampered over Lir’s feet, then darted back from where it came. "How strange," Lir thought. She followed the rabbit's course and was startled to find Zuri crouched behind the rocks crying.

"Zuri," she called as the child leapt into her arms.

"Mama, I'm so sorry. I'll never do it again. I promise."

"Never mind that now. We have to get home right away. Come on."

Lir and Zuri practically flew home, completely forgetting about the rabbit who had saved their lives. Zuri was too slow, so Lir carried her as they sped across the fields. Now Lir was sure she heard the Weylin in the distance. The noise seemed to be getting closer, but she dared not turn and look. They made it home just as the darkness had thickened to black.

They sat quietly in the sudden safety of home until their hearts had stopped pounding. Friends and family swarmed around them. Zuri clung to her mother, burying her face in the downy feathers at Lir’s breast.

Later, as Zuri's mother was folding her into her sleeping pouch, she asked as always "What story shall we have tonight?"

Normally, Zuri would have insisted on the story of "Kemen and Leal." It was after all her favorite. But tonight Zuri responded "Do you know any stories about rabbits?"

Lir smiled. "I know the story of a brave rabbit who saved the life of a little girl when she let her curiosity get the best of her. Would you like to hear that one?"

Zuri giggled. The feathers on her head rustled as she hid her face in a pillow. "Yes, yes," she said. "Let us hear about that brave rabbit."

Copyright 2004 Selena Thomason