Original World Bingo: Sun Tzu
Nearly everyone in OWB has filled at least one square, but here I am, the creator of the bingo, with no squares filled…until now! Prompt: Describe a point of tension or conflict in your world; if there is active war over it, tell us what the current situation is.
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“Kama’o?” The word meant ‘Auntie,’ and most of the village had taken to calling her it. She didn’t mind, as she looked down her beak at the chick in front of her. Curlew was a thoughtful one, and had many more questions than the other chicks, who had all just run outside to play after practicing how to make rope.
“Yes, iiwa?” she asked the five-year-old.
“Why do the Raiders come and take people away?” Kama’o had expected questions about the event that had supposedly happened in a nearby village, but most of the children were content to play and forget about it. Not Curlew.
Kama’o clacked her beak a few times, thinking. “The Raiders were cast out from Avian society a long time ago, and live on the vast ocean,” she finally explained. “They fish the sea, but sometimes they cannot find enough fish to fill all of their bellies. So, sometimes they come here to take our fish and the food the true land provides us with.
“Lately, they have also begun taking Ravens. It is said that they cut their wings and force them to catch fish for them. When they finally molt in new feathers, they are released and allowed to make their way back home. But very few of those taken ever come home.” Kama’o leaned down to preen some stray feathers on Curlew’s head. She was good at preening and talking, so she continued. “Why do you ask, iiwa?”
“Because Ivory,” who was the granddaughter of the Eldest, “said that Auk worries about raiders coming to our village. So I wanted to know why they came,” Curlew explained.
“Well, now you know,” Kama’o told her, straightening up and shifting her wing feathers to get more comfortable. “Are you frightened?” It was always a possibility when they discussed the Raiders. If she wasn’t careful, she’d have to talk nightmare remedies with Curlew’s parents.
“Yeah,” Curlew admitted, pushing her way under Kama’o’s wing. “A little.”
“Well, don’t you worry, iiwa-wa. If the lookouts see the Raiders coming, they will ring the bells and we will all go deep into the forests where they can’t find us. We may lose some food, but Kama’o,” who had started to refer to herself in third person and wondered if that was a bad sign, “will protect all you iiwas. And your parents can protect themselves.” She settled in to preen Curlew more thoroughly, an activity that relaxed the both of them.
Avians!
