Night-time herbs
(A CoffeeMate fic for Badrun's birthday)
☕ 💜 🧉
"You sure about this? It's awfully late..." Badrun's voice echoed his worries as he stepped out from his home to the vast desert that outlined Debia. The surface reflected some of the moon's light, offering a slight glow of blue to every piece of their surrounding. Times of night like these would warrant a thorough check of the greenhouse for any midnight blooms, but those plans were dashed aside for a tall owlette; who had been waiting patiently for the falcon to meet her.
"Of course," Nayeli chirped lightly with a spared glance out to the horizon. "There's no better time than like this. Well- one you won't usually sleep through." A small huff left Badrun at that for truth laid within that statement; he just didn't like being reminded of it. Mornings were too easy to miss when you're tired from a long workday, especially with patients like his. "Alright, Alright." He remarked with a wave of his hand whilst approaching Nayeli, stopping right in front of her before looking to her expectantly. Before this evening, he had fully intended on remaining shut in; for it would be his birthday, meaning there would be no peace. That was then thrown to the window when he was paid a visit by his family in the afternoon, and then thrown out the window as Nayeli called him; just to tell him she had something she'd want to show him.
"So... What's this thing you got?" He inquired, noting how both of her hands were empty of a package or an envelope with just a slight glance down. She gave an excited nod before her wings spanned out behind her. Large and silent; they were a rich coffee brown with white lower feathers. The real beauty, however, was the faint rich purple within the brown and the light green tips that slightly reflected the white, with the smallest speckles of white in each feather. He stared at them as they gave a flap, hoisting the owlette in the air. She hovered above, beckoning him to follow with a tilt of her head.
Clearing his entranced head with a light shake, his own wings spread out behind him from a faint glowing light; the work of his power keeping them hidden until moments like these. The coloring was anything but natural; a deep black lining the top before going to a bright white in the middle before coloring to a rich sapphire blue for the tips, with gold dotting the middle of each tip of the wings. Joining Nayeli in the sky, he hardly had a chance to question her before she flew off, headed away from the city of Debia and out towards a faint glowing in the distance. In the eyes of the untrained; one would assume that it was another city. Badrun, however, was anything but untrained and knew exactly what the glowing that strong enough to be seen from a distance was; a Nexus Miracle. Known to house many dangerous creatures that defy nature and logic and offers a straight path to death for those that dare enter it in an attempt for more power.
"ARE YOU MAD?!" He screeched against the wind as they flew, still following her despite his little outburst and causing Nayeli to laugh heartily. "We're not going in it, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
Like that really helped her case.
Another flap of his wings and he was caught up to her, wings nearly brushing tips as the pair were approaching the expanding glow; the bright silhouette of the Nexus Miracle getting bigger and bigger the closer they got. Sparing another glance to Nayeli, he felt eased a bit once he noticed her determined gaze, pupils fixated on something past the Miracle. "Why are we close to this by the way?" "You'll see; it looks cool." She replied before they flew even closer; and before he could question her again, his answer came in the form of a trail of light emitting from her wingtips.
Somehow, their flight was cutting through the usual streams of power emitting from it, causing an illuminating effect on their wings as they flew close to it. One glance to his own earned a light gasp of awe, noting the way the golds in his wings were glowing brightly upon a brush through the streams of divine power. Looking to Nayeli, he met her amused gaze and soared up to her. "Cool- isn't it?" She mused, the green in her wings glowing from the stray power streams brushing against them. "Yeah, I can see why you wanted to bring me here." "Not just that, silly." She chuckled before pointing at something not far from where they were.
It was a greatly sized piece of land, floating high above ground level; but it was growing vegetation still, making Badrun perk up before flying over without a moment wasted. Landing near the edge of the floating earth, he noticed how the very roots that intertwined throughout this patch were glowing in some parts; hinting at some mixture between earthly life and the divine power of the Miracle's influence. Looking up from the roots, he gasped louder this time; for patches and patches of a familiar flower had been thriving this high up and for such a long while; its usually small trees were a great bit bigger, reaching his hips the closer he got to them.
"Datura Innoxia!" He proclaimed with glee, leaning in to inspect the flowers; his feathers all puffed from glee. The nighttime were perfect for these sweet-scented flowers, the toxicity making for great use in his various concoctions and experiments. It's usually bright white seemed even brighter, a faint glow coming from the base of the flowers as the smell itself was very easy to notice. Murmuring detail after detail about this glorious find, he had no chance of noticing Nayeli landing near him, causing him to stop mid chatter and look up when her hand rested on his shoulder warmly. "Happy Birthday, Badrun." A smile formed on his beak before he went in to hug her tightly; easing back after a while with both hands still holding onto her sides. "How'd you know?-" "Your siblings told me." "Of course....Could you help me gather some of these?"
The day after was shared between the two of them; the previous night's harvest stuffing his collection for the time being. Only one flower was left out of the collection, and it had its own vase in the center of his greenhouse table; right between the two birds as they were drinking together and talking about future places to visit for more rarer flora.
