Listen

The Young One sat and listened to the Pretty One.
She envisioned the story, re-told many times before.
The Young One can tell the story, but it is not yet her time.
They sat at the high plateau and waited.
"How much Longer ? ", she asked.
The Pretty One did not answer, the Young One knew the answer.
They had cut and collected fennel stalks at the beach for the last few hours,
Nina told the tale out loud and Missy told the tale in silence.
Neither looked at the other, their gaze was uphill - to the sky.
Missy would ask of the first time Nina heard the story.
Nina smiled, she lived the events,
she was taught the story's importance but not the story's sequence.
The temperature of the sand began to drop.
The sea breeze was slow but constant.
Hair blew in their eyes but neither fussed.
Their tribe located the village within viewing range of the Birds' flight and eating patterns.  
They worshipped the birds, the birds taught them, the birds saved them.
Nina shared the day the group first witnessed the birds streaming from the rock.
Fear reigned among the settlers who were cloaked in darkness as the birds blocked out the dim light.  Erratic patterns gave way to calculated consumption.  
The Masters of the Plain perfected the avoidance of heavily contaminated enticements and devoured the remaining fare, no matter how unappealing.
These hunters quickly negotiated through poisoned sources and thrived when others diminished.
The Pretty One's parents remained at the encampment and rarely left.  
Many of the Elders maintained their distance from the Mountain Top.  
The Young One's parents had left her in care of the tribe long ago.  
Impatience drove the Impatient Ones to wander in search of something better.  
Tracking Birds was Witchcraft and Foolery to the Next Generation.
Nina recited, Missy broke the monologue and pointed to the sky.  
The flock filled the sea sky with speckled chaos.  The two watched, as they had countless times.  
They anticipated the darkening sky and dull distant sound of air pushed aside to aid flight.  
As they discussed the landscape below and proclaimed the areas best suited for feeding, Missy quieted and turned to Nina.  Nina silently observed a figure occupying the fractured opening below the Mountain's Peak.