Rhia dug in her pouch and found more berries. She offered them to Sandry. She thought for a long moment, then started a story of her own.

"Once there was a small bird, a nestling. It lived with the other nestlings and the momma and poppa bird in the nest in the branches of a great tree. One day there was a terrible storm. The tree saved as much as it could, but the nest was dashed. The mother bird was lost in the storm. The father bird and most of the nestlings died. One nestling was eased by the tree to the ground."

"The baby bird on the ground was terrified and scared. He sheltered among the roots until the storm ended. When it dared to peer out it looked up to the branches, ad looked down and saw the remains of the nest on the ground. Never again, it decided, never again it would fly."

Soon it came across a squirrel that was poking around the shed branches for acorns and nuts. The squirrel and the bird became friends, and the squirrel helped the baby bird build a new nest, sheltered in the roots of the tree. They protected each other against cats and storms and all manner of dangers. The bird grew up, his feathers grew in, but still he would not fly."

"Whenever his friend the squirrel went up into the branches to find nuts and fruits for them to eat, or new nesting material, the young bird fretted and waited, watching his friend in the branches, always afraid when the wind blew. Afraid his friend would fall and die. Always he was relieved when his friend returned."

"Then one day, the squirrel was getting older and was having trouble reaching the best nuts. The spring had been too dry, the summer too hot, and there was little for the winter months. They would have small stores indeed. And the young bird, no longer little, fretted and watched his friend. And then he saw the rat."

"Rats don't often climb trees. But sometimes the bigger ones do. On the ground, the squirrel had no fear of rats, after all, the bird ate them as easily as he ate nuts and berries. But he was up in the highest branches and all alone. The squirrel tried to flee, but slipped on the branch. The squirrel held on with two small paws as the rat approached."

"The bird was terrified, but the fear for the friend was the biggest fear. If he had thought, maybe he would have stopped, maybe not. But he pushed off of the ground, and for the first time he flew. It was a rough flight. He bounced and bumped and misjudged a lot, but he hurried. He cried out to his friend. the squirrel did not question it or think, he trusted his friend and let go. The bird caught him up neatly in his talons. Then he flew higher yet and caught the rat in his other foot. He brought both to the ground. He freed his friend and started eating the rat, suddenly hungry."

"It wasn't until the bird was cleaning himself that he realized that he had flown, that he had left the ground. Alone it was terrifying, but with his friend... With his friend he could do it. And they spent time flying with the squirrel in the bird's loosely grasped talons."

"Sometimes... with a friend... scary things are less scary?" she asked softly, almost hopefully.