It's Gauntlet Time! Act the First: The Birds

TheCuriousSeed

Welcome back to yet another edition of The Wilderness!

~"The gauntlet awaits," said Phoebe. "No turning back now."

~"First, let's make sure we have everything one last time," suggested Holly.

~Everyone checked his or her supplies… they were good on that front, so time to press on.

~Upon the opening of the Wilderness gauntlet awaited a young bluebird in need of help. He was dirty, hungry and frightened.

~"Water Talents, you're up," said Phoebe."

~Heidi, Hickory, Gardenia and Onyx sought out some water. Onyx simply heated the water since her water powers rested mainly in soup making, then Hickory flew around gathering moisture from the air into a small raincloud that was a little warmer than Onyx's warming attempts. Heidi flew right under the bluebird and held him aloft while she stood on the ground in case her wings got wet and Gardenia positioned the cloud over both Heidi and the bird.

~"Wait, he has a thorn in his left thigh!" exclaimed Heidi. "An Animal Talent will have to keep him calm while I remove it!"

~Holly talked to the bluebird in soothing tones while Heidi carefully removed the thorn. The removal did indeed hurt, but it hurt a little less while distracted. Afterwards, Quarry used his magic to heal the wound quickly.

~"Now we can bathe him," said Heidi.

~As the other three Water Talented girls bathed the bluebird to wash away the mud, Heidi managed to form a deterring shield around herself so she'd stay clean and dry, then had everyone back away so the bluebird could shake himself dry. Next was…

~"Tinkers next," said Phoebe.

~Magnolia and Jessie worked at opening all the seeds so the bluebird could eat. Then the bluebird began opening the seeds himself. Last was…

~"Looks like we Scouts are doing this with the Animal Talents because, hawks," said Phoebe.

~"Better idea: Daylily and Holly should do this," said Heidi. "Only Daylily and Holly because, Animal Scouts."

~But instead Phoebe, Jessie and Elva helped out too, telling the bluebird how to avoid hawks. Only when Daylily and Holly told him the ways to avoid ratites did the bluebird understand. Once all three bluebird challenges were complete, there were loose feathers to be gathered.

~"We did it!" exclaimed Magnolia.

~The next bird they saw was a blue bunting that was flightless thanks to a sprained wing, really tired and just wanted to rest, even if it meant not in his own nest. Labyrinth and Quarry tried healing the blue bunting's wing with magic, but this injury was a little too serious in an area a little too vital, so bandages had to be used instead. Thankfully Daylily, Holly, Elva and Jessie knew how to bandage wings. Heidi and Hickory lifted the blue bunting above the ground while Gloriosa and Foxglove lit the way.

~"Hang on a second," Heidi said, leaving Hickory to hold the blue bunting alone, then sniffed the bunting. "Follow my nose."

~Heidi not only had the strongest muscles (though she looked far daintier) and lungs, her nose matched her strength too. Not even Daylily could track that well with her nose yet and she was the best Animal Scout any of the group knew! Daylily then placed both hands on the blue bunting's heart until her heartbeat matched his, then she figured out why such urgency…

~"This bunting has five hungry chicks waiting for him and no mate to help," she said, taking Heidi's hand. "Follow my heart and Heidi's nose."

~As top Water and Animal Scout led in tandem, Foxglove and Gloriosa were next, then Hickory, then the rest of the group. Every fairy and sparrowman guided the blue bunting back to his nest and chicks. Fortunately the father blue bunting still had nourishment for his chicks, but although mission accomplished, Daylily still felt a bit guilty for just leaving an injured father blue bunting be, so…

~"We have to move his nest," she said.

~"What?!" exclaimed the others.

~"We can't leave him here unable to provide for his chicks after this latest feeding."

~Indeed the father blue bunting was able to feed his chick this time, but would his wing heal by next need to feed? Daylily took the father bunting in arms while the other three that could work with birds took the chicks. Jessie could barely lift one, but Holly and Elva each took two.

~"What in Neverland self-respecting Tinker is too weak to carry even one bunting chick by herself?" asked Magnolia, taking Jessie in arms while Jessie struggled to hold the bunting chick.

~Heidi took the nest, being careful not to let it unravel, then flew it to an area where plenty of seeds lay. The father blue bunting was very happy, ergo he was able to gather seeds on the ground until his wing was all better. Here was hoping whomever next visited this Wilderness and found him and his chicks on the ground would return him to his home tree.

~"We need a Healer to speed this along," said Gardenia. "Does anyone know of any Healers that work well with animals other than Elixa?"

~"Why not Elixa?" asked Onyx.

~"Because she provides care for all our Animal Friends and it would be uncouth to ask her to join us in the inescapable until completion Wilderness," answered Foxglove. "Besides, Daylily's the closest we have to an Animal Healer, but all she can do is bandage the injured."

~"And the Magicshimmer Twins can only heal minor wounds," added Heidi. "Looks like at least one Animal Talent or Scout will have to stay back."

~Daylily was about to volunteer.

~"And it can't be Daylily because she can converse with all animals, even the predators, in their native tongues without accents."

~"I'll stay back," volunteered Holly. "As long as I don't have to solve the challenges ahead alone."

~"Wait, one more bird needs us!" exclaimed Daylily. "Onward except Holly!"

~The last bird, a cerulean warbler, was lost in a very dark area, having trouble building his nest because he couldn't find the right materials, nervous, wounded in both wings thanks to a falcon and filthy from the mud he'd fallen into a little earlier. He also had a really bad tummy-ache from eating too many bad berries.

~"Yikes," said Phoebe. "Maybe I should've volunteered to accompany Holly or at least the nest and chicks in her stead."

~"Then we'd be down our only general Scout," said Heidi.

~"Don't worry, we got this," said Hickory, forming another cloud to bathe the cerulean warbler.

~When the cerulean warbler was once again clean and shook himself dry, quite a few dozen feathers flew off him, including one that flew to tickle Hickory's nose.

~Don't sneeze, thought Phoebe. Please don't sneeze.

~But Hickory geared to sneeze, thankfully stopped just in time by Onyx.

~"Whew!" said Onyx, pinching Hickory's nose for a second or two, then turning so Hickory didn't sneeze on anyone, then letting go. "Saved by the…"

~"ACHOO!" Hickory sneezed so hard she propelled herself backwards into a knothole in a far-off tree and almost felled that very tree!

~"Let's get all these feathers out of here before anyone else sneezes," said Tansy, about to pick up a feather.

~"Wait!" cried Daylily, feeling her heart. "He has a very contagious illness that affects anyone that touches his feathers with their bare skin for too long! Don't even touch his moulten feathers lest you catch it too!"

~"Ew," said Foxglove.

~Labyrinth and Quarry decided to conjure up a special shield that temporarily contained the contagion, then sprinkled some of their Pixie Dust onto the feathers before healing those, sewing them back into place with magic and conjuring special medicine for the cerulean warbler. Everything worked smoothly until…

~"Better on the ground than in your tummy, am I right?" Daylily told the cerulean warbler. "Feel better?"

~"Much," answered the cerulean warbler. "That's the last time I forgo making sure what I'm about to eat is still safe to."

~"Howdy!" called Holly. "Guess what! The blue bunting's wing got all better and now we can return him and his family home!"

~Once the cerulean warbler, finally healed, left, everyone worked together to get the blue bunting family back to their home tree. The blue bunting family thanked everyone and feathers were given as a gift, as well as a few dozen gems. Time to find another challenge to tackle.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter because, stay tuned!