Firstborn

by Lorie Ann Grover

  “What? No! Did you?” He bobs on his toes. “You took Vinti’s placenta from Father’s compost and presented it to the rapion?”

  Mirko clicks his beak and raises his head.

  “And that is why you wouldn’t wait. You knew this egg would be available soon?” He hums and smiles.

  My eyes fill with tears one more time. Newly laid, the warm, Miniata egg smells of anise. The red glows in my palm.

  I press it gently to Vinti’s lips, then tuck it safely against her belly behind the wrap rag. Soon I will weave a net so that she can wear it around her neck. Vinti has her own rapion!

  “But can we leave the Cliffs now that Vinti has a charge?”

  Mirko thrums, and the answer springs to mind. “For years we can, right?” He nods. “We can leave, eventually returning the shell to the secluded Stone of Offering! Later, we might release the Miniata from the desert edge. You are magnificent, Mirko!” I bend and kiss his head, before he lifts into the air with a song.

  As I gather up our supplies, his whistle rises on the wind, and it sounds so like my name. “Tiaaaaaaaa!”

  I laugh outright with a joy like never before welling from my centerself.

  Vinti wakes and coos. She reaches up and clasps my finger. I pick her up and hold her close to my chest.

  “We are worthy, Vinti. This is life!” I follow my soaring friend out into the open desert.