Azalea:I’ll get decorations. Dad? Wanna help?
Bella:Can I bake the cake?
Keir:Let’s not overwhelm her.
Finlay:This is a blessing none of us were expecting. Let’s wait to see what Raven wants.
The chat goes silent after that, but if I know the displacer beasts in this family, they’re already planning. They’re far too hyper to sit still, too excited to wait for permission. Right now, they’re probably zipping all over the continent, blinking from shop to shop, gathering supplies for a celebration that may or may not happen.
I can’t bring myself to be annoyed. Their joy is infectious, even through a screen.
I pocket my phone and make my way back to the nest, moving quietly past my sleeping mate. Her wing still forms a canopy over the egg, but there’s space for me to slip beneath. I climb back into the woven branches carefully, feeling them shift and settle beneath my weight, and I shift back into my phoenix form.
The transformation is a relief. My human body feels too small now, too limited. In this form, I can wrap myself around the egg, can press my chest against its warm shell, can feel the flutter of life within.
May as well sleep for a while.
I tuck my head beneath my wing, extinguish the last ember of flame that tried to reignite during my shift, and let the steady pulse of the egg’s heartbeat lull me into dreams.
For the first time in millennia, I dream of the future instead of the past.
