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Description
Stella woke with a start and immediately expelled several gallons of sea water from her lungs. The salt burned her throat as she heaved and sputtered and her eyes screwed shut in pain. Slowly her convulsions died down and when the water finally stopped pouring from her mouth she collapsed to the sand, her energy depleted. Her head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it and her muscles felt sluggish and worn out. Coughing, she opened her eyes and blinked several times as burning light streamed into them. It was intense, but not unbearable and she quickly got used to it. The same could not be said for her sopping wet feathers though, which clung to her body and weighed heavily on her frame.

Turning her attention to her surroundings, Stella realized she had been lying on the beach behind the treehouse. She probed her aching head for the memories concerning how she got there but couldn’t come up with them. Her mind was too fuzzy and lethargic from sleep. Looking up at the tree in wonder, she started to get the feeling that something was amiss, though she couldn’t fathom why. Perhaps it was because Luca wasn’t up yet. He could usually be found in front of the TV in the mornings, watching cartoons while everyone else slept. Yet today the tree remained silent. Stella’s brow furrowed in thought as she started to move up the slope of the beach toward where the sand flattened out. She could feel the answers to her questions lurking just out of reach so she wasn’t entirely surprised when she crested the hill and her memories began to trickle back to her.

‘I’ve been here before’ Stella realized as she took in the scene before her. She recognized the rubble lying about, the glassy black craters, the splintered palms...she’d seen them all before so why couldn’t she remember? The question plagued her as she moved out into the debris field in front of the tree. She probed her mind for the memories that alluded her as she moved through the mess but could come up with little more than feelings. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on them:

Anger

Fear

Grief?

As the feelings resurfaced she began to get worried.

Suddenly she felt the world lurch as she tripped on something in front of her. Pulling her face from the sand, Stella glanced backward and immediately felt her heart seize up in her chest.

Staring back at her, its face half buried in the sand, was the golden statue of Dahlia.

In that instant, Stella’s memories came back to her in a sudden, violent rush. Her dream, the castle, her friends, Gale; one by one her memories played themselves before her eyes. She collapsed next to her friend, overwhelmed by the sudden onrush of emotion. Stella felt herself go numb as she looked over Dahlia’s petrified body. Her glassy golden eyes stared vacantly up at the sky while her beak remained locked in a shout of surprize. Her feathers, which had always been so soft and warm had become cold, hard and lifeless. Stella’s chest tightened in fear and slowly she reached out toward her friend.

“Dahlia…?” she whispered weakly, shaking the statue as if to rouse it from sleep “Come on Dahlia, you can’t be dead. Please, get up. I–” Stella’s voice broke as the reality of the situation began to sink in. She felt tears form, hot and heavy in her eyes while the last vestiges of hope left her body. She clutched Dahlia to her chest as her emotions quickly went out of control. Her mind raged, plagued by memories of her friends as they had once been. She was forced to watch as they laughed and played before her eyes, all the while knowing they would never do so again.

And suddenly she found herself crying. Her tears streamed down her face, soaking her pink feathers before dripping to the sand beneath her. They flowed so fast, so furiously that she was unable to stop them. She clung to Dahlia desperately as her sobs wracked her body, becoming stronger and more violent with each passing second. Pretty soon, her screams of anguish were echoing across the entire island and it wasn’t until she had cried herself into a fitful, dreamless sleep that the forest was able to return to a dead, empty silence.

~•~

Some time later Stella woke up to the pink and orange hues of sunset. She slowly lifted her face from Dahlia’s body and looked around, feeling nothing but a hollow emptiness at the center of her being. Great purple clouds drifted lazily through the sky above her as the first few stars began to wink into existence. The sea was a brilliant plane of glittering gold as the light of the sun glinted off it’s ever changing surface. And yet, despite its beauty, the sun’s fading glow did nothing to ease Stella’s aching heart. Without her friends she had nothing. She was all alone.

Slowly, Stella brought her eyes down to Dahlia’s lifeless form. She no longer had the strength to summon tears for her friend so instead she peered down at her emotionlessly, her eyes vacant. The gold covering Dahlia’s body reflected the light from the sun, making her glow a brilliant orange and in a sad sort of way it was almost beautiful how brightly she shone. Stella’s eyes drifted across her gleaming features, mindlessly taking in every minute detail until they caught on a strange patch of feathers that didn’t seem to shine as brightly as the others. She peered down at the curious little spot, inspecting it halfheartedly. Though at first she thought it was a trick of the waning light, she soon realized there was indeed something ‘off’ about it. Hesitantly she reached forward to touch it and was somewhat surprised to find it cool and damp. In the back of her head she must have recognized it as the spot where her face had rested as she slept; the dampness a result of her tears as they pooled around her cheek. However, as it was, her mind was currently occupied by another far more important discovery.

Instead of rigid gold, Stella felt soft, delicate feathers under her touch.

Confusion washed over her as she felt Dahlia’s feathers brush against her own. Suddenly, finding energy coursing through her veins, she spun her friend away from the golden light of the sunset and peered in wonder at the pristine brown feathers that were poking out of her side. They were disheveled and matted but not a fleck of gold was visible on the fine brown fibers. It was as if the gold that was coating them had been wiped away. Gale’s magic was completely gone!

“But...why?” she wondered aloud, her eyes wide in confusion.

Suddenly she had a thought.

Diving into her memories, Stella hurriedly searched for evidence to back up her idea. She remembered when she had found Gale’s second in command passed out in the center of their castle. Thinking back on it, it seemed strange that he had escaped being turned to gold. He may have been Gale’s highest ranked minion, but he could hardly be considered her friend. From what Stella could gather, he was more of a nuisance than someone Gale cared for. But maybe he hadn’t been spared; when she had found him, he was soaked from snout to tail…

She also remembered her fight with Gale. She remembered exactly how it had ended; the pain, the fear, the helplessness she’d felt as the world faded around her. It was all so vividly imprinted upon her mind that it seemed to have happened mere moments ago. And yet here she was, alive and moving around as if nothing had happened. All she knew was that she had been soaking when she’d woken up as well…

“Could it be the water?” Stella wondered allowed.

Hurriedly, she wiped up as much of the moisture as she could and tried rubbing it over Dahlia’s cheek. She was overjoyed to see the gold evaporate away before her eyes and before she knew it, she was crying again. She could save them! She could save them and all she needed was water! She looked up at the sea as the sun slowly sunk beneath it.

‘Don’t worry guys.’ She thought as she grabbed hold of Dahlia and started pulling her toward the water’s edge ‘We’ll be together again soon.’

~•~

“Stellaaaaa! My heeaad huuuuurts!” Luca complained as Stella wrapped him in blankets to shelter him from the cool night air. All that could be seen of him were his eyes which peaked through a gap in the coverings and stared tiredly up at Stella. At the sound of his voice, Stella’s heart nearly broke in two and she quickly leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“I know sweetie, I know.” She said lovingly, scooching him closer to the fire “Don’t worry. Dahlia is cooking something up for you that will make you feel all better.” Luca closed his eyes and seemed to settle back into the mountain of blankets around him so Stella let him rest and hopped over to where Dahlia was working by the fire. She was busy stirring a small pot of bubbling water and when Stella looked inside, she saw several bulbous roots floating in it.

“Hey Dahlia. Could I get one of those things for Luca?” She asked hopefully. Dahlia grunted in reply and fished around in the pot for a moment before pulling out one of the roots. Shaking the water off of it, she handed it to Stella before moving back to continue stirring.

“Have him suck on that” she instructed “Once it dries out we’ll throw it back in and get him a new one.”

Nodding dutifully Stella left her friend to continue working and brought the root over to the little pile of blankets by the fire.

“Here Luca, chew on this.” She said softly, presenting the root to the little bird “Dahlia says it will help with your headache.”

Peering at it hesitantly, Luca took the root and gingerly brought it to his mouth. Almost immediately he pulled it away again, sticking his tongue out and making a face of disgust.

“Ech! It’th yucky!” He cried, thrusting it back towards Stella. The pink bird reached out to take it from him but stopped when she heard Dalia speak up from her spot near the fire.

“If you don’t want it, you don’t have to have it.” She said as she continued to stir the bubbling pot before her “But that’s the only pain medicine I’ve got.”

“You’re mean.” Luca said with a pout. Nevertheless he grudgingly stuck the root back in his mouth with little more than a grimace. As Stella peered at him, she felt tears of happiness come to her eyes. She was so happy, so overjoyed, so thankful he was okay that she couldn’t help but cry. She suddenly found herself rushing forward to pull him into a warm hug. The little blue bird gasped in surprise but Stella did not let him go.

“I love you.” she whispered as she held him close “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Luca groaned and tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

“I know that, Stella! Just get off me! You’re making me uncomfortable!”

He continued to struggle until he finally managed to squirm free and tug the blankets from the older bird’s grasp. Huffing indignantly, Luca crossed over to the other side of the fire and sat down once more. He shot her one last scowl before closing his eyes and pulling the blankets up over his mouth again. Stella didn’t give chase and instead let the little bird rest. She understood how tired he must have been and was not at all surprised that he wished to be left alone. Still though, she couldn’t help but want to clutch him to her chest and squeeze him tightly. She had been so scared and now that she knew he was okay, she never wanted to let go of him again. Luckily for Luca, a voice drew her attention away from the campfire.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ve got it. Just focus on moving forward.”

Stella turned to see two figures emerge from the night. It was Poppy and Willow, though the latter seemed significantly worse for wear. The blue bird looked half asleep and it was only with Poppy’s support that she was able to stand up at all. Her rainbow colored crest fell down her back and trailed behind her, leaving a trail of water to soak into the sand. The rest of her feathers were equally drenched and lay plastered to her body. She shivered as a cold breeze blew across the beach and released a little sneeze into the sand at their feet. Poppy kept urging her forward though, as sitting by the fire was the only way for her to get warm.

By comparison, the taller bird looked to be in much better shape. She was far less wet than her cerulean companion and seemed to have far more energy. At her side she held Willow’s sopping wet beanie and in her mouth she clutched a root that looked to be the same kind that Luca now had in his mouth. Her yellow feathers shone brightly in the light of the campfire as she coaxed Willow toward it.

“Willow!” Stella gasped, rushing over to the pair. She quickly wrapped a blanket around her shaking friend before helping Poppy guide her to the fire. The poor bird was so out of it, Stella and Poppy had to practically carry her there. When they finally had her seated, Stella called to Dahlia for some medicine. Poppy nodded her head and requested a root as well.

“I think the one I’ve got may be just about empty.” she explained, pulling the shriveled root from her mouth. Dahlia sighed in annoyance but proceeded to fish two new roots from the pot.

“Y’know these are supposed to last you a couple hours.” She said, passing the roots to the other birds “You’re not supposed to suck on them as hard as possible, you’re just supposed to hold them in your mouth.”

Poppy frowned as she tossed the dry root back “Really? I thought it was, like, the more medicine you had, the faster you would get better.”

“No. That’s how you get sick.” Dahlia responded dryly.

“What! No way! Medicine can’t make you sick!”

“I assure you it can.”

“Nuh-uh!”

The conversation quickly devolved into an argument and as Stella listened to her friends bicker, she couldn’t help but smile in happiness. The fact that they were all here and able to speak to one another again was just too beautiful to handle! She felt happy tears come to her eyes as Poppy continued to egg on an increasingly frustrated Dahlia. She revelled in their companionship and before she knew it, she had opened her mouth.

“I love you guys!” She cried, drawing curious stares from the other two. Slowly, a grin stretched across Poppy’s face.

“Yeah, we know. That's only, like, the eleventh time you told us!” she said with a laugh.

~•~

It was nearly daylight before everyone was feeling well enough to talk. Pulling up a rock to stand on, Stella cleared her throat.

“As you all may know...” she began, staring at each of her friends in turn “Gale has returned.”

The others seemed to deflate as the mood suddenly shifted. Dahlia slowly shook her head and Willow sadly dropped her eyes to the floor. Poppy and Luca continued to peer up at her, but Stella could clearly see the look of determination that washed over Poppy’s face. Luca looked like he had something to add.

“Stella…” he said hesitantly, peering around at the others “What happened? Why isn’t she with us?” He’d evidently been the first to go. Poppy let out a growl of anger.

“She attacked you, buddy. She attacked all of us.” she said angrily “As you ran up to give her a hug, she turned you to gold right before our eyes.” Poppy released another growl.

“She’s gonna pay for that.”

“How did she do that, by the way?” Willow asked, looking around at her friends fearfully “One moment Luca was running towards her and the next…” her eyes started to fill with tears “he was nothing but a golden statue…” She broke down and Dahlia moved to console her.

“The amount of energy coming off her at that moment was immense.” she said as the blue bird cried into her shoulder “It was so much, it broke a lot of my scanners.” Poppy wasn’t ready to accept such information.

“I don’t care.” she said, baring her teeth “Lemme at ‘er. I’ll rip her to shreds.”

“Yeah, because you were soooo effective at stopping her the last time.” Dahlia said, rolling her eyes “We don’t even know where this new power came from. If we go against her right now, we die.” Poppy grumbled something but quieted down anyway. Dahlia took this opportunity to address Stella.

“Do you know anything about what happened to her?” she asked “We were all there at the same time...but you came later. Did she tell you anything?” Stella nodded her head.

“I think…” she stopped momentarily to swallow her uncertainty “I think she was...possessed by the Golden Egg.”

Her friends were silent for a while as they mulled over the information and Stella’s mind returned once more to her fight with Gale. She could still hear the Egg’s voice as it echoed through her mind. The power and malice behind it terrified the young bird beyond belief. It was quite literally a voice from her nightmares and even the mere memory of it made her stomach churn in fear. More than that though, she feared for her friend. Gale was under its complete control. She was out there right now, enslaved within her own body and unable act for herself. She had absolutely no chance of regaining her freedom on her own and absolutely no way to reach out to someone else. The only ones who could save her were just sitting here around a campfire. Stella felt tears start to roll down her cheeks.

“I need to go after her guys.” she said, turning away from her friends “I need to save her.”

The others were quick to voice their concerns. They told her how dangerous it was, how crazy it was to try to separate such incredible power from their purple feathered friend but Stella shook her head and struggled to hold back her fear.

‘They don’t understand.’ she thought as her friends clamored behind her ‘This was my fault and I have to make it right.’

“I’ll go alone if I have too!” She cried suddenly, silencing their protests “I don’t expect you to come with me, but this is something I have to do.”

She heard them start to move in front of her and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. She couldn’t face their disapproving glares, their disappointment, their condescension. She knew what she had to do and she wasn’t going to let them dissuade–

“You serious? We’re a family! And that means we stick together!”

Stella’s eyes snapped open to see her friends grinning back at her. Not a trace of malice could be found on their brilliant faces. They didn’t even look uncertain. All Stella could see was the support of her friends gathered around her and she felt new tears spring to her eyes.

“Oh guys…” she gasped pulling them all into a friendly hug “Thank you!”

And as she stared off toward the horizon where the sun was just beginning to rise, she felt confidence light within her heart for the first time in what seemed like forever.

“We have a long road ahead of us but we’ll travel it together.”

Description
Stella woke with a start and immediately expelled several gallons of sea water from her lungs. The salt burned her throat as she heaved and sputtered and her eyes screwed shut in pain. Slowly her convulsions died down and when the water finally stopped pouring from her mouth she collapsed to the sand, her energy depleted. Her head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it and her muscles felt sluggish and worn out. Coughing, she opened her eyes and blinked several times as burning light streamed into them. It was intense, but not unbearable and she quickly got used to it. The same could not be said for her sopping wet feathers though, which clung to her body and weighed heavily on her frame.

Turning her attention to her surroundings, Stella realized she had been lying on the beach behind the treehouse. She probed her aching head for the memories concerning how she got there but couldn’t come up with them. Her mind was too fuzzy and lethargic from sleep. Looking up at the tree in wonder, she started to get the feeling that something was amiss, though she couldn’t fathom why. Perhaps it was because Luca wasn’t up yet. He could usually be found in front of the TV in the mornings, watching cartoons while everyone else slept. Yet today the tree remained silent. Stella’s brow furrowed in thought as she started to move up the slope of the beach toward where the sand flattened out. She could feel the answers to her questions lurking just out of reach so she wasn’t entirely surprised when she crested the hill and her memories began to trickle back to her.

‘I’ve been here before’ Stella realized as she took in the scene before her. She recognized the rubble lying about, the glassy black craters, the splintered palms...she’d seen them all before so why couldn’t she remember? The question plagued her as she moved out into the debris field in front of the tree. She probed her mind for the memories that alluded her as she moved through the mess but could come up with little more than feelings. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on them:

Anger

Fear

Grief?

As the feelings resurfaced she began to get worried.

Suddenly she felt the world lurch as she tripped on something in front of her. Pulling her face from the sand, Stella glanced backward and immediately felt her heart seize up in her chest.

Staring back at her, its face half buried in the sand, was the golden statue of Dahlia.

In that instant, Stella’s memories came back to her in a sudden, violent rush. Her dream, the castle, her friends, Gale; one by one her memories played themselves before her eyes. She collapsed next to her friend, overwhelmed by the sudden onrush of emotion. Stella felt herself go numb as she looked over Dahlia’s petrified body. Her glassy golden eyes stared vacantly up at the sky while her beak remained locked in a shout of surprize. Her feathers, which had always been so soft and warm had become cold, hard and lifeless. Stella’s chest tightened in fear and slowly she reached out toward her friend.

“Dahlia…?” she whispered weakly, shaking the statue as if to rouse it from sleep “Come on Dahlia, you can’t be dead. Please, get up. I–” Stella’s voice broke as the reality of the situation began to sink in. She felt tears form, hot and heavy in her eyes while the last vestiges of hope left her body. She clutched Dahlia to her chest as her emotions quickly went out of control. Her mind raged, plagued by memories of her friends as they had once been. She was forced to watch as they laughed and played before her eyes, all the while knowing they would never do so again.

And suddenly she found herself crying. Her tears streamed down her face, soaking her pink feathers before dripping to the sand beneath her. They flowed so fast, so furiously that she was unable to stop them. She clung to Dahlia desperately as her sobs wracked her body, becoming stronger and more violent with each passing second. Pretty soon, her screams of anguish were echoing across the entire island and it wasn’t until she had cried herself into a fitful, dreamless sleep that the forest was able to return to a dead, empty silence.

~•~

Some time later Stella woke up to the pink and orange hues of sunset. She slowly lifted her face from Dahlia’s body and looked around, feeling nothing but a hollow emptiness at the center of her being. Great purple clouds drifted lazily through the sky above her as the first few stars began to wink into existence. The sea was a brilliant plane of glittering gold as the light of the sun glinted off it’s ever changing surface. And yet, despite its beauty, the sun’s fading glow did nothing to ease Stella’s aching heart. Without her friends she had nothing. She was all alone.

Slowly, Stella brought her eyes down to Dahlia’s lifeless form. She no longer had the strength to summon tears for her friend so instead she peered down at her emotionlessly, her eyes vacant. The gold covering Dahlia’s body reflected the light from the sun, making her glow a brilliant orange and in a sad sort of way it was almost beautiful how brightly she shone. Stella’s eyes drifted across her gleaming features, mindlessly taking in every minute detail until they caught on a strange patch of feathers that didn’t seem to shine as brightly as the others. She peered down at the curious little spot, inspecting it halfheartedly. Though at first she thought it was a trick of the waning light, she soon realized there was indeed something ‘off’ about it. Hesitantly she reached forward to touch it and was somewhat surprised to find it cool and damp. In the back of her head she must have recognized it as the spot where her face had rested as she slept; the dampness a result of her tears as they pooled around her cheek. However, as it was, her mind was currently occupied by another far more important discovery.

Instead of rigid gold, Stella felt soft, delicate feathers under her touch.

Confusion washed over her as she felt Dahlia’s feathers brush against her own. Suddenly, finding energy coursing through her veins, she spun her friend away from the golden light of the sunset and peered in wonder at the pristine brown feathers that were poking out of her side. They were disheveled and matted but not a fleck of gold was visible on the fine brown fibers. It was as if the gold that was coating them had been wiped away. Gale’s magic was completely gone!

“But...why?” she wondered aloud, her eyes wide in confusion.

Suddenly she had a thought.

Diving into her memories, Stella hurriedly searched for evidence to back up her idea. She remembered when she had found Gale’s second in command passed out in the center of their castle. Thinking back on it, it seemed strange that he had escaped being turned to gold. He may have been Gale’s highest ranked minion, but he could hardly be considered her friend. From what Stella could gather, he was more of a nuisance than someone Gale cared for. But maybe he hadn’t been spared; when she had found him, he was soaked from snout to tail…

She also remembered her fight with Gale. She remembered exactly how it had ended; the pain, the fear, the helplessness she’d felt as the world faded around her. It was all so vividly imprinted upon her mind that it seemed to have happened mere moments ago. And yet here she was, alive and moving around as if nothing had happened. All she knew was that she had been soaking when she’d woken up as well…

“Could it be the water?” Stella wondered allowed.

Hurriedly, she wiped up as much of the moisture as she could and tried rubbing it over Dahlia’s cheek. She was overjoyed to see the gold evaporate away before her eyes and before she knew it, she was crying again. She could save them! She could save them and all she needed was water! She looked up at the sea as the sun slowly sunk beneath it.

‘Don’t worry guys.’ She thought as she grabbed hold of Dahlia and started pulling her toward the water’s edge ‘We’ll be together again soon.’

~•~

“Stellaaaaa! My heeaad huuuuurts!” Luca complained as Stella wrapped him in blankets to shelter him from the cool night air. All that could be seen of him were his eyes which peaked through a gap in the coverings and stared tiredly up at Stella. At the sound of his voice, Stella’s heart nearly broke in two and she quickly leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“I know sweetie, I know.” She said lovingly, scooching him closer to the fire “Don’t worry. Dahlia is cooking something up for you that will make you feel all better.” Luca closed his eyes and seemed to settle back into the mountain of blankets around him so Stella let him rest and hopped over to where Dahlia was working by the fire. She was busy stirring a small pot of bubbling water and when Stella looked inside, she saw several bulbous roots floating in it.

“Hey Dahlia. Could I get one of those things for Luca?” She asked hopefully. Dahlia grunted in reply and fished around in the pot for a moment before pulling out one of the roots. Shaking the water off of it, she handed it to Stella before moving back to continue stirring.

“Have him suck on that” she instructed “Once it dries out we’ll throw it back in and get him a new one.”

Nodding dutifully Stella left her friend to continue working and brought the root over to the little pile of blankets by the fire.

“Here Luca, chew on this.” She said softly, presenting the root to the little bird “Dahlia says it will help with your headache.”

Peering at it hesitantly, Luca took the root and gingerly brought it to his mouth. Almost immediately he pulled it away again, sticking his tongue out and making a face of disgust.

“Ech! It’th yucky!” He cried, thrusting it back towards Stella. The pink bird reached out to take it from him but stopped when she heard Dalia speak up from her spot near the fire.

“If you don’t want it, you don’t have to have it.” She said as she continued to stir the bubbling pot before her “But that’s the only pain medicine I’ve got.”

“You’re mean.” Luca said with a pout. Nevertheless he grudgingly stuck the root back in his mouth with little more than a grimace. As Stella peered at him, she felt tears of happiness come to her eyes. She was so happy, so overjoyed, so thankful he was okay that she couldn’t help but cry. She suddenly found herself rushing forward to pull him into a warm hug. The little blue bird gasped in surprise but Stella did not let him go.

“I love you.” she whispered as she held him close “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Luca groaned and tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

“I know that, Stella! Just get off me! You’re making me uncomfortable!”

He continued to struggle until he finally managed to squirm free and tug the blankets from the older bird’s grasp. Huffing indignantly, Luca crossed over to the other side of the fire and sat down once more. He shot her one last scowl before closing his eyes and pulling the blankets up over his mouth again. Stella didn’t give chase and instead let the little bird rest. She understood how tired he must have been and was not at all surprised that he wished to be left alone. Still though, she couldn’t help but want to clutch him to her chest and squeeze him tightly. She had been so scared and now that she knew he was okay, she never wanted to let go of him again. Luckily for Luca, a voice drew her attention away from the campfire.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ve got it. Just focus on moving forward.”

Stella turned to see two figures emerge from the night. It was Poppy and Willow, though the latter seemed significantly worse for wear. The blue bird looked half asleep and it was only with Poppy’s support that she was able to stand up at all. Her rainbow colored crest fell down her back and trailed behind her, leaving a trail of water to soak into the sand. The rest of her feathers were equally drenched and lay plastered to her body. She shivered as a cold breeze blew across the beach and released a little sneeze into the sand at their feet. Poppy kept urging her forward though, as sitting by the fire was the only way for her to get warm.

By comparison, the taller bird looked to be in much better shape. She was far less wet than her cerulean companion and seemed to have far more energy. At her side she held Willow’s sopping wet beanie and in her mouth she clutched a root that looked to be the same kind that Luca now had in his mouth. Her yellow feathers shone brightly in the light of the campfire as she coaxed Willow toward it.

“Willow!” Stella gasped, rushing over to the pair. She quickly wrapped a blanket around her shaking friend before helping Poppy guide her to the fire. The poor bird was so out of it, Stella and Poppy had to practically carry her there. When they finally had her seated, Stella called to Dahlia for some medicine. Poppy nodded her head and requested a root as well.

“I think the one I’ve got may be just about empty.” she explained, pulling the shriveled root from her mouth. Dahlia sighed in annoyance but proceeded to fish two new roots from the pot.

“Y’know these are supposed to last you a couple hours.” She said, passing the roots to the other birds “You’re not supposed to suck on them as hard as possible, you’re just supposed to hold them in your mouth.”

Poppy frowned as she tossed the dry root back “Really? I thought it was, like, the more medicine you had, the faster you would get better.”

“No. That’s how you get sick.” Dahlia responded dryly.

“What! No way! Medicine can’t make you sick!”

“I assure you it can.”

“Nuh-uh!”

The conversation quickly devolved into an argument and as Stella listened to her friends bicker, she couldn’t help but smile in happiness. The fact that they were all here and able to speak to one another again was just too beautiful to handle! She felt happy tears come to her eyes as Poppy continued to egg on an increasingly frustrated Dahlia. She revelled in their companionship and before she knew it, she had opened her mouth.

“I love you guys!” She cried, drawing curious stares from the other two. Slowly, a grin stretched across Poppy’s face.

“Yeah, we know. That's only, like, the eleventh time you told us!” she said with a laugh.

~•~

It was nearly daylight before everyone was feeling well enough to talk. Pulling up a rock to stand on, Stella cleared her throat.

“As you all may know...” she began, staring at each of her friends in turn “Gale has returned.”

The others seemed to deflate as the mood suddenly shifted. Dahlia slowly shook her head and Willow sadly dropped her eyes to the floor. Poppy and Luca continued to peer up at her, but Stella could clearly see the look of determination that washed over Poppy’s face. Luca looked like he had something to add.

“Stella…” he said hesitantly, peering around at the others “What happened? Why isn’t she with us?” He’d evidently been the first to go. Poppy let out a growl of anger.

“She attacked you, buddy. She attacked all of us.” she said angrily “As you ran up to give her a hug, she turned you to gold right before our eyes.” Poppy released another growl.

“She’s gonna pay for that.”

“How did she do that, by the way?” Willow asked, looking around at her friends fearfully “One moment Luca was running towards her and the next…” her eyes started to fill with tears “he was nothing but a golden statue…” She broke down and Dahlia moved to console her.

“The amount of energy coming off her at that moment was immense.” she said as the blue bird cried into her shoulder “It was so much, it broke a lot of my scanners.” Poppy wasn’t ready to accept such information.

“I don’t care.” she said, baring her teeth “Lemme at ‘er. I’ll rip her to shreds.”

“Yeah, because you were soooo effective at stopping her the last time.” Dahlia said, rolling her eyes “We don’t even know where this new power came from. If we go against her right now, we die.” Poppy grumbled something but quieted down anyway. Dahlia took this opportunity to address Stella.

“Do you know anything about what happened to her?” she asked “We were all there at the same time...but you came later. Did she tell you anything?” Stella nodded her head.

“I think…” she stopped momentarily to swallow her uncertainty “I think she was...possessed by the Golden Egg.”

Her friends were silent for a while as they mulled over the information and Stella’s mind returned once more to her fight with Gale. She could still hear the Egg’s voice as it echoed through her mind. The power and malice behind it terrified the young bird beyond belief. It was quite literally a voice from her nightmares and even the mere memory of it made her stomach churn in fear. More than that though, she feared for her friend. Gale was under its complete control. She was out there right now, enslaved within her own body and unable act for herself. She had absolutely no chance of regaining her freedom on her own and absolutely no way to reach out to someone else. The only ones who could save her were just sitting here around a campfire. Stella felt tears start to roll down her cheeks.

“I need to go after her guys.” she said, turning away from her friends “I need to save her.”

The others were quick to voice their concerns. They told her how dangerous it was, how crazy it was to try to separate such incredible power from their purple feathered friend but Stella shook her head and struggled to hold back her fear.

‘They don’t understand.’ she thought as her friends clamored behind her ‘This was my fault and I have to make it right.’

“I’ll go alone if I have too!” She cried suddenly, silencing their protests “I don’t expect you to come with me, but this is something I have to do.”

She heard them start to move in front of her and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. She couldn’t face their disapproving glares, their disappointment, their condescension. She knew what she had to do and she wasn’t going to let them dissuade–

“You serious? We’re a family! And that means we stick together!”

Stella’s eyes snapped open to see her friends grinning back at her. Not a trace of malice could be found on their brilliant faces. They didn’t even look uncertain. All Stella could see was the support of her friends gathered around her and she felt new tears spring to her eyes.

“Oh guys…” she gasped pulling them all into a friendly hug “Thank you!”

And as she stared off toward the horizon where the sun was just beginning to rise, she felt confidence light within her heart for the first time in what seemed like forever.

“We have a long road ahead of us but we’ll travel it together.”