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“…and so, as the life dripped from her veins, she used the last of her strength to build a stone fortress around the egg and seal it away forever.” Stella told her friends as they sat around the campfire, listening to her “Legend says that the Golden Egg is still out there, waiting to be uncovered and to change the world forever.”

“Woah! Do you think that’s twue?” Luca asked as she finished speaking, scooching closer to her in his excitement “Do you think it’s weally out there?”

“I don’t know” Stella said casually before a wry smile played across her face “…maybe”

Luca was a little bird, probably about six, and Stella found his fascination in everything life had to offer incredibly adorable. His eyes, which seemed entirely too big for his head, would grow even larger in amazement at even the most common of spectacles. Even now as she looked at him, he released a gasp of surprise as a firefly came and landed on his beak, never having seen one so close before. As such, she wanted to preserve his naiveté for as long as possible; he would learn the truth in time, but she didn’t want to spoil anything for him.

“Well then we simply must go searching for it!” Gale said passionately, pulling Stella from her thoughts. “I mean, honestly! A Golden Egg! What a marvelous artifact such a thing would be to find!”

Stella rolled her eyes at her best friend but smiled good naturedly. The two of them had known each other long before they had met the others and now they were practically inseparable. They both knew everything about the other, which was partly why Stella had chosen to tell the story that she had. Gale had started off uninterested in the story, yet willing to listen to her friend tell it, but had become further and further enraptured by the tale as it had progressed.

This was because Gale loved gold.

Actually, Gale loved anything shiny. CD’s, mirror fragments, chrome hubcaps, you name it! Anything the dark purple bird found that reflected light would be taken up to her room in the tree house and meticulously cleaned before being proudly hung from one of the branches that made up their home. She would spend hours each day lovingly polishing her treasures so that they sparkled magically in the light and then spend still more hours simply watching them as they turned slowly in the air, light bouncing off each individual atom that composed their reflective surfaces. It was like watching a kitten play with a ball of yarn and Stella found it endearing.

“B-but what about the G-guardians?” Willow said, peeking out from under her oversized orange and yellow hat. The shy little bird had gotten scared half-way through the story and had retreated into her beanie but now that the story was over, she had stopped shivering to poke a single brown eye out. “If we go looking for the egg, the Guardians will come after us, just like they did in the story!”

“Oh, Darling, please!” Gale began, moving over to where the smaller bird sat so that she could trail a wing lovingly down the side of her face “Don’t be stupid.”

With that, Gale’s show of affection quickly reversed itself as she grabbed the other bird’s hat and yanked it back down over her eye.

“Gale…” Stella warned, disappointment evident in her tone rather than shock. Gale looked back at the pink bird and gasped as she seemed to realize what she had said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Darling! That was terribly misleading!” She exclaimed, moving Willow’s hat so that it didn’t obscure her vision. Willow looked up at the older bird, her brown eyes inquisitive and her expression uncertain.

“Willow, dear, you are not stupid.” Gale said sincerely, her face warm and caring “So don’t say stupid things. That’s all I meant.”

Stella shook her head and rolled her eyes in resignation. ‘Some birds never change.’ she thought to herself as she watched Gale pat Willow on the head and come sauntering back over to sit by her again. Truth be told, Gale could be extremely nasty sometimes. Stella knew she could be kind and warm as well, but she doubted the others thought that way. But she liked Gale and she liked her other friends too. If that meant she was the glue that kept them together, so be it.

“I dunno, I kinda agree with Willow. It doesn’t really sound like fun.” said the group’s resident comedian as she tapped away on a rock positioned in front of her with her trusty drumsticks. Poppy was a tornado of energy at all times and was an avid supporter of the concept of fun. Pranks were her favorite, as well as anything loud and attention-grabbing. She was also the most musically inclined out of the whole group, able to play the guitar, the keyboard, and her favorite, the drums.

“Well dear, since you can’t commit to a project for more than five seconds, we can disregard your opinion.” Gale said dismissively. It was true; on a good day, the exuberant yellow bird had the attention span of a goldfish, but Stella still frowned at the comment; it just wasn't something you said to another bird! It didn’t seem to have an effect however, as Poppy continued to drum and tap as if she hadn’t even heard Gale’s comment. Luca heard it though and fearlessly stepped forward to defend his friend.

“Hey!” he said in his little chicklet voice, his eyes determined “You need to stop being mean!”

“Oh yeah?” Gale asked, standing up so that she loomed over the tiny bird “How are you gonna stop me pipsqueak?”

“Alright, enough you two.” Stella declared, getting in between the two birds “Lets not descend into name calling”

But Gale wasn’t finished yet. “What about you Dahlia? Surely you want to go in search of such a rare artifact. Or are you too busy doing math in the dust?” she said with a sneer.

Out of all the other birds besides Stella, Dahlia was probably the one Gale liked most. This was probably because she simply didn’t care if she got insulted. She was too concerned with her science experiments to give a flying feather about what anybirdie else thought of her. A talented botanical chemist and mechanical engineer, Dahlia wasn’t very talkative and prefered to think of new experiments rather than socialize. Hearing her name however, she looked up.

“Hm?” she asked as if she hadn’t realized the others were there too. She looked at Gale and then back at her feet where she had been scratching equations into the dirt, and finally back at Gale once more.

“Oh!” she said realizing what Gale had asked “Yeah, I’m busy”

“WHAT?” Gale screeched in anger and disbelief as Dahlia turned her attention back toward her equations. “Are you birds DUMB? Stella, tell them they’re wrong! Maybe they’ll listen to you.”

All five birds turned to look at the pink bird and as their questioning gaze fell upon her, Stella suddenly realized she didn’t know what to say. In truth, she didn’t really think searching for something from a made up story was worth their effort. She could tell though that Gale was on the brink of a meltdown and one thing she did not like was being told she was wrong.

“You do agree with me, don’t you dear?” Gale asked, trying to coax her on, her eyes hopeful and expectant.

“Yea– Well…I don’t know Gale.” Stella said uncertainly “I guess I never really thought about it before. Maybe…”

Before she could finish, Gale spun to face the others, a look of triumph on her face.

“HA! I told you birds you were being dumb! I guess this just goes to show that you should always listen to me.” She said arrogantly “And when Stella and I find the egg, we wont let you use it.”

With that, she stormed off toward the treehouse, laughing derisively as she went. Stella and the others watched her disappear into the growing darkness before exchanging glances of confusion, worry, and surprise.

“I just said maybe.” Stella said quietly to herself as she and the others got up to follow her.

~•~

The next day, the flock was hanging out at the lake, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the water. Nobirdie had seen Gale since the previous evening but that was hardly what was on their mind’s. Stella watched her friends play from her lawn chair on the beach as she took small sips from her honeysuckle nectar. Poppy and Luca had gotten into a cannon ball competition and were jumping off the huge rock that hung out over the water while Willow and Dahlia judged from the shallows. Willow had donned a pair of yellow water wings before going out but had neglected to take off her hat, which was by now completely soaked. Dahlia, on the other hand was wearing a pair of large black sunglasses which she said helped to cut through the glare of the sun coming off the water. Suddenly, Stella saw the perfect shot, and expertly whipping out her Polaroid instant camera, snapped the picture just in time. A little slip of film popped it’s way out of the bottom of the camera and fell to the floor and when Stella went to retrieve it, she smiled in wonder and pride. It was perfectly timed, showing Poppy as she performed her drill attack into the water. Little Luca was perched at the top of the rock with a huge excited grin on his little cheeks while Dahlia was playfully splashing at Willow at it’s base. Willow was laughing brightly, as she tried to shield herself from the assault and as Stella looked at the photo, she began to laugh as well. She loved her friends dearly, and honestly couldn't think of a place she would have rather been than right there with them. Giggling to herself, she pulled out her big pink scrapbook and opened it up to put the picture in before flipping through it some more. That’s when she saw the picture and her laughter died down.

It was an old image, one of the first ones she ever took, of her and Gale as little chicklets, hanging from a tree branch where they grew up and making funny faces. Behind them, an inflatable pool with a hose running into it was set up in a patch of grass and several dragon flies could be spotted buzzing around above it, looking for a place to escape the summer sun. Stella sighed. She wished Gale had come down that morning. Last night had gone so poorly, she wished she could know that her friend was okay. Closing the book, it was as if a cloud had blocked out the sun and the world seemed darker than it had a second prior.

'I think that was enough fun for one day' she thought morosely, turning to put the book back in her bag 'Maybe I'll just go back up to the treehouse an—' she stopped as movement in the branches behind her caught her attention. As if in response to her feelings, the universe seemed to cut her a break and presented her with the friend she missed so much.

“Good afternooo-oooooon!” Gale called as she stepped gingerly through the thick underbrush of the jungle. Stella leapt up eagerly, grateful that her friend was in such a good mood and once they were both within range, the pair pulled each other into a friendly hug.

“Are you ready to go on our little adventure?” Gale asked.

Stella blinked in surprise “Wait, what?” she asked, pulling out of the embrace to look at her purple-feathered best friend, noticing briefly that she had a knapsack attached to her back. Gale laughed and nudged the pink bird to try and get her to remember.

“You know…” Gale said, a playful smile on her face “We were going to go looking for the Golden Egg, remember?”

Stella’s face fell.

'She’s still on that?' she thought to herself. She must have looked pretty upset because Gale’s face changed to one of concern.

“What’s wrong Darling?” She asked, trying to look Stella in the eye “You did say it was a good idea, right?”

“Well…The thing is…You see…” Stella began, trying to avoid telling her friend that she disagreed. It was too soon to unearth that dispute. Her eyes looked left and right, furiously searching for an excuse until finally they landed on her scrapbook.

“It’s just, right now we’re all having fun at the lake.” she said, gesturing to where the others were playing “I don’t want to just drop everything and set off right now.”

Gale looked toward the lake and gasped, bringing her wing to her mouth.

“Oh, Dear! Of course! I should have realized you would be busy!” she exclaimed, turning back to look at her, “Of course we can postpone this until later!”

“Really?” Stella asked in delight as Gale set her own bag down next to her's. Gale nodded her head.

“Of course. As long as I get to spend time with you, I’m happy.” she said, snuggling up to her best friend. Stella let out a sigh of happiness as the world seemed to brighten once more.

~•~

However, that was not the end of the discussion as Stella had thought. As soon as they had come home from the lake, Gale had insisted that Stella go and get her stuff together so that they could set off. Stella explained that she couldn’t because she needed to make dinner. Gale had readily accepted the explanation but the following morning, she asked again! And then again later that day! And then 3 more times the day after that! She kept asking and asking, over and over, unrelentingly until finally…

“No, you know what, Gale? NO, I’m not ready to go.” Stella said in annoyance when Gale asked her again for the tenth time in four days. Everybirdy else looked up from their bowls of birdseed stew at the outburst as Stella continued.

“Do you want to know why?” she asked the purple bird “It’s because it’s pointless! You’re obsessing over this and it’s not even real! It’s from a made up story! And what’s worse is that you keep trying to drag everybirdy into it with you! Just give it a rest, please. You’re the only one who hasn’t let it go.”

Stella panted as the emotion ebbed from her body, finally released after building up for so long. As her frustration diminished, it was replaced by compassionate understanding.

“Look, Gale.” she said as she calmed down “It’s not that I don’t want to go on an adventure with you. I’m just getting tired of being pestered all the time. Maybe we can go some time in the future, but please, I’m begging you, give it a rest for now.”

Gale had turned her face down under the onslaught, so when she mumbled her response, Stella was unable to hear it.

“What?” she asked

“I waited so long…” Gale repeated, louder this time.

“Huh?” Stella asked, not understanding what her friend was trying to say “What do you mean you waited so lo—”

“I WAITED SO LONG!” Gale screamed, standing up to look Stella in the eye. Stella was alarmed to suddenly see tears, hot and angry, building in the corners of her golden eyes. But they were gone as suddenly as they had appeared as Gale quickly wiped them away before continuing.

“I was patient. I was lenient. I was gracious in letting you uphold your promise whenever you felt comfortable because I was sure you would follow up.” she said furiously before turning to point at each of the others in turn “I could have expected something like this from a joke, a baby, a wimp, and a nerd. But Stella, you’re my best friend!" suddenly she seemed to deflate.

"At least…I thought you were…”

Again, her eyes began to tear up and she squeezed them shut and shook her head in a vain effort to keep her composure. Her eyes were unrelenting however and she quickly gave up to look at Stella.

“Well if you won’t help me” she said as the angry tears flowed down her face “I’ll find someone who WILL!” With that, she charged out of the kitchen in the direction of her room. The other birds exchanged glances for a moment before Poppy spoke up.

“Draaamaaaaaa!” she said to break the silence.

No one laughed…

~•~

“Gale, come on, what’s wrong? What are you doing?” Stella asked, hopping into her best friend’s room “All I said was that it was getting a little annoying. Why are you so upset?”

Gale stared back at her through the reflection of a polished silver platter that she had propped up against the wall. Her knapsack, which she hadn’t unpacked since the day she put it together, was firmly strapped to her back and looked like it weighed heavily on her shoulders. As the tears threatened to pour from her eyes once more she managed to squeak out a tiny response.

“I trusted you…” she said in a voice filled with anguish and barely above a whisper. “I trusted you and you betrayed me.”

“But Gale, I —”

“You got my hopes up.” Gale interrupted, before Stella could finish. She was unable to hold back the tears any longer and so, turning around and moving towards her pink-feathered friend, let them fall freely from her eyes to the wood floor beneath them. “You got my hopes up, and once they were up as high as they would go, you dropped them to the ground so that they shattered into a million tiny pieces.”

As understanding came to her, Stella began to tear up as well and had to focus to keep her voice from cracking.
“No, Gale, that’s not what I —”

“And what’s more, you lied to me!” Gale exclaimed, her tears now coming out in torrents “You were lying to me the whole time! Am I not important enough to you for you to tell me the truth?”

“No! I swear, I never meant it like —”

“I know, and I don’t blame you” Gale said, wrapping the pink bird in a comforting embrace “I just wish this could have happened differently…”

The two stood there for a long time, neither one moving and only absorbing the other’s pain. Finally, after a long time had elapsed, the pair pulled apart and that was when Stella noticed the pack on her friend’s back once more and her eyes widened in realization.

“No…” she whispered in disbelief before dashing forward and clinging to her friend in an attempt to stop her “NO, YOU CAN’T!”

Gale closed her eyes in pain but no tears formed; she was all cried out. “I’m sorry Stella, but I have to do this.” she said sadly “I wouldn’t expect you or anybirdie else to understand.”

“W-well then let us come with you!” Stella cried desperately as new tears rose to her face “We’ll go first thing tomorrow! I promise!”

Gale smiled a sad smile but pushed the smaller bird away “I couldn’t ask that of such a good friend.”

“But Gale! What about us?” Stella asked as the tears poured down face and the feathers atop her head slumped in defeat “We need you. I need you.”

Gale turned sideways and stared at the floor “I wish I could believe that” she said sadly before turning towards the door “Farewell”

And with that, she was gone. Stella, still standing in the middle of Gale’s room with tears streaming down her face, slumped to her knees and peered at the doorway in desperation as if watching it would somehow bring her friend back to her.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered quietly as she almost seemed to melt down to the floor in despair “I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t leave me. I need you. Don’t go Gale. Please, oh please don’t go.”

Don’t go…

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“…and so, as the life dripped from her veins, she used the last of her strength to build a stone fortress around the egg and seal it away forever.” Stella told her friends as they sat around the campfire, listening to her “Legend says that the Golden Egg is still out there, waiting to be uncovered and to change the world forever.”

“Woah! Do you think that’s twue?” Luca asked as she finished speaking, scooching closer to her in his excitement “Do you think it’s weally out there?”

“I don’t know” Stella said casually before a wry smile played across her face “…maybe”

Luca was a little bird, probably about six, and Stella found his fascination in everything life had to offer incredibly adorable. His eyes, which seemed entirely too big for his head, would grow even larger in amazement at even the most common of spectacles. Even now as she looked at him, he released a gasp of surprise as a firefly came and landed on his beak, never having seen one so close before. As such, she wanted to preserve his naiveté for as long as possible; he would learn the truth in time, but she didn’t want to spoil anything for him.

“Well then we simply must go searching for it!” Gale said passionately, pulling Stella from her thoughts. “I mean, honestly! A Golden Egg! What a marvelous artifact such a thing would be to find!”

Stella rolled her eyes at her best friend but smiled good naturedly. The two of them had known each other long before they had met the others and now they were practically inseparable. They both knew everything about the other, which was partly why Stella had chosen to tell the story that she had. Gale had started off uninterested in the story, yet willing to listen to her friend tell it, but had become further and further enraptured by the tale as it had progressed.

This was because Gale loved gold.

Actually, Gale loved anything shiny. CD’s, mirror fragments, chrome hubcaps, you name it! Anything the dark purple bird found that reflected light would be taken up to her room in the tree house and meticulously cleaned before being proudly hung from one of the branches that made up their home. She would spend hours each day lovingly polishing her treasures so that they sparkled magically in the light and then spend still more hours simply watching them as they turned slowly in the air, light bouncing off each individual atom that composed their reflective surfaces. It was like watching a kitten play with a ball of yarn and Stella found it endearing.

“B-but what about the G-guardians?” Willow said, peeking out from under her oversized orange and yellow hat. The shy little bird had gotten scared half-way through the story and had retreated into her beanie but now that the story was over, she had stopped shivering to poke a single brown eye out. “If we go looking for the egg, the Guardians will come after us, just like they did in the story!”

“Oh, Darling, please!” Gale began, moving over to where the smaller bird sat so that she could trail a wing lovingly down the side of her face “Don’t be stupid.”

With that, Gale’s show of affection quickly reversed itself as she grabbed the other bird’s hat and yanked it back down over her eye.

“Gale…” Stella warned, disappointment evident in her tone rather than shock. Gale looked back at the pink bird and gasped as she seemed to realize what she had said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Darling! That was terribly misleading!” She exclaimed, moving Willow’s hat so that it didn’t obscure her vision. Willow looked up at the older bird, her brown eyes inquisitive and her expression uncertain.

“Willow, dear, you are not stupid.” Gale said sincerely, her face warm and caring “So don’t say stupid things. That’s all I meant.”

Stella shook her head and rolled her eyes in resignation. ‘Some birds never change.’ she thought to herself as she watched Gale pat Willow on the head and come sauntering back over to sit by her again. Truth be told, Gale could be extremely nasty sometimes. Stella knew she could be kind and warm as well, but she doubted the others thought that way. But she liked Gale and she liked her other friends too. If that meant she was the glue that kept them together, so be it.

“I dunno, I kinda agree with Willow. It doesn’t really sound like fun.” said the group’s resident comedian as she tapped away on a rock positioned in front of her with her trusty drumsticks. Poppy was a tornado of energy at all times and was an avid supporter of the concept of fun. Pranks were her favorite, as well as anything loud and attention-grabbing. She was also the most musically inclined out of the whole group, able to play the guitar, the keyboard, and her favorite, the drums.

“Well dear, since you can’t commit to a project for more than five seconds, we can disregard your opinion.” Gale said dismissively. It was true; on a good day, the exuberant yellow bird had the attention span of a goldfish, but Stella still frowned at the comment; it just wasn't something you said to another bird! It didn’t seem to have an effect however, as Poppy continued to drum and tap as if she hadn’t even heard Gale’s comment. Luca heard it though and fearlessly stepped forward to defend his friend.

“Hey!” he said in his little chicklet voice, his eyes determined “You need to stop being mean!”

“Oh yeah?” Gale asked, standing up so that she loomed over the tiny bird “How are you gonna stop me pipsqueak?”

“Alright, enough you two.” Stella declared, getting in between the two birds “Lets not descend into name calling”

But Gale wasn’t finished yet. “What about you Dahlia? Surely you want to go in search of such a rare artifact. Or are you too busy doing math in the dust?” she said with a sneer.

Out of all the other birds besides Stella, Dahlia was probably the one Gale liked most. This was probably because she simply didn’t care if she got insulted. She was too concerned with her science experiments to give a flying feather about what anybirdie else thought of her. A talented botanical chemist and mechanical engineer, Dahlia wasn’t very talkative and prefered to think of new experiments rather than socialize. Hearing her name however, she looked up.

“Hm?” she asked as if she hadn’t realized the others were there too. She looked at Gale and then back at her feet where she had been scratching equations into the dirt, and finally back at Gale once more.

“Oh!” she said realizing what Gale had asked “Yeah, I’m busy”

“WHAT?” Gale screeched in anger and disbelief as Dahlia turned her attention back toward her equations. “Are you birds DUMB? Stella, tell them they’re wrong! Maybe they’ll listen to you.”

All five birds turned to look at the pink bird and as their questioning gaze fell upon her, Stella suddenly realized she didn’t know what to say. In truth, she didn’t really think searching for something from a made up story was worth their effort. She could tell though that Gale was on the brink of a meltdown and one thing she did not like was being told she was wrong.

“You do agree with me, don’t you dear?” Gale asked, trying to coax her on, her eyes hopeful and expectant.

“Yea– Well…I don’t know Gale.” Stella said uncertainly “I guess I never really thought about it before. Maybe…”

Before she could finish, Gale spun to face the others, a look of triumph on her face.

“HA! I told you birds you were being dumb! I guess this just goes to show that you should always listen to me.” She said arrogantly “And when Stella and I find the egg, we wont let you use it.”

With that, she stormed off toward the treehouse, laughing derisively as she went. Stella and the others watched her disappear into the growing darkness before exchanging glances of confusion, worry, and surprise.

“I just said maybe.” Stella said quietly to herself as she and the others got up to follow her.

~•~

The next day, the flock was hanging out at the lake, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the water. Nobirdie had seen Gale since the previous evening but that was hardly what was on their mind’s. Stella watched her friends play from her lawn chair on the beach as she took small sips from her honeysuckle nectar. Poppy and Luca had gotten into a cannon ball competition and were jumping off the huge rock that hung out over the water while Willow and Dahlia judged from the shallows. Willow had donned a pair of yellow water wings before going out but had neglected to take off her hat, which was by now completely soaked. Dahlia, on the other hand was wearing a pair of large black sunglasses which she said helped to cut through the glare of the sun coming off the water. Suddenly, Stella saw the perfect shot, and expertly whipping out her Polaroid instant camera, snapped the picture just in time. A little slip of film popped it’s way out of the bottom of the camera and fell to the floor and when Stella went to retrieve it, she smiled in wonder and pride. It was perfectly timed, showing Poppy as she performed her drill attack into the water. Little Luca was perched at the top of the rock with a huge excited grin on his little cheeks while Dahlia was playfully splashing at Willow at it’s base. Willow was laughing brightly, as she tried to shield herself from the assault and as Stella looked at the photo, she began to laugh as well. She loved her friends dearly, and honestly couldn't think of a place she would have rather been than right there with them. Giggling to herself, she pulled out her big pink scrapbook and opened it up to put the picture in before flipping through it some more. That’s when she saw the picture and her laughter died down.

It was an old image, one of the first ones she ever took, of her and Gale as little chicklets, hanging from a tree branch where they grew up and making funny faces. Behind them, an inflatable pool with a hose running into it was set up in a patch of grass and several dragon flies could be spotted buzzing around above it, looking for a place to escape the summer sun. Stella sighed. She wished Gale had come down that morning. Last night had gone so poorly, she wished she could know that her friend was okay. Closing the book, it was as if a cloud had blocked out the sun and the world seemed darker than it had a second prior.

'I think that was enough fun for one day' she thought morosely, turning to put the book back in her bag 'Maybe I'll just go back up to the treehouse an—' she stopped as movement in the branches behind her caught her attention. As if in response to her feelings, the universe seemed to cut her a break and presented her with the friend she missed so much.

“Good afternooo-oooooon!” Gale called as she stepped gingerly through the thick underbrush of the jungle. Stella leapt up eagerly, grateful that her friend was in such a good mood and once they were both within range, the pair pulled each other into a friendly hug.

“Are you ready to go on our little adventure?” Gale asked.

Stella blinked in surprise “Wait, what?” she asked, pulling out of the embrace to look at her purple-feathered best friend, noticing briefly that she had a knapsack attached to her back. Gale laughed and nudged the pink bird to try and get her to remember.

“You know…” Gale said, a playful smile on her face “We were going to go looking for the Golden Egg, remember?”

Stella’s face fell.

'She’s still on that?' she thought to herself. She must have looked pretty upset because Gale’s face changed to one of concern.

“What’s wrong Darling?” She asked, trying to look Stella in the eye “You did say it was a good idea, right?”

“Well…The thing is…You see…” Stella began, trying to avoid telling her friend that she disagreed. It was too soon to unearth that dispute. Her eyes looked left and right, furiously searching for an excuse until finally they landed on her scrapbook.

“It’s just, right now we’re all having fun at the lake.” she said, gesturing to where the others were playing “I don’t want to just drop everything and set off right now.”

Gale looked toward the lake and gasped, bringing her wing to her mouth.

“Oh, Dear! Of course! I should have realized you would be busy!” she exclaimed, turning back to look at her, “Of course we can postpone this until later!”

“Really?” Stella asked in delight as Gale set her own bag down next to her's. Gale nodded her head.

“Of course. As long as I get to spend time with you, I’m happy.” she said, snuggling up to her best friend. Stella let out a sigh of happiness as the world seemed to brighten once more.

~•~

However, that was not the end of the discussion as Stella had thought. As soon as they had come home from the lake, Gale had insisted that Stella go and get her stuff together so that they could set off. Stella explained that she couldn’t because she needed to make dinner. Gale had readily accepted the explanation but the following morning, she asked again! And then again later that day! And then 3 more times the day after that! She kept asking and asking, over and over, unrelentingly until finally…

“No, you know what, Gale? NO, I’m not ready to go.” Stella said in annoyance when Gale asked her again for the tenth time in four days. Everybirdy else looked up from their bowls of birdseed stew at the outburst as Stella continued.

“Do you want to know why?” she asked the purple bird “It’s because it’s pointless! You’re obsessing over this and it’s not even real! It’s from a made up story! And what’s worse is that you keep trying to drag everybirdy into it with you! Just give it a rest, please. You’re the only one who hasn’t let it go.”

Stella panted as the emotion ebbed from her body, finally released after building up for so long. As her frustration diminished, it was replaced by compassionate understanding.

“Look, Gale.” she said as she calmed down “It’s not that I don’t want to go on an adventure with you. I’m just getting tired of being pestered all the time. Maybe we can go some time in the future, but please, I’m begging you, give it a rest for now.”

Gale had turned her face down under the onslaught, so when she mumbled her response, Stella was unable to hear it.

“What?” she asked

“I waited so long…” Gale repeated, louder this time.

“Huh?” Stella asked, not understanding what her friend was trying to say “What do you mean you waited so lo—”

“I WAITED SO LONG!” Gale screamed, standing up to look Stella in the eye. Stella was alarmed to suddenly see tears, hot and angry, building in the corners of her golden eyes. But they were gone as suddenly as they had appeared as Gale quickly wiped them away before continuing.

“I was patient. I was lenient. I was gracious in letting you uphold your promise whenever you felt comfortable because I was sure you would follow up.” she said furiously before turning to point at each of the others in turn “I could have expected something like this from a joke, a baby, a wimp, and a nerd. But Stella, you’re my best friend!" suddenly she seemed to deflate.

"At least…I thought you were…”

Again, her eyes began to tear up and she squeezed them shut and shook her head in a vain effort to keep her composure. Her eyes were unrelenting however and she quickly gave up to look at Stella.

“Well if you won’t help me” she said as the angry tears flowed down her face “I’ll find someone who WILL!” With that, she charged out of the kitchen in the direction of her room. The other birds exchanged glances for a moment before Poppy spoke up.

“Draaamaaaaaa!” she said to break the silence.

No one laughed…

~•~

“Gale, come on, what’s wrong? What are you doing?” Stella asked, hopping into her best friend’s room “All I said was that it was getting a little annoying. Why are you so upset?”

Gale stared back at her through the reflection of a polished silver platter that she had propped up against the wall. Her knapsack, which she hadn’t unpacked since the day she put it together, was firmly strapped to her back and looked like it weighed heavily on her shoulders. As the tears threatened to pour from her eyes once more she managed to squeak out a tiny response.

“I trusted you…” she said in a voice filled with anguish and barely above a whisper. “I trusted you and you betrayed me.”

“But Gale, I —”

“You got my hopes up.” Gale interrupted, before Stella could finish. She was unable to hold back the tears any longer and so, turning around and moving towards her pink-feathered friend, let them fall freely from her eyes to the wood floor beneath them. “You got my hopes up, and once they were up as high as they would go, you dropped them to the ground so that they shattered into a million tiny pieces.”

As understanding came to her, Stella began to tear up as well and had to focus to keep her voice from cracking.
“No, Gale, that’s not what I —”

“And what’s more, you lied to me!” Gale exclaimed, her tears now coming out in torrents “You were lying to me the whole time! Am I not important enough to you for you to tell me the truth?”

“No! I swear, I never meant it like —”

“I know, and I don’t blame you” Gale said, wrapping the pink bird in a comforting embrace “I just wish this could have happened differently…”

The two stood there for a long time, neither one moving and only absorbing the other’s pain. Finally, after a long time had elapsed, the pair pulled apart and that was when Stella noticed the pack on her friend’s back once more and her eyes widened in realization.

“No…” she whispered in disbelief before dashing forward and clinging to her friend in an attempt to stop her “NO, YOU CAN’T!”

Gale closed her eyes in pain but no tears formed; she was all cried out. “I’m sorry Stella, but I have to do this.” she said sadly “I wouldn’t expect you or anybirdie else to understand.”

“W-well then let us come with you!” Stella cried desperately as new tears rose to her face “We’ll go first thing tomorrow! I promise!”

Gale smiled a sad smile but pushed the smaller bird away “I couldn’t ask that of such a good friend.”

“But Gale! What about us?” Stella asked as the tears poured down face and the feathers atop her head slumped in defeat “We need you. I need you.”

Gale turned sideways and stared at the floor “I wish I could believe that” she said sadly before turning towards the door “Farewell”

And with that, she was gone. Stella, still standing in the middle of Gale’s room with tears streaming down her face, slumped to her knees and peered at the doorway in desperation as if watching it would somehow bring her friend back to her.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered quietly as she almost seemed to melt down to the floor in despair “I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t leave me. I need you. Don’t go Gale. Please, oh please don’t go.”

Don’t go…