“Ann’da, Ann’da, hurry up! The poor bird needs help!” sounded a small voice; a young elven child rapidly tugging a death knight along a stretch of beach near Stormwind. Morician trudged along, doing his best to keep up with Danuriel despite being weighed down by his armor. This was supposed to have been a relaxing outing to bond with his adopted son, and give his wife some much-needed alone time. Khynareth’s gonna kill me if Danny got into trouble. He quickly shook the thought from his mind, focusing instead on reviewing his knowledge of first aid.
The pair slowed as they crested a sandy hill overlooking a section of pebbly beach; Danuriel tugging on Morician’s right arm and pointing to a small bird. “See? It’s hurt real bad and can’t fly. Can you fix? You’ve gotta fix it, poor bird. Can we take him home and keep him until he gets better?”
The bird in question was a sandy brown with a white underbelly and black markings on its head and neck. It had a pointy bill and longish legs, and long narrow wings–one of which was dragging along the ground as the bird made a pitiful squawking noise.
Morician watched the bird carefully as it hopped away, moving a little further down the beach from its visitors before stopping and continuing to squawk. He placed a hand on Danuriel’s shoulder as the child started to walk towards the bird, pointing with the other to a small depression in the sand near the bird.
“Not so fast there,” Morician replied with a small chuckle, keeping his voice low to avoid frightening the bird further. “Look carefully, and tell me what you what you see?”
Danuriel began to protest, but at a stern look from the death knight he frowned and turned to look in the indicated direction. Squinting a bit and shielding his eyes from the sun, he studied the depression intently for several minutes before perking up in excitement. “Eggs! Those are eggs in that hole!”
Morician nodded in approval, patting Danuriel on the shoulder. “Yep. That’s a killdeer bird, and they like to make their nests in sandy places. It ain’t really hurt, they just act hurt whenever a threat gets too close. They’ll lure the threat safely away from the nest before flyin’ back. Watch…”
He gently tugged on the child’s shoulder, stepping back several paces with Danuriel before pausing to watch. The killdeer eyed them suspiciously for several moments, before fluttering back to settle down on its nest once more.
“Whoa…wait until I tell Minn’da!” Danuriel whispered, shuffling his feet in barely contained excitement before stopping abruptly and frowning. “But why’s it called a killdeer? Does it eat deer? How does a bird that small eat deer?”
“It’s called that because of the sound it makes,” Morician replied, shepherding Danuriel back towards Stormwind. “They eat bugs and worms and stuff just like any other bird.”
“Are you sure it’s not hurt and needs help? We could take the eggs with it…” Danuriel asked hopefully.
“I’m sure,” Morician chuckled, ruffling the child’s hair. “Wild creatures are better left to live in the wild, where they’ll be happy, unless they’re really sick. I’m glad you got me before tryin’ to mess with it yourself, though I hope you learned somethin’ for next time.”
“Yes Ann’da…” Danuriel picked up a shiny pebble, examining it before sticking in his pocket. “Does this mean I can’t have a pet bird then?”
Morician sighed, offering a small smile. “We’ll see. If you can keep up with your schoolwork, and learn what a pet bird needs, then maybe. For now though we’d best be headin’ back or we’ll be late for dinner.”
Author's Note
The inspiration for this story actually came from one of my childhood memories. There was a killdeer that nested near a pond on my parents’ farm, and it was always interesting watching its behavior and trying to spot the eggs in the nest(a lot harder than it looks).
Anyway, I thought it’d make for a nice little story in light of the heavier stuff from prior weeks, in addition to expanding on Morician’s present status(as I’ve not done as much writing about BFA events).