Winged Hope

Summary

Hope for a bereaved tengu

Stats

500 words, average reading time ~ 5 min

Rating

PG. Death of main character's family.

Tags

tengu, yokai, hope, side stories, same timeline as Legend

Characters:

Ori trudged home.
Dougu—his brother—and Yamaaki his brother's fiancé lay in the morgue. He'd had to identify them and a handful of other tengu librarians he'd worked with for decades. Some even centuries. The pain wracked him as he spoke to the officer, but no tears would come.
Numb. Was that how he could describe it? Feeling nothing, now.
Now there would be no one to carry on the Jo family line. Dougu always said Ori was hopeless with females. Or any one.
Ori might as well collect the mail for Dougu and find his fire safe. It was on the way home, anyway. Not that Dougu'd need that stuff now. But Ori was next of kin. He'd need to handle his brother's affairs until the estate was settled.
At least Soujou-bou had contacted Yamaaki's family. Ori couldn't have managed it today after the carnage.
A hushed, "Ojamashimasu."—Forgive the intrusion—escaped his lips. Even after seeing his brother dead, Ori still expected to see Dougu or his fiance greet him. Only the appliances hummed in the background.
Ori transferred the mail in the bin on the door to the table. Nothing looked important enough to deal with tonight.
As he was about to leave, a tiny whistle came from another room. Or was it a peep?
Ori's head swiveled to catch where the sound came from. Was he hearing things? He must have. Dougu and Yamaaki would have told him if they were expecting. Che.
Peep.
Something or someone was playing tricks on him. He'd have their head for such cruelty. Especially after what he'd witnessed today. Ori's eyes narrowed as he hunted for whatever or whoever was making that sound.
Barging into his brother's bedroom felt dirty, shameful—too private a place to go in. But this was the last room.
Peep.
It came from in there! He HAD to go in.
When he opened the door, he froze. Before him was an incubator, and inside it was the most beautiful blue-green egg with dark speckles he'd ever seen. His heart caught in his throat and he couldn't breathe.
He wasn't the last in the Jo line! In side that incubator lay his family's hope for the future. Ori collapsed to the floor, tears streaming to the tatami mat.
Peep.
Why had Dougu and Yamaaki not told him about this little one? It's far enough along that it should be out of danger of not hatching.
With trembling hands he unlatched the door to the incubator and stroked the shell, whispering choked words. "You're going to be all right little one."
Above the incubator was a list of names—all for girls. Nozomi—hope. That was the one he choose for his niece. She was his winged hope.

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Winged

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