CHAPTER 1: QUAIL Quail trailed through the halls of the royal palace. He glanced out of a multicolored stained glass window that overlooked the peasants. Suddenly, he heard intense shuffling behind him. "SIR!" a voice spoke. "Ikaika?" Quail responded, shifting his gaze to the oncoming parrot skyarie. "Sir, I was ordered to deliver these eggs to you." Ikaika grabbed two eggs from behind them and provided them to Quail. One was cream color with brown speckles and orange flecks. The other was also cream with brown speckles, yet it had brown streaks across the side. "These look like hawk eggs." Quail stated. "Very much so. They are the Queen's eggs, yet she is too brittle to incubate them". Ikaika responded. "And why is that important?" Quail asked, shifting his talons uncomfortably. "I- we, are expecting you to incubate them and take care of them. After all, the Queen doesn't have much time left". Ikaika paused. "The king has fell ill, as well. Corvous, the nurse, believes it to be tuberculosis, or something of that sorts do to the King's breathing." They both fell silent, staring at each other. "If you get to see the king, please tell him that I hope he feels better." Quail disrupted the silence. He continued walking, yet slowed his pace in case Ikaika had something else to say. "I will, sir." CHAPTER 2: THE EGGS Quail was troubled by the thought of the king dying. The actual death wasn't what he feared, however. He feared that he would have to take the throne earlier than expected. The crowning system was horribly messed up in his eyes. The prettiest, rarest, strangest, most unique skyaries would have the chance to rule the throne. The normal, ugly, boring ones were sent to live in a town beneath the castle in poverty. The castle was bustling with life, though, as "backups" were selected all the time in case something happened to where the selected king couldn't rule. Quail hadn't heard much about the unfortunate, but he overheard two skyaries mentioning famine within the community. "Maybe it would be better if i were king..." He stated aloud. He was approaching his room, so nobody heard him complaining to himself. He was selected due to a condition he had known as Dismaminal syndrome to where he didn't really have any mammal features besides strange ears and a weird tail. His wings also resembled disfigured marshmallows. This was the reason he was chose to be the heir to the throne. He was treated better than the Queen and King themselves, even though he was only a prince. To be fair, the Queen was looked down upon due to being a queen. Kings primarily ruled the kingdom. He shook his head, walking into his room. Quail had been standing there, staring at his door. He walked in with the eggs and sat down next to him. "Now how do I incubate these..." he asked himself. He tapped one of the eggs which caused it to roll. Quail frantically attempted to retrieve the rolling egg as his room was conditioned to a slant. The egg began to roll faster, yet Quail caught up to it and prevented it from rolling farther. He exhaled in relief. placing the egg next to the other. Quail froze for a moment, thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't caught the egg. He shook his head before picking up the other egg. With both eggs in hand, he placed them on a small pedestal near the back of his dimly lit room. CHAPTER 3: HELLO! "But Quail..!" Mealworm bugged. "You are not naming these skyaries, Mealworm. You're just a random kid. Why are you in here anyway? This is my room. " Quail responded grimly. "But Quail!" "No." Quail interrupted. Mealworm sighed, walking out the door. "She's just a kid, Quail." A voice perked up. "Are you the voice inside my head? Why are you feminine?" he asked. "Oh, no. I'm Mimus- a mockingbird-coyote skyarie. I don't think we've ever met." Toucan stated, emerging from behind the door. "Oh, hello! I'm... nevermind, you know that." Quail stated. "Yeah... hey, those eggs look pretty big. Where'd ya get 'em from? Stole 'em?" Mimus asked, somewhat mockingly. "Oh, no, I was sent to look after them because I am an heir to the throne. The king-" Quail choked on his words slightly. "The king is dying, I think, and the queen is too brittle to care for them. So I was sent to look after them." Quail spoke. "Well, one of 'em is movin' around. Might wanna check on that." Mimus stated, signaling towards the brown-streaked one. "I'm gunna go now, though. Nice seein' ya around!" Mimus said, turning around. "Oh, uh, hello to you- what? I mean, bye to you too!" Quail chuckled, his brows slanting awkwardly. "That's going to haunt me for the rest of my life." He muttered.
