Tales from Kilar

Waiting in the Rain
  
    The rain came down cold with the soft wind. It was always rainy at night, so close to one of the old forests. Overhead a yellow bulb hummed in its bracket. The boy pulled his jacket tighter. A lanky figure padded down the walk toward him, stopping under the same yellow light. 
       
“Kal walks in the rain every night, Kal has never met a hatchling in the rain before.” 
      “I ain’t talkin’ to you, bluebird.” The boy snapped, adjusting a bulky canvas bag on his shoulder. “And I ain’t no hatchling, I’m sixteen.” The lanky figure turned to face the street. 
      “Sixteen, twenty-four … still hatchling by Kal’s count.” Nothing was said for a few minutes. The lanky figure drew a breath; “Kal wonders … what does hatchling do, in the night, in the rain, away from nest. Maybe there is no nest”. The boy scowled. 
      “‘Hatchling’ wonders what Kal does out in the rain with no goddamned clothes on”. 
      “Ah, Kal does not need clothes,” the lanky figure patted the feathers on his neck, “rain does not find Kal like it finds hatchling, and Kal does not find rain!” The lanky figure chuckled. “But hatchling is very far from home. Kal knows”. The boy shifted the bag on his shoulders uneasily, his face blank. “Kal was hatchling once, very far from home. Unhappy nest. But kal found home. All hatchlings must find home”. The boy bit his lip. 
      “I’m … I’m finding a freighter, see if I can join the crew. Get off this damn rock.” The lanky figure whistled softly.
      “Rock is home, Kilar … home. But, ah, the stars…” the lanky figure sighed wistfully “…Kal remembers them. Life. Life is too long to spend in unhappy nest.” The two waited in the rain under the humming bulb. A wooden cart rolled by, the driver yawned and stopped by the two figures in the light. 
      “y’all, uh … need a ride somewhere?” The lanky figure stepped up to the cart “To the docks, please”. The driver shrugged as he watched the two climb into the back of the cart. He prodded the sleepy Lambuck at the bit and the cart trundled off into the rain.