The Breach

The Breach (500Words Round 2, Week 3, Day 5, 2/2/18)

The cars whizzed by noiselessly while Ierion the eagle watched, perched on a branch of the tallest tree on the block. The sound was trapped in the tunnel leaving the rest of the area unadulterated by their sound. The eagle was old enough to remember life before the tunnel – all the noise and the thick air. This was better, and safer, and the way things needed to be.

With a strong push, Ierion flew up from his perch and started his surveillance flight around the grounds. It had been a long time since it needed to do this, and the memories flooded back as the different trees and leftover buildings came into focus. Things had been so peaceful and quiet, even almost boring, for years. The people were supposed to stay inside their tunnels after the war. There had been no question about that and the tunnels were supposed to have been sealed. What had caused the breach was still unknown so, until it was discovered and corrected, the watch flights had been resumed.

Flying watch was how Ierion could participate. Defense Captain was the last title Ierion had held before retiring ten years ago at the end of the war. The time off hadn’t dulled his power. His eyesight was as sharp as ever and his wings were stronger than most of the others. He had proven himself to the New Leaders time after time and, even so, still had to demonstrate his worth to be added to the watch. He understood – living beside the people for generations had taken its toll on the animals. Even after winning the war, it was hard for any of them to really trust in the abilities they possessed, and even harder to trust that the elders were still capable. There was no way they’d put him back in his old position, and he didn’t really want the responsibility. He’d done his years of service already. Watching was fine – it got him out of the trees and gave him a view of the area. If Ierion was the one to find the breach, so much the better.

The noise wasn’t the only thing different from the last watch flight Ierion had done. It could see that nature was beginning to reclaim some of the areas the people had damaged. Bit by bit, the animals were repairing and building and making things right. Those people – generation after generation of them, killing things and building their structures, ruining the land. Ierion dropped lower to get a good look at some of the young trees fighting to grow. The ground animals were doing what they could to nurture the immature trees and plants so the land could return to its neutral state. It would require generations of distance from the people to fully repair the damage.

Ierion wasn’t directly involved in such things, though he understood them better than anyone realized. He would help bring supplies from place to place when asked, and he helped track the younger helpers from time to time.

* All 500Words are fiction.  Any resemblance to people or events is strictly coincidental. *