“You don’t look so good.” He gave me a welcoming hug as his crow cawwed from his shoulder.
“I don’t feel so good, either.” I gave the bird stinkeye with a very severe glare. It returned the gesture, then we both laughed in the manner of our form.
“Go lay down.” He followed me to the low bed. As I passed the shelves, the empty skull reminded me of another task. “Oh, no you don’t.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “To. Bed. With. You.”
Grudgingly, I complied. “And what are you going to do in the mean time?”
“Dance.” I sat up and looked at him strangely. That’s when I noticed. He had legs.
“What’s with the fascination with bipedalism, lately?” He leaned over me and pushed me back down, pulling the feather cloak over me as a blanket.
“I’m fascinated with many things lately.” The crow cawwed loudly in agreement.
“Okay.” I turned over and tried to go to (deeper) sleep, but my curiosity got the better of me. Quietly, I crept to the cave entrance, and peered around it. There he was, in full regalia, dancing before the fire to a tune I could not hear but could feel.
He jumped and lept and slid and kicked. His feathered regalia shook with him. The large headdress remaining in place only by his will alone.
He suddenly stopped, facing the fire. I didn’t realize how much noise came from his regalia. The sudden silence deafened me.
“You know, if you insist on staying up, I insist on you playing the drum for me.” He waved his feathered arm to the side, revealing a small djembe style drum with a leather strap.
“Of course, my friend.” I quit my not so hiding spot and picked up the drum. Sliding the strap over me, I found it conformed perfectly to my body. “What will you have me play?”
My friend turned and looked at me, with the strangest expression. “Yes, you must be ill, to ask me that.”
My head started swimming again, so I started playing on the drum to distract myself from the discomfort. The more I played, the more I surrendered to the drum’s waking spirit. I didn’t notice when he started dancing before the fire again. There was only the dancing, the drumming, and the singing between us both.
I don’t remember falling into a deeper sleep. Only that when I awoke in my room for the day, I felt much better and the headache had fully gone.