Fourteen

,” Lady Kowhai drawled, her voice sending shivers down Starwatcher’s spine.

Lord kiwifur stepped back, growling and hissing as he flexed his claws. Star was quivering madly, but she staggered to her feet and peered meekly up at the female bird before her. All of a sudden, she felt like the nine-month chick again, back in the Throne-Hole, staring up at her guardian, desperate to please her.

But she couldn’t please Kowhai. She couldn’t. 

“I didn’t run into your claws,” she spat angrily, shaking out her feathers and blowing herself up like Queen Moonstone used to do. “I came to them – willingly.”

“And why did you do that, little bird?” Lady Kowhai whispered menacingly, taking a vicious step closer.

Starwatcher swallowed hard. “Because you’re going to ruin our tribe. You’re not the queen. I am. I don’t want to be. I don’t want to have to shout at birds when they mess up. I don’t want to…to have to please everyone, and worry about everything.” She cast a helpless glance at Toadstool, who was on the edge of his claws and trying not to topple over onto his beak.

Obsidian was coiling herself up like a spring, ready to lash out with every bit of strength she had.

Lady Kowhai flicked a claw in kiwifur’s direction, snarling, “Finish them off.”

“You’re not going to be respected by the other queens,” Star pointed out darkly, taking one small step closer to the bird in front of her, who was double her size. 

“I don’t need their respect. I can frighten them into respecting me.” Kowhai’s voice was snow-cold.

“I don’t have to kill you,” the little kiwi told her, tightening her claws. “You can become a Lady in the kiwi Court, respected by all of the tribe.”
“NO!!” Kowhai shrieked, lunging at her and using her claws to slash Star across the face. 

Blinded for a moment, the little kiwi staggered backwards.

“I’LL BE THE QUEEN! EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO BOW TO ME WITH NO CHOICE! I’LL HAVE TO JEWELLRY, THE POWER AND THE RESOURCES, AND NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE IT FROM ME!” 

“You know you can’t have that,” Starwatcher spat, lunging forward and raking her claws across Lady Kowhai’s throat. The finely-arranged feathers stopped her from hitting the main vein, but even so blood dripped through her plumage.

Lady Kowhai lunged at Starwatcher, a wicked sneer permanently glazed into her beak. “You fight like your mother,” she drawled, “and she didn’t survive.”

“GET OFF ME!!!” Obsidian’s roar punctured the little kiwi’s thoughtless mind. She whirled around and saw kiwifur pinning the stoat down, his beak aimed for her chest. Sprinting forward, Star ran as fast as her tiny aching legs could. 

I’m not going to stop him in time,’ she thought, heart thumping wildly in her ribcage. So she leapt. She leapt forward, springing off the leafy carpet and smashing into the enormous kiwi’s side, throwing him off the stoat and onto the ground, momentarily winded. 

Wiry wings grabbed hers and dragged her backwards, and she felt a long, thin beak brush against her neck.

“Time to die, little chick. Your finest feather will be displayed in the museum-hole.”

Starwatcher thought it was all over. She felt dizzy. Her legs ached. She couldn’t think straight. But she remembered one thing. You’re just a tiny insig-

“I’ll show you tiny,” she muttered, sinking low into the leaves. Kowhai’s wings were still holding on tightly, slowly cutting off bloodflow.

‘Here goes,’ she thought, stomach tight and head throbbing. Mustering every last bit of rage and strength, she let out one, giant, impossibly powerful twist. Squeaking in pain as her wings wrenched out of Kowhai’s grasp, she darted backwards underneath Kowhai’s chest, tucked her legs up, and pushed.

The strength of the shove was so violent Lady Kowhai was thrust forward, landing with a sickening crack on her face. Star squirmed and shot upright before anyone could grab her again. 

She ran forward, sprung onto Kowhai’s back and thrust her small beak through the feathers.

“NOO!” Lord kiwifur screamed, letting go of a vibrating Toadstool and hurling himself at Star. “You killed my queen!!” he shrieked, slashing his claws across her beak.

“I’m your queen,” Queen Starwatcher growled, taking one dark step towards him. 

Lord kiwifur stepped back, trembling slightly.

“I’m your queen, Queen Starwatcher. And you don’t dare step out of line ever again.”

kiwifur nodded his head vigorously and rushed over, giving Toadstool a vigorous pat on the head.

Hours later, Queen Starwatcher sat on a damp rotting log, lost in thought. She felt sick remorse for killing another bird. Was she really the kiwi queen? It felt so overwhelming, she didn’t even know where to start. Lady Kowhai had mobs of birds willing to follow her who would certainly be outraged that she had killed their leader. The kiwi tribe were scattered all across the mountain, mixed with pests. How could she restore Root Circuit, the kiwi Defence Force, and her entire tribe?

“That was some pretty vicious fighting.” Obsidian looked impressed, but half-hid it with a flat expression. 

“I feel so terrible,” Starwatcher mumbled, sinking down into her feathers. “I didn’t want to hurt Lady Kowhai. I wanted to talk to her, and explain.”

“Star, there’s a difference between a bird, and a featherhead. Unfortunately, Kowhai’s head was stuffed with feathers. She wouldn’t have listened to you either way. You tried. You gave her two chances, and she proved she was ready to murder you in both of them,” Obsidian reminded her gently, then adding a tone of viciousness in her voice which was a lot more calming, “and if that bloated seagull hadn’t pinned me down I would’ve twisted her into a pretzel for you.”

“What do I do now?” she asked sadly, staring at her claws. “How do I fix everything?”

“You don’t need to fix everything,” Obsidian replied flatly. “Your tribe can fix themselves.”

Starwatcher glared at the stoat and Obsidian began licking her paws icily. “All right, all right,” she grumbled, waving a paw, “you can help fix your tribe.”

“Where do I start?” Starwatcher asked, letting out a long, despondent sigh.

“Well, your featherballs will need a new home,” the stoat pointed out brusquely. “So you could get cracking making a new one.”

“Good idea,” Star mused. Suddenly a million ideas tumbled into her head in the incorrect folders. “We can build one here, in Camp Frogfeather.”

Obsidian grunted. “Give it a new name.”

“Of course. The cave tunnel will make a good boundary, and we can post our new kiwi Defense Force on the inside of it, so they don’t have to live on the perimeters. We can make a new Circuit here, and call it…Jasmine Circuit. I like that.”

“Much more interesting than Root Circuit, or Camp Froggles,” Obsidian approved smartly.

“You can be the Lady in the royal court, and Barbie can be the Lord. Toadstool can be the General, and everyone else can have their old jobs back, or choose new ones if they like.”

The stoat looked especially pleased with her high rank in the new court, and waved a claw proudly. “Lady Obsidian. How grandiose!”

“However, you can not allow any other stoats into Jasmine Circuit, and you can not eat any kiwis,” Starwatcher added, “or I will have to put a muzzle on you and that won’t look very grandiose.”

Obsidian wrinkled her nose bitterly and groaned. “Very well. No eating big juicy Toadstools.”

Toadstool vibrated nervously and shifted himself further down the log.

“I think we should have a hospital wing,” Barbie added, etching a few holes into a stack of leaves he was evidently making into the new kiwi home map. “And a holiday hole, and a hatchery hole, and the royal quarters, and the Education hole, and all the others Root Circuit had, plus a Geology hole. When I retire I’ll work there and teach the High-School-kiwis about High-School-Geology.”

Obsidian rolled her eyes. “Don’t expect Lady Obsidian to be there at your lectures,” she huffed. “I’d rather listen to a rock complain.”

“Let’s start making Jasmine Circuit,” Queen Starwatcher decided, getting up and eyeing the thick forest around them. “I can already see it in my head.”

Two weeks later, a group of Kiwis had been gathered from the Camps near Camp Frogfeather, and the building of the new circuit had begun.

Barbie was the architect, mapping out all the different tunnels, and Toadstool was the ‘problem finder’, who pointed out all the trillions of things that could go wrong with whatever burrow the group was working on.

“Well, if Karioi exploded again, and lava came rumbling down the mountain, a shallow den wouldn’t stop us from being incinerated. This hole should be at least a kilometer deep, as should the rest of the holes. Don’t make it over a kilometer and a half though, because there could be burrowing pests below that point,” Toadstool told one of the workers. 

“But-”

“Ah. No buts. I’ve got a higher rank than you. You do as I say. A kilometer deep.”

“Yes SIR!”

“Excellent.” Toadstool petted the kiwi on the head and marched smugly over to where Queen Starwatcher and Lady Obsidian sat, in thick discussion with Queen Moonbeak, who had very kindly come to visit.

Toadstool, like the nosy bird he was, waddled over and promptly plopped himself down on the edge of the log.

“…And Jasmine Circuit shall be granted a larger entrance for your birds, provided, of course, that they conduct themselves in accordance with our royal ordinances; does that arrangement seem agreeable to you?”

“Indeed.” 

Lady Obsidian was taking self-control lessons in the forest, putting out eight plump Kiwis and managing to sit in front of them and not eat them. On the odd occasion, one might find itself headless, but Lady Obsidian was always furiously scolded by the queen when that happened.

“What kind of stoat are you? Eating a poor Kiwi like that. Obsidian, I am atrociously upset with you. You will have to be ranked a peasant if you keep up this unacceptable behaviour. Those poor birds have to sit in front of you, watching you grin at them nastily, and know at any moment you could decide it was too much to bear and take off their heads!” Queen Starwatcher could be heard shouting at Obsidian whenever that happened.

“I wouldn’t,” Lady Obsidian replied stiffly. “They’re all feathers. Pleck.”

Starwatcher glared at her, and the stoat clamped her mouth shut. She knew better than to argue with the queen.

One month later, Jasmine Circuit was finished. Of course, there would always be more holes to add, like the Snail Racing Hole, and the Opera Hole, and all the others Barbie had decided where absolutely necessary, but for now, the Kiwi tribe could safely move in. Slowly, some came wandering in from the forest, and were welcomed by their queen and a hungry-eyed stoat. The KDF had been successfully restored, and tidy stations had been set up by the LimeStone Tunnel Entrance. 

Queen Starwatcher and her friends were happy. She realised she didn’t need to be a grouchy queen for her tribe to respect and obey her. She just needed to do what queens did – provide a warm, sturdy home for her ‘comrades’, arrange the trade deals with the other tribes and keep all her birds safe. 

Lady Kowhai had a grand funeral fit for a royal Kiwi, and although she would’ve preferred to be the one standing over Queen Starwatcher’s gravelog, she was lucky she got a funeral at all with the angry birds who’d been hurt by her disgraceful actions. Some of the stories the birds shared even made Obsidian shudder unhappily.

But now, in the tunnels of Jasmine Circuit, is where our story ends.