The declaration shook the realm.
Red flinched slightly at the sheer force behind it, not from power alonebut from the emotion laced within it.
He looked at Tweet's tear-streaked face and he understood. The past centuries had not been kind to him.
Red said nothing, he simply stood beside him, allowing the moment to belong to Tweet.
"Welcome home, you bad-mouthed chicken. They're waiting for us," Red said.
Without lingering, he lifted off again, flying toward Ikenga's shed. The massive beast he had caught floated alongside him, suspended effortlessly as he moved deeper into the realm.
Tweet remained where he stood.
The earlier roar still echoed faintly in the air, but now that the surge of emotion had passed, something heavier settled in its place.
Shame.
How could he have forgotten home?
For centuries he had drifted without purpose, numbing himself, convincing himself there was nothing to return to. And yet home had always existed. Waiting.
