By some amazing chance, he had achieved a good throw and captured the bird. The pity he had felt earlier returned with watching her thrash about inside the net, but he tried to remind himself over and over: it's fiction. This is all just fiction. It didn't stop it feeling real, though.
Jigano seemed to feel the same guilt as him, walking to the bird and speaking to it with a soft voice. Sam was about to step forward to try and gather up the net when the voice rang out into the clearing. He stopped in his tracks, his heart suddenly thudding in his throat.
"B-but. But we are not trying to kill you." He assured her, kneeling back down before the net. "The King w-wants to see you. Not dead, but alive. Um." Sam knew what he said next was likely a lie, but the story would end before they came to see it (he assumed): "And after he has, he may yet choose to free you. I already have one of your feathers..."
Jigano seemed to feel the same guilt as him, walking to the bird and speaking to it with a soft voice. Sam was about to step forward to try and gather up the net when the voice rang out into the clearing. He stopped in his tracks, his heart suddenly thudding in his throat.
"B-but. But we are not trying to kill you." He assured her, kneeling back down before the net. "The King w-wants to see you. Not dead, but alive. Um." Sam knew what he said next was likely a lie, but the story would end before they came to see it (he assumed): "And after he has, he may yet choose to free you. I already have one of your feathers..."
