take off the training wheels

Noah

if there's a reason I'm still alive
when so many have died

The winds changed, and Noah had hardly noticed. His gryphon moved from her spot in the grass towards her bondmate, dodging panicking turkeys as they ran passed her. Eira started to dance beside Noah, trying to pull his attention across the bond. He finished off his turkey, and as it lay limp beside him he shifted back into a man, eyes moving towards Henry. As he opened his mouth to speak, Eira screeched beside him and flapped her downy wings. Simultaneously, the sky opened above them and the rains came down in biblical fashion. "Shit." Noah grumbled, scrambling to grab his turkey with one hand and Eira with the other.

"C'mon!" He growled out, his frustration rising like bile in his throat. The hunter managed to get to tree cover with his companion and his prey, but not without soaking all three of them. Noah grumbled almost inaudibly as he leaned against a tree. Eira, on the other hand, did not grumble so inaudibly. Her displeasure at getting wet was clear as the rain around them. The young gryphon hissed and stomped and shook her body. The only thing that muffled her complaints was the rain pounding around them, and the near-constant thunder.

Taking off his jacket and shaking it out, Noah was silent for quite some time. He could feel Henry with him, but he was deliberately keeping his eyes downcast from the eagle. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally did speak. "I should have set you up better, and done more explanation. In the future, I will not fail you so readily."

then I'm willing to
wait for it