Free Celebrate by Kim Dare

Celebrate
    A shiver ran down Ori’s spine as he peered between the thick bars of a cage housed in the nest’s deepest basement. Tilting his head, he traced the vertical lines of metal from the grubby concrete floor, all the way up to where they disappeared into the gloom above them. Mr. Hamilton had said the cages extended up the full height of the building. Ori had no reason to doubt Mr. Hamilton’s word, but the space behind the bars still appeared claustrophobically small.
    Ori took a deep breath and tried to consider the cage as dispassionately as possible. Dust lingered on every surface. Cobwebs didn’t just fill the corners of the cage, they stretched out toward the centre of the space too. Ori did his best, but it wasn’t easy to focus on those details when every part of his psyche wanted to recoil in disgust. He was just as horrified by the view into the cage as he would have been if he were a prisoner staring out in the opposite direction.
    “As you can see, sire,” Mr. Hamilton said, from somewhere further down the gang-way that ran between two rows of similar cages. “There is plenty of space for a man who is imprisoned here to shift and stretch his wings, should he wish to do so.”
    Ori automatically nodded, but he couldn’t help but think the cages were best left to whatever spiders and dust bunnies that had accumulated during the last few decades of disuse. A cage was no place for an avian. Would being put in one really be kinder than a whipping?
    “Ori?” Raynard’s voice jerked Ori out of his thoughts.
    Instinct made him move closer to Raynard as he turned to face him; sure that his master would be as successful at keeping him safe from the cage as he had been at keeping him safe from his every other fear. “What do you think, sir?”
    When Raynard’s full focus came to bear on Ori it felt more like Raynard was peering into his soul rather than merely studying his expression. “It’s not a hawk’s opinion the nest needs, fledgling.”
    Ori swallowed. He looked over one shoulder, then the other, as he considered the cages once more. When he’d said he wanted to find an alternative to lower ranking avians getting whipped whenever they displeased a man who was higher up in the pecking order, this wasn’t really what he’d had in mind.
    Glancing past Raynard, Ori caught sight of Hamilton and the other elders. Damn. Everyone was waiting for him to make a decision. Ori turned his attention back to his master. Their eyes locked.
    “Sire?” Hamilton prompted.
    “Ori’s going to take some time to consider the matter of the cages more carefully,” Raynard said, never breaking eye contact with Ori. “He’ll give you his decision at next week’s gathering of the elders.”
    Ori smiled gratefully at his master.
    “Now, if there’s nothing else that requires a swan’s immediate attention,” Raynard began.
    “There is one more matter that is time sensitive,” Hamilton cut in.
    Ori’s heart sank, but he forced himself to turn toward Hamilton and smile politely. “Yes, sir?”
    “Next month it will be almost a year since your first shift, sire.”
    Memories flooded Ori’s mind. He had to tuck his fingers into his collar to remind himself that the inch-wide strip of leather was there now, and that meant everything was fine. Despite his nerves, Ori managed to make his voice sound calm and steady when he answered. “Yes, sir. That’s right.”
    “Obviously, the nest will wish to commemorate your twenty-second birthday in suitable fashion,” Hamilton said.
    Was that all? Getting things ready for a party? Ori relaxed. “What do you need me to do, sir?”
    Hamilton raised his eyebrows at the question. “The arrangements are all well in hand, sire. We merely need you to confirm the date of your birthday. I understand it was actually the week before you shifted?”
    “Yes, sir. Because I was adopted, Mr. Raynard thought it best for us to put the ceremony back a few days—just to be on the