Day Two--Frait

By mid morning on the second day, Frait had some grand ideas. Jar-ed had truly discovered something special, this tree, and Frait saw the possibilities.

He had felt group excitement before, but this was different. The excitement had already changed into something deeper, a feeling among all the ravens that there was work to be done and opportunities to realize.

But the flock was incredibly agitated as well. Males were hitting on females to pair up, now, and the females knew these pretenders were not ready. Sounds of males venting anger and wailing in frustration bubbled up again and again. Female distress calls--"could all of you losers leave me the *&$% alone??" was the basic translation, with occasional additional creative use of female raven communication that caused Frait to chuckle at the women's ruthless verbal destruction of their suitors.

For all of the excitement of the morning, Sarkan and Jane were one of two pairs that had made the leap, so to speak, and the rest of the gaggle of adolescents were simply not ready.

Well, and what are you waiting for, thought Frait.

He took off and flew into the midst of the latest skirmish. Frait began talking to the 3 males kwetching about what they were missing.

"DO YOU WANT TO MEASURE UP???"

"ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE IT???"

"I ALREADY HAVE MY SPOT. HOW ABOUT YOU???'

And it was true, after all, for Frait had been one of the first two birds that listened to Jar-ed and verified what Jar-ed had found. Frait didn't have a partner either, something he would need to rectify fast, but as fate had it he was in, and roosting in this beautiful tree was his for as long as this neighborhood lasted.

Frait wanted this beautiful neighborhood to last forever, and he felt deep within him that he had what it took to make it so.

He called out to everyone, and wasn't afraid to get in their faces:

"IN TWO HOURS I'LL BE TEACHING BOYS TO BECOME MEN!!"

Frait was definitely a bit larger than normal, and was 2 years old. He had emerged unscathed from the danger period, where you knew that half of the young ravens around you, the same age as you, were going to be eaten. The only question, the one question, was: were you going to be lunch for an owl? Or not?

But it came natural for Frait. None of it bothered him. Perhaps he had exposed himself to one mildly dangerous situation during that entire period of gangly youth (but probably not). After a while he realized he had the inclination to design and refine good rules and tactics to survive, and to hunt and kill efficiently. He practiced these rules and tactics himself, and his competence was always evident. At some point Frait realized he could make his rules and tactics teachable to other ravens, and wondered how long it would take to be accepted as a teacher and trainer.

He didn't take unnecessary risks to tempt danger either, like some males did. Even if those males who liked dares rarely exposed themselves to actual death, it always became a mark on that raven's personality. Not an insurmountable obstacle, surely, but if indeed there was a mild social advantage gained by not chasing after owls, then the choice was easy for Frait: don't chase owls.

Yesterday when Jar-ed approached him, Frait stayed open to Jar-ed. Jar-ed had some feeling of clarity emanating from him that Frait could feel. Frait always had time to spare to learn something new, either about what this raven was talking about or, should it be a waste of time, at least he would learn to actively ignore this raven who was evoking the raven pattern of needing a witness to something beneficial. Simple.

Frait thought making simple good choices that paid off down the road was the ultimate game, and although he admired the creative ones that solved new problems, he made sure to learn what he needed to learn from these ones if they had managed to solve something really useful.

Following Jar-ed was simply another good choice that he had made, guided by his life practice of making good choices.

And now, there was a chance to do something really great. There was a chance to shape these ravens, and dream of the ravens that would be born from this town he would nourish becoming wondrous to behold, too scary even for owls to attack.

That's right, thought Frait, dominant. The world will respect us, forever.

It was really there, this chance, all the ingredients were in place. Here was a beautiful and rare location. And this feeling of well being and agreement that everyone felt, including himself, about the place: this place makes sense, it makes perfect sense for all of us.

There were no limits to the possibilities when such cultural conditions, this collective feeling, existed.

The group had been primed with this feeling. There was no other way to describe it.

Primed to do what? Why, to explode in influence for a twenty mile radius by next year by making new ravens!

And then perhaps, Frait thought, just perhaps, hundreds of miles around the following year, if he would have anything to say about it. Such an orienting tree, such a thing of beauty, deserved no less.

---

With ten minutes to go, Frait began shouting at them again.

"DO YOU DARE TRAIN WITH ME?

ARE YOU GOING TO RISK FAILING?

OR WILL YOU SUCCEED? ".

Honestly, Frait had hardly ever raised his voice before this. He knew this collective good feeling was influencing his own behavior as well, and it made him realize he needed to get to work! This was a chance. To mean something. To be remembered by those who would follow in his footsteps. It could happen here, and Frait knew how to do it!

Right now all he needed to worry about was being first, and shouting a bit. Just keep pestering them like you know something, he thought.

"FIVE MINUTES!!! WE START!!!"

He flew over to an empty branch on the tree next door. And cawed:

I AM! RIGHT HERE! FIVE MINUTES!!!

A bird followed him and landed on the same branch.

And so it began. Three others joined close by. They were still as Frait waited out the 5 minutes.

And then Frait just starting talking, nonstop:

Ok troops, The exercise is basic: fly to that tree and back 5 times, race against each other. We are going to remember and honor who wins. If you win you get rewards! You eat first. Do you want to eat first?

Frait gestured to a starting branch. "Any questions?" There were none. They hopped on the branch. "On go. 1,2,3, go!"

And so the racing practice began, and sure enough one of the four students won, and got some tasty food to eat first.

----

After the snack for all of them, Frait went and grabbed a stick and flew around with it.

"We are going to kill food faster. You will learn to hunt quicker, and you will never go hungry ever again."

"Find a stick and come back here!"

When they had all returned within seconds of each other, Frait walked around trying to grab their sticks out of their mouths.

He shouted "Can you hold on? Forever??"

"Practice it with each other!"

And the stick tug game, an amazing combat game with actual pain hardly ever occurring, began that day.

Of course, Frait made sure there was a winner identified, the best player of the tug game, and he ate first.

---

Frait shouted, after snack two:

"We are going to do something with our sticks! We are going to kill better with them!"

He looked at one of them. "Student, how do you kill food? Are you ever hungry? Never be hungry again!"

"Do you want a mate? Kill food fast and you have free time to learn how to find a mate!

"Survive. Thrive. Hunt well, let's learn how!

He managed to get them into a diving practice, while holding their sticks. Drop, drop, touch the stone with your stick.

Frait was almost out of voice by the end of the practice.

"TOMORROW! We do this again!!!"

------

Watching a ways away, from the tree he had discovered which had caused all of this commotion, Jar-ed turned away from Frait's display of leadership.

Jar-ed wasn't sure how he felt about what he had seen. It felt like very important behavior that he needed to address somehow.

He knew he could do what Frait had done, but had an instinct to be careful with such ideas. He wasn't sure why he felt this way, but so it was, and he needed to honor this feeling. But how?

---

Frait, on the other hand, was feeling it. He flew to that super tree branch which extended from the main tree and perched on top of it. He called for everyone to hear.

I AM!! WE ARE!!!

And hopped down right away. That calling out move was pushing it too far already. He needed to talk to Jar-ed, now, before it got out of hand.

He hopped right up to Jar-ed.

Who was waiting.

J: You'll be challenging me?

F: I don't know. I surprised myself. I didn't know I was going to do that.

J: You'll be challenging me. Stupid. No need for it.

F: Don't think I agree. Do you see what this can become?

J: What?

F: I see an amazing opportunity. I don't understand why it's so pristine, but it is, and it's ours. Soon there will be raven babies, and we have a chance to choose the best fathers, and have these babies spread everywhere! It is what we are meant to do.

J: I don't see your purpose. There's nothing for you to do. It's already going to happen, regardless, the tree itself is so good it guarantees it. Settle down. You're set, anyways. Find a woman, make some ravens yourself.

But Frait did not want to listen.

F: Jared, you can test the worthiness of your ideas very soon.

And he took off.

Jar-ed did not reply.