Fragment I - Still

Songbird trembled.
 
He was told to stop. And he did, truly, he did.
 
But Armitage had hoisted him over his shoulder and carried him onto the ship. A soft, dismayed hum began deep in his chest.
 
Faerûn fell away before his eyes as the ship deck lifted, throwing his vision off balance. His body reacted before his mind could, fingers clawing uselessly at the threadbare fabric of his shirt, breath stuttering as the world tilted wrong.
 
He went still.
 
Still usually worked.
 
He pressed himself smaller against Armitage’s side, counting the seconds between breaths, waiting for the correction. The strike. The command that would make sense of this.
 
None came.
 
The hum deepened, thrumming against his nerves. Outside, something vast and bright pulled at his senses in a way he did not have words for yet.
 
He squeezed his eyes shut.
 
If this was a performance, he had missed his cue.
If this was a punishment, it was one he didn’t understand.
 
The ship climbed.
 
Songbird held very still and waited to be told what he had done wrong.
 
He trembled.