Daily Life with Furry Girls Ch. 27

'But he can't.' said Guy. 'His wings are too wet to fly right now.'

Garud turned to Guy. 'What are you talking about? His wings-'

'Are still very wet, sir.' Tas said. 'I can't fly up there to that open section of the dome.'

Garud frowned at him. 'What are-'

'Sorry, sir.' said Jae. 'I can't fly either.'

Garud huffed. 'Are you all kidding me!?'

A squeal from above made Guy grin. 'Not you. Our mystery guest.'

Garud looked up. 'How did they get up there?'

'Because they're a bird species.' said Mami. 'One you should have considered.'

Guy turned to Avia. 'Care to help our friend down?'

She chuckled. 'Sure.'

A minute later, she, Jae, and Tas flew down with someone wrapped in Ara's webbing, and put them down between the others. Garud watched with open beak when Ara removed the webbing from the head. 'Owl?'

'Long-eared owl, to be precise.' said Mami. 'Guy remembered reading about one and a little searching revealed it's one of the species here. Only our friend here has such large plumage, it looks like canine or feline ears in the dark.'

The owl turned her head from one side to the other and tried to make herself small. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make trouble. I just wanted to see you while you were visiting here.'

'Us?' asked Feli.

She blinked. 'I'm a big fan of yours, and when I read you were coming here I wanted to see you in person. But I'm nocturnal so I could only see you after dark, and I didn't dare to ask you for an autograph. When someone saw me, I kind of freaked out and left right away.'

Cani chuckled. 'So, all this fuss over a shy fan.'

The owl shrank again. 'I'm sorry.'

Ara cut her loose. 'Well, it's not that bad.' she said. 'Some people just overreact and jump to conclusions.'

Garud groaned. 'All right. I get it.' he said and sighed. 'At least this is over and my superiors will stop bugging me.'

Guy helped the owl on her feet. 'What's your name?'

'Uiltje.'

'It's still early evening, how about you join us?'

Her growing eyes shone. 'May I?'

He chuckled. 'We're leaving tomorrow, so this is the only chance you'll get.'

She hopped on her feet. 'I'd love to!'

Guy turned to the others. 'Let's settle down in the pool bar and celebrate solving this mystery.'

He looked at Uiltje when she tapped his arm gently. She held up a piece of the webbing stuck between her feathers. 'May I keep this?'

***

Avia hugged her family goodbye at the entry to the flight terminal. 'We'll let you know when we've planned our next round of family visits.' she said to her parents.

Arend sighed a little as he shook Guy's hand. 'Take care of her. Of all of them.'

Guy chuckled. 'I will. And they'll make sure I won't forget.'

Mami and Ara chuckled. 'You can bet on that.' Mami said.

Cani noticed Jae and Tas standing a little farther off, and grinned. 'Looks like our friends really teamed up now.'

The girls and Guy turned to see why Cani gave the two a thumbs up, and smiled when they saw the two holding the fingers of their wings together. Jae and Tas returned a quick wave and smile, then pretended to inconspicuously look elsewhere.

As the gang entered the terminal, two security guards tapped on the shoulders of a blonde woman in grey skirt suit and a black fur feline male in dark blue suit, standing behind a thick pillar and looking at Guy and the girls. The woman waved her hand without looking back. 'Not now.' she hissed. 'I have to see where they're going.'

One of the guards cleared his throat and tapped on her shoulder again.

'Not now!' she hissed again.

'Ehm, miss Chihiro?' said the feline as he noticed the stern gaze of the guards. 'I think it has to be now.'