Quietly, the Mayura Retti flew through the air, scanning the ground with the keen vision his people possessed. In his feet, he held one of the nets that Kastheen had taught them to make. Ever since then, he had practiced with them, and had grown adept at using them to hunt. While it was occasionally useful for trapping small creatures, he found it very handy for hunting larger creatures, which before was a difficult and dangerous task. It took many Mayura to chase them in the sky, either pursuing them for a very long time until they dropped, or swarming them and risking injury by horn or bite. But now, with the nets, hunting was much easier.
There was a trill from one of Retti’s hunting partners. Prey had been spotted! He wheeled over in the direction the trill had come from. Ahead, he saw the chase had started already. Below on the ground, a frightened deer was leaping away in a panicked fright. Above in the sky, a group of the grey feathered Mayura were soaring after it. They kept after the deer easily, flying to one side or the other to guide the fleeing animal, guiding it as they wished. They chased the deer to a grove of trees, whos branches and leaves hid a group of mayura in waiting. As the deer approached, they sprung their trap. With a rush of flapping wings, they burst from their cover, and flung their nets toward the deer. At least two found it’s mark, entangling the deer’s horns and hooves, bringing it to the ground. Several of the mayura landed pinning the animal down, while another used a talon to slash at the veins and arteries in it’s neck. The mayura hunters backed off, letting the animal’s death throes finish.
With their prey dead, they began cleaning up the hunt. Some folded up the nets, and cleaned the blood from them. Others, lacking any other tool, began butchering the deer with their talons. They flayed open it’s hide, and cut into the meat with their feet. A little they ate, but most was set aside for the children and elderly and those who remained behind on the sky island. They used another innovation for that. Some clever Mayura hit upon the trick of weaving leaves into small nets to make makeshift bags that could be carried on one‘s back. These were taken off, and loaded up with as much meat and choice organs as could be gotten from the deer, The viscera, torn hide, bones and such were of little use to them, and were simply left upon the ground.
One of the other newer hunters, a female named Miaka, hopped over to Retti as he loaded up his net and leaf bag. “Retti, we’re being watched by something.” She chirped, flicking a wing over to a cluster of nearby shrubs. Looking over, Retti could see a cluster of strange mice people, some bearing black fur but some without fur or feather on their skin. They were the Murr, though neither Retti or Miaka had heard of this term before. Though the Murr were hidden in the leaves, the keen eyes of the Mayura could pick them out.
“Oh, them.” Retti responded. “They’ve been following our hunting parties for some time now. After we take the meat from our kill and leave, the mice people come and take the rest. They’ve always avoided us, and we’ve ignored them.” Retti just shrugged his wings. “I figure they’re welcome to the remains. If we can’t use it, but they can, what’s the harm in them taking it?” Miaka just chirped noncommittally, as she continued watching the mice people. “Anyway, they never come out while we’re watching,” Retti continued. “They don’t like being out in the open.”
“Really? I wonder…” Miaka twittered softly. After a moment, she took a strip of the raw meat from the dead deer, and jumped into the air. Gliding a little bit, she dropped it near the bushes where the Murr were hiding. As she landed back with Retti, she could hear a good deal of the Murr’s chirping language. “They speak like us, but I can’t understand them. Can you?” Miaka asked, glancing to Retti. The other hunter just shook his head. She and the other hunter watched to bushes to see what the Murr would do. Eventually, whatever debate the Murr were having ended, and one of the black furred ones, standing less than half as tall as the Mayura, scurried out upon all fours. It bore a variety of rusted items scavenged from battlefields, decorated with feathers molted from the Mayura and other birds. It darted over to the meat, snatched it up and ran back into hiding. Before it disappeared into the leaves to hide again, it paused and looked back for just a second. It said something in its chirping language along with a twitch of its tail. With that, it ran back into cover.
“I wonder what that meant,” Miaka commented, watching the blackpelt going back into hiding. Retti just shrugged again.
“I don’t know. We may find out later. For now though, there’s chicks to feed, and it’s my turn to be the egg watcher soon.” Retti said. He shouldered his net pack, and flew back for the flying island. Misaki remained a short while, watching the hiding spot of the Murr. After a period of inactivity, she too left for the sky to follow the rest of the hunters. Below, after all the Mayura were gone, the Murr emerged, and began to collect the remains of the butchered deer.
No godly acts, just a brief meeting between the Murr and the Mayura.