A Man Who Flies From His Fear May Find He Has Only Taken A Shortcut To Meet It by LadySternchen  

Birds- Hiril

“Get it away, get it away!”

Beren looks away from the fluttering bird to his sister, who has fled to her bed, pulling her blanket over her. Her reaction startles him more than the bird, for he has never known Hiril to be afraid of anything. Nevertheless, he catches the unfortunate songbird, feeling its tiny heart thundering against his palm.

“Silly you” he tells the bird, that has wrapped its tiny claws over his fingers now “This is a house, this is no place for you to be.”

But before he releases it into the wild, he stops by the bed, where a pair of wide eyes peek out from under the woollen blanket.

“Are you scared of birds, Hiril?”

A nod. How on earth can anyone be afraid of something as little and harmless?

“But they aren’t scary at all. Look how pretty it is. Look at the teeny tiny feathers on its neck.”

Slowly, his sister’s head emerges from under the blanket, eyeing the bird warily, but if Beren is not much mistaken, there is a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

“It is so small.” she whispers.

“Yes, and much more afraid of you than you are of this little one. Do you want to pet it goodbye before we release it into the wild?”

“No!” comes Hiril’s very prompt answer.