March 20th, 1890 - Podmore Zoo Aviary
Amelia Evans

But I miss me more
I miss my own beat, to my own snare drum
I miss me more
Miss my own sheets in the bed I made up
I forgot I had dreams, I forgot I had wings
Forgot who I was before I ever kissed you
Yeah, I thought I'd miss you
But I miss me more

Serious waves of nostalgia washed over Eva as she made her way through the zoo itself, pausing here and there to nuzzle and visit with her favorite creatures outside the aviary, but with tanned skin, lighter hair and a foreign smell on her skin, she was almost a stranger to them. She'd spent some time squaring everything away with Mr. Adlard at the ministry early this morning upon their arrival and now it was time to go home.

Beau was with Astra in her new enclosure and Eva felt comfortable leaving them be for a few minutes to check on her other babies. It hadn't been that long, less than a year, since she'd walked the familiar paths leading to the aviary, but Eva felt like she'd been gone for a decade. The golden frame of the aviary greeted her first, the windows reflecting the late afternoon light bringing a smile to her lips. The chill in the air was a distant memory as she'd grown so accustomed to the heat of the dessert, but it was a welcome return. With her breath fogging before her, Eva hunkered down into her cloak and sighed softly.

Opening the doors to the aviary was like walking into a dream; it was familiar and exotic all at the same time. Coming home was a blessing and a curse really. She was happy to be here, but there was a hint of trepidation settled on her shoulders. That had nothing to do with the aviary itself however and was a bridge she'd cross when she got to it, now she was just happy to see everyone. "Babies!" She called out into the enclosure, awaiting the rush of birds that would soon greet her. "Amelia?" She added after a moment wondering if her friend was also in.

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Ever since the morning, Amelia had been in a cleaning frenzy. Not that an aviary enclosure would need so much cleaning, but the birds on the other hand....the birds had needed some work. Their bottle of essence of dittany was almost empty, having been used on the many cuts and scrapes the witch had received trying to de-sharpen some of the bird's talons. An incarceration spell or freezing spell could have done the trick but if Amelia was being honest with herself, she didn't think of that soon enough, nor would that have sat well with her.

Bastien was the one that had put up the most vigorous fight of all of them. He'd squawked and wriggled out of her arms more times than she could count, but she'd finally lured him with a bit of food long enough to let her groom him. A bit of smoke trailed behind the bird when he ran around; remnants of the spell she'd put on him so she could locate him even if he turned invisible.

Finally – finally – the aviary looked presentable and Amelia in her animagus form was soaring above the enclosure to keep an eye out for Eva. Once she saw her, she flew back to the enclosure and gathered all the birds together and waited for her friend's arrival. As soon as Eavan called out into the enclosure, Amelia burst forwards, arms thrust in the air. "Welcome back!!" she cried as the birds flew forth with her to flutter around Eavan. "We've missed you so much!!" Bastien especially, seeing as he'd been the first one to run to her, puffs of smoke still trailing behind him and away from the woman who'd harassed him so much that afternoon.

  

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The flurry of activity headed her way was nothing new to Eva as she welcomed the frenzy with open arms, but reached out for her best friend first. "I've missed you all so much!" She squealed in delight, squeezing tightly for a long moment before leaning back. "You tried to give Bastien a bath, huh?" She teased looking at the birds around them now, unable to hide the smile threatening to split her face in two. Of course his smoking little tail was a dead giveaway too.

After giving her friend another quick squeeze she bent down to greet her feathered babies that she'd been missing almost as much as her human friends. "Oh I hope you were all good for Amelia while I was gone!" She highly doubted that, because they were little shits even for her, but it was a nice thought.

Overthrown by the excitement of the birds, Eva fell back on her tush and was thus swarmed in feathers and feet with Bastien at the forefront trying to share his love right in her face. "My goodness!" She chuckled as she tried to pet as many as she could. "How are you love?" She smiled at her friend over the feathery fiends.

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Amelia didn't realize how much she was relieved that Eva was back until she saw the flurry of feathers surround her. She let out a breath, returning the firm hug before letting the animals close in on Eva. "Oh, they were all perfect!" she said, her voice high pitched conveying she was only half telling the truth. Of course, they were all precious, but no Magizoologist worth their salt would say it was an easy task taking care of creatures with minds of their own.

She stepped back, giggling as they emitted squawks and squeaks; for all that she groomed the birds, she may have not done it at all seeing as how ruffled their feathers were getting. Amelia found she hardly cared though. Eva was back and the days (though she hardly felt they were dull because of the animals) would return to normal. She would be able to come into work to see one of her best friends again.

"I'm glad you're back, that's for sure!" Amelia said smiling down at Eva, making no attempt to prise the birds off of her friend. They would calm down in time; they missed their mother, it was most understandable they'd want her all to themselves. She contented herself with sitting down opposite Eva and absentmindedly petting the few stragglers that were patiently waiting their turn. "Of course it's been wonderful taking care of them, but I've missed your company these past days." She beamed again. "Did your travels go alright?"

  

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It was good to be home, Eva had decided. Though the decision to go to Arizona had basically been made for her, she couldn't regret actually going. The entire thing had been an amazing experience that it had been worth the heartache leading up to it. She was over it now too, nine months of busy, nonstop work was enough to push past what had happened. That was neither here nor there however, as she was happy to be back with her beautiful friend and her lovely birdies. Not to mention having a real bed again and cool weather!

"I'm happy to be here! I think I missed the routine of it all and oh the weather, oh how I missed the damp." Daft as it would sound, Eva was not a warm weather. "Wait until you see Astra, she's gorgeous." The thunderbird she'd brought home with her had a deformed wing, but she was still a beauty. "And you'll have to meet Beau, I brought him back with me too," She chuckled about her cohort insisting on seeing Astra safely packed and traveled to Scotland.

"Entirely uneventful, despite the length of it." It wasn't particularly easy to travel with a giant bird, even magically. "Need Mr. Adlard to come by and check the enclosure and everything, but we should be all set!" Arranging all of that had been the easiest part! "Now tell me everything you haven't in letters!"

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Well if Eva missed the weather, then Merlin that was certainly a sign she was ready to be home! "Well I should be extremely excited to meet the both of them!" Amelia laughed and perked up even more at the sound of a new animal added to the Zoo. A Thunderbird, to boot! She had never seen one in person before, so this was bound to be a great addition to the large menagerie of animals they housed. She wondered vaguely if Beau was another Thunderbird, but Eavan pounced on her somewhat vague letters and Amelia blushed.

How to describe Konstantin Fisk? She hadn't really told anyone about New Years Eve, with the reason being that it seemed like a dream. The fear that if she told anyone about him, it would all disappear was a hard one to ignore – nevermind how irrational it sounded. But this was Eavan, one of her best friends. She could tell Phyri, but Amelia wasn't about to subject both Phyri to her gushings about another man after Barnabas Skeeter and Konstantin to the potential wrath and scrutinization of Porphyria Dempsey. Her nerves wouldn't be able to handle either scenario.

"I imagine you're talking about Mr. Fisk, yes?" She said a different smile tugging at her lips as she averted her eyes and picked an invisible speck of lint off of the nearest animal she could grab and cling onto like a support therapy animal.

  

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So it wasn't just Eva who'd found herself some acceptable male company in their time apart. Amelia's letters had been frustratingly vague, but the tone generally quite happy and while Eva was not the type to gossip, she was quite interested to know more about any man who was making her friend smile like that.

"Of course I mean Mr. Fisk." She waggled her eyebrows playfully at the other redhead, hands still absentmindedly patting any bird she could reach, though Bastien had solidly taken up residence in her lap and was not sharing with anyone. "The smile is telling enough, spill the beans!" Then perhaps she'd share more of her adventures, though wasn't so sure her friend would approve of some of them, especially where Beau was concerned...

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Amelia couldn't help but feel like gossiping schoolgirls after the first day back. They were spinsters for crying out loud, or at least Amelia was. She should be past all this nonsense of gushing about men to her girl friends, shouldn't she? Well, Amelia mused, the fact that she'd remained unmarried thus far was apparently a point of conversation in some circles, so might as well add gossiping to that growing list of faults.

"Well," she said, shifting her position on the ground in preparation to settle in for a bit. "I'm not entirely sure where to start. I've told you about our first meeting, haven't I? When his dog Brian accosted me on my day off and we ended up in a bit of a tangle that involved all the animals we had between us." Amelia finished the sentence with a giggle. "We saw each other occasionally after that, some by accident, though some by design. He invited me to the small dog show back in November that Edith held, and...."

She paused, her smile growing wider as she thought about New Years Eve. "then at New Years at Irvingly Arms, we had a...a talk." She could tell even before this that Eavan was practically bursting and she felt a rush of gratitude and affection for her friend. She'd missed their talks together whilst closing up the zoo.

  

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Eva had never typically been one of those girls to sit around and gossip, but then again she had never really had all that many female friends growing up either. Perhaps it was the nature of female beast to bring out the chatter in one another, but Eva genuinely wanted to know about her friend's adventures in her absence! Though she would have stayed longer if the assignment had called for it, Eva was happy to be back in Scotland after all those months in the desert. Had the pull of her family and friends not been so strong, Eva could have easily packed up for something new, but she missed her people more than she missed the call of travel.

"Oh do tell! A talk about what?" It must have been something important. "I can't believe you didn't put this in letters!" She added before Amelia could even get started. Honestly! Truthfully thought, Eva was delighted to see her friend happy, she certainly deserved that after everything that had happened in the past. At least Amelia was smart enough to do things the proper way, unlike Eva.

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"Well I figured you'd want to hear it in person!" Amelia laughed, though she knew she'd been piss poor at describing things to Eva in letter. Really, just talking about this made her feel such a school girl! A flush crept into her cheeks as she relayed the events at the Irvingly Arms. Really, the one year that Eavan misses New Years is the eventful one that she wished she could have run to her to tell her about!

"Well, he was doing an awfully good job of holding all the village girls' attentions," she said with a knowing smile to Eavan; all the girls in the village were easily the types of giggling girls that Amelia herself had rolled her eyes at, however, when she'd seen them dancing with Konstantin, it was easy for her to smile at the picture. Looking back at the event, she wondered if that was completely for her benefit. "And, well we got talking and he let slip he liked me..." She went onto explain how the slip (was it really a slip though?) led to the both of them expressing their feelings to each other, and how it wasn't something trivial.

Though she felt giddy just relaying the information to Eavan, she felt overwhelming relief that it was her best friend who she was talking to, and the one she'd missed so dearly during their time apart. She felt glad that, even though they were co-workers, that Eavan remained just as excited to hear about Konstantin as Amelia was to tell her.

  

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