Sebastian - Hodgingo
- Katie
- Feb 5
- 3 min read
Hodgingos are a cross between a flamingo and a hedgehog. They have very long, green legs and short round bodies that are covered in colourful feathers. Their appearance is very similar to the wildflowers they live among.
For whilst they now lead isolated lives among the floating islands above the forest, they were once prey for all manner of predators in the forest. So their defence tactic was to blend in with the fields of flowers they preferred to inhabit.
What started as a defence mechanism has become a cultural habit for the Hodgingos as they decorate their colourful plumes with wildflowers and feathers they find in their fields.
They could be seen as a very vain creature. Hodgingos take great pride in their appearance and the accessories they choose to adorn themselves with. They use their collection of flowers to attract mates. Whereas, they use their collection of feathers to signify their standing within the herd.
You see, one of the only other creatures that can reach the floating islands are the Wooley Warblers whose identifying feature are their vivid feathers. It is unsurprising that they make their nests on the islands, as the safest place in the forest.
It is also unsurprising that the Hodgingos, with their love of colourful and beautiful things, would covet the Warbler’s feathers.
During the nesting season of the Warblers, it becomes a challenge for the Hodgingos to steal and collect as many of their feathers as they can. Each feather is added to their coat and becomes a source of pride for them.
Among the Hodgingos, Sebastian is one of the youngest males of their herd. And yet, he has the most Warbler feathers and so, has earned the most respect. No other Hodgingo is sure how Sebastian has managed to obtain so many feathers and he has become a kind of living legend.
But Sebastian has a secret.
When he was very young, just a baby really. He was fascinated by the Wooly Warblers. Not just their feathers, but their lives and families, their habits and how they survived.
He used to hide in the bushes for hours, just watching their daily lives and tracking their movements. It was his favourite thing to do. He would often lose track of time and only return home when he was hungry or the sky had darkened to an alarming shade of twilight. Luckily, due to their isolation and lack of predators, the young Hodgingos had a lot more freedom than the young of other species and his parents were never dangerously concerned about him. Merely curious about where he went.
During one of his expeditions, Sebastian met Felicity, a young Wooly Warbler around his own age.
Sebastian had never thought to approach the Wooly Warblers, he thought that after all the raids of his elders the Warblers would reject him and run him away from their nests. He could not bear the thought of being rejected by these creatures he was so fascinated by.
But one afternoon, whilst he was watching an empty nest he was suddenly pinned by a great weight. Pressed against the ground he couldn’t see his captor and could only kick his long legs feebly in a desperate attempt to flee.
Panic seized him. He thrashed on the ground with all the strength that he had, but there was nothing he could do to shift the weight on top of him.
At the corner of his eye he could see brief flashes of pink but the creature who had him pinned remained a mystery and his panic was rising by the second. Silently he cursed himself for being so oblivious to his surroundings, his lack of attention to potential dangers around him. Being born on the floating islands he had always felt safe, but he was starting to realise he had no right to that feeling. He was a defenseless creature now at the mercy of an unknown assailant.
All of this rushed through his mind in a few seconds.
His captor was crushing his feathers and his collection of wildflowers. The colourful arrangement he worked so carefully to curate was ruined.
All at one, his assailant turned him onto his back and he got his first good look at the threat.
The first thing his attention was drawn to was the razor sharp beak mere inches in front of his face. The second was the vibrant, almost blinding pink. And third, were the warm brown eyes staring down at him from beneath furrowed brows.
This was the first meeting of Sebastian and Felicity.
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