along the cliffs, and the passerine clustered and swarmed about like bees. Groups of friends and family and children of the same clutch wove volatile scarves from the main body of Quartzal, and back up — bus ferry pints drawn by passerine or other pinnaer studded the sky with passengers and cargo — everyone was always speaking or singing or screeching and in general there was never quiet moment.

Planks and thick poles stuck out from the caves, or else straight from the cliffwalls themselves, providing landing and perching areas for anyone who needed them. Only very occasionally would any of these poles fall, and never usually to any injury greater than broken feathers. They withstood the weight and shifting and crashing and clutch of passerine talons very well.

Many years after the War, adamant, dense scrubs and cliff trees had also grown in the crevices of the cliffs, their roots entwined and deep-seated in the vugs, their boles and boughs stone-hard and shaped like clenched fists and outstretched fingers, respectively.

The royalty of Avuckka inhabited other lands belonging to the flock in the Feathered Trenches. To supervise Avuckka, they delegated a wingful of representatives to watch over the place and maintain community meetings, and for the most part, as with most flocks, Quartzal operated independently, with each passerine supervising their own economies, and deferring to the delegates only in matters of crime or infrastructure, as when nests threatened cave-in, or planks became loose, or the walkers of Quartzal picked fights with the passerine over land and noise pollution.

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