The aftermath of the great clipping left the cage in a state of tense, quiet friction. Ani, usually a proud and distant sovereign on the highest perches, found her world dramatically shrunk. Her wings, now missing sixty percent of their long flight feathers, could no longer catch the air with that effortless, sweeping arrogance. When she tried to launch herself toward the ceiling molding or the distant curtain rods, her body felt heavy, betraying her instincts. She would flutter frantically, only to achieve a clumsy, low-altitude glide that brought her back down to earth far sooner than she liked.
Confronted with this new reality, Ani seemed to have adopted a strategy of bitter compliance. She stayed on top of the cage, her posture tightly wound, her sleek blue-and-white feathers flattened against her body. To a casual observer, she might have looked docile, almost sweet, as she quietly nibbled on a piece of lettuce. But the owner knew better. Ani wasn't tamed; she was brooding. Her resentment was palpable, radiating from her sharp, dark eyes every time the human hand approached the cage to change the water. She would hiss softly, a tiny sound of pure defiance, before retreating to the furthest corner of the wire roof. She was a captured queen, refusing to grace her captor with a single pleasant chirp.
While Ani wallowed in her silent fury, Xiaohua seemed to have found a sudden, inexplicable surge of courage.
The little yellow-and-green male had always been the submissive one, the eager flatterer who took the brunt of Ani's bullying just to be near her. But now, seeing his beautiful companion grounded and grumpy, Xiaohua became an absolute nuisance. He refused to leave her alone. He would hop closer, his head bobbing up and down in a hyperactive rhythm, letting out a barrage of loud, cheerful chirps directly into Ani’s face. It was as if he was trying to cheer her up, or perhaps invite her to play, but to the moody Ani, it was an intolerable insult.
Ani was entirely unmoved by his attempts at comfort. In fact, his proximity only stoked the fire of her anger. When Xiaohua got too close, Ani’s eyes would narrow. She would snap her beak open, lunging forward with a harsh screech, and flap her remaining wing feathers forcefully. The rapid, thumping sound of her wings was meant to be a terrifying display of intimidation—a warning that she was still the dominant force in this cage, haircut or not.
In the past, such a display would have sent Xiaohua scrambling to the other side of the room in fear. But lately, Xiaohua seemed emboldened by some unknown source. He remained utterly defiant. He would take a single step back, tilt his head as if evaluating her temper, and then boldly hop right back into her personal space. Even when Ani successfully drove him away with a sharp peck, Xiaohua would simply take flight, loop around the living room, and land right back beside her, continuing his relentless pestering.
The woman, sitting on the sofa and watching the drama unfold, shook her head in amusement. It truly looked like Xiaohua was just asking for trouble. He was poking a sleeping bear, deliberately provoking a bird that already wanted to bite the world.
The constant harassment reached a breaking point by the afternoon. Driven to absolute madness by Xiaohua’s stubborn chirping, Ani decided she had endured enough. She launched into a relentless chase, her beak snapping wildly as she pursued the yellow bird across the flat roof of the cage. Xiaohua, agile and fully feathered, easily kept a step ahead. Realizing he was losing ground on foot, Xiaohua chirped mockingly and fluttered up to a higher shelf, looking down at her from a safe distance.
Ani, blinded by her white-hot rage, forgot her limitations. She didn't look up; she didn't calculate the distance. She simply saw her target moving away and instinctively leaped over the edge of the cage roof, intending to soar up and strike him down.
But the air did not hold her.
Instead of a grand, sweeping ascent, Ani’s shortened feathers beat fruitlessly against the air. She stalled almost instantly, her body tilting forward as she fell off the edge of the cage. She tumbled downward, a clumsy tangle of blue and white, before landing with a soft thud on the carpet below.
She wasn't physically hurt, but her dignity was shattered. She sat on the floor, her feathers ruffled, looking bewildered and incredibly small. Watching from the sofa, the woman felt a sharp pang of sympathy for the proud little bird. For all of Ani's temper and mischief, seeing her so completely grounded and defeated by her own frustration was a pathetic, heartbreaking sight.
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