Crow's Vest, completed

Crow flew, high and high, up into the sky, fuming and ranting about his thoughtless roommates. He didn't understand how some Animal could have such a problem with him and not tell him about it until the whole situation was so out of hand, and then make the whole thing his fault, as if he was supposed to read their minds or something. It didn't make sense.
The higher he flew, the colder it became, and the more exhausted he grew. Just as he thought he could not continue, he spotted a fluffy white cloud looking so inviting. He sank into it with a sigh and looked down at the ground so far below, just a camel-colored blur dotted with dark spots. He missed it already, but there was no way he was going home, beak to the ground and tail tucked, to beg forgiveness. If they wanted him back, Snake and Monkey and Elephant would find a way to get him back. And until then he would rest, and watch, and talk as much as he wanted.
After his initial astonishment wore off, Snake slithered back down to the lowest branch of the tree to report to Monkey and Elephant.
"He's gone. I told him to be quiet, and he just took off into the sun. He dropped a feather on the way up, but that's all. He's gone."
"And a good thing, too!" Elephant said, "I couldn't sleep with all his clacking and cawing about every little thing."
"Like you are any better!" Monkey exclaimed, "And you sleep day and night, so everything interrupts your naps. Lazy!"
"At least I am not slovenly, like some I could name," Elephant retorted, pointing his trunk at Monkey and scowling.
They continued the argument in escalating voices, despite Snake's attempts to quiet them, and eventually they drew Lioness over, who was not pleased at the interruption of her nap. She gleaned from Snake what the problem was, and cuffed the two apart before saying, very quietly, "You will get along and work out your differences in a timely and considerate manner or I will personally see you both living with Warthog by the end of the afternoon. Any questions?"
Monkey hung his head and mumbled something about very sorry and Elephant sighed and apologized, if gracelessly, to everyone.
"That's better. Now, where is Crow?" she asked.
Even Snake blushed at that. "He was getting really noisy. It got to the point where we couldn't sleep or anything, so I went up to tell him to be quiet, but he took it wrong and he just left," he said, certain of the wrath soon to fall on him.
"He left." It was not a question, and Lioness was obviously not pleased. "He LEFT and you didnt feel it important enough to tell me? I brought everyone here so that I could watch over you all, and the three of you manage to not only be the first to start bickering, but also to chase away one of your number? Tell me why I should not drown you in the watering hole this instant?"
"Because we would pollute the water for all other Animals?" Monkey suggested.
Lioness took a deep breath, let it out, and said, in her quiet voice, "Get him back, and learn to live together, PLEASE, or I will move you all to places miserable beyond your belief. You are supposed to take care of each other, not alienate each other. Figure out how to bring him back and make it happen. And do please try to get along when he returns, for all of us."
She left the three of them, dumbfounded and a little shamed, holding Crow's left over feather and looking at each other.
"Elephant, you could throw me up into the air, and I could try to follow him," Snake suggested.
Monkey snorted. "Not a smart idea. What would Lioness say if she knew we tried something like that, even if you didnt die?"
"You're right. What could we do?"
"Well," Elephant said, tenatively, "Since none of us are birds, why don't we ask Egret or Dove for help? They could find Crow, and tell him we are sorry and we want to talk, and give him the feather back as a peace offering. When he gets down, we just ask him nicely to not chatter so much at night, and maybe on Sundays."
This plan met with aproval from everyone, and Dove was soon persuaded to be their ambassador of peace. She took the feather delicately in her beak and set off, aiming for a large cloud that looked promising.
Crow sat on his cloud, lonely, staring at the savana far below. He watched with interest as a little speck slowly grew bigger, and exclaimed in joy and surprise when he recognized Dove.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her, flapping in excitement.
"I came on behalf of your former roommates, who are very sorry for their harsh words, and beg you to at least come down and listen to their apology in person." She smiled as she spoke.
"I bet Lioness was angry when she discovered I had gone, wasnt she?" Dove just smiled again, and proffered the feather of peace. Crow shrugged and agreed, bringing a little bit of cloud with him to keep him warm on the flight down.
He landed gracefully on the ground in front of Elephant, and clacked his beak shut, waiting for their reactions. Elephant almost looked releived to see him, and Snake and Monkey's faces actually lit up. 'They do care about me...' Crow thoght, and in that moment he forgave them, provided they found a better way to address their grievances in the future.
"Crow, look, we are really sorry," Snake began, but was cut off before he could go any further.
Elephant went down on one knee and said solemly, "We ask for your forgiveness, Crow, and would like you to please come live with us again. We all have irritating faults, and we will do our best to control ours if you keep your cawing to a minimum at night. Will you please come back?" This unprecedented humility and grace from Elephant, and his reasonable proposal, were more than Crow was expecting, and he agreed, to relief all around. Monkey had the audacity to ask if Crow could maybe take SUndays off too, and everyone laughed. Crow settled back in at the top of the tree and life returned to normal. Everyone bickered and left their stuff around, but a quiet word was enough to amend that. Crow took the little bit of cloud he had kept and pressed it to his breast, a constant reminder that he had somewhere to go if he ever needed to leave. He never did.

The End