One afternoon while Yuya is practicing, Julien wanders into the big tent, gives him a nod, and without a word flutters up towards the high wire, his wings kicking up a short-lived wind. He rises to try and land on it and grasp with his feet, but he's huge and heavy and the wire is pretty fine, so very rapidly he overbalances and pitches over, still hanging on to the cable with his feet.

The end result is a giant pigeon hanging upside down from a line that's now slanted on either side, though even a sudden four hundred plus pound weight isn't enough to break it or unmoor a side from wherever it's attached. Julien bobs a little bit in the air and then is still, his wings folded.

"Ow," he says, his voice amused and pitched to carry all that way down. "Maybe I didn't think this through. Landing on small things is always so much harder than I expect. Hello, Yuya! Oh that's a cool tail, is it new?"