The adorned woman moves to stand beside me, accepting my invitation with confident poise that suits her attractive appearance and soft vocals. She speaks in that musical way women do, then slides toward the proffered empty space near Earth’s shrine. All the while my alabaster company offers smiles and polite returns toward our conversation. For the moment I'm not regretting this unexpected arrival.
I nod when she admits that her mystical creature would've remained a story had it not been for their bond. Dark muscles twitch higher, mimicking her grin with a soft and understanding beam. For I knew well enough, the same thing had happened with Fina and Neve. Never before had my eyes beheld the fury and magnificence of a flaming avian before I’d met Fina, and then only twice after had I witnessed wild phoenix zephyrs.
Neve shivered against my pelt. Ignoring nuzzles and sinking deeper within the folds of feathers and fur. I sigh and pull away to see the Griffin step aside, staring intently at Fina with an almost amused fixation. She trails off, weaving along the way. Fina watches, but lacks enough interest to follow and instead serves as Neve’s personal bodyguard. Truth be told my phoenix had little tolerance with anything that wasn’t me, Cera, food or a dragon.
"Aye, mine often adores praise, but cares little for company." I chuckled at how Fina bristled and hissed, "Say true, unless its her own reflection." Those talons tighten ever so slightly, pinching flesh together painfully. Though I hardly noticed, she wasn't truly offended, nar, it was all good fun.
Neve was entirely different, not just with her elemental magic, but in personality and personal preferinces. Both had come me as orphans, an amazing experience but also a bittersweet in a realization that their ma's would no longer be of this world. It was my first time to witness a mythical bird of snow and ice. I’d heard rumor that there were other species of Zephyr. Including the dark colored one that Africa was bonded with.
Arah. A fine name. She followed with an inquiry on where I made my bed at night. Easily answered.
“Hidden Falls,” my reply is soft, golden pools are graciously tender as I look toward her without concern for judgment or misgiving on either side of this conversation. I purposely left out my weighted title.
The taste of winter is upon her pelt and with it a familiar essence of mountain air that can only be plucked from Basin valley itself – though I’d never visited those peaks or crested the mountains to catch a visual of the greenery below, that fragrance was forever etched into my memory. It was the essence of death and a promise of betrayal. A snake was always a snake, some are just more appealing and lacked venom.
Her admission is no surprise to me, but the question which follows catches me off guard. My smile falters for a moment, confusion replaces understanding, “Nay,” I replied slowly, easing back into the conversation with a light shrug, “I’ve never had the privilege.” Surely she was aware that my ‘kind’ would never be welcomed in the folds of her family. (Even for a visit.)
“Is it a nice place?”
Perhaps the lady truly didn’t realize what had occurred between our families, maybe she was new to their ranks and had yet to learn the scorn our winged cousins received from the horned northerners.
Still. I’d hold nothing against this lovely creature, at least not until she gave good cause for such, “Ye would be welcome to visit Hidden Falls,” and my statement was true. Despite the differences of our clans, I’d never turn away a curious soul. Nar. Hadn’t Mauja, their fallen ice king, brought a basin filly to our doorstep; to which I welcomed with open wings and a healers touch.
Maybe we could mend these wounds with time. Lena had certainly showed promise.
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[O] On the inside
