My wings stretch and carry me for a few blissful moments as my body cascades over the rocky pathway leading up and up. I had traveled far and alone on this day, leaving Bear sleeping by Ktulu's side. This might be due to the fact that I have grown perhaps foolishly confident in myself. Now, this had no reflection upon my ability to interact with others, but I was growing less and less afraid of the world itself. Nature was calming, soothing, predictable, but still very surprising to my eyes. I had noticed once, many months ago, that the world was different each time I blinked, and the former world escaped from my view, leaving an entirely new place in its wake. When I consider how much of the world I miss in this strange transition, I become saddened.

I wanted to hold the world in my memory like Ophelia can. However, she had spoken often of the horrors which lurked behind her eyelids, a fair warning that I should not want so casually. There were burdens I could not understand myself, and I would not wish so ignorantly a cross that my aunt warned me she did not appreciate having to carry.

Still, as my dual colored eyes watch the slur of the gravel as it rushes underneath my hooves at my small leaps of flight, I cannot help but wonder how much I have already forgotten. How much of the world would I never know, not but lack of exposure yet by lack of attention? It was a mystery, one that frustrated me often. I found that the only thing that kept my mind from growing bitter over my own ignorance was exploration of this place called Helovia. Normally, I would have Bear by my side as a cohort, but this morning he was rather tired and grumpy when I tried to nudge him from his sleep before dawn. Bears. They certainly got temperamental with age.

The mountain path grows steadily more treacherous, and I stop my off and on flight to walk on solid bronze hooves up the slope, finding the rocks and boulders hazardous to try and fly around, even in small gliding drifts. I fold my wings and trot steadily, wanted to see where this beaten path led. There were many hoof-prints within the dirt, and the scent of the unknown clung to the rocks and small tufts of grass that tried to shoot upward past the clouds which hugged the mountain peak to reach the sun above. I imagined it was a futile effort, but I admired how the plants perked up to greet me, showing me a greener and livelier face as I stepped by. Like soldiers coming to the attention of a general, like the Grey listening in to the words of Ktulu. It was curious, but I think plants are just curious creatures.

When the line of clouds begins to close in on the path in front of me, I take a deep breath and slow my pace, eyes watching the ground carefully and one of my wings reached out to brush the side of the mountain and make sure I do not walk off a cliff unknowingly. I was better at flying since my first lesson, but I doubt I was well enough off to avoid falling to my death. The sun which gleams through my misty habitat reminds me that the world is out there waiting, and I labor onward, my head poking out of the clouded world with intense excitement as soon as I have risen high enough.

When I look around, my bi-colored eyes widen with surprise. Above the clouds, at the foot of the rocky mountain path, is a meadow more beautiful than any I had seen. Basking underneath the light of the sun, flowers of every color display their petals proudly, grasses weaving in and out with gentle breezes that rustle my hair and make me pause, dumbfounded, half standing in the clouds and half precariously perched on the edge of the path, mouth agape and wings slackened.

I had never seen a place more beautiful. Suddenly, I wish for my comrade to be at my side so that he could drink in the wondrous world as well.


[ Open for anyone who wants to thread with Toto, but I ask that it be kept to 2-3 people as I need him to stay active, and I don't want this thread collapsing. ^^ ]