Healed. I was whole again. The past few weeks had been a rollercoaster of pain, fever and fog. Finally, I had a chance to sit back and simply bask in the Sun's radiant light. But I never took these chances - they left me too buzzing with energy by the end of the day, too awake to fall asleep, too alive to close my eyes. I spent the hot, humid summer's day moving, living, never stopping. My fitness was important to me, as I went through the exercises my father taught me, I held him and his instructions firmly in my mind. As I held the wooden shaft of his spear in my mouth, it was easy for me to pretend he was still here, a worthy foe for me to contend with.

I leapt here and there, my tail swaying sideways before whipping up as it acted like a counterweight, a natural balancing aid for my stocky frame and broad wings. I leaned on my haunches, driving the spear point-down into the dried ground, grunting as it resisting going more than a few centimetres deep. Pulling it free again, I tossed it into the air, high, cantering forward to catch it again expertly a few strides ahead. I took a leap again, flapping my wings to give me more lift, twisting my body so that I did a complete turn in the air before landing again, and continued cantering back the way I had just come from. A sharp buck was thrown in, and I tucked the spear back into the folds of my wing while in motion, something I knew I needed to practise more so that I didn't waste precious seconds stopping my motion all the time.

The spear's absence in my mouth allowed me to breath easier, so I powered on through my exercises, looking very much like a bird flailing its wings about. It was all in the name of fitness, of taking one's mind off thoughts that would otherwise cloud it. So focussed was I, I barely noticed the sets of eyes that had settled upon my sunny hide, and I would never know whether they were friendly eyes or not until they made a move..

---

@[Lace] up to you if you want the eyes to be his/Fajira's or something more sinister ^^

My heart pulsed with the beat that pumped blood throughout my body, my ears pounded with the same pressure. They were pinned against the poll of my nape, a habit I was intent on making permanent during any physical altercations, thanks to my experience with Rostislav that resulted in a partial degloving of one of my ears. Thanks to the healing fire of the Throat's current Physician, the scars were invisible on the skin, but the lesson was well learned and remembered.

Movement blurred the motion of my limbs, and I danced as if you were by my side again. Your dark frame matched my own moves, your strong, muscular jaws snapped and harried at my heels, encouraging me to move ever more forward, faster, with more energy and fitness ever being generated.

But you weren't here with me.

What was snapping at my heels then?

A harsh snort erupted from my nostrils, as fear suddenly jolted my movements into overdrive. Cerulean orbs flashed and rolled in my skull, as with a panicked glance I recognised the form chasing me to be of feline descent, not canine, and not in any way friendly and playful. Swiftly, I strike out with a hind leg as it leaps, claws outstretched, teeth flashing, and grunt as a sharp, flinty foot hits the skull of the beast. Flourishing my wings and whipping my tail to and fro, I take to the skies, breathing heavily as I escape the clutches of the hungry wildcat.

I was lucky to leave the scene unscathed. The long, dry grasses below me swiftly swallowed up the form of the feline, and I breathed in relief, happy to leave the wretched creature behind.

I was shaken to the core, terrified of how close I had come to becoming meat in a wildcat's belly. I was almost inclined to hunt it down, to kill it before it had a chance to harm another - but then some reasonable part of me admitted that it was simply another living creature trying to live its life. It was just unfortunate that its life involved the taking of another's. I let the wind fill my lungs and wings, I allowed it to push me forward and up, glancing over my shoulder to the ground below, watching the grasses bend and fold in the path of the big cat. It must hide beneath a canopy then, because I see nothing then, no evidence of its existence, no sign of the near-death experience I had just lived through.

It was the sort of time where I wanted nothing more but to sit down in a quiet corner and cry. The anxiety had crept up all over me, and I blinked back tears that threatened to spill over the electric blue of my eyes. I had to breathe again, I had to find my control centre again - but that was impossible, ever since you left. I have only ever been pretending to have control since your departure, but truly I was a broken, fractured shell of a soul, barely able to contain the emotions that raced through me. The depression, the grief, the fear and sad realisation of my having to continue living without you by my side, constantly burned through me. That I had come so close to death in such a random way seemed to shake me up - I don't even know why it did so. I had survived worse threats then a hungry cat.

The guilt settled heavily over me then. I had just proven that I still had a will, a desire, to live on, despite your absence. It shrouded my mind, oppressing any other thoughts that might have surfaced. It was there, now, right in front of me, and still, I was unwilling to accept it.

Movement below me caused me to jolt once again out of my reverie. I had been spiralling high above the Fields, barely noticing that life continued on below me. The grass was moving again, in that way that suggested my feline friend had found a new target. As my eyes scoured the Fields, I was confronted by the fact that the stallion who I could attribute with saving my life previously stood there, eating, living, breathing. His dragon seemed to flutter nearby, and I smiled at the memory, through it brought me a sense of embarrassment at the same time.

Then I realised what this cat was intending.

I was swift to act, reaching to my wing and plucking the spear free with ease. The next motion involved a swift glance of aim, and then a sure and hard thrust and release, which sent the spear towards the movement in the grass, my magic willing the wind to carry it sure and true into the target. I swooped down to the grassy Fields in the wake of my spear, happily hearing the thunk of it striking its target - I let loose a long, joyous call of victory, my former depression forgotten for the moment as I revel in the thrill of saving another's life - at least, that is assuming Lace was not likely to survive an attack from this big cat, who now laid slumped in the grass, lifelessness behind his glazed eyes, blood pooling around the hole the point of my spear rested in.

"Totally just saved your life~!" I shouted as I landed before the stallion, bouncing into an enthusiastic trot, flinging my tiara about as renewed life filled me up to the brim. I laughed as I carved a circle around the steed, wondering if I could inspire him to feel the same energetic, positively wonderful need to live, to move, to exist, as I currently did. I wanted to hold onto the feeling forevermore, but, knowing it was only a temporary state, I was more than happy to make the distraction last as long as possible by involving as many others in it as possible.

@[Lace]

Energy pulsed through me, and I let it carry me into an elated state of joy and happiness - the same that I had felt on my previous encounter with Lace and his dragon, and I did not shy away from it. I welcomed it, embraced it, paraded it all around through the dancing motions of my legs and the swinging of my hips and tail. My wings fluttered by my sides still, moving so that I appeared to be flying while keeping my feet planted (it was actually hard exercise), as I etched my dance around this steed into the dry grasses of the Fields. The tundra was like a stadium, and I it's performer, Lace my audience (Fajira, evidently absorbed by her prey), and I gave it all I could. My movements were not like before, with meaning and well-thought-out purpose, but rather done with passion and reckless abandon, enthusiasm, simply communicating the sheer power of my will to live, demonstrating how far it had come. I held onto it as long as I could, though it felt slippery, like a bar of soap, where the tighter you squeezed the quicker it shot away. So I slowed my motions down, allowing his words to reach my ears, allowing my laughter to dance lightly from my throat at his comments. Yes, he likely would have survived just fine on his own, but this way I could revel in the happiness it brought me to have contributed to his ongoing survival, I could joyously hold the knowledge that he and his dragon would be alive for me to laugh with (or at?) another day.

"Well, you do seem to keep a healthy diet," I jested, indicating his robust flank - truly he was simply a stallion in the prime of his life, one who looked fit and well. A wall of heat seemed to radiate from the area of the body, and I turned my vision to watch the dragon roast her meal - there was a panicked second where I thought perhaps my father's spear would also be roasted, but I saw that it had been placed safely a few strides away from the carcass. I was happy to leave it there for now - I trusted the dragon implicitly, despite having only met her once, she had seen more of me then anyone, besides you, Sitka. Though I was used to watching a predator eat meat, having seen you do it enough times, it did unnerve me to think that carnivores survived on the death of others, that blood and meat filled their stomachs and that they found enjoyment in feeling the last breaths of a creature die.. It gave me a shiver, and I was happy to nod along to Lace's words, though they did seem rather odd - I brandished him with a quizzical expression, did he not recall how he had guarded me that fateful night, did he not realise the precious gift he had awarded me with through his simple gesture?

"Enjoy your meal, Fajira!" I called out to the feasting dragon, a smile pulling at my lips as I then tossed my tiara in Lace's direction, ears pinned playfully, a squeal escaping my lips. My nape arched as I swept up my wings once more, lifting my forelegs from the ground before surging forward in the stallion's wake. Laughter and silliness resulted, and it was beautiful, and sweet, almost magical and surreal. Though my thoughts inevitably drifted to you, and your absence from here, I found it was slowly getting easier to still hold onto your memories but remember to live on myself - staring into a certain set of golden eyes aided me, reminding myself that this was my saviour, my champion, my guardian seemed to help. I had managed to find happiness in his presence once, perhaps I could do so again, perhaps you had sent him to me, to give me back my happiness. I thought of all those I had hurt after your death, all those shameful behaviours I had performed (and still felt inclined to do), all those confused, misguided curses and offenses thrown at strangers who meant no true harm, but my broken, hollow self could not see that then, and still mistook it even as the fracture slowly caked over with layers of scabs built from persistence and determination to live on. On and on, onwards we danced and played and ran and bucked, movement never ceasing, perpetual motion the key to keeping the happiness, to filling the abyss with light and bright feelings of wonder and enjoyment. But physical energy only ran so far, and I was a pegasus, meant for the skies (though I do recall my father's voice imparting upon me the importance of keeping fit both on the ground and in the air, in case an opponent I faced was s- and I remember laughing at him in response, stating how anything that couldn't fly was surely no worthy opponent for me), dragging my fit bodice across the loam was work enough, add onto that the exercise routines I had been doing earlier - I think it was safe for me to claim that my body had endured enough for today.

"Payment, huh?" I asked, somewhat breathlessly, my smile lingering as my jaws widened into a yawn. I had slowed down to a walk, and now decided to stretch my worked muscles so that they didn't ache too severely come morning. The Sun had moved across the sky, and with it, the pattern upon my hide was altered - the blue seemed richer, darker as the day waned, the clouds more prominent against the darkness of my sweaty pelt. I paused my motion to stretch a hind leg out, slowly reaching backwards with each one, before standing square once more. Deviousness entered my gaze as I very artfully leaned back then, stretching my wings up, hoping to hold my gaze cheekily with the stallion - hoping to ring some bells in his head, remind him of who I was and where he had met me before. I basked for a moment in my pose, remembering the little sun he had created for me, shutting my eyes now to truly let the memory sweep me away. I was embarrassing, yes, but it was also peaceful and pleasant, and I found myself okay with reliving it in front of Lace now.

"Hmm. Perhaps a future favour, one that you cannot refuse." I say to him as I rise from my stretch, tilting my tiara as I now stretched my neck. Eventually I stopped all the stretching and simply shook my bodice out - before folding my wings down tightly to my sides and allowing my knees to buckle beneath me. I went down with a soft, feminine grunt, and relished in the feel of the dirt against my sweaty skin, happily stirring it up with my feathers and flailing limbs. With a deep sigh, I then lay upon my side and simply watch the world go by, feeling strangely secure and peaceful in this strange, definitely not normal, circumstance. But, I always did do well in strange situations. Maybe they were my 'normal'; maybe I needed a bit of strange to function properly.


@[Lace]