Surfacing

Huh? Where is this? This smooth yet hard sensation beneath my feet, a rock? No, stone the ground surrounding me is laid out bare before my eyes, grey and cold, bouts of chilled wind hitting my face making my eyes grow blurry. This place seems so grand and open, and something within my mind tells me I should know, maybe if I get a better look, rubbing the blur awa...? What happened to my hands? They're so small, the skin plush and soft, blushing from the air's bite. Looking at it it's not only my hands, my feet too, toes tiny, shining red against the pale rock. Gazing upwards the sky seems strange, almost split in perpetual twilight, glowing against that dark streak drawn over the middle, such a contrast locked in a seemingly eternal struggle.

Wings, they feel ticklish... My wings! They're whole! a bit more fluffy than I remember, but they're stretching out so fluently, twitching in response to my excited heart, my eyes... they're filling up again, it's just... relieving, lifting a huge weight from my shoulders, carrying me upwards towards this strange yet freeing horizon. The wind slashing against me, the moisture in the air, the lighting bathing me in a permanent half-light glow reflected by my pale self glowing like a beacon traveling fast and freely. Wings, I barely recognized it before now, there are the beats of another closing in from behind, hands gently closing around my waist, the excited voice of a boy ringing in my ears as I spy a pair of long gray wings stretching from my peripheral vision, as I'm held within this warm embrace.

"Where do you think you're going little Winterlilly?" Winterlilly, just who? Is he talking to...

A bounce from below, the vision in front dispersing rapidly, no... I wanted to figure, I wanted to see the owner of that soothing voice, to be carried away from my current, crippled self. That bounce again, My back's leaning against something firm, my left shoulder grinding up against someone else whilst the material beneath our seats seem to be moving, sometimes giving small uneven jumps, just what... my eyes, they are all hazy, to my left I can make out the outline of a chestnut-colored shape bathing in some bright light from behind, it... it feels warm, that brown silhouette is turning towards me, a gentle hand being placed upon my forehead, a caring voice sounding trough this hot air.

"There you are, Arthur said you were okay but you had me worried there for a moment." Mary? The vision is clearing, giving a view of the image in front, a row of leathered seats lightly vibrating as the world seem to pass by from the glass panes on both sides of this dark brown box, outside a scape of golden plants swaying within the breeze, small houses peeking forth from this ocean of fair gleams ending in small tufts, could it be, it must be grain, it fits the description perfectly, maybe if I get closer I can spot more? Mary's hand is tugging me back into the seat.

"Hold it there Khat you should not move suddenly like that within the car." Car? Is that what this moving contraption is called? Looking in front there's another row of seats occupied by Abel and James, their eyes staring ahead out the glass pane in front giving a view of our current road. To the side, Mary is reaching for something within her coat, speaking of, I seem to be dressed in a similar one to hers, this one with holes for my wings within its light beige fabric.

"Here, it slipped my mind for a moment." A small block of papers woven together from the top and a pen carrying the color of deep blue... almost like his eye... eyes.

"Hey, are you doing ok?" This wet sensation beneath my eyes, the piercing of tears soaking into the stitches on my right... it hurts, but with this, I've worried Maryon more than she already must have been.

("It, I'm not too sure, I just suddenly got reminded of someone.") Her eyes, gleaming with a sense of warm comfort against my moment of pain.

("Anyway, what happened? Where are we right now?") Her head tilts a bit as she's taking a moment to peek outside the window, taking in the surroundings, she must be looking for something.

"Ah, look over there." Her gentle hand pulls me close, her shoulder, chest, and collarbone radiating with both excitement and comfort. Her right hand is guiding my gaze towards something at the edge of these vibrant fields.

"See that rock over there? The tall one with the carvings?" Stretching up, taller than most of the houses spread about, covered in chipped spiral markings reflecting the sun's rays back in a light purple hue, like the even, dull exterior's nothing but a shell for the radiant crystal beneath.

("It's so pretty, what does it mean?") The shine within the depths of her gaze, nearly as bright.

"It's a landmark, it tells us that we're currently traveling through Willowick, supposedly it just appeared out of nowhere at the end of a terrible drought around 200 years ago." Willowick... Isn't, wasn't that Ruth's hometown from that story? I never got to finish it, maybe, perhaps I can find someone in Ashwood that might be familiar with that legacy left behind by that baron's son.

"Anyway we're still a while from Ashwood, there's still a few more towns in between so we're probably gonna stay at an inn for the night, my guess is that we'll stop at Cranberry then we'll reach Ashwood midday tomorrow." That grin creeping across her lips, the anticipation of homecoming, these strange swirls of emotion, It's like I'm both excited and frightened at the same time, a storm pounding against my chest as it is my reality, I'm about to be brought back to someone's precious home.

("It's making me excited, the thought of seeing Mary's home.") Her cheeks are flaring up.

"Don't expect too much ok? It's quite boring." A chuckle from the front, Abel or James? No matter, I wasn't the only one who found that cute.