Flerae: A Lie Untold

Chapter 22: Walking, Walking, Endless Walking

- Brittney -

My mom has always told me, flying at night is never a good idea, you might get tired and fall out of the sky.

I never listen to my mother. 

I fly, flapping my wings even in the dark of the night. Twisting, and turning in the air. Sometimes, I imagine myself as good as Mrs. Clarin, my teacher from school. She can dive and twirl, and do all sorts of acrobatics. In reality, I'm a little above average at flying, but I am far from as good as her.

Flying at night is nice. The air is cool, and the stars up above are so beautiful. You can never see them as well down below, where clouds obscure your sight of them.

I look down at the lake. It looks so small from so high up. The moonlight casts a pretty glowing ripple across its surface.

I scan the forest, watching the animals walk, creating moving shadows among the pines of the Endless Forest. One of them, by the looks of it, is not a prey animal, but a cat dragon. 

What are they doing, stalking the forest at dark? Finding a late night snack? I think.

I fly downwards in a spiraling dive, landing silently behind the cat.

* * *

- Ocean -

A twig snapping makes me flinch and my ears flick back. I turn my head, expecting to see my mother, Carp, or one of my siblings. Instead, a young kitten dragon stands behind me. Her fur coloring too hard to distinguish in the faint light. 

It is well known that cats can see in the dark. This is true for cat dragons, but our nightly vision isn't as good as full bread cats. The night for us is reduced to black and white, and only when we concentrate can we actually see colors.

Even though I'm unable to determine this kitten's fur color, she seems familiar somehow... like I know her from somewhere...

"Why are you scowling at me like that?" she says.

Ignoring her question, I ask, "did Carp send you to bother me or something? To tell me to go home? Because you can go back and tell him that I don't want to come home. Because I don't have a home."

"Carp?" the confusion in her expression alone answers my question.

"He's my dad," I reply, not completely sure why I tell her that. Maybe it has something to do with the worry and innocence in her eyes. 

"You call your dad by his... name? I call my dad... Dad."

I turn and give the cat an angry glare, this time on purpose. "I will never call him by Dad."

She remains quiet for a while, fidgeting with her wings and paws.

Finding her annoying, I continue walking. I sniff the air, enjoying the fresh smell of pines. My paws pad on the springy pine needle covered ground.

"Hey, where're you going?!" shouts the kitten after me, as she quickly runs to catch up to me.

I ignore her and keep walking.

She holds out one of her wings for a wing shake. "I'm Brittney," she says.

I give her an annoyed look and continue walking. Walking, walking, endless walking. 

Brittney awkwardly puts her wing back at her side. "Where're you going?" she repeats.

Once again, I ignore her.

"Where're you going? Can I come?"

"I'm running away," I hiss at her, just so I can shut her up.

"You're... running... away?"

"Yes," I snap.

"Why?" the word feels so small, a powerful word, the one word that cuts through to my broken heart. I stop and look deep into her eyes. All sign of happiness there is gone. Replaced with deep concern. The emotion feels... so weird to see in someone else's eyes. An emotion directed towards... me.