Wings of Fire: Revenant

Chapter Five

"Oh, do you know each other already?" Auklet asked, glancing curiously between the two NightWings.

"No," her companion said after a long moment. "I mean ... I don't think so." She stared hard at Peacemaker. "You seem really familiar to me, but I can't remember ever meeting you before."

"I ... I was thinking the exact same thing," he replied shakily.

He met her violet eyes, the light of the sunset catching in the lens of her glasses, her expression as fascinated and bewildered as his. This made him feel slightly less crazy, but infinitely more confused.

Peacemaker shook out his wings, trying his best to regain his composure. "Okay, let's try a slightly less weird introduction. I'm Peacemaker."

The other NightWing smiled at him. "My name's Truthseeker," she replied, "but everyone just calls me Seeker."

"Seeker," he said, trying out the sound of the name and seeing if maybe it matched with the strange sense of familiarity he was still feeling.

It didn't, and Peacemaker took that as confirmation that he really was just insane. But then, why was she still looking at him like he was an old friend she was seeing again for the first time in years?

"Do we need to give you guys some alone time?" Cliff inquired with an impish grin.

Peacemaker snapped suddenly out of his trance, elbowing Cliff sharply in the ribs.

"Ouch!"

"Shut. Up." Peacemaker hissed under his breath.

"You started it," Cliff replied smugly, satisfied that he had gotten Peacemaker back for embarrassing him before.

Seeker's eyes glittered with amusement. "You're Cliff, I take it?" she inquired. "Auklet's told me all about you."

"She has?" Cliff said, his expression so insufferable that Peacemaker didn't think he really had room to make fun of anyone else.

Auklet dipped her head self-consciously. "Just a few things," she said. "I was hoping we could all be friends."

Judging by Seeker's sly smile, Peacemaker guessed it had been more than a few things, but she had the good grace not to say this out loud.

"Well, of course!" Cliff said. "How could we not be? Come, let us break bread and discuss happy things!"

He then led Auklet over to the spot next to his, the two of them settling down to eat the food they'd brought with them. 

"Well," Peacemaker said, gesturing to the vacant patch of stone across from them, "I guess that means this is all ours."

He looked up to see Seeker giving him another searching, faraway look.

"Um ... if that's okay with you," he added, worried he might have offended her.

She shook her head as if to clear it. "Yeah, sorry, I was just ..." Her brows knit together thoughtfully. "I guess there really is no way we've met before?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"I don't think so," he replied with no more certainty than her.

"Maybe you have met and you just forgot," Cliff suggested through a mouthful of goat.

"Maybe," Seeker mused. "Except ... you must be from the rainforest, right?"

He nodded.

"I thought so, or else I'd have known who you were. The thing is, I've never been outside the Talon Peninsula before today."