A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 10 - The Belly of The Beast

Somehow, the next morning, Honey found herself even more tired than the night before.

As Zemira gave her a playful kick awake, Honey found it harder to get up than usual. Her eyes were bleary, and worst of all, her muscles were tighter than a taut bowstring, furiously aching from the day before.

"Must we?" She grumbled to Zemira.

"Yep!" The other girl replied with an outrageous amount of chirp given the hour, "Rise and shine! We've got a quest to go on!" She sang out, grabbing Honey by the ankles and pulling.

Honey let out a string of protests, her abdomen aching as she reached forward to swat Zemira away, but nevertheless, she was soon dressed and the four of them were on their way.

Though she didn't voice it aloud, Honey quite liked the use of the word 'quest'. It implied an end goal, a way from point 'A' to point 'B'. It was somehow comforting, knowing that there would be a finalised conclusion.

Honey's mind wandered back to the night before, however the memory of swimming and the glee she felt regarding the matter was short lived, because suddenly she was recalling the humiliating encounter from moments before.

Just thinking about her foolishness brought red to her cheeks and she would most likely die of embarrassment were Aedis to mention something. In hindsight, she knew that it was an accident, however that didn't help to staunch the mortification that coloured her cheeks. 

It seemed, however, that Aedis was perfectly content to forget the encounter, and Honey couldn't agree more.

The climb to the top was very much like the day before—physically straining and arduous—except that Honey had decided to put a little more Ether into her efforts. She focused on the image of it spreading through her body, her blood, her muscles, offering that extra bit of support—of strength. Doing so made her feel somehow lighter—like she'd lost half of her body weight and suddenly gravity no longer had such a stiff grip on her. To top it off, the use of Ether fortified her movements. Her legs—which had felt like jelly before—suddenly felt coated in steel, strong and unbending.

Previously, she'd been too worried about something going wrong. That very fear had prevented her from enhancing her abilities to an extent that would make a difference, however, logic told Honey that she would need a crutch for the remainder of the climb.

Focusing the Ether into her muscles and vision was easier than expected. It took the previous day's weight away and the pressure in the soles of her feet became less prominent. It urged her to walk faster, take less breaks, breathe steadier. She kept her thoughts occupied, avoiding certain imagery, and instead focused on the surrounding scenery.

Though she hadn't noticed it before, they'd reached above cloud level, the sky above a brilliant, clear blue, and when Honey turned around she let out a puff of air.

"Wow..." She breathed. 

The view before her was a forest of mountain peaks, striking out of the earth like jagged, grey teeth. The midday air was chilled so high up, but the sun was bright in the sky, its warmth penetrating the chilled atmosphere. Flowing between the mountain tops like a river was a thick blanket of white clouds. The dark grey summits rose from the wispy white puffs, islands in an ocean that crashed against the rocks of the shore. Except there were no waves crashing wildly—no angry ocean and howling wind. Instead, it was calm, still, and quiet—like a moment frozen in time. The wind blew but there were no trees to dance with the breeze, nor was there water to swirl, or grass to sway. From so high up, it was all so small and so still.

Suddenly, all of Honey's problems, which had felt so vast just moments before, seemed insignificant. Seemed small.

When Aedis decided they'd done enough sight seeing, the four continued their uphill climb.