Her fingers graze the swaying reeds. She walks along the soft soil, dark, warm and rich and slightly moist under her bare feet. The endless sky meets the endless fields at the horizon, and the air is pleasantly cool on her parched skin.
She doesn't know how long she's been here.
Nobody else seems to be around. The field of gently swaying reeds is empty, and the lazily flowing river goes on just as the sky does - forever.
How did she get here?
She isn't quite sure. There seems to be something she was supposed to do... or find? Or...
Her head hurts at thinking too much, so she doesn't.
Walking ever forward, she watches the reeds bend with the wind. So carefree.
There is some wildlife in this strange place, made up of parts of different animals. Like something she had seen before. Somewhere...
White feathers rustled by the wind, equine hindquarters warm under her body, wings beat by her sides, faster, faster-
She walks, her white linen dress wrapped loosely around her, and the wind plays with the fabric and her long hair just as it does with the reeds.
She must be hungry after wandering the fields for so long, though the sun doesn't move in the fulgent sky. But she doesn't feel the hunger.
Where must she go from here?
Why is she here?
Who... is she?
"Ah... you finally ask the right questions, child."
She turns. Behind her, where she just passed, stands a woman, her back turned to her, looking at the other side of the endless horizon.
"Who... are you?"
The woman turns to face her, her lush black hair falling thick over her shoulders. Her eyes are lined with kohl and her eyelids are covered in blindingly blue lapis lazuli powder. She smiles at her.
"My name is Pasashet. And I've been waiting for you, child."
It's not a language she knows, she realises suddenly. But she understands the woman perfectly.
Pasashet offers her a hand. She takes it, and she is led through the reeds towards the river.
"I have been waiting for so long... I thought perhaps I was the last."
"The last... of what?"
They stand on the very edge of the water, the small waves lapping at their feet.
"Of us, of course."
With her free hand, the woman makes a gentle arching motion. The water ripples, but not in a way the water does. Thick like quicksilver, it sloshes and then begins to solidify, creating pillars that harden as stone and connect together with platforms at harsh right angles.
A bridge is formed, spanning the width of the languid river, beginning at their feet.
"Come."
As they cross, the bridge is solid and cold under her. She looks around, but neither the river nor its other bank bear any landmarks. Nowhere to go but forward, forever and ever.
"Pasashet... where are we going?"
"That is for you to decide. This isn't a journey we make with our feet. It is a journey we make with our minds. Walking is merely what people do when travelling, and so we move forward."
YOU ARE READING
Up and Down
Fanfiction[Completed] Anne's malady is a curse, is it not? The newest Ravenclaw is not so sure. When all else fails, her Muggle upbringing provides a yet unexplored pathway. After all, the simplest explanation, however improbable, must be correct. If only it...
