The Ride West

Chapter Two

The damp air and ground of the marsh the tower was in gave way to a vast flowering plain. The grass and clouds and flowers and the air itself seemed so much more alive than Eulanthe had remembered. "Have you ever seen a sky so blue?" She asked Justice, singing.

"It was usually cloudy in the marsh," Answered Justice. Looking at a fluffy white cloud, Eulanthe thought she saw part of one break off and drift down, but giggled and began to skip along. Justice spread out their wings and took long gliding hops beside her, leaping aside as Eulanthe tried to tag them. The game of tag continued, the time racing away. Eulanthe came so close to tagging Justice when a shadow passed over her friend, causing them to pause. She glanced around in the air, and with a feathery fluttering sound and a squawk! something landed behind them.

"Hello! Are you two lost?" Eulanthe turned to look, and saw the creature that had landed near them: it had fluffy pearly white feathers, seeming much like a great bird of prey, though it had four legs, and long tail feathers. It was very large, up to her waist, and though it had a regal look Eulanthe found it to be quite adorable.

"Oh! Hello, mister aérylle. We're not lost- see, I brought a map with us," Justice said, pulling the rolled up map from their pack and opening it up for the aérylle.

"Ah, I see! I remember people walking on that path, taking supplies to the Wild Lands," The aérylle said, speaking in the chirping and singing and clicking language of its kind. "But after that work was done, the path grew wild again."

"Oh. Well, would you know the way?" Justice asked.

"Yes! I know an excellent way to get there," The aérylle said proudly, puffing out its chest.

Eulanthe could see that the aérylle was brave, and it seemed to her that it traveled a lot. So, she asked, "Could you come on our adventure with us, mister aérylle? We're heading to the Wild Lands to find the King's Son."

"All the way to the Wild Lands? That's far, but I suppose I'll help," Said the aérylle. Justice looked to Eulanthe and smiled, nodding. And so, the aérylle led them away across the plain, walking and taking long, gliding hops in front of them. The time seemed to pass by in the same way, with calm moments surrounded by the beauty of the flowers and clouds and grass, and flowing straighter and smoother as they fixed on following the aérylle.

Along the way they passed a strand of trees, Eulanthe imagining them to be a group of good friends dancing and laughing together as the wind rustled through their leaves. "Hello!" She sang to them, waving her arms to and fro like branches. There were more bunches of trees they passed by and through, then quite suddenly, they found themselves in a forest. It seemed ancient, solemn, and peaceful. "How does everything look and feel so alive?" Eulanthe quietly asked Justice.

"You're seeing their próchi," Replied Justice, leaning in close. "It's the beauty and life they have inside of them, their hearts becoming a thing you can see, like a face. You know, I wrote a poem about it when I first began to see yours."

"Could you share it with me?" Asked Eulanthe.

"Here, hold my hand." Eulanthe took Justice's hand, and she began to see Justice writing at the desk beside her bed in the marsh tower.

"Bubbling and blooming after a season of clouds,

Smiling as sunlight bursts through.

A joy to tread the stars above,

As hidden things emerge from gloom..."

Eulanthe watched as Justice continued to write, every once in a while taking a break to watch her closely. There were so many moments from the time before she woke in the tower that Justice wrote of, seeing the more vulnerable parts of herself as something noteworthy and lovely. The glow of the lamps in the room became the golden sunlight filtering through the tree leaves as they came up from karòna. Eulanthe kept holding Justice's hand, squeezing it tight as they followed the aérylle.

"Here it is!" The aérylle called. It pranced through the undergrowth, zig-zagging around bushes, then hopped, skipped and jumped out of sight.

"I think I can hear water!" Eulanthe whispered excitedly. She and Justice raced off to follow the sound. It grew louder and louder, and they spied their aérylle friend through the trees. The forest opened up a little, and in front of them was a mighty rushing river. Scattered across it were many large boulders, the clear waters foaming and splashing up around them.

"This is my favorite river!" Sang the aérylle. "I love to come here to play with it and glide around."

"Hmm... I think this is the Syvötta river," Justice said to Eulanthe, pulling out the map. "It starts out as a stream in Maròske, the capital," They pointed out the Syvötta's path to her, and she was amazed by how long and powerful it was.

"How will we get across?" Eulanthe asked the aérylle.

"Well, I suppose you would have to jump." Without further ado, the aérylle began hopping and gliding from rock to rock across the river, landing lightly to change direction. Eulanthe saw the first boulder, which was wide and mostly flat, close to the river bank. She got a running start and jumped! onto it, landing on her feet.

"I made it!" Eulanthe shouted with joy. She moved to the other side of the rock for Justice, who skipped onto the rock, smiling and giggling. But, looking back over the river towards the aérylle, the next boulder was even farther away- too far to jump. She shuffled closer, but hesitated, and took a step back.

"I'll carry you across," Justice whispered.

"Won't I be too heavy to carry?" Asked Eulanthe, looking over her shoulder.

"Just trust me, okay?" Justice wrapped up Eulanthe in a warm and tight hug from behind, then took a mighty leap up, gliding low over the river to the next boulder. "See? That wasn't so bad."

Eulanthe cracked open her eyes to check, and the next boulder was even farther away. "Could you help me with the others, too?" She asked, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Justice whispered yes, and took them up and across the boulders, crossing the river almost like a rock skipping across a pond.