Skyborn

9

Nox was gaping at Ezrann's appearance.

His wings, now a black with a shimmer of blue. His eyes were a deep royal blue aswell, and his long hair black. He still had those adorable dimples when she smiled, and his long eyelashes were still there too. If he thought he was pretty before, there was no doubting it now.

"Are you done eyeballing my brother yet?"

Nox glares at Ellie, dusting his shirt off.

"Shut up."

He stalks off, moving in one set direction. "Wait, Nox!" Ezrann called out, flying infront of him. "Yeah cutie?" He asked smugly. He blushed a bit before returning to what he wanted to ask him. "Are you heading in the direction of Thelantis?" He asked. Nox nodded and started walking again. "Can we join you? Please, I have medical supplies, I could help you if you got injured!" He pleaded.

Ellie would've told Nox that they were fine, but she knew it wasn't true. With her map gone, she didn't have any idea where to go. "Well, normally I don't just let people join my crew, but I'll let you both in just because your brothers cute." He jutted a finger toward Ellie, earning a scoff.

He walks off again, this time with Ezrann and Ellie trailing behind him. "So, how do you look so different again?" He asks curiously. He explains the illusion and spell, and how he burned the book. "I've never heard of that...but it's not really useful anyways." He shrugs.

The sound of their feet resound through the forest, along with the sound of chirping birds. They make their way to a clearing, where a dark skinned girl with fluffy buns is seen tinkering, a collection of objects surrounding her.

"Gus, they're joining us on the way to Thelantis. This is Ezrann and..."

"It's Ellie."

"Yeah, her."

Gus looks up a bit, her brown eyes studying them, sticking her hand out. Ezrann shook her hand first, smiling softly. Gussie smiled slightly back and shook Ellie's hand next. "Nice to meet you both." She said, collecting her stuff.

She thought Ellie looked about annoying, but when Ezrann smiled at her it kinda made her feel...

Cared for.

His smile made her feel like a person she could talk too, a person who woul take care of her if she was hurt or sick. "I saw you tinkering with stuff earlier, you must be really smart." Ezrann chirped, sitting down beside her.

Ellie was busy organizing her stuff.

"I guess I am smart, you seem smart too. But I mean like, emotionally smart. I feel like you think certain ways about things that you care about or are interested in."

Ezrann looked at Gus with a sort of embarrassed blush. "Well, thanks. I've never heard someone say something like that about me. It means a lot."

*Ezrann's POV*

I talked a bit more to Gus about, well, anything. She seems like a really smart girl, and I have a feeling she cares about people. She just tries not to show it. She was fawning over my wings at the moment, completing on the blue hue.

Suddenly, a boy with bi-colored wings and red fluffy hair rushes in, covered in dirt. "That's Twig, he's kinda annoying. So dumb at times too, but he's nice." Nox explained. Twig rushes up to me and shakes my hand excitedly.

"Hi, my name's Twig! Nox thinks about you a lot, are you Ezrann?"

Nox's face went bright red as he kicked th back of Twig's leg, motioning him to stop talking. But I guess he didn't get the memo.

"He's always taking about how pretty you are, he really likes you!"

I blush and Gus snickers at Nox's embarrassment. "Oh, that's nice Twig." I say. Twig grins and skips off to what I assume is his sleeping area, along with Nox's. Nox apologizes to me before lighting a fire since the sun was setting.

"So we have to make a detour for you guys before going to Thelantis?"

Ellie was arguing with Nox about what path to take to Thelantis. "Well, going to Thelantis for the race is more of a detour," I say, earing everyone's attention.

"Well, they were probably heading that way before we asked to join them, so Thelantis is more of a detour. Also, we have weeks before the race Ellie, I honestly don't mind how long it takes. And if we end up on the city earlier then we're supposed to, somebody could recognize you and send you to the Wayward Youth place before you could even do the race."

Ellie sighs in defeat and agrees to do it their way. We all sit in silence, eating the bread from our now conjoined food supply and fish from the creek. Well, Twig refused to eat the fish. Found out he really loved animals, and he had a pet weasel thing with horns. "Her name is Lirri. She seems to like you!" Twig said is Lirri moved over to me, snuliffing my hand and snuggling in my lap.

She is so cute!

I pet her tiny head with my index finger and lean back, my wings stretching out. Nox was in the boys lean to and Ellie was in the girls, newly rebuilt so that she could fit in there. I had laid out my blanket so they would all have something comfortable to lie on.

The rocks were really irritating Ellie.

And she gave her's to us boys, who had a lot more room since Twig was pretty small for his age. "I think I'm gonna head to bed, night Twig!" Twig waves goodbye to me as I walk over to say goodnight to Nox. "Goodnight Nox." He hums and looks up from his pocket knife. "Sweet dreams, Ezrann."

I go over to our sleeping place and curl up in my wings, rubbing my eyes blearily. "Night Ellie...love you."

"Night Ez, I love you too." She walks off.

Gus was already asleep, so I just closed my eyes slowly and started drifting off. I felt a pair of lips on my forehead as Ellie turns the lights out.

They felt chapped.

Was it...

My face was red as I fell asleep.