Wehmutstau und Sturmgesang

49. On Raven Wings

The entourage of the fallen emperor stayed with the titans for longer than initially planned. The years passed and Morana got older and bigger, growing a head taller than her brother and developing into a strong woman. While her uncles prepared the empire for their reunion, she learned how to swing a sword and how to communicate with the massive creatures of the giants' forests.

As always, Morana wasn't the best at sitting still. So after their fourth year with the titans passed, and she was fully grown, she found herself restless. She already explored the caves to every nook and cranny. Pranked every prank she could imagine with Wooyoung. She knew their limited area like the back of her hand, and now that Seonghwa was soon ready to take back his throne, she wanted to go on another adventure.

At first, they were reluctant to allow her. Worried for their only princess. But Morana argued Seonghwa had many heirs aside from her and she was strong for her age. She defeated Yunho in arm wrestling and while that didn't mean she could fight against masses of orcs; she promised to stay in safe areas.

She wanted to visit Lillwen and the nymphs. The queen often wrote Morana letters describing the beauty of her hidden kingdom, so Morana promised her first journey by herself (with Onyx) would take her no further than the near shore.

Seonghwa allowed her because he knew there was no holding her back. While she packed, Mingi sat by her side, awed by how big she had become, and how wilful.

"Come back soon," he pleaded, and Morana sent him a fond grin. She cherished him dearly, her blind father. Still helped him when he struggled with tasks he wasn't used to.

One day, she wanted to visit his home lands. She understood by now Mingi was cast out by his people and she would be sneered at for being half elven, but Morana didn't care.

She said bye to her emmya and her uncles and crouched before the twins, who ran around on small feet. They loved to tug on Morana's horns, but they weren't scared for her when she explained she would leave them for a while. They were young enough to play around with Wooyoung all day, and Morana knew they would have a lot of fun without her.

Yeosang also fretted over her, giving her a dozen tips on survival she all knew. She had to nudge his branches away when he kept tugging on her coat, suggesting she wore her hood.

"I'll be fine," she assured him. She bid her goodbyes to Jongho and Pebble, who wanted to come along to have more wisdom to soak up, but Seonghwa needed them as messengers.

When she finally stepped outside the cave with only Onyx on her shoulder to face a brilliant night sky full of healthy, twinkling stars, Morana relished her breeze of freedom.

Even if she preferred the tickle of excitement to sneak away for her adventures, she knew she had to return in one piece this time, so her uncles would trust her to go out again.

With a hand axe Hlin gifted her on her belt and her sword on her back, Morana whistled for her new friend.

She met another raven in the forests, but this one was sized to the leviathan shape of things in this kingdom. She called her Obsidian, and the intelligent bird was invested in Morana and her friendship with Onyx, whom she got along with so well.

Onyx was also obsessed with Obsidian. Wooyoung explained to Morana he considered Obsidian his oversized girlfriend whenever he tried to ruffle his feathers and did tricks for her in the air.

They couldn't confirm whether Obsidian regarded him as anything more but an emergency snack, but the two got along, so Morana happily hung out with Obsidian when they joined the titans on their hunts. She could fly on the gorgeous raven and use her intimidating size to disappear among her feathers.