Fight or Flight

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I slipped out of my suite to find Eylan. Alannah had given me directions to his door, thank the deities, otherwise I would have been searching through the castle halls until the Sun Father glared over the horizon. Once I'd counted to the ten paintings down on the left, I wasted no time knocking.

The door parted and Eylan's blue eyes widened in surprise, then softened with warmth. "Come in," he motioned for me to enter, searching my face for any anger before standing aside. His room was the same as mine, but a bit simpler with a bed draped in deep blue linens.

As I dragged myself inside, the scent of campfire ash and honey enveloped me, so achingly familiar that it made my chest seize; it was the smell of home, of countless nights spent stargazing on Riem's floating meadows.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," I stood in the center of the room.

Eylan shook his head. "Never." He gestured to a pair of cushioned chairs near the window. "Sit with me."

He took the seat across from me, his expression thoughtful. "I know you came to speak to me," he heaved a swooping breath, "but I have to ask- what happened to you after... after that day?"

He meant my banishment, when he refused to believe me. I swallowed the familiar ache in my throat. "It was... difficult," I began. "I was caught in a storm. I broke my wing and nearly drowned. I thought I was going to die more than once."

I paused to inspect his disposition: tense and mournful. Maybe he really was sorry.

"But then Finnian saved you." He finished for me. Eylan's jaw tightened at the mention of the human captain, but he went silent, listening intently.

"His crew pulled me from the water and his healer fixed my wing."

Eylan cocked his head. "Healer?"

"Like Healthkeepers, but with magic."

"I'm so sorry," Eylan murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "I should have done more, should have found a way to help you."

"Believe it or not, it got better," I thumbed over the velvet of my armchair. "I never stopped missing home, but I've learned so much in my time away. I found a community at the Murmuring Mug; I met Alannah and Vex."

"Tell me about the humans. What are they really like? All my life, I've only heard stories and most of them are not kind. I can't get a read on them."

"They're no different from you and me. They love, they laugh, they invent. Many are polite, some are cruel. The only thing that sets them apart is their ability to bounce back. They have this way of continuing to push forward despite their past." As I spoke, I realized the notion made me feel like I, too, could leave behind my doubts. It reminded me that I not only survived off of Riem, but thrived.

"What about the small humans and the other types?"

"They're not humans," I recited. "Dwarves, Nocturnes, Umbrans, and Crystallines."

"Multiple races in the same territory?"

I almost laughed at his confusion as to who qualified as a human. "It's different from Riem, isn't it?"

"Indeed. And to think that avians have only each other for company."

"Could've been worse company," I raised an eyebrow, willing a playful glint into my eyes. "Aside from you bothering me through my window at night, Riem wasn't all bad."

I expected a sliver of laughter, or maybe even a smile from my remark, but Eylan paused and withdrew. I was worried that I had said something wrong as I watched a solemn expression crinkle his eyebrows. But I recognized that receding posture, as if he were guilty about what he was about to say. "What do you think Glasmere is like?" he settled deeper into his chair.