The Sky and the Sea, the Sea and the Sky

2

The moon is beautiful tonight. It looks as if it were to resemble my mother, who was always bright. I am standing on Harbor rock, which is where I sit to watch the moon. My father says if I stand up and outstretch my wings, I can feel my mothers spirit. Skyden poeple are born with large wings and horns. Mine happen to be coated with feathers, just like my mothers. My horns are slightly tanned from being up in the sky. The sky is a beautiful place. You can see everything from up in the clouds. Tonight, however, the sky was a faint black. There are twinkling stars the black night. The stars are an escape for me...to distract me temporarily from the troubles that I need to overcome. My mind changes course as I realize I have to go. Getting ready to take off, I slightly bend my legs, and push off the ground. My wings flap heavily behind me as I stare up at the moon. I could feel the stars twinkling. Tomorrow the moon would be full, and every Skyden will honor it. The Damari people do not honor the moon because they are our enemies. But Hai told me that she does anyway. I smile for a peaceful moment. Suddenly, freezing wind forces me to lose control of my flying for a moment, but I quickly pick up my balance again. I must hurry and get to headquarters before there is a storm.

Every minute I fly it seems to get darker. I push my self forward and zoom across the fading grey sky. Eventually, I find the stone arch and almost collapse on to it from how tired I feel. "Kalani?" a voice whispers. I manage to look up. I cannot describe the look on her pale face. Her brown eyes stare at me as if she could read my thoughts perfectly somehow. Hai was sitting still in the dark icy water. "Quite chilly tonight isn't it?" I said exhausted. "Quite out of breath are you?" Hai questioned. I cleared my throat before saying, "What are we going to do? You know... about our people." "There isn't much we can do about it, Hai claimed. "Everyone is just fighting and blaming each other for everything. Children are huddled together under cover with their mothers, while the men are out fighting." I looked down and sighed. "This war has been going on for too long.... and we have to do something about it", I grimaced. Hai shifted uncomfortably in the water.

"Kalani...." Hai whispered nervously. A single icy tear dribbled from her fearful brown eyes. She seemed to be just as pained as I was. It was almost as if all our precious childhood moments dissipated in to the sky. Dark and black it was, with shades of unsettling grey..yet filled with shining moments and clouds that just kept moving, despite the still chaos around them. I flew down to the water, and hovered over my friends shaking body. I got as close to the water as I could, without falling in. I wanted to hug her, comfort her, just touch her... but I knew the water would make me weak. When a Skyden touches the 'cursed waters' we are immediately weakened. That's how it has been since before the war. Since before..

"Stop, Kalani! You're too close." Hai murmured. I left these thoughts of despair and uncertainty and flew back up to the arch. "The war of Creation is never going to stop. My father.. he won't..." I trailed off into another train of endless thoughts. "What can we do Hai? The world is just going to keep spinning around with endless war until someone gets what they want." "No," Hai echoed.