Enslaved

Chapter 39

Kaida shivered as she pulled her hair off her shoulder and wrung the water out of it, the memory of the dark water pulling her down not helping with the chill of the night. She walked through the crowd of new hybrids, forcing her eyes away from their chains as she searched for Kajeel. She came out of the edge of the crowd and finally saw him walking toward the edge of the clearing, not paying attention to the crowd at all while he spoke to the small female who had given Valik the lavender all those days ago. She ran to catch up to Kajeel and tapped his shoulder, causing him to whirl around with fists raised, his eyes defensive. She held her hands up, her eyebrows raised at his stance.

"It's just me." She told him. "What is going on with Ryuu? He doesn't seem to be acting normally. Is...is he okay?"

Kajeel looked her up and down before meeting her gaze again, lowering his fists and sighing deeply.

"This has only happened to him twice before this time." She frowned at his words, not understanding. "He should be okay, he just outdid himself this time. I have a lot to do with Ryuu being out of commission for the night, however, so I can't talk right now. Find me tomorrow morning, okay? I'll tell you more then."

He gave her a small smile before sighing again, noticing the worry that lined her face and swirled in her eyes.

"Hey, he should be okay after some sleep so don't you go bothering him, okay? He's okay, little dragon. Don't worry."

Without waiting for a response he turned back around and started walking toward the tree line, leaving her standing there. She watched him walk away from her before she turned around and looked at the water, the surface as flat as glass and she shivered at the memory of the water closing above her head. She felt the panic start creeping into her as the feeling of the water pressing on her chest permeated through her memory.

She would get strong. She would stay in the present and she would learn how to fight back.

She shook her head, the memory dispersing quicker than it had arrived at those words that she had memorized. She looked up at the moon and opened her wings, tilting them before flapping to catch the air as she took off. She quickly rose from the ground, continuously moving her wings every which way to make sure she was always using the wind currents to her advantage. Kajeel had given her a lot of good tips during their flying lessons but when it came to flying, Ryuu had a grace and power only he seemed to posses. She rose halfway up the waterfall and hovered for a moment, focusing on the new strength in her wings and feeling the wind rise and fall around her. She felt her wings settling into a rhythm almost automatically and marveled at the instinct that kicked in as soon as she was airborne. Hesitantly, she started flying in small circles, slowly widening the circles with every pass around until she stopped noticing how her wings changed slightly every second and she was flying on instinct alone. She found herself flying around the lake and she paused, hovering for a second as she stared at the water before she looked up and flew along the falls, going straight up. She felt the water droplets on her face but kept her focus on the top of the falls that was quickly getting closer and closer. The wind on her face felt luxurious, whipping her hair away from her eyes and drying her clothes.

She erupted over the top of the falls and stopped, breathing hard as she looked around her at the dense forest. Her wings felt the same, no ache like there had been when she had first started flying and she marveled at how much she had learned in such a short amount of time. She laughed silently to herself when she remembered her panic when Ryuu had asked them to learn how to fly in a week and how she thought it had been impossible. She took a deep breath of the fresh air, letting the gentle wind finish drying her hair as she hovered, just gazing around the landscape. During the time Ryuu had been gone, she had been in a constant state of both worry and resilience.