The Winged

1- The Hollow

The sunlight that soaked the treetops cast rays of gold dancing through the leaves. The wind's bite was easing off as the sun lifted higher, and it wasn't long before light swelled on that faraway horizon line. Trees rose for miles, everywhere I looked, their peaks breaking up the golden daybreak. Woodland, forever. Even the strongest wings wouldn't be able to carry you to the border— if one existed. And at that moment, I had never been so sure that it didn't.

The sky was stained with orange gleam. Clouds seemed soften without the night to run shadows through them. Light, I thought, made everything seem somehow softer. Nicer. To see how the morning simply bleached away cold was always a sight to behold. Sunrise. There was such peace to the morning.
And it wasn't often that I got to see it.

A shame, I thought. Because when I was running from door to door, fretting over things that didn't really matter and rushing to finish errands, I tended to forget there was a world outside the Hollow. If I stepped outside of the tribe, even for five minutes, I would find no jobs, no responsibilities, just quiet. Stillness.
Sitting in the daybreak was something fresh, something different to the usual disorder of things. Up here, their concerns meant nothing. The only thing anyone needed worry about was whether the sun would rise or the clouds would block it out, and so a sense of calm seemed to lay over the canopy like a blanket. My head felt comfortable in the quiet, my skin soaking up the tickle of sunlight.
Breathe. And I did. The deepest breath in a long while.

And yet a frown itched when I opened my eyes. Thinking like this was wrong. It was selfish. My recently busy schedule was not something to complain about; it was a privilege to have the ability to serve the tribe, not a burden.
There were only two of us now.

Granted, my days had been... full over the past few weeks. Months. Time sort of blurred when during a busy time like this, when errands and sleeping was the entirety of my life. But I had no reason to complain. The people of my tribe were happy. They were hidden, provided for and protected, and wasn't it nice knowing that? I smiled to myself; most importantly they were safe. What more could I ask for? Making sure that things continued to remain as they were would always be my top priority. Because if I didn't do my jobs, my contribution to making sure everyone stayed needless, who else would be able to do them in my place?
Aspen. But just thinking that made me snort with laughter.

I let out a deep breath, trying to appreciate the last of the sun without bad thoughts to ruin it. My responsibilities were important. My doing them was important.
But, oh. How I loved the sun.

It wasn't much longer before birdsong began to lilt among the canopy. Not far in the distance, the trees broke to reveal a huge body of water, auburn beneath the sun's glare. The Cerulean.
The forest would be reluctantly emerging from its slumber now that the lake was alight.

I couldn't help my remorseful smile at the fact. Those great feathery beasts would be on the hunt soon. Birds here were annoyingly drawn to that lake, which made it very much a no flying zone for us. Perhaps it was the fish? I vaguely remembered the Elder's stories of brightly coloured animals that swum beneath the surface of the water. Creatures lurking in the depths... he called them fish.
Was it childish to want to see one? They didn't sound real. I had questioned the idea of huge flying monsters when I had been told of 'birds' as I child, yet they were very real... and dangerous.
I swung my legs back and forth over the edge of the branch I was sitting on. But creatures that live underwater? Things that don't breathe air? That was even more of a stretch than birds. It sounded ridiculous...

Almost immediately I felt heat flush my cheeks. What are you thinking? Questioning him? Challenging anything the Elder said when all was well was risky enough, and to doubt him now... the sun must have been getting to my head.
I shuddered inwardly at my own stupidity. With things as they were between the tribes at the moment, any hint of wavering loyalty was noticed. It was rather annoying, actually. One wrong look at somebody and you were suspected of conspiring. Against who or what I wasn't even sure. They're so paranoid. But no matter how annoying the circulating mistrust was, no sane person would think in the way I currently was. Not unless they wanted to be thrown out of the Hollow.
The thought of that actually did make me shudder. Surviving in the forest... without a tribe it was surely impossible. Being exposed in the acres of trees, completely alone, I grimaced at the idea. If one creature didn't attack you, another would. That is, if you managed to survive the wind, the cold, the heat, the rains, the... the everything. The list of dangers just seemed to go on and on, endlessly.