Fortune of Harara

WC: 865/800

Rhonen sat atop his bird, waiting at the start of the second section of Harara’s Sol Roc Relay. He didn’t have too much hope for his team, given he was working with two kitbulls that honestly didn’t look up to the challenge, but this wasn’t the first time he had raced so at this point, he was just racing because he wanted to.

On either side of him were more racers, all preparing for their sections in their own ways. Some were petting and hyping up their birds, others were having a quick snack for themselves, while a few more just sat in racing position, poised for when their teammates would rush up behind them and toss them the flag to begin their section.

Looking down at his setup, Rhonen ran himself through what he had and his plan. He saw a small golden pin that was pressed to his vest coat for good luck as his bird looked around its surroundings curiously. Rhonen had chosen a bird with a stark contrast for his own palette; it had a dark head, golden horns, and a back filled with various colors of yellow and oranges. This mixed with his own purples and greens was definitely a sight. He also had a butterfly cloak draped around his shoulders in the event that he would fall and need to catch himself and bring himself to safety.

Rhonen looked around for himself. The sky was just barely starting to turn from a bright blue of the late afternoon to a slightly darker blue towards the top. Glancing over at the horizon, the skyline where the sun sat comfortably close to was a soft pastel orange, reflected beautifully off the clouds that peppered the sky between it.

Quickly being snapped out of his trance, a jockey for another team flew up behind a contestant a couple birds down, tossing the flag from a couple feet away. The jockey caught the flag and their bird jumped off the long perch. Rhonen watched as they flew down for a few moments before turning around to see if his partner was close to passing the flag of their own team. Coming up, he saw several other racers, but not the familiar bird of his own team.

He turned back with a frown and a slight huff, looking down at his Roc again. A smile spread over his face and he leaned forward to pet down its neck, to which it happily leaned up into his touch as its feathers fluffed up slightly. A noise caught Rhonen’s attention, and he looked up to his left. Another flag pass from a contestant that had finished the speed section. Over the next couple seconds, more jockeys passed their flags until Rhonen and a few others were the only ones left.

Looking back again, his heart sank in his chest when he saw what was going on.

His teammate, a longbull named Spinch, was hanging on to their bird by the feet. The Sol Roc looked extremely off balanced, and was struggling to fly in a straight line.

Rhonen pressed a set of fingers to his forehead with a squint and a long sigh. Of course this was going to happen.

Spinch’s bird hobbled over, the flag held tightly in the longbull’s maw. Rhonen tried to take it from them as hastily as possible, gently patting his bird on the neck and leaning forward to signal them to take off. He was extremely far behind in terms of the other contestants in his section, but speed wasn’t what this was about. Yes, it’d be useful to catch up, but wasting all his Roc’s energy on doing so would be shooting himself in the foot. He needed to conserve as much stamina as possible, and that’s what he was going to do.

Flying at a rather leisurely pace, he looked around again. Directly below him and his mount was a grand river, with a thick forest on one side and the outer wall of Harara on the other. In front of him and off slightly to the side were some other contestants, their own personal birds still filled with energy. As long as Rhonen could keep a steady peace, and occasionally be a little faster than some others, he’d be able to pass this section with relative ease.

The sun on the horizon had set a little more so, and the sky was starting to darken, but that wasn’t an issue for the riders. As the natural light faded out, magical lights soon took their place, and the whole city lit up. The Brouhaha was the first thing to be noticed, of course. Skylines of the city lit up in somewhat haphazard unison, and before long, the entirety of the city replaced the light that was brought upon by the sun just minutes before.

Hopefully, with enough patience and stamina from his trusty bird he’s ridden several times before, that they’d at least be able to place by the end of this thing. Even if they didn’t, its not like it’d be a big issue. All that mattered was that Rhonen had fun along the way, right? Right!