Free Fall

The wind tore through Sulien’s mane, its normal clean appearance completely ruined by the wind and rain. But his soaked appearance was the last thing on his mind as he stared at Sidra soaring on dragon wings into the storm they had been chasing. The tornado was still on the ground, and now Sidra was flying off as if it were a pleasant spring day, not a raging squall of a storm.

“Sidra!” Sulien shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the roar of the wind.

He had thought that Neith and Sidra were crazy for simply rushing off into the storm, but he had humored them since Sidra was smiling.

But this was insanity!

“What do we do?” Sulien asked, looking helplessly between Voyeur and Neith. Neith still had a wild grin on her face, her expression wild but wistful, as if  she would toss herself into the storm without second thought and follow Sidra.

Voyeur at least looked as concerned as Sulien was.

“Fly after her?” Voyeur finally shouted over the wind.

“Go go go!” Neith said with a wicked laugh, her shoulder bumping into Sulien’s. “Chase down your girl!”

It was the only solution they came up with, and ignoring Neith’s comment about Sidra being ‘his’, Sulien pulled on his magic, materializing his wings from whatever in between place that they resided when he wasn’t using them.

Taking a few bounding steps, Sulien launched into the sky, wings flapping hard as Sulien fought to stay airborne in the wind.

With one last glance at Neith and Voyeur racing along the ground behind him, Sulien went in search of Sidra.

The rain was colder up here, a bite to it that reminded Sidra they were not too far away from winter just yet. The wind tried pushing her around, but Sidra powered through it, flapping higher into the sky.

As she soared, a wild idea teased around the edge of her mind. But before it could fully form, Sidra heard a voice from behind.

“Sidra!”

It was barely heard over the roaring wind this high up, but Sidra banked and turned, finding Sulien coming up behind her.

Sidra hovered the best she could as Sulien got closer, his feathered wings, while water resistant, not faring as well as her dragon set in the wind and rain.

“What are you doing?” Sidra shouted the question as Sulien got closer.

“I should ask you the same thing!” Sulien shouted back over the wind. “You are the one who went soaring off into a storm with a freaking tornado on the ground!”

“Live a little, Sulien!” Sidra shouted back.

Sulien was about to snap back when magic surged around him. The air grew calmer, easier to fly through, and Sulien belatedly remembered Sidra’s air manipulation magic.

“It’s still not safe,” he insisted, and Sidra sighed softly.

“Sulien….” she said gently, feeling the air and wind swirl around them. “When else will we have this opportunity? We have seen the regions, we have seen the world. What else is there except to head home after this? Do we just keep wandering on and on until we reach the very ends of the world? Do we keep going until it's all we know how to do?”

Sidra looked down at the world spread below them. “Do we keep going until there is nothing left but the same paths we traveled before? I am powerful, Sulien, but even I cannot keep going like this. The swamp proved that. Where else is there to go from here?”

Sulien looked around them as well. “This isn’t the end, Sidra. And if we go home, it will be a slow death to you. I see that now. You have… we have become too big for that. While your mother might have seemed content to settle down and rule her lands, I see the same wildness in her. I see her looking to the horizon, wanting to see the world again. You would be the same way. Sure, we might go home, and things might change from how they were. But you are more than a princess of Espeor now. You left because you thought you were born to be queen. What happened to that filly that left with such high dreams?”

Sidra glared at Sulien. “She got hurt! She found out the world wasn’t made to bow before her, that the lands of the world are so much more vast than she could have imagined! It’s one thing to stand over a map of the world and think it's small, it's another to actually travel it and see just how vast it is! There is more to the world than being Queen, than dumb prophecies about things, than even the deities! Cyrenne and Aurelion are proof that there is so much more out in the world than we know. There are other worlds, other realities, and I see now that I am just a drop of water in an ocean!”

Sidra took a deep breath and Sulien looked at her with that same gentle look he always did, but this time it hurt.

“You aren’t the only child of the deities, Sidra,” Sulien said gently.

“Trust me, I know about my siblings,” Sidra snorted. “Happy and off in our fathers land, without a care in the world.”

“I wasn’t talking about them. I was talking about me,” Sulien replied, and Sidra felt something in her understanding shift. She no longer felt certain of anything, as if her world had shifted two inches to the right.

“You?” Sidra breathed.

“I didn’t learn magic early, I was born with it. My flames and shadows rolled in my blood before I was even standing. I might not be as powerful as you are, I might not have all the elements at my disposal, but both of my parents were deities. It might not seem as exciting as your three, but it is still more magic than the average Quirlicorn,” Sulien said patiently.

Sidra stared at Sulien for a few moments more, her mind reeling. “Do you trust me, Sulien?” she asked.

“With my life,” Sulien replied without hesitation.

With those words, Sidra closed her eyes, and the wind came rushing back full force. Her wings shimmered slightly before disappearing, and Sidra fell from the sky.

Sidra free fell, feeling her speed pick up, the wind whipping around her. It took her a few moments to remember what this was called, a concept she had once read about called ‘skydiving’. The term fit the wild freefall from the storm, the rain stinging her skin as she fell. Her eyes remained closed against the water and the wind, but when she opened them to see how close she was to the ground she was surprised to see Sulien a few feet away, his wings also gone, following her path.

As the ground rushed closer, her wings came back to existence and she banked hard, her muscles straining as she caught herself, her wind magic helping stabilize her and creating an updraft to drive her into the sky, Sulien as well moments later.

The pair soared high on wings again, reaching a similar height before Sidra let them fall again, this time just tucking her wings tight to her body, Sulien following her actions and doing the same.

Neith and Voyeur were waiting when the pair finally returned to the ground. The storm was fading, moving out over the ocean. For a while the four stood on the cliffs overlooking the sea, simply admiring the view.

“I guess it's time to head back,” Neith said with a sigh.

Exhausted after the day, the four Quirlicorns made their way back, familiars resting on their backs.

Pandora let the stallions into Artmesium this time, if only to scold them. They were wincing as Pandora yelled at them for endangering her daughter and Sidra, and the two mares had a hard time keeping grins from their faces. It was too easy to just not say anything and pretend Sulien and Voyeur were behind this late night adventure, or rather, it was until Pandora turned on Neith.

“You are irresponsible, reckless, and have no sense!” Pandora scolded. “I thought that you would grow out of it, but that seems not to be true.”

Sidra was quickly realizing this was not the first time that Neith had gotten in trouble and was about to tell Pandora that it wasn’t entirely Neith’s idea, but a sharp look from Neith cut her off.

“Then send me away!” Neith replied, her face set in determination. “Send me to Espeor!”

Pandora snorted. “Khaalida has too much on her plate for you to be tearing through her city,” Pandora replied. “I know of a stallion who will surely teach you some manners. His name is Shenxin, and he lives in the mountains region as well.”

Voyeur looked between them all then gently cut in. “If I may, Pandora,” he requested, and Pandora nodded to him to go ahead. “We are due to head to Torre for Ostara, but after that we are to head to the mountains for the next part of my land quests. I would be happy to escort Neith and the others there.”

Pandora sized up Voyeur, and despite her scolding it was clear she knew Neith was behind the wild idea, not the stallions. “How long will you be in Torre?” she asked.

Voyeur shrugged slightly. “It is the first Ostara celebration in Torre, so I cannot say how long it will last.”

Pandora snorted at that. “Those healers work every day, I’m sure it won’t be long,” she replied, considering. Neith shot Voyeur a grateful look.

“Fine. Neith will go with you to Torre, but after that she is off to Shenxin’s land,” Pandora decided. “You stallions may rest in Artmesium but do not go wandering off. You all leave in two days.”

They were quiet until Pandora was out of earshot, and then Neith began leaping around like an excited foal. “Yes!” she cried out. “I’m getting out of here, without parental supervision!”

Sidra laughed, and the stallions exchanged weary looks. Just based off the trouble Neith had created in less than twenty-four hours, they had a feeling it was going to be a long trip back to Torre.