Chapter XXII - The Wingless One
The Legend of Leanna Page: Vol. I
You’re reading The Legend of Leanna Page, the page-turning mythopoetic queer literary fantasy. *Click here for the Table of Contents and start of Volume I*
Previously: Isolda and Guiomar allied forces to secure their power and destroy Leanna. They also agreed to start building a wall which will separate their nations at the Gwahanu River. Leanna was rescued from Pavoline by young fairy warriors and is now with Kennedy at the Anwansi Pool. Will the Elders of Alquoria allow the human stay in their nation’s capital? Will the human monarchs find her? Will Leanna and Kennedy by able to love one another in peace? Read on!
On Leanna’s first morn in the nation of Alquoria, she awoke to a glint of azure luminescence falling upon her eye. She hesitantly unclosed the lids and released an unconsciously held breath at the remembrance of her comparatively peaceful environs. Kennedy’s royal cavern apartment was windowless, as were all in the caves of the Anwansi castle, but in place of a casement to Leanna’s left was a pattern of encrusted gems so artfully placed as to filter Anwansi’s magical glow through their varied hues and giving the effect of a magnificent sepulcher’s window of stained glass, waking itself with the rising sun. Past the footboard of the bed, Leanna now took notice of Kennedy’s writing desk, a large but practical instrument which furnished every student’s chamber. Looking to the corner of the desk, Leanna wondered curiously at a handful of small branches cleanly placed inside a goblet, but then remembered what Kennedy had remarked to her about the marvelous wooden quills which held and dispersed the ink from their center thanks to the skillful magic of the fairy scientists. Another example, she had said, of why the blue Zils – misnamed ‘common’ – who upheld such professions should be regarded equally as highly as any other.
Completing a scan of the chamber, Leanna noticed its rough, earthen walls, their rounded shape leaving a viewer incapable of neatly distinguishing one wall from the next. Leanna smiled, as the cavern apartment suddenly gave her the feeling of home. She turned her gaze to the chamber’s entrance and instead found Kennedy’s open eyes glittering kindly toward her own.
“Good morning, my love,” Kennedy whispered.
Seeing her, Leanna’s heart was too full for words. She brought Kennedy close and kissed her long and gently. They lay there for a time with nuzzled brows. Then, Kennedy flew up from the bed and playfully pulled her reluctant beloved into the day.
The instant they exited Kennedy’s apartment, the odd pair was discovered by an instructor hurrying to her morning class. Instructor Emmer jolted in shock at the sight of a human in, not only Alquoria’s capitol, but Anwansi’s very castle! Her shock subdued into fury at the sight of Kennedy – the royal pain and heir – holding the human’s hand.
“Kennedy!” Emmer shouted. “By every Elders’ decree, get this menace from our walls.”
“This is no menace, but a dear friend, to Anwansi and to me.” Kennedy calmly rejoined. “Argue it not, Instructor, for I shall discuss the matter with none but the queen herself.”
Emmer’s purple cheeks blazed a deep red and her wings stiffened downward into daggers.
“You wish to place a human before our Fairy Queen?”
Kennedy offered a smirk, and sparks of certainty flew from her prismatically white wings.
“Your delinquency has gone too far; this is a matter for the Elders. Follow me thence at once,” Emmer declared, spinning round and storming down the hall. Kennedy gave Leanna a cue to follow and the two girls started down the hall slowly, Leanna from hesitation, Kennedy from lack of concern. At the first turn, the instructor went off to the right while Kennedy took Leanna down the slight leftward bend in the path they currently followed. Leanna turned and saw that the instructor, deep in private rehearsal for her coming speech to the Elders, had not taken note of their separate direction.
The fairy heir guided Leanna towards a pair of grand doors made of carved stone which Leanna was now too aware must lead to a royal throne room. Kennedy stopped before them and took Leanna’s hand.
“Thou needest not fear her, Leanna.”
“There are many I should have not needed to fear,” Leanna said, still staring at the closed entryway.
“Look at me,” Kennedy replied, and Leanna suffered herself to turn towards the other’s steadfast countenance. “No harm can come near while I protect thee, and I shall never cease to protect thee.”
After a moment of silent agreement, the two turned towards the royal chamber. Kennedy knocked, introducing herself, and they were ushered into the throne room, Leanna walking in behind Kennedy’s large wings.
Queen Okalani was in discussion with Head Instructor Citsaloch but turned from him and fluttered from her throne at the sight of Kennedy.
“Dear heir, it has been some time since you visited me. How dost thou fare?”
“I fare quite well, your majesty; however, I’m afraid I come with a request.” Kennedy stepped aside to reveal Leanna and, at the sight of her, the instructor gasped.
“A human!” He exclaimed.
“Indeed,” Okalani replied, offering a stern glance to the instructor before returning a look of sincerity to Kennedy. “This would not be the same Leanna Page you were forbidden from rescuing yesterday, would she?”
“She is a dear friend to me. Dearer than I dare say,” Kennedy explained.
“This is an outrage,” remarked the instructor.
Okalani sighed. “Kennedy, you know our law does not permit humans at Anwansi.”
“I request an exception,” she stated firmly.
“An exception!” The instructor flared. Okalani took a sharp breath.
“Leave us,” she commanded him. “Leave us, all,” she added, more gently, to the guards. “I wish to speak to these two alone.”
The guarding warriors bowed and took their leave, but the instructor approached the queen.
“If I may, your majesty, the Elders already begin to concern—”
“You may not. Leave us.”
Recovering swiftly from the interruption, he congeed and followed the guards from the chamber. When the doors were secured, Okalani turned to Kennedy.
“Unlike numerous decrees we have discussed, young one, the law disallowing humans among us was one truly created for our security, which, as queen, is my prime responsibility – and mine alone – so long as I live.”
“I know, your majesty,” Kennedy said, “but I beg you to trust that as Anwansi’s heir, I accept that duty with pride and ask of you nothing now that I would not do the same as Queen myself.”
Okalani nodded. “Then tell me everything.”
Leanna listened, and watched each royal with astute observation, as Kennedy related what she knew of Leanna’s story, which was indeed all, beginning with their own childhood in the caves. By her demeanor, it was evident the queen had puzzled out the identity of Kennedy’s parents, and that both present parties were aware of such fact, but neither once spoke their names. I imagine, dear Reader, as Leanna heard her tale now for the first time, she must have suffered herself a small laugh, though darkened by the new loss of a precious character, as she thought, if she had not lived it, she might have liked to hear the story as a child. When Kennedy’s telling at last approached your present page, she looked to Leanna with care, and then to Okalani with hope. When both were a moment silent, Leanna dispelled her saddened remembrances, and, straightening, spoke her first words to the queen.
“My loyalties have been often questioned, your majesty,” she said, “by none so often as myself of late; but I assure you, I wish harm to no one, least of all the fairies who have been my only source of true companionship and trust.”
“That is greatly appreciated, Leanna,” Okalani began, “and please accept my awe and sympathies for how much has already taken place in thy short life.” She sighed, taking on a tone of gravity. “The fact remains that the Elders will not agree to provide charitable asylum to one of the humankind, despite thy good nature.”
“It needn’t be from mere charity, your highness!” Leanna’s desperation was thinly veiled behind her eagerness. “I could be of service, if you would allow it. War is headed hither. Guiomar of Pavoline intends to invade the Wood. I am young, and there is much still for me to learn of even myself, but I know I am capable of learning the military plans of Pavoline from the moment they are first spoken of to the knights – perhaps, with practice, even from the moment they are conceived in the mind of the king! With my powers and your warriors’ skill combined, the Woods will be ever unconquerable. If I am permitted to stay, I will not take such kindness for granted. I will be indebted, and ever in your service.”
Okalani sat back in consideration. “Thou dost suggest, then, a type of military exemption?”
Leanna shrugged. “Sure,” she said.
The queen suppressed a dubious grin. “That, then, would be entirely under my domain.” She rose and strode, in a grand stately manner, to stand before Leanna. “Furthermore, it is my royal opinion that, with thine abilities, any monarch well of mind would be a fool to dispel thee.” Kennedy smiled and Okalani offered her a conspiratorial wink before returning genuinely to the anxious human. “I shall not err in that way as did thy previous two, and, with the presently made case, I am certain I could subdue the objections of the Elders. Welcome to Alquoria, Leanna.”
Relief blew through Kennedy and Leanna alike as both said, “Thank you, your majesty,” and the queen smiled.
“I, for one, shall be glad to have thee among us, as I am sure Kennedy, and all who adore her, will as well. Evander!” She called to a guard who had stepped outside. He returned, standing at attention, holding one of the chamber doors ajar. “Leanna is a welcome guest among us. Please see she is escorted safely to Kennedy’s apartment.” Looking again to Leanna, she requested, “If I could have a private word with the heir…”
Leanna bowed. “Of course, your majesty, thank you. Thank you.” After a kindly nod from the queen, and a brief grasp of Kennedy’s hand, Leanna turned from the chamber and followed Evander back through the maze of the castle.
Kennedy stood before the queen, and simply smiled. Okalani’s countenance became somber.
“Forgive me, young one, if I have misconstrued what appears to me as clarity, but it seems to me that your feelings for this human are not exclusively ones of childhood friendship, and that the grander sentiments felt are shared between you.”
The young fairy’s smile refused to fade. “I will not deny it, your highness.”
Okalani nodded. “I presume you are aware that, due to the manner in which Anwansi appoints its speakers, the tradition of the Queens of Alquoria has been to deny any extension of her family, to never take on love. There may be no ordinance preventing it, but it has never been done.”
Kennedy’s countenance stiffened, but, in her confidence, she refused to allow its gaiety to fall. “Yes, your highness. I have been acquainted with this through my readings.”
“May I inquire on what you predict will be the length of this affair?”
At this, Kennedy allowed her countenance to become gravely sincere. “There is nothing in this world, nor any amount of time,” she swore, “that would cause me to sacrifice the love of Leanna Page.”
The queen looked down and let out a great breath, embracing her new understanding. She nodded and restored her forward gaze. “Very well, young one, I will not attempt to dissuade you. Only be warned that this, in all likelihood, shall become a new source of strife for you in itself. Do be cautious.”
“Me?” Kennedy’s smile returned. “I always exert the utmost caution in everything, your highness, haven’t you seen?”
Okalani laughed and shook her head, dismissing the proud youth to return to her day.
*****
A year passed by, and events transpired much as was predicted during that first meeting with the queen. Leanna and Kennedy did little to naught in the way of concealing their affections, and it caused great ripples in the Anwansian gossip circles. Their companionship already would have been regarded by all as equally unacceptable as were one of the Kesk warriors to fall in love with a Zil, but then to add to the circumstances Kennedy’s heirship!, it was simply unheard of. The widespread recognition of its novelty was accompanied by an equally wide range of opinions on its righteousness. Of the many who thought against it, few were so bold as to say anything that might risk their standing with the queen or her heir, and Leanna successfully developed the confidence to care little about their smaller, snide remarks. Alternatively, Kennedy’s friends, who were soon to be counted among Leanna’s, such as Nientz, Phidia, Amicus, and all those who aided in Leanna’s escape from Pavoline, gave the matter of their relationship little thought beside what was required to tease them with lighthearted rhymes; or, so they let on to Leanna and Kennedy. Their many remaining thoughts on the issue surrounded the manner in which they would defend their defiant friends if anyone would speak up against them or dare to wish them ill. Given how many warriors were counted among these, many who would have been willing to speak ill of the queen’s heir, or her partner in life and love, still held their tongue.
As anticipated, the Elders immediately took great issue with Leanna’s presence in their nation’s capital, and they demanded that Okalani conference with them to explain, and ultimately reverse, her decision on the subject, inviting her into the Gwahanu Rotunda for them to speak. This back-most chamber of the Alquorian castle-caves had a transparent dome for ceiling and walls which allowed one to watch as the water-life in the Gwahanu River swam past, above, and all around, gloriously lit by Anwansi’s mystical glow. This magnificent sight was reserved for a small few. Only the seven Elders who met there daily in their half-circle of thrones, and those they specifically called to sit before them, were ever permitted to enter the Rotunda.
On this day, they had called upon Queen Okalani, and she was led into the Rotunda, standing tall only some paces away from the entrance. Chief Elder Salvatore offered her a seat in the lone chair that sat before the Elders’ thrones, but she politely declined, remaining in her place throughout the ultimately short conference. Although Leanna was well-informed of the Rotunda’s restrictive exclusivity, naught had the power that day to prevent the girl from barging into the chamber to warn the queen of an imminent attack from Pavoline’s forces, without glance or apology to the Elders who sat horrified at the brown, wingless girl before them. The queen darted out of the chamber to organize her warriors, and their later defense was victorious in forcing the Pavol knights to retreat. Despite the Elders’ disgust and concern, none could argue after that successful day that Leanna’s otherwise elusive intelligence was of little consequence. With Leanna’s aid, their capital, and all of the Infinite Wood, was increasingly secure, and that alone persuaded the Elders to suffer her presence.
Chief Elder Salvatore chose the path of willful forgetfulness, acting whenever possible as though Leanna simply did not exist, leaving, as usual, all military affairs to the queen. Five of the others followed his lead; however, the seventh among them, Elder Cassius, held firmly to his view that Leanna’s presence in their nation was so great a threat to their way of life that any protection she offered from external sources – ones that had never, in all the centuries, successfully encroached upon the Wood – was vastly outweighed by the damage she would inflict from the interior.
“Consider it seriously, Queen,” he demanded, standing in the throne room during his twelfth audience with Queen Okalani on the matter, a weekly occurrence that was clear to continue so long as Leanna remained among them. “The girl is a distraction to Anwansi’s heir. Putting aside a moment their differing species and color – itself a vital blow to the deep culture of our nation – the idea of a Fairy Queen with a love affair – it is unthinkable! No queen of past – or present, Okalani – hath taken up an emotional partnership. Indeed, no royally-born fairy would be so selfish as to insert themself between Anwansi and its queen. THAT is relationship Heir Kennedy ought to be fostering. Leanna Page careth not for Anwansi, nor at all for Alquoria. You know yourself the duties of the queen, they are not to be trifled with!” He paused, then, in Okalani’s silence, added, “If you would teach your licentious heir restraint, perhaps she herself could settle the matter favorably.”
Okalani forcefully lowered a brow that had been involuntarily raised during his diatribe and her wings twitched in an effort to remain still and sparkless. She sighed.
“As I have relayed to you before, Cassius, Kennedy is, firstly, performing outstandingly in all her preparative studies to be queen, certainly with more success than I in my first year of being heir. Second, Leanna is a valuable asset to our nation that I will continuously fight to retain. More, the girl hath a good heart; I have seen it.” Okalani smirked. “I believe Kennedy hath done well for herself.” Then with a graver sincerity, she remarked, “If they choose to remain together – perhaps even marry – I believe Leanna’s presence will only improve Kennedy’s execution of her queenly duties.”
“She cannot intend to marry the human,” quoth the Elder. “It could never be allowed, on this I know every Elder would agree.”
“What if, one day, such was her wish?” Okalani inquired.
Cassius held down sparks of fury. “A Nachov may marry none but others of her kind. That is our law.”
Okalani shrugged. “Perhaps it needn’t always be.”
Deep violet sparks flew from behind Cassius, and Okalani flattened her wings to lean against the back of her throne, patiently listening to his continued vociferation.
As the year passed its six-month, Pavoline’s knights were eventually joined by Masor’s as both kingdoms now sought to take custody of their neighboring sections of the Infinite Wood; but, as she’d avowed, Leanna spent hours each day in deep meditation, honing her talents, and grew to such skill as to observe at will through the very eyes of Guiomar and Isolda as they planned their every military operation. She watched their hands as they wrote out instructions to their knights. She put herself in their seat and watched their strategy meetings. Fairy warriors, with Leanna’s preemptive word, would grow impatient waiting in place for the human knights to launch their various so-thought surprise attacks. Despite a year of either kingdom failing to conquer territory, the two monarchs refused to relinquish the desire to expand, and, having deduced what must be the cause of their current failure, they increasingly focused their strategic energy toward the locating and destruction of Leanna Page. They sent lone knights into the Wood with arrows, hoping to discover her hideaway and assassinate her from afar, but even these attempts were easily anticipated and met with a fairy warrior who turned the knight away long before they found the Anwansi Pool.
Leanna fought herself over whether to report that the monarchs were targeting her specifically, terrified that if the Elders found out they would take it as cause to expel her. While she wavered in silence, expecting to be confronted on the issue, she soon realized that no one was questioning the human monarch’s motives or designs. Alquorians at large understood that the humans wanted the Wood, and so assumed that their every movement, whether large or small, worked simply toward that same base intention. No one beside Leanna noticed the change in Isolda and Guiomar’s immediate target, and she found some peace in keeping that piece of intelligence to herself.
Her watchful eye on the human kingdoms naturally offered Leanna full intelligence of the wall that began to be erected between them. From her meditations, she often observed the masons at work on either side of the Gwahanu and thought on her long ties of ancestors who called each kingdom, respectively, their own. Watching the placement of the stones felt to Leanna as though each were placed directly upon her own heart. She would routinely dream with her mother, who had relocated to a small village just southwest of Pavoline’s Tradetown, not far from where Lief had resettled, after her expulsion from the Masor castle. In conversation, she and Leanna would every now and then comment on the injury the wall struck against the spirit of their familial philosophy, but the thought of it too swiftly gave birth to thought of he who no longer resided in the northern kingdom and was hurriedly put aside to converse on other matters. Esta was naturally horrified at the alliance between Isolda and Guiomar, but she was grateful at least it meant her friends in Masor would no longer suffer under the drought.
Leanna at first looked in upon Madrick occasionally as he remained confined in his chambers, but she did not speak to him. He was retaining his health and strength of will despite his circumstances, spending his hours writing endless letters to Lief, although knowing they would never be sent. Leanna could not help but feel partly to blame for his circumstances and was sure the sight of her could only trouble him. He was unhappy, but he was safe and well. Once she was confident he would remain so, she let him fade from her thoughts.
Being that the wall had no effect on the operation of Alquoria, she made no report of it and kept private from the fairy-folk around her the deep grief she felt at the separation of the human kingdoms – a grief she felt incapable of coherently verbalizing now that she lived not among them. Warriors who patrolled around the Gwahanu quickly came to know of the wall on their own, and soon all were aware of its construction as well as equally conscious of Leanna’s sorrowful silence on the matter. Only to Kennedy did she once let loose her tears.
On all other matters, Leanna came to be quite content. With secured safety, the lives of all on the Anwansi Pool largely grew in joyfulness, and Leanna became increasingly beloved by her new friends. Still, being that she had no predefined place in their system of status, fairies of all colors and aptitudes were equal in their uncertainty as to how to approach the strange human who walked among them. The Elders invisibly sent whispers amongst the fairies which spoke of Leanna, placing her most with the warriors but declaring her nothing more than a tool for military strategizing and encouraging even the commoners to think themselves above her. Many acquiesced to the rumors and shunned Leanna in the marketplace, but others began, little by little, to recognize the goodness in her humanity and welcome her into their lives, following the example of Heir Kennedy in closing their ears to the disdain of those around them. One of the carpenters, being among the kinder, built Leanna a ladder so that she could enter and exit the hollow unaided. Even a few royally-born fairies – especially those who had grown with Kennedy as a school-mate – became wont to, now and again, converse kindly with the wingless one. In time, the human girl developed a circle of friends which, although meager, was diverse as the nation itself.
Contrariwise, with every heart won to her favor, Elder Cassius made it known that he despised her a whole heart’s-worth more for soiling their people’s minds, and, though they said less of it, it was understood the Elders at large felt much the same as he and would welcome the day when it might be practical to expel Leanna from their grounds. So went on, in growing ferocity, a war of hearts as fairies of every color began to unite either in favor or in contempt of the wingless one among them, but the girl herself heard little of the latter’s vociferations against her as, whenever they came about, she would hear Kennedy’s words of love sing in her ear and know in her own heart that all would come to a happy end.
Most of Leanna’s days were spent, as told, in service to Queen Okalani, but now came a day when the girl broke the trend, with Okalani’s allowance, trading a day of service for a day of fun. Nientz had crafted an aerodynamic disc from clay and enhanced its flight power with magic so that, in sport, it might be tossed betwixt friends and soar great distances, showering rainbow-tinted sparks as it traveled; then, it would aid in its own retrieval, flying back to its most recent sender at a thought command, a feature inspired by Leanna’s telepathic connections. So that they might test the new device, Nientz invited Leanna, along with Innogen – an artistic fairy, with artificially verdant locks mixed among her naturally ocean-blue, wavelike hair, who craved sport as deeply as any fairy born for battle – and Phidia – who, with now such distance from Leanna’s unlawful rescue, had long regained her good spirits – to spend the day deep in the Woods at the infamous meadow all fairylings steal to sometimes in childhood to be free of their guardians’ eyes. All three had eagerly accepted the invitation.
“A valiant attempt, Leanna!” Phidia bellowed from the air, laughing at the human’s hopeless effort of jumping to the disc as it flew several feet above her outstretched hand.
“A level playing field might even my odds,” Leanna retorted with a smirk. Nientz and Innogen chuckled, each themselves hovering at various altitudes above the ground.
“You have your skills. I have mine,” Phidia said.
“Admit, at least, yours are more relevant to the current occasion,” Leanna responded.
Phidia shrugged, lowering to Leanna’s level and staring in her eyes. Utilizing her abilities to know the fairy’s intention, Leanna tossed her hand behind her, holding Phidia’s gaze as she intercepted the disc on its trajectory to Phidia just before it smashed into the back of her head. Phidia offered her a jovial nod of respect on the successful catch.
“Another well-crafted feature artfully tested,” Innogen said to Nientz as the latter caught Leanna’s throw. All laughed a moment as the game continued. Nientz threw next to Innogen, who threw to Phidia, who flew higher again in jest but tossed the disc downward toward Leanna who easily caught it with a thankful nod. In a shift of habit, Leanna turned diagonally to Innogen and threw the disc with all her strength on an upward course. Innogen floated up to adjust, but a wind came in and propelled the disc downward. She dove toward it as it passed beneath her, merely resulting in an airborne somersault, the disc soaring by into the Trees. Sympathetic joviality sifted through them, and focus turned to Leanna who could retrieve the disc.
With a smile and a nod, she accepted the duty and – adopting the peaceful essence of her familiar meditative state – closed her eyes and lifted her lids to the sun, opening her mind to all the world and calling the disc to return. Upon unclosing her eyes, her breath caught in her throat and her pulse began to race as she took in a new sight: no longer her meadow environs, but the burning eyes of Guiomar Ranzentine blazing in wicked glee just before her, any more features invisible in the surrounding utter darkness. Birdsong faded away as all sounds yielded to the Pavol king’s triumphant bellows. In an effort to evade it all, Leanna reshut her eyes and shielded them in the crook of her arm. The king faded and birdsong returned as the flying disc bounced off Leanna’s forearm and fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Lowering her arm and looking to her friends, Leanna could see their concern, but the attention of all four was then pulled to the Sky where dark storm clouds hastily gathered above them. The wind grew stronger, and the three fairies dropped into the grass to steady themselves. Leaves flew from the surrounding Trees. Petals were ripped from wildflowers and blown into the raging air. Innogen, Nientz, and Phidia fought the wind to congregate in the center of the meadow. Although they called for her to join them, Leanna was unable to coerce her feet to make the journey. Something in the storm seemed to speak to her, warning that she dare not face it in any manner but alone.
A thunderous crack sounded from the Forest. Leanna watched her friends’ alarm with her eyes and, in visions, saw above her as an enormous branch, large and long itself as an average forest tree, fell from the nearest Infinite and made a rapid plummet towards precisely where she stood. Losing her footing to a gust of wind, Leanna fell to the ground and rolled aside, remaining on her back and looking beside her now toward whither she had been with marvelous relief to see the branch on the ground and the flowers that had been crushed in her place.
Another crack, and the Tree standing beside the first lost a heavy limb, again on a trajectory towards Leanna. She thought to roll further aside, but a third, now deafening, crack was sounded and halted Leanna in place. Another branch, lower than the other now in descent, broke from farther and on the opposite side from Leanna of the first that had fallen, and pointed towards her with its outstretched arm falling in a cross with the one above. As wind pushed against her ears, Leanna felt as though it wished her to remain still and, as she watched the branches fall down to her, she obeyed. This third branch fell faster than the second and it landed across the first, halting in place, inclined above Leanna, as the last completed its descent, landing on the other’s raised body, its forward half remaining off the ground and directly in line with Leanna’s upward gaze. There was a moment of stillness. Leanna caught her breath. The middle branch then began to quake, and she rolled closer to the first, which lay flat beside her, in time for the former to snap and vault towards the ground. The top branch that might have crushed Leanna if not for the middle’s intervention, now rolled down the new decline of the broken trunk, finding stillness once tangled in the other’s extraneous branches, and, at last, there was quiet. The wind softened, clouds dispersed, and Leanna lay still, staring at the protective tree above her, and beyond it to the bluing Sky.
Her friends flew towards her, but, seeing that she was unharmed, landed serval paces back and waited for her to emerge. When at last she crawled out from beneath the fallen branches and began to pick out the leaves that had tangled themselves in her hair, she was eagerly embraced by Nientz, gripped kindly on the shoulder by Innogen, and received one of Phidia’s grateful nods. She offered them all small smiles but lost the countenance when her thoughts overtook her. Shock, they said it was, and followed her lead, returning to the Anwansi Pool in virtual silence.
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“Putting aside a moment their differing species and color”
Ugh