Charlie raced along the edge of the cliffs, wild abandon tousling her dark hair and boundless energy brightening her vermillion eyes. She raced along the cliffs with sure steps and wings that stretched out to feel the ocean air between their feathers, while Indy darted through the air above her. They were almost there, almost…
She comes to an abrupt stop at the edge of the cliffs, where they just barely give her a view of the furthest point of Denocte. “I don’t think we’re close enough, Indy,” she says, standing with baited breath and keen eyes. There is a ship leaving Denocte’s port today—a massive ship, she’s heard the sailors at the docks say—and she wants to see it.
“It’s supposed to be heading south, do you think we’ll see it?” the girl glances down from her perch upon the cliffs. She knows there’s no way she would make it to Denocte, even now that she can fly. It’s just too far away to get there in time for the ship’s departure, she knows. “Probably, we’ve got a great vantage point,” replies her bonded.
But as she’s looking, she sees the outcrop of rocks at the base of the cliffs. The stone is darkened from the spray of the ocean, but the surface area is quite big. “Come on Indy! We’re going down there,” she says, stretching her wings wide to sail down. “You’re going to stand on that death trap?” her bonded asks, gliding past on silent wings. Even Charlie can see the incredulity in her bonded’s yellow eyes.
“It’ll be fine,” the filly assures the Osprey, all but nearly leaping from the cliff. Her landing isn’t as graceful, although they are getting better. The slippery surface of the rock doesn’t help, but Charlie manages to catch her footing before launching herself into the ocean.
The near miss hasn’t drained her enthusiasm at all, as she moves closer to the edge of the outcrop, glancing eagerly in the direction of Night Court’s port. Indy, choosing not to join her bondmate upon the stone, perches higher up the cliff face on a bit of roots, but protectively watches over the girl standing far too close to the edge for her liking the entire time.
After a few minutes Charlie begins to think they might have missed the ship, but then it sails rise up over the land mass like windblown clouds. “There it is Indy, there it is!” she says excitedly, leaning ever-so-slightly more forward. “Charlie, watch ou-” Indy says suddenly, as a wave rushes up and over the rock, swallowing the fillies legs and dragging her hooves out from underneath her. Her steel blue coat disappears into the dark sea.
EVERY HEART'S A HURRICANE, EVERY SOUL A STARLIT SEA
When the body falls into the water, Boudika looks up.
It is a predator’s instinct that does it; the comprehensive sensitivity of a beast that hunts to eat. She cocks her head where she rests among the sea-grass, watching. The current breaking upon the rocks creates a flurry of foam and flotsam; but the girl’s body catches in a backdraft, a drift that carries her from the rocks and deeper into the sea. Of course she is struggling. Kicking, and floundering, and beating her wings—yes, wings. Boudika observes the ineptness of a thing meant for flight now in the sea; how heavy must those feathers become, she wonders, when salted and soaked, their protective oils washed clean by the unwanted baptism? Even beneath the water they fill like sails meant for wind; but there is no wind, only those tumultuous currents. The girl is dragged down, down, down, down—
Boudika waits a moment more, deciding. There is no need for her resurface; the air does not burn in her lungs. She feels infinite and strong; merciless and strange; godlike.
Then:
With a powerful coiling of her muscles, the kelpie propels herself from the alcove in which she rests. It is no easy thing to fight the currents, and so she does not. Boudika rides the same one that drags the struggling mare; she tucks her body and, streamline, finds herself near enough to grip the pegasus at the nape of her neck. The touch is almost a kiss, but more: a bite. Boudika’s rowed, leopard-seal like teeth find purchase on whatever available flesh she can find.
The flavour bursts in her mouth; but Boudika does not focus on it. She rips Charlie upward and out of the downward current into a more neutral part of the sea. They have quickly, quickly been dragged from the rocks and the shore; Boudika allows air to escape her cracked jaws and the bubbles go up, blood-streaked. She follows them with her eyes and, then glancing at the pegasus, jerks her chin toward the surface.
After what seems like an eternity, with Boudika helping if necessary, the two reach the surface. The emergence is nothing exciting for the kelpie; she keeps her face nearly level with the profile of the water, only briefly disoriented by their distance from the shore.
“I will take you back.” There is something sweet in her voice, a note full of tired longing. Unless…… you’d rather stay...
Charlie’s last breath is filled with saltwater, as the current drags her, kicking, further out to sea. Her legs make very little headway against the rough waters, and her wings are simply useless. They are like two dead weights at her sides, wanting to drag her further and further down.
The pegasus has always admired the ocean, always longed to be out upon it. And now, even young as she is still, she thinks it might be the same ocean that kills her as all her attempts to surface are in vain. She can hear Indy’s voice echoing in her thoughts, panicked and nearly louder than the sound of her heart. Charlie kicks, and kicks, and even if she were getting anywhere she’s not certain which way is up as the waves tumble her head over hooves.
She thinks her lungs are going to explode. She thinks… almost nothing at all, as things begin to grow soft and slow and groggy.
Until the pain.
It is bright, and blooming, and about her neck. Her mouth opens in a silent gasp, precious air bubbling away as harsh salt water rushes to fill its place. For a wild moment Charlie allows herself to wonder which will happen first: she will drown or she will be eaten alive by whatever has grabbed a hold of her. Until she glances back and she sees the kelpie, bright red and deepest black.
The kelpie (her rescuer?) jerks their head toward the surface. So, not a meal then. The pegasus girl bobs her own head quickly as her lungs painfully, painfully beg for air in her chest. Together, they make their way toward the surface, toward the sky. When her head breaks past the line of the water, she doesn’t even manage to gasp for breath.
No, she begins to cough, ungracefully, her body expelling all the salt water she had inhaled. And then she starts to take in big, deep breaths, as though her body has never experienced anything as sweet as air. “You… saved me,” Charlie says between breaths, and glances upward as a shadow falls over them. Indy is flying frantic, low circles above them. “It’s okay Indy… I’m okay,” she tells her bonded, though her attention is quickly back on the kelpie, who is mostly hidden beneath the water.
A pair of twisting horns, crimson eyes, is all she can really see. “Who are you?” Her legs are tired. She is tired, and she really shouldn’t continue to be out here treading water after having nearly drowned but… she wants to know more.
“I will take you back,” says the woman, though everything about her tells the girl a different story. Her heart is racing. Has her heart been racing this whole time? “I…” why does she want to stay? She nearly died! But if she stayed… would she be like this woman? Able to swim so deftly, like how the girl flies? Able to breathe in the water? “No… I should go back. Indy is worried about me.” She can’t think of a time she has ever felt so conflicted.
Charlie raced along the edge of the cliffs, wild abandon tousling her dark hair and boundless energy brightening her vermillion eyes. She raced along the cliffs with sure steps and wings that stretched out to feel the ocean air between their feathers, while Indy darted through the air above her. They were almost there, almost…![[Image: 13222742_95oVYzdeR5MVhK5.png]](https://file.toyhou.se/images/13222742_95oVYzdeR5MVhK5.png)
