[AW] Holiday {relic contest}

[Damascus]

Three days had passed since the ember was swept into a quiet new continent, and while he remained rattled to his core he also felt as though a vibrant tide of peace had washed over his salty skin. A purpose, no, an actual life was now his to call his own, reclaimed from the greedy teeth of his captors - what was he to do with it? Here the lad stood blooming into manhood in a land to begin anew. Where in heaven or earth was he to begin?    The wise one who sat in a nest of feathers upon his withers had been urging the boy to explore, to seek, to experience. There was a wealth of life and truth within the forests, and hearts and souls were plenty throughout the land. To begin, though, was a task proving nearly impossible. Which way was safe? Which way would he find these wonders his bonded spoke of? How was a boy to know. "Jus-" Dohv had had enough of the indecision, so gave a booming hoot through their bond. Scampering up the equines neck and taking his place upon the stallions poll, a paw clutching the boy's ear like a staff, he spoke again into Damascus's mind. "Jus' FLY! Yer wings'll take yew somewhere!"  Damascus - who was quite alarmed at his friend's scolds - spooked into a lofty pace, soon to unfold his sail-like wings and take to the wind with a beat or two of those black and gold pennons. "Okay!" Damascus would reply eagerly, his starry eyes searching the ground as their altitude gained. What he was looking for he didn't know; perhaps just anything that caught his eye. The warrior's flight took them above the cloud cover and daringly close to the sun, following it's searing gaze for what could have been a number of hours (it was not uncommon at all for Damascus to loose track of time while flying). He found it immensely therapeutic, the sun warming his face as his wings held the advantage of the wind currents, never allowing him to fall below the floor the clouds provided. It was when he noticed the sun was waning that he became aware of just how much time had passed, and with a slight gasp he aimed his course downwards. Perhaps he expected to see oceans or mountains... not desert as far as the eye could see. Except for one magnificent oasis that stood out like a jewel in mud. "Oh 'mascus!" Dohv came to chirp "Look at THAT!".  With a smile now fixed upon the blackened brute's face, Damascus keenly allowed his wings to sail him down to the sand until his hooves struck the dry surface of the oasis's perimeter, starry eyes gazing hungrily at the plant life and crystalline water.   "Fish!" Damascus would soon exclaim upon noticing a figure in the water, charging forward with bounding strides (It was just a rock, though).   "Fish see I, Dohv" Damascus spoke out loud to his bonded, allowing his left wing down to let the jerboa hop onto the sand beside him. "You look, Dohv, fish see swim"  @Avdotya

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