[P] i am all in a sea of wonders

[Charlotte]

i'm born to run down rocky cliffs; give me grace, bury my sins.
shattered glass and black holes can't hold me back from where i need to go.
yellow hills and valleys deep, i watch them move under my feet.

Charlie has been staying away from the sea. Or staying away from it the best that she can, in the only way she knows how. Not going down to the beaches, not looking too long into its depths. She had visited the port in Denocte once, two seasons ago, and had regretted the way she hoped, and hoped, and hoped to see that woman with the red eyes and the curling horns.

The punctures on her neck had long, long since healed over, but sometimes it feels like they itch, and burn, and ache. Sometimes, it feels like they are trying to tell Charlie something she has been avoiding, since that day more than a year ago.

Has it really been so long?

Her life has felt like a blur, underscored by the buzzing always present in the back of her mind ever since she had found out she’d become fatherless. She’s grown up, no longer just a girl, though barely older than one. She’s moved into the barracks, become a Halcyon, begun her official training as a soldier. And yet, nothing has quieted the hum, nothing has filled the emptiness inside her left behind by the abandonment of her parents.

Charlie flies in wide, leisurely loops over the court. She catalogues everything that she sees and hears on the ground below. Against her better judgement—under the pressure of the burning, and the buzzing—she veers east, turning wide over the south part of Susurro Fields.

The powerful flaps of her wings startle a flock of eurasian curlews, who take to the air. Charlie follows, coasting beneath the birds for a short time. Their shadows dot the marshy ground below, headed toward the cliffs and the sea. Indy is somewhere behind her, she knows. She can feel her bonded’s constant presence across their link.

The pegasus surges upward, tipping her wings to guide the small flock into an upward spiral. She spies Indy among their browns and whites taking over the front of the group. Shockingly, they do not seem to fear her, and take her suggestions as though she is one of their own. She turns south, and with ease Charlie guides them into a descent, down and down and down toward the strip of beach at the base of the cliffs.

The curlews land and Charlie continues past them a short distance, until the small outcropping of rock she had been swept off of comes into view. “Charlie… I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Indy’s voice filters through the droning, through her thoughts. The pegasus can sense the osprey’s concern. “I can't stop thinking about her, Indy.”

Indy knows this, of course, but is still concerned for the safety of her bondmate. Charlie lands gracefully upon the outcrop, which is damp with sea spray. A few loose stones roll off the edge of the rock and into the water. Her footing is much more sure now, as she begins her wait. Charlie can only hope that the woman is here. She’s not certain how else to find her.

"Speaking."

☸ | @Boudika <3