Private Tales Let the Lost no longer be lost

[Caliane Ruinë]

Thysari is open.

Come home.​

It was a simple message, crafted so that it could not be misinterpreted or confused with some other meaning. The Avariel were calling home their Lost. When the gates had shut during the Great Dwarven Wars, the race of winged elves had been spread across the globe with outposts on every continent and more clustered near the great cities belonging to the groundlings. The Summons back before the gates had closed had given people twelve hours of warning before they were shut and warded for good. A good many of the Avariel had come after and pounded at the gate, called and cried for their brothers and sisters to let them on. Others had not made the trip, knowing full well they would not have made it in time. So what had happened to them in those Ages where the Avariel had fallen into myth?

Caliane had always wondered. She had never dreamed she would get a chance to find out.

"Me?" she stared dumbfounded at her father and then to the other members of the council, finally settling on her mother at the far end. "You want me to bring the Lost home?"

"Can you think of someone better?" Her fathers gruffness was a sign of how much he disagreed with the decision and she tried to hide her smile. It was his own way of showing how he cared. Still, the scroll he set in her hands felt heavier than it had a right to and she imagined it was the weight of the Council's expectations. Their hopes. With the birth rates among them at an all time low it would do their kind good to learn that there were others, survivors, beyond Thyasari. If she could find them it would be a small sliver of hope that their race might continue to fix the error of their ways. Her hands tightened upon the scroll with determination.

"I'll find them. I'll find them and I'll bring as many of them home as I can."

* * *
​

Her red tipped wings angled towards the ground and she begun to circle the spot she planned on landing in. He had to have seen her approaching, she had made no secret of it, she just hoped he was as thrilled to see her once she asked him her question. There were not many people that had sprung to mind when she had thought about the mission. Zander of course had been waiting for her outside the Council's Assembly and had leapt at the chance to join her but she had shooed the other Avariel away. He was needed in Thysari and besides, she had a feeling the Lost were more likely to listen to someone who had been left on the wrong side of the gates.

Dust swirled up in a small tornado as she landed and folded her wings against her back. This had definitely been the place he had described on where to find him should she ever have a need. She imagined he had thought she might drop in for a cup of tea or company, not this. She touched her quiver where her bow was unslung beside her arrows and then the scroll case across her chest.

"Tadrielus!" the birds answered her with their song and she smiled. "Tadrielus?!" No answer. She sighed and wandered over to a low brick wall where she sat and swung her legs; she could wait. The Lost had lasted this long, what was a few more hours?

* * *

Tadrielus Galawen​

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tranquility was not a thing easily found. The mind was a phenomenal saboteur, and it clung readily to thoughts of agitation and doubt, afraid that it would fade away without something to cogitate upon. It took discipline, awareness, and most of all patience to ease into such a thing.

Tadrielus had had a great deal of time, and although he had not found true tranquility, he had found quite a few techniques for subduing one's roiling memories. A warm cup of herbal tea at sunrise, for example, did wonders. Crobhear Lake, miles below his alpine hermitage, did sparkle just right in that golden glow.

Physical tasks, the simpler the better, also provided a useful focus, and Tadrielus exhaled smoothly as his axe bit cleanly through another log on the chopping stump. He could have done the same with magic in half the time, but then again he had nowhere to be.

Even in this form of meditation his warrior's instincts could not be pushed aside, and his elegantly tipped ears perked up as he heard his name cutting through the cool air. He set down the axe in no particular hurry and moved quietly towards the voice. There had been no hostility in the tone, and assassins didn't tend to announce themselves, but an alertness remained lit within.

An alertness that melted away when he saw Caliane sitting on the low wall. "Fire child!" he called down, beaming with open arms. He was shirtless, and shoeless, wearing simple cloth pants that flapped lightly in the breeze. "A wonderful surprise. Come! Come! I've just picked fresh some fresh spearmint."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane had never met her grandfathers; they had both passed away centuries before she was born in her parents youth and at the height of the chaotic wars the Avariel's had been a part of in the Age of Legends. Yet whenever she came to see Tadrielus she couldn't help but think if that this was what they would have been like. She bounced to her toes with a wild grin like a five year old winglet and trotted over to wrap her arms around the older Avariel in a tight embrace. The smell of wood and sweat tickled at her nose but in a pleasant manner. When she released him it was still with the moronic grin on her face and she followed him up towards his simple hut.

"You've spoilt spearmint tea for me, nobody else can make it like you do. They don't know how anymore," she sighed. The tearooms in Thyasari were a famous wonder but most preferred the Ambrosia blends now to the simple taste of things such as spearmint and thyme. They had been discarded as Hunter or Soldier teas, but nobody had boiled the herbs in the milks and honeys she had seen Tadrielus do so. She'd once tried it herself but it had been missing something and been rather disappointing.

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus' let a gentle rumble pass through his chest at the younger avariel's embrace, which he returned heartily. In "civilized" areas such displays were uncommon, not least because wings tended to get in the way and heavens forbid a feather fall out of place. There were no such doctrines here, and Tadrielus' powder-white feathers grazed Caliane's russet-edged wings quite nonchalantly.

"They don't know where the best sprigs grow, that's my secret." He tapped his nose playfully before ushering her inside.

Tadrielus' home was simple, compared to the finery of Thysari, and it bore few hallmarks of the ancient people's traditions. Nevertheless it had its giveaways for who lived there, with tall ceilings and wide doors to accommodate wings and plenty of airy, open windows.

He set a hefty ceramic mug before Caliane, and one for himself, and took a deep sip before asking with a smile "So, what brings the great and powerful Caliane Fireheart to my doorstep?" His twinkling eyes, old as they were, could hardly miss the quiver on her back or the official scroll case. "Because I don't think it was just for my tea."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane's eyes crinkled in the corners with the size of her smile as she took in the older Avariel's home. It might not have been everyone's cup of tea but it was very much like the home she had discussed in quiet whispers with Eren'thiel Xyrdithas. Whilst she might have loved the wide archways and height of her home in Thyasari there was something... warm about homes like this. It was more suited to who she was now after the trials and tribulations she had faced since her time Outside. On top of that, Tadrielus made it easy to feel at home so she slid into one of the two wooden chairs around a small but perfectly formed dining table. Her wings made a soft rasping noise as the feathers settled over the low cut out back though it was hidden under her laugh.

"Powerful?" she scrunched her nose up like a rabbits and shook her head with a faded smile. "I got my backside handed to me just last month in the Eldyr Woods," not her finest hour and certainly, most definitely, not the story that would convince him to come with her. Her face grew serious at the thought and she idly played with a leaf on a plant she didn't recognise that stood in the centre of the table.

"The Council have asked me to go and seek the Lost - the Avariel who were shut out when Thysari disappeared," a downward twist of her lips was the only hint of her thoughts on that topic. "We want them to come home, but we don't know if they're alive or... It doesn't matter, we need to know. But I didn't think people who have no idea of the outside were good people to bring along with me so I was wondering... if you'd be up for an adventure?"

She gave him her best imitation of an innocent and hopeful grin.

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus took a long swallow from his mug as Caliane spoke. He kept his face impassive, but her words had stirred darker feelings within. He set the cup down.

”I have heard of the Lost only in passing. Such a thing occurred long before even my time.” He thought for a moment, staring hard at the leaf that Caliane toyed with. “Do you think they will want to come back? After being shut out for so long it will not be their home.“ Thysari hadn’t been his home for ages, and he had only been gone a short time by comparison to the mythical Lost.

He took another drink to finish his tea and swirled the leaves about in the bottom, smiling softly at the shapes he saw. “You have always been wiser than your years. Avariel who have known nothing but their secure walls would not make the best diplomats. I also know that you are not in the habit of taking ”no” as an answer.” His eyes resumed their telltale twinkle as he smiled back up at her.

“Perhaps a journey would do me good. My estate can look after itself for a time.” His idea of a joke. “Just give me the afternoon to put everything in order.”

Tadrielus had enjoyed his ”retirement.” The quiet solitude suited him and kept his memories occupied. He had been lucky, he knew, to be allowed such a chance, but Caliane’s words had stirred up something in him. He did, from time to time, long to travel the world again, to adventure with good friends for good causes. Perhaps it was an old man’s sad grasp at youthful remembrances, but Caliane had asked for his help. Who was he to deny her?

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Do you think they will want to come back? After all these years?

It was a question Caliane had asked her mother when they had been alone after the Council meeting. The Avariel with wings like that of a peacocks had cupped her cheeks and smiled the sad smile of a fellow empath who felt too much from those around them. She hadn't needed to say anything more, Cali had known her answer right then. Despite the gloomy train of thought she couldn't help the blush that blossomed high across her cheekbones at the compliment and the merry twinkle in his eyes. She ruffled her wings and cleared her throat a little before her head swelled too much with his praise but all was forgotten when he agreed.

"Oh! Oh thank you, thank you!" she beamed and reached across the table to clasp the hand that lay there in both of her smaller ones. She gave the leathery skin a tight squeeze and grinned for a brief moment before becoming more serious. "I am not sure what... state we will find some of these Avariel in if we find them at all. It might be dangerous so I would understand if you didn't want to. I wouldn't want to leave this in a hurry either," her eyes drifted to the ceiling then all around his comfortable home with a warm and fond smile. One day... Her eyes flickered back to him.

"And it could all be for nothing if they say no," though what her father would do with that answer she dreaded to think.

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus returned her grin across the table. He had no children, so had no way to know for sure what that love was like, but he imagined he felt something of the sort for Caliane. At the very least pride and the satisfaction that she would look after the world for him when he was gone.

"Don't worry, these wings are a bit dusty but they can fly just as well," he winked and stood, taking his and Caliane's mugs to a wash basin. "And if they say no at least we will learn what happened to them. I will take today to prepare. You're welcome to stay, of course. If you do you can take my bed, I don't sleep much these days anyway. Otherwise I will meet you at dawn by the stone wall."

He felt a giddiness brewing in his chest as he prepared for a lengthy departure. People didn't really change as they got older, he had learned. Wiser, perhaps, but he was still the same avariel who had set out on his own centuries ago. He would always feel a pull to adventure, to long voyages with unknown endings. He had resigned himself to a quiet retirement, and make no mistake, he enjoyed it. But Caliane had scarcely let the offer drop off her lips before he knew he would accept.

He brought the wood indoors, and picked what harvest was ready from his meager gardens. He closed up windows and doors, and sealed the chimney against inevitable rain and snow that would come. All the mundane tasks until finally he stepped into his room and looked at the old armor mounted in the corner. It had been so long since he'd actually looked at it that it had just become a meaningless detail of the room, overlooked until now. It was very old, and of a different style than what was worn in Thysari now, but it was unmistakable in its make. Deep purplish gray with fine twisting details and accents. It was remarkable how in all this time it had not gathered dust. It's untarnished shine was a subtle clue to its enchanted nature, the greatest of which was to hide his wings at will. An old spell from an old time, but a mindset that was only now beginning to change amongst his people.

It still fit. Maybe that was one of its enchantments, too, but the impossibly light gear felt as if he'd worn it every day for a year. He had prepared a large pack that hooked to his back (arm straps weren't very convenient with wings), and a fine leather scabbard rested at his side, holding a sword whose hilt had been formed in the shape of wings.

"It's been a while since I've felt like this," he mused to Caliane that morning.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane thanked the elder for his kind hospitality and made polite refusals to take his bed; no matter what he said about sleeping little she couldn't bring herself to usurp a man from his own cot. Besides, she too had preparations to make. It was not the Soldier discipline that she had joined, much to her fathers chagrin, and she preferred to prepare for missions much like she had done a Hunt. Throughout the night she collected the tell-tale herbs and other bounties the land had to offer and sorted them neatly into her own pack before spending the night under the stars. When her companion joined her at the low stone wall the following dawn she looked as fresh-faced as any soldier would having spent a good solid ten hours in a comfortable bed. Unlike Tadrielus, Caliane possessed no armour. Armour was a gift, again, only afforded to those who took up the sword and despite her reckless heroics amongst the Groundlings, she still did not see herself as a warrior of any kind. Instead she wore the Hunter green and brown ensemble that made it hard to focus on the wearer so well did it blend into its background. Much the same way as armour was enchanted, the Hunters had their own tricks for their uniform. Soft leather boots were laced up to her knees and her hair had been pulled back off her face into a high ponytail. At her hip was slung her bow case and bursting quiver, with her back resting snugly against her lower back.

The all important tube containing the summons nestled against her breasts.

She fingered the golden tube absentmindedly as she walked on hushed feet beside the older Avariel as though she were able to read the words imprinted within just by touch.

"Sick? Worried?" Caliane glanced to her companion with a half smile. "That feeling of a shadow hanging over you?" She still couldn't work out what was so appealing people would willingly assign their lives to this path forever.

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

He half smiled over his shoulder at her. "Excited."

The air smelled sharper, the breeze felt crisper. Crobhear Lake seemed to sparkly more vibrantly and the harsh jay's call that broke the silence sounded oddly melodic. The sky was clear this early morning. Tadrielus felt a great pull towards it.

The years go so much quicker with age. It was nice to have a moment like this frozen in time... if only for a few precious seconds.

"I have only three questions as we set off," he said, turning to Caliane with his hands on his hips. "One," he raised a finger, "where are we to go first? Two: What route are we to take and three:..." He flared his powder-white wings. They were broad and impossibly clean, with feathers that looked both soft as down and sturdy as oaks.

"...do you think you can keep up with an old man?"

Without giving her time to reply, he brought the wings swooping down and leapt into the sky with force quite contrary to the wrinkles on his face. The sky opened, and Tadrielus allowed himself to be brought into it with a fading whoop and holler as he arced over backwards in a great loop and dove headlong down the mountainside. The tops of pines blurred past while he spun a graceful and slow-curving path along the slope. On land he was steady but in the sky... in the sky he was free.

He looked back, hoping to catch a glimpse of those fiery wings before they threatened to overtake him.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane was like a wide-eyed student when the elder turned towards her with her questions. From the way she stood, her weight almost entirely in the balls of her feet, suggested she was eager to answer anything and everything to the best of her abilities. Not only to prove her own skill and that she had thought through the plan, but also in the hopes of squashing any doubts he might have had that would stop him coming along with her. If he decided not to go Caliane was not sure what she would do. Her mouth opened once, twice, as she went to answer his first and second questions to no avail and his third question threw her so entirely off guard that even if he had stayed grounded she wouldn't have been able to answer it straight away.

Confusion quickly melted away and the red-haired avariel threw back her head and laughed before spreading her own wings. Snowy white faded through to blush, rose, fuscia and magenta to the startling scarlet red that made up the tips of her primaries. Her take off might not have been as quick as the older Avariel but the white-fire that lived inside of her soon crackled along her feathers and leant her the speed to quickly catch up and over take, disappearing into the clouds above where her fire lit them from within. Almost lazily she returned to his side and settled onto a pleasant current, still laughing.

"I shall try to keep up," she flashed him a grin when she managed to get some control over herself then sobered up as she answered his more sensible questions. "I thought it best to try one of the closer ones first. From the reports I have there was a large settlement in the I'uk-'U Delta. South-East over the Peaks is the quickest route if you don't mind a little bit of snow."

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

He could feel the heat from Caliane as she approached, and he allowed himself to laugh quietly when she easily overtook him. He had yet to actually see her use her gifts in earnest, but the stories he'd heard painted a vivid enough picture. If they were true, then her true power surpassed even his own at his prime, when he had cut down demon kings and bathed the battlefields in beautiful, horrible killing light.

"Ah, I have not seen the delta for some time. I hear the Naga have become more aggressive, I wonder if they've made it beyond the coastlines?"

He tilted his wings subtly and adjusted their flight route. The air up here was biting cold, but thanks to the avariel's inborn altitude tolerance, and a little help from the enchanted armor, he was quite comfortable. Caliane's fire, he guessed, did much the same.

Flying at this altitude was tricky, even for experienced aerialists. The air was thin and the winds were relentless. The peaks twisted the currents and gales could come from any direction with little to no warning. When the snows began to fall the visibility would fade with them.

Sunlight dimmed as snow grew from delicate dusting to heavy flurry. They were still in an area of the Spine that was familiar to Tadrielus, and he knew which peaks would offer the best cover and fewest hazards. Even so, the sky grew ever darker, and soon the wind howled loud enough that conversation between the two became impossible.

After several hours he signaled to Caliane at his side. Night was approaching, and with the growing storm they should seek shelter until clearer skies returned in morning.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

The primeval being that resided within her didn't like the cold, and neither did Caliane.

Thyasari was nestled deep within the spines and so snow was no stranger to the flame-kissed avariel, but whether it was the natural balance of the cosmos or just bad luck, the cold had always impacted her far more than it had most Avariel. She had learnt to overcome it to an extent; she could fly in light flurries and she had learnt how to keep herself warm with her flames at the right level so her wings could keep working. However, it was an uphill battle and tired her far quicker. It was why she looked relieved when Tadrielus signalled that they should make camp for the night.

Without hesitation she folded her wings and dropped like a shooting star for the ground below. They had not yet cleared the spine but that meant the Avariel's had their pick of high peaks on which to stop that other beings would avoid. Caliane opened her blood-tipped wings as she drew near to one of the ledges she had sighted with a dark maw that signalled a cave that might provide some shelter from the weather. When she landed the snow at her feet hissed and melted, as did snow near where her wings swept closed.

Despite the heat radiating off her she hugged herself as she ducked into the natural shelter and stamped her feet once inside as if her toes were cold.

"We made good time," she commented, gazing round the darkness before making a small light to illuminate their humble sleeping quarters. "It looks like an old snow leopards den."

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

He followed the trail of steam behind Caliane and landed just behind her, feeling the ripple of warmth that came from her as the snow around his feet melted away. At first he thought this a good sign, for surely they would not grow cold with her as a living heater. The angel's huddled stance and hurried dash for cover corrected this thought. How foolish he was, he realized. The snow melted from her heat because she was losing it.

He followed in after her, and indeed the small cave did match her description. Still, he thought it would make for interesting conversation. “How do you know it was a snow leopard?” Maybe the altitude, or the locale, or perhaps the size of the small bones hidden in the corners. He was sure if he would be so certain, though, not without another’s confirmation.

He unhooked the pack from his back and set it against the stone. From it, he withdrew two tightly wrapped packets and handed one to Caliane. Inside each was a potato, a thick slice of dark bread, several dark berries, and a thin slice of dried fruit. Meager, but fitting rations for a journey such as this.

Tadrielus didn’t open his packet yet and instead began to gather bits of twigs and what sparse leaf litter the cave held. There wasn’t much, so he pulled a pair of small wooden rods from his pack.

“Stonewood,” he said, laying them over the small pile of detritus. “It doesn’t light easily, but once it does it will burn for many hours.”

He sat back and pulled back the wrappings of his dinner. “Will you do the honors, or should I?” He asked, indicating the unlit firewood.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane bent and picked up a tooth which she held up for him to see before slipping it into her pocket with a shy smile.

"There are quite a few around Thyasari now. I used to be a part of The Hunters," a sect she didn't believe she belonged in anymore. They had always treated her well when she had returned, but they too seemed to have sensed the difference in her. It was no longer where her path lay. Truly she didn't belong in any of the sects that governed Avariel society and she thought the Elders knew it too. Perhaps that was why they kept sending her on missions such as these. "You get used to the smells, even old ones," it was a trade secret of The Hunters much like how The Soldiers had their arming secrets.

Taking the carefully wrapped bundle with a soft smile, she sat down on the dusty stone ground with her legs crossed. She busily unpackaged it all whilst her companion set about the fire and had devoured half the bread and berries by the time he was done. The cold always made her so hungry. She glanced up with another berry half way between her lips when he mentioned lighting it and she chuckled under her breath.

Popping the berry fully in her mouth she then stretched her hand towards the wood. It started off as a little smoke and then flames begun to leap to life along the wood. Caliane bent forward to add a few of the larger logs to it.

"It's always been handy not having to carry round flint," she mused before carefully setting her potato among the bottom branches of the flame to toast it. "I've not heard of Stonewood before though."

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus grinned unabashedly at the leaping flames. He could conjure a flare or two, if the moment demanded it, but Caliane's fire seemed to be a part of her. Which, if rumors were to be believed, it was.

"It's rare," he replied, "but the dwarves northeast of Belgrath have figured out how to cultivate a decent stock. I've asked them to show me how many times, but I could never seem to offer enough for that knowledge." He shrugged. He didn't mention just how much a few sticks of the stuff could cost, nor that he had only been able to afford it through a significant discount from the town elder in recognition of past services given.

The fire was very warm, even as Tadrielus looked to the whirl of white at the cave's mouth. There would be no flying until the blizzard passed. In spite of their quest, he felt no sense of hurry at all. In fact, he was quite happy that they should be trapped here for the time being with only a fire and their words for company.

Perhaps I have been alone for too long, he thought with a quiet smirk to himself.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"Dwarves have never been too keen on our kind either," Caliane said softly and stretched her wings out as much as she could in the small cave. They ached from the flight but in a good way; it had been a while since she had made such a journey. When she was in the Groundling world she travelled with their ways as much as possible, though horses escaped her ability still. Thinking on the subject of dwarves, however, took away a bit of the pleasure of stretching her wings. They were one of the few races who had greeted them with clear hostility when they had returned to the world.

"Do you think we'll end up back at war with them?" she asked quietly and wrapped her arms around her knees then leant her chin on top. She didn't look directly at the older avariel when she asked but gazed into the flames instead. The firelight turned her white feathers into a soft yellow hue that made the red feathers an even sharper contrast. Instead of blood on a bed of snow they looked as though they actually were on fire.

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

"Dwarves have never been too keen on our kind either,"

He chuckled softly, "No, we are quite different it's true. But it is remarkable what clearing their mines of lesser daemons will do to gain their approval." People of earth and stone were a natural opposite to those of air and sky, and it hadn't helped that the Avariel had been equally dismissive of Belgrath's worth and the claims of its people so long ago.

His expression darkened against the firelight at Caliane's second question, and the subtle glitter in his eyes turned from merriment to meloncholy. "I hope not. Thysari should seek to mend wounds, not open them, if we are to rejoin Arethil. But the dwarves are like their stones, their memory is carved deep and they do not bend. I only hope a thousand years is long enough to start anew."

He was silent for a time, letting the snaps of the firewood fill the cavern to the background din of the wind.

"Did you know," he said suddenly, "that the dwarves have concocted a steam machine that pressurizes their whiskey? I have no idea how it works but I lost two or three days of memory to what came out."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane couldn't help but agree with Tadrielus but not because she feared her father would have to fight. What she feared, who she feared for, were the Groundlings. It wasn't because of any arrogance about the Avariel being better at war than any other but she knew how many of them saw their people already - as winged demons ready to carry off their children to some demonic hell. She didn't want anyone to be scared of an Avariel again. With a sigh she too lost herself in her thoughts and in watching the flames for some time before the older man broke it with his fact.

"No, I did not," she gave a husky laugh then rolled her shoulders and reached towards the flames to retrieve her potato. She didn't bother with a stick trying to fish it out but rather plunged her hand straight into the heart of the flame and then cradled the smoking vegetable in her hands as it cooled. "I did try a beer of some kind in Bhatharik," the way her nose scrunched up said exactly what she had thought about that whole experience. "They cook the barley on the hot lava rocks, it gives it a very odd smoky taste."

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus nodded. "I've never met a being with a stronger stomach than a dwarf. Well, except maybe an orc, but my money would still be on the dwarf if drinking is involved." He tensed instinctively when Caliane reached directly into the flames, but caught himself as her hand emerged unscathed.

His face crinkled into a smile, but it wasn't quite as bright as it had been. The avariel people, his people, had not gotten it right last time, and it had driven them into isolation. Even in his youth, few had known the outside world. How much had they lost in that time? How much potential wasted?

He hoped the Lost would show that cooperation was necessary for survival. He hoped they would find enclaves that had learned to live with the flightless, not apart from them. He worried that they might find the opposite, that isolation had spared them from extinction.

They would just need to see. "I'm afraid I haven't flown that far in some time, and my shoulders aren't too pleased with me." He groaned a bit as he lay back, shifting his wings into a somewhat more comfortable position in the cramped cave. "I'd tell you to savor your youth, but the young never do." He winked and laid his head back, looking at the shadows thrown onto the ceiling by the flames.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane laughed and finished off another bit of potato.

"I'm not sure I want to get old if it gets worse than it already is," her time in captivity was less than two years ago and the damage that had been done to her wings during the experimentation was still repairing itself. The Healers from back home thought it could take over 100 years for them to be back to their full strength again. Such a long flight was a mammoth undertaking but it was also a good exercise for re-strengthening her fragile muscles. Once she was finished with her potato she laid out on her back too.

For a while she just watched the patterns the flames made on the ceiling too, lost in her own thoughts and the concerns about what they might find amongst the Lost. They would both need their energy. With a soft sigh she rolled onto her side.

"Goodnight, Tadrielus."

* * *
​

The fire burnt all night in a never wavering ball even once the wood had been burnt through. Pale, autumnal light filtered through into the cave turning it from a dark and gloomy thing into a slightly dingy thing. Caliane stretched and massaged the aching spots in her wing before standing up. She blew into her hands to warm them and wriggled her toes in her boots for a similar reason. The fact it helped her nerves was a bonus.

"At least our next stop should be warm."

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus had awoken only minutes before Caliane when the faint rays of dawn were creeping into the cavern. The mountain range outside was clear and freshly dusted in snow. The storm, it appeared, had passed.

He was glad that Caliane had not heard the sheer number of cracks and pops his joints had made when he first stood that morning. He was no old noble who was used to plush beds and silk sheets, but even a few animal skins were more forgiving than bare stone, not to mention a surface that was actually level.

"Yes, warm and sunny, if our luck is good." He finished packing what little they had used overnight and secured the satchel to his armor once more before stepping outside. The wind was biting, but stretching his wings to full length was heavenly after the confines of stone. Squinting against the snowglare, he tried to map out a course in his head. They were on the right side of the peaks to reach the wilds easily, and should be able to glide down for most of the journey.

"If we descend far enough we might be able to find a spring of snowmelt." Water would be welcome.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Warm and sunny, she prayed to herself with a sigh as she rocked onto the balls of her feet and back to her heels to try and get some warmth into her hollow bones. Caliane followed the older Avariel over to the lip of the cave and unfolded her own wings once he had finished his stretches to perform her own. It was the ignorance of youth that meant she didn't map out the course in her mind but trusted her wings and her general sense of direction. Instead as Tadrielus wisely planned, the fire-blessed avariel wandered over to an icicle that lined the mouth of the cave and held her flask up to the point. She pressed two fingers to the wider part and with a trickle of heat melted the ice into her waiting water-skin.

"If the reports are right and they haven't moved, these Avariel's lived near a large waterfall of some kind," her mother had said they were almost tropical in comparison to the avariel who lived in Thyasari and their wing colours better represented jungle birds than the mountainous hues she had grown up with amongst her kind. She held out her hand to take his flask and do similar with another icicle.

Once she was done she took a long drag of icy fresh water and then stashed it away.

"Are you ready?"

 

[Tadrielus Galawen]

Tadrielus nodded gratefully as she filled his flask with meltwater. He had learned to be wary of the snow and ice of the Spine, ever since he unwittingly disturbed an ice elemental which attempting to gather snow. Or at least, that is what he had assumed it was. Whatever it had been, a hedgehog with spines of ice hurt quite a bit.

He searched his memory for any waterfall that might fit the description. The Ixchel Wilds were vast and had many areas that might meet such a description, but it was so dense that he could live a hundred lifetimes without discovering all of its secrets.

"If we keep north of the delta we should see most of the large falls," he suggested. Stowing the water-skin, he nodded again to her. He felt a great debt to her in this moment for asking him along. He felt an excitement that he hadn't indulged for ages, and one that he would have been content to let simmer in the background had she not come to push him along. Perhaps he had not been as happy in his solitude as he'd believed.

His armor felt familiar as an old friend, and though he still kept his sword by his side most of the time, he could almost feel a vibration of anticipation from the old weapon. Like it, too, knew adventure was coming.

"I am ready."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane gave him a wild smile and before he could pull the same trick as he had last time, leaving her in the metaphorical dust, the fire angel dove off the lip of the cave and into the currents below.

The remainder of the mountain range was a difficult one to navigate for any winged creature. Here the points rose high into the clouds making it hard to judge where a wing might clip a sudden rocky outcrop and the weather was too cold to risk rising much higher. At least, for the normal Avariel. Occasionally Caliane would dart above the clouds to take a look at the upcoming peaks and report back to Tadrielus so they could give the more clustered spikes a wider birth. Flying in such a manner was slower and more laborious but safer. The last thing they needed was for one of them to get hurt before they even reached the first group of Lost.

Her mind kept circling back to the first colony they were seeking out. What would they be like? Would they agree to return or even want to? Was there anything either of them could say to convince them? And what if they didn't find anyone? What if it was just Thyasari left in the world?

Rather suddenly the pair broke through the last of the cold air that hugged the Spine. Mountains fell away to lush grasslands and then the tops of thick jungles. She could already begin to feel her wings warm as they angled lower as space permitted.

"I've never been this far East," she called over the winds.