that were responsible for the wind. It was almost powerful enough to lift her off of her feet. “Have these winds ever stopped?”
“Only once,” Cirrus replied, unmoved by the wind.
Sybl decided to leave it at that as his expression returned to what it had been at the ruins of the Fay Wall.
“We made the wrong choice. Revenge against an enemy wasn’t the answer to a sickness, and it brought us less than nothing in the end.”
She scrambled to try and catch him, before the wind picked her up and set her afloat. “Help!”
Cirrus seemed content to use her to change the topic before he could reflect the pain of his past onto her any further. He used the wind to set her over the Chasm as he focused in on her more simpler thoughts. Like her particular one on falling. “I’m sorry, did you just say you wanted down?”
“Yes. Please. But not—”
Sybl cried out in terror as she thought she was going to die when he dropped her. Then a surge of wind lifted her back up to the top again where his hand awaited hers. Her legs shook on trying to stand upright.
“If you were more specific with your escaping thoughts, things like this would be easier to avoid.”
“Point...taken...” Sybl said as she trembled a couple more times. “Just how do I do that?”
“You have to learn how to focus, and I wouldn’t be cheating if I didn’t have an Ancient to help with that. Your anxiety makes too much noise and any single thought you try to direct gets shaken off path by it.”
“I have an excuse to be full of anxiety,” Sybl said with another shudder. “I have a whole list of ‘em!”
“No, not anymore. Now give it a try. Think something to me without thinking of a hundred other things at the same time.”
“Um, okay.” Sybl looked at his eyes as she thought about the blue sky she might never see again on Earth.
“Try harder.”
She closed her eyes and thought about his name being that of cloud. Her focus was still failing as a rush of wind pushed her back and closer to the edge of the chasm. “Okay okay I got this!” Sybl pleaded. She tried again, before catching sight of something moving along the wall. When she looked closer, it proved to be a transparent shape of a dragon, but not so much as a fifth the size she had remembered it before. “Dragon?”
It was still the wrong answer as the spirit came straight at and through her in a rush of wind. The force of it all was strong enough to lift and throw her backwards off the edge, before the hands of a solid dragon caught her and twisted them back upright. Then Cirrus flew back up and through his chosen tunnel at the speed of a roller coaster. He carefully navigated the tunnels as she hung on for dear life, before the light on the other side could be seen and he rose up into it. Then he climbed higher as his command over the wind propelled the force of his wings straight upwards.
12: B O N D E D P L E A S
Kas hadn’t stopped pacing since they reached the Chasm. It looked to be driving him just short of mad to be lacking the wings to reach her. It was solid rock under the mountain, making it impossible to emerge from a Rift under it.
Hain was more interested in what was in the sky. “We have to go, they’re going to kill us if we sit like ducks here.”
“She is right there!” Kas yelled through his despair. “You have wings—you can fly over and—”
“And nothing! I can’t fly.”
“Why won’t you help me?”
“Because I can’t. Even if I could find a way to fly across that wind, that is a mountain of trained dragoons. We’re leaving, now,” Hain said as he caught Kas’ arm in hand. “We lost this round.”
“I will not lose her!” Kas cried in despair as he gripped the arm of the Mei that connected him to Sybl and pulled away from Hain’s grip. “I... I could have told her everything.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything.
“Only once,” Cirrus replied, unmoved by the wind.
Sybl decided to leave it at that as his expression returned to what it had been at the ruins of the Fay Wall.
“We made the wrong choice. Revenge against an enemy wasn’t the answer to a sickness, and it brought us less than nothing in the end.”
She scrambled to try and catch him, before the wind picked her up and set her afloat. “Help!”
Cirrus seemed content to use her to change the topic before he could reflect the pain of his past onto her any further. He used the wind to set her over the Chasm as he focused in on her more simpler thoughts. Like her particular one on falling. “I’m sorry, did you just say you wanted down?”
“Yes. Please. But not—”
Sybl cried out in terror as she thought she was going to die when he dropped her. Then a surge of wind lifted her back up to the top again where his hand awaited hers. Her legs shook on trying to stand upright.
“If you were more specific with your escaping thoughts, things like this would be easier to avoid.”
“Point...taken...” Sybl said as she trembled a couple more times. “Just how do I do that?”
“You have to learn how to focus, and I wouldn’t be cheating if I didn’t have an Ancient to help with that. Your anxiety makes too much noise and any single thought you try to direct gets shaken off path by it.”
“I have an excuse to be full of anxiety,” Sybl said with another shudder. “I have a whole list of ‘em!”
“No, not anymore. Now give it a try. Think something to me without thinking of a hundred other things at the same time.”
“Um, okay.” Sybl looked at his eyes as she thought about the blue sky she might never see again on Earth.
“Try harder.”
She closed her eyes and thought about his name being that of cloud. Her focus was still failing as a rush of wind pushed her back and closer to the edge of the chasm. “Okay okay I got this!” Sybl pleaded. She tried again, before catching sight of something moving along the wall. When she looked closer, it proved to be a transparent shape of a dragon, but not so much as a fifth the size she had remembered it before. “Dragon?”
It was still the wrong answer as the spirit came straight at and through her in a rush of wind. The force of it all was strong enough to lift and throw her backwards off the edge, before the hands of a solid dragon caught her and twisted them back upright. Then Cirrus flew back up and through his chosen tunnel at the speed of a roller coaster. He carefully navigated the tunnels as she hung on for dear life, before the light on the other side could be seen and he rose up into it. Then he climbed higher as his command over the wind propelled the force of his wings straight upwards.
12: B O N D E D P L E A S
Kas hadn’t stopped pacing since they reached the Chasm. It looked to be driving him just short of mad to be lacking the wings to reach her. It was solid rock under the mountain, making it impossible to emerge from a Rift under it.
Hain was more interested in what was in the sky. “We have to go, they’re going to kill us if we sit like ducks here.”
“She is right there!” Kas yelled through his despair. “You have wings—you can fly over and—”
“And nothing! I can’t fly.”
“Why won’t you help me?”
“Because I can’t. Even if I could find a way to fly across that wind, that is a mountain of trained dragoons. We’re leaving, now,” Hain said as he caught Kas’ arm in hand. “We lost this round.”
“I will not lose her!” Kas cried in despair as he gripped the arm of the Mei that connected him to Sybl and pulled away from Hain’s grip. “I... I could have told her everything.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything.
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