She wasn’t lost. She just wasn’t entirely sure where she was supposed to be going.
A few days after bumping into the seer duo, Rokopelli had found herself closer to home than ever before. She sat at the edge of the desert where the tuait’tekam dwelled. That pride was her home, it always would be, but she couldn’t return. Not yet, in any case. If she wanted to protect them then she had to get stronger and she wasn’t even close to that yet.
When she’d first arrived back at the lands, after her ‘rebirth’ she had hidden who she was from everyone. To the masses she was simply a playful little cub, the colour of shady sand. The only ones who had known about her true identity were the other Goddesses that dwelt there and, of course, the King himself. One of those goddesses was the female that Rokopelli had adopted as her new mother. But she hadn’t seen the grey goddess for a long time. She doubted the female was even in the lands anymore.
In any case, she couldn’t find out until she’d awakened the gifts she possessed and proved herself capable of their safe use.
She stood and turned from the lands of her heart to face the direction of the other lands she adored. Ever since Juuku had introduced her to the sea she had been besotted with it. It soothed the conflict in her personalities and helped wash away the stresses of living a life as an immortal. That’s where she had been heading when she had gotten lost. But now she had found her homelands she was sure she could figure out where she was going from here.
Or so she hoped.
Either way, it was going to be a lengthy flight. But, it was one that she had to make. She was worried about bumping into another bad God and was desperate for Juuku’s aid. He would help her, she was sure! Then she’d keep her promise to that grey-pelted God and have him killed. That’d show him for calling her a thief. That’d show him for putting infernal songs into her head to muddle her even more than she already was.
She didn’t even consider the fact that she probably shouldn’t be thinking about killing and any protest her other half made was ignored.
“We’ll protect us.” She spoke softly.
And arching her wings in a swan-like fashion she looked to the sky and sprang into its welcome embrace. She was never quite sure how this miracle was accomplished. She could fly even without beating her wings and though it drained her, it was a different sort of drain. No muscles ached, no physical exertion met. It was almost as if she would become mentally exhausted. Besides that, flying wasn’t easy. The wind was stronger up higher and it would constantly bash her around if she wasn’t careful. If she let herself just glide on the bubble of energy that was her power, she’d be thrashed to the ground in no time. She’d yet to master flight, especially landing, but it sure was fun and she tackled it head on every time.
There was a time when she’d keep to the clouds as she flew, dodging the empty spans of sky in case someone were to see her. But not anymore. Now she flew through the clear sky, wings slowly arching up then sweeping down. She caught an updraft of warm air and was twirled higher, calling out in delight. It was then, randomly, that she realised what wings were for. Other than being beautiful, they acted as sails to guide the body. With them she could turn faster, gain speed and be swept upwards. It’d be a long time before she mastered their use, but she was determined.
She wasn’t sure how long she flew except that it felt like a long time. She could feel that odd mental drain and let her wings fell still so that she could glide lower and find a place to rest up for a while.
That was when it happened.
The wind had been picking up steadily over the past ten minutes and twice she had almost lost control. Being as petite and delicate as she was, she seemed to be effected to quite a degree by the rough play of the wind.
Without warning the wind gave her a vicious shove and her wings twisted awkwardly, sending the young goddess spiralling towards the ground. She struggled to correct herself in time, trying to force her wings open and thus propel her upwards. But it was difficult to accomplish such a task when the world was spinning beneath you and you could no longer tell what was up and what was down.
