She felt like she'd been walking for days.
Well, in truth, she had. Celandine walked nearly everywhere she went, though she dearly loved to fly. At first, it had been because she hadn't been certain of the terrain, and erring on the side of caution was always preferable to finding oneself in danger. Ever since she'd met Vrabel, her bonded hawk, however, she had no fear of finding herself in a situation that she couldn't get out of. He was protective to the point that she would have found ridiculous in one of her own kind, but adorable in the form of a a bonded.
Still, sometimes, even he could get on her nerves. She'd banished him to the skies, irritated by his doom-like prophecies of what would befall her if she continued down the long, winding path that led out of the mountains. Though well aware he flew just slightly above her, watching her every move in the event he needed to swoop down and offer direction, the distance was comforting in the physical as well as symbolic sense.
She loved Vrabel, really. She just found him a little smothering sometimes.
"Celandine! The wind is picking up." Soaring down to meet her, he glided next to her head, apparently feeling that a breeze was enough to lift his ban from her immediately company.
"I noticed." Slanting him a half-amused, half-annoyed look, she asked, "Did you already forget you were banished?"
Ignoring her, the hawk sped forward, prompting Celandine to sigh and rustle her wings. Though she'd gotten used to the lower temperatures and high winds while flying through the mountains, she would have thought that the lower she went, the warmer it would get. That didn't seem to be the case, however, and she found that the closer she got to the base of the mountain, the colder it seemed to be.
Not just temperature, either. She got a feeling from this place that all was not well, and she wondered at it. Could places give off feelings? It seemed so. Regardless, she'd heard a rumor that all who ventured over these mountains were driven away by an angry stallion, and she intended to check it out. If they were true, she wanted to see why, and if she could help him. If they were false, well, she wanted to know what was repelling every traveler.
A strong gust hit her in the chest and she paused, closing her eyes as her bangs whipped into them. If she'd known it was going to be so windy, she would have asked a two-legger to tie a bandana arond her face! It wasn't as though she could see anyway.
"Celandine, this land does not look good. We should not be here." Though worried, Vrabel sounded little more than stern and annoyed. "I told you that this place was cursed."
"I don't believe in curses," she said lightly, shaking her bangs out of her face and deliberately walking around him. "Anyway, what does it look like? It feels very cold."
Twigs snapped under her hooves and she jumped a little, not aware that she'd left the mountain trail. Uneasily, she furled her wings at her sides, trying to keep the wind from sending their feathers into disarray.
"There is snow on the ground, and very little living. Trees abound, but they are shadowed and dead, and the sky is full of storms. Not a ray of light to be seen," he added, voice deepening in disapproval. "A curse, Celandine. Whether you believe in a thing or not, it still exists."
"Or doesn't exist," she returned, lifting her head high and starting forward again. "It sounds lonely. Could someone really live here and turn everyone else away? What kind of life would that be?"
Not the kind she would want, she knew. It seemed inconceivable to her that anyone would want to be alone for all their days, shrouded in gloom and cold, without even the comfort of the sun's warming rays on their back during the daylight. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, everyone needed someone - and so she couldn't believe that whoever lived here was really happy as things were.
"I'll fly above and see if the terrain changes..."
"Be careful, Vrabel." Shaking her head, she mused, "The winds aren't battering, but they make a mournful noise, don't they? I'm sure they're worse high up."
"You be careful as well. Don't go wandering away," he advised, taking off in a flurry of wings.
She waited a moment, ear cocked to the sky, before beginning to plod forward once more. After all, he was flying - so he'd be able to see her no matter where she was, right?
