Quest [Flashback] Reaching For The Sky (Phoenix)

[Mia Zaro]

76th Day of Spring, 506 AV


Mia dragged her feet dejectedly after the road crew. A storm had been going on for the last two days, resulting in snow drifts almost as tall as the eleven year old. The Sanikas Gates had been closed for the duration of the storm but now that the Zulrav had been temporarily appeased a crew was sent out to clear the Road. Mia just so happened to be one of the unlucky Yasi whose Bendi at this moment was to help out the workers. She would have given anything to be on cleaning duty and up in the aeries where an egg was expected to hatch any moment now. Instead, she was stuck out here where even the thickest Katinu wouldn’t be able to protect her from the harsh bite of the cold.

The girl tugged at her scarf for what must have bee the tenth time after passing through the gates, pulling it, trying to cover her nose and mouth better. She blew warm air through the material in an attempt to warm up her hands. Despite the fact she had her warmest gloves on her fingers already felt numb from the cold. Her breath wasn’t really helping much so Mia gave up quickly. This whole assignment was pointless anyway. The storm was sure to pick up again tonight and they would have wasted a perfectly good day. A day she could have spent courting one of the still riderless Eagles too!

The good thing about the situation was that Mia hadn’t really planned on sticking to her Bendi. The moment the assignments were given out early this morning she had rushed back to her shared quarters in the youth section of the city and had retrieved the short bow her parents had given her for her eighth birthday. For the last three years the poor thing had remained stuffed under her bunk after her very first attempt to use it had resulted in an arrow through the foot of the Avora who had been trying to teach her how to properly hold it. Not really wanting to remember the unpleasant situation that had ensued at the time Mia just avoided her weapon altogether.

The only reason the girl had pulled the bow out now was the frightening possibility that no Eagle would be interested in bonding with her, if she didn’t even know how to hold one straight. That fear might or might not have been one encouraged by her brother Mas who just happened to be able to pick up any weapon and in a matter of days wield it with the ease of someone who’s had years of practice. So Mia, not wanting to be left behind, felt forced to go out and practice some place where there weren’t too many feet she might damage.

While the road crew and her fellow Yasi were setting up to start working, Mia pulled back and used an opportune moment to make a run for it. The drifts were spread irregularly, providing cover and allowing for easier passage through some places. Still, by the time she felt she had put enough distance between her and her group there was a stitch in her side and her throat burned from the cold air. After she thought she could breath again without heaving, Mia straightened up and made her way to a relatively snowless clearing that had been protected from most of the storm’s wrath by the rock formation that stood on its west side. Here the snow only reached halfway up to the girl’s calf which allowed her more freedom with her movements.

The redhead pulled her bow and quiver off her shoulder, placing the latter on the ground where she could reach for an arrow easily. Her eyes were drawn to the feathers tied at the tips of the limbs as they were taken in the hold of the air current and drifted gently on it. Mia closed her eyes, listening to the wind that had just picked up. It was coming from the west again. She hadn’t been wrong about the storm starting up again tonight.

When the gust died out the girl took off her gloves, dropping them carelessly on the ground and picked up one of her arrows. She tried positioning it on the bow the way she had seen many Avora hunters doing before. She held the weapon awkwardly, even its relatively small size feeling unnatural in her hands. The arrow kept moving along the wooden limbs of the bow with her left hand positioned incorrectly as it was. She struggled to place it right, but in the end it fell from her hand, catching her fingers between the bowstring and the arrow’s shaft as it went. Mia hissed in pain and made an attempt to kick at the offending pointed piece of wood. All she succeeded doing was throwing up some snow in the air and barely keeping her balance.

Her attempts to first position and then actually try to shoot an arrow continued with pretty much the same success. A bell later found her sitting on the ground, foot strategically placed behind the bow’s belly while her hands were trying to pull at the string in order to send an arrow further away than the couple of meters she had managed so far. The tips of her fingers hurt from the strain by now and with every failed attempt her temper reared its head and sent her fuming and shouting at no one in particular. When her foot slipped and sent her arrow falling into the snow yet again Mia all but roared and threw her bow on the ground not too far away from where she was sitting.

This was hopeless. At this rate she would be lucky if she ever shot an arrow with the useless thing. If she were an Eagle she would be thinking twice before getting involved with her. And then Mia would end up being stuck on the ground when she knew she belonged in the sky. A loud sigh escaped her as she fell back on the snow, spreading her arms as she went. The sky above was a light grey color, another sign that they hadn’t seen the end of the snow yet. The girl half-heartedly moved her arms, imitating the flap of a bird’s wings.

Mia laid for a while like that, until she could feel the cold and the wet from the melting snow underneath her seeping through her Katinu. Perhaps it was time to go back to the road crew. This whole training idea was starting to seem very stupid right about now.

[Phoenix]

"Mia?" The voice drifted through the crisp air, barely a whisper now though it had originated as a shout; a breeze has started to pick up around the same time that the fluffy gray clouds of suggestion began to darken ominously. Zulrav’s favor warned the girl of the approaching Inartan, giving her enough time to hide should she so choose.

The snow that still blanketed the ground, thick and mostly undisturbed this far from the road, muffled all of nature’s natural sounds as well as footsteps; the Chiet sent in search of the missing Yasi had to slog through the calf-high snow, crusted over in some places by melt that had frozen. It failed, however, to mask Mia’s tracks, which were laid out in a relatively straight line through the white powder.

Mia's absence hadn't been noticed immediately, and her plan would have gone off without at hitch had the Chiet not shown up with a message for the woman in charge of overseeing the Bendi and with instructions to bring Mia back to the city. Garvy had known the triplets since they were young, having been somewhat of a part-time baby sitter when they were toddlers.

When Garvy came upon the Snow Bird, marking where Mia had laid, the young man stopped and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Miiiiiiiia?” Drawing out the name so that it carried over the thick silence. There was a pause as he waited for a response, his gaze slowly tracking around the clearing as he waited, looking for any sign of the girl at all. She had to be somewhere nearby; there were no obvious tracks leading away from the spot. “Mia, it’s about Mao!”

[Mia Zaro]

As the chilly breeze brought the sound of her name Mia immediately sat up and scanned her surroundings for the source. It was rather faint still, but the terrain was mostly open here and she would be easy to spot once the person calling for her got close enough. The girl quickly rose to her feet, trying to decide what she should do. Someone from the road crew must have noticed that she was missing, or perhaps one of the other Yasi had told on her. Mia grimaced, imagining the Bendi supervisor’s expression. If she got caught out here, actually trying to skip her obligations... she’d get stuck in the kitchens again.

With that terrifying prospect in mind the young Yasi hurried to gather all of her things and with that awkward armful she rushed towards the rock formation she had noted earlier. The breeze helpfully covered most of her tracks and pushed against her shoulders, as if trying to get her to run faster. Mia stumbled through the snow a few times, but managed to take cover relatively quickly. If she succeeded in avoiding the person sent to retrieve her, perhaps she could circle around, rejoin the group and pretend she didn’t leave at all, or rather fell behind for a little bit. It wasn’t the perfect plan, but, even if they didn’t believe her, it was still better to go back on her own than to be brought back like some disobedient chick.

The girl rushed to put her arrows back in the quiver, slinging the bow over her shoulder and trying to put on her gloves all at the same time. It wasn’t really working and the effort and her agitation were causing sweat to break on her forehead. A string of curse words that no eleven year old should use with such ease were muttered under her breath until she finally gave up and just stuffed the gloves in the sleeve of her Katinu.

The sound of snow crunching under someone’s feet drew her attention. She stopped to listen, but, before she could determine how far the person looking for her was, another cry of ‘Mia‘, coming from much closer than she could have expected, made her jump. The man - the voice had certainly been male - must have just reached the place where she had been practicing. The girl would have hurried to put some distance between them, if the shout hadn’t sounded somewhat familiar. Realizing this was probably very stupid and that, if she wasn’t being careful, she could ruin her whole plan, Mia still leaned forward, placing her bare hands on the cold rock and peaking behind its edge.

It wasn’t hard to recognize Garvy, even if she hadn’t seen the young man for quite some time now. The Chiet had been the one to tell her stories about the first Wind Eagles and their riders, repeating them time and time again at the request of a much younger, but just as eager Mia. He had broken up fights, nursed bruised knees and saved Mao from plummeting to his death from the Nesting chamber of their parents‘ Eagles more than once or twice. But what would Garvy be doing out here, and looking for her too?

Mia leaned forward a little bit more, almost losing her balance and falling in the snow. Was he sent by that rather strict-looking Bendi supervisor that was out with them today? Would he give up and go away if she didn’t respond and he couldn’t find any more tracks to follow? Maybe, if she just stayed quiet and waited, he...

“Mia, it’s about Mao!”

And just like that all of her plans were thrown out of the nest. Without hesitation, or even a moment for consideration, Mia stepped out of her cover and took the few steps that would bring her in the man’s field of vision. “Garvy,” she greeted him loudly enough to draw his attention and then hurried to shorten the distance between them. Her quiver was bouncing awkwardly on her back, but she didn’t notice. Worry was etched on her face and her voice was heavy with it as she asked hurriedly: “Is Mao alright? What’s going on?”

[Phoenix]

“He’s missing” The man stepped towards the girl upon her appearance, meeting her halfway. His eyes shone with concern as he blurted this, his hands half extended as if he wanted to reach for the young girl but didn’t quite know if it would be appropriate; he had known them since they were little and he knew exactly how Mia would react to this news. He didn’t, however, know if it was his place to comfort her.

So, standing there awkwardly, Garvy continued on in a rush of words after a few ticks of silence. “He was with the rest of the Yasi during break. They were in the Courtyard and Piko took her eyes off of him for one second to reprimand Little Timmay and when she looked back….” The words came out in a rush, Garvy finishing his explanation before he expected, the sentence trailing off into another awkward silence.

“They… don’t know where he is gone. I was sent to come find you because they said you would have known where he had gone, or hid, or whatever.” Taking a deep breath, Garvy looked away for a moment before looking back at Mia; there was concern etched in every line of his face. “Are you alright?”

Hopefully Mia would be able to hold herself together. Alright or not, as soon as the words left the young mans mouth, big heavy snowflakes began to float down around them, the sky darkening with each passing chime. They were quickly running out of time as the snowstorm rolled closer to the mountain. Both Mia and Garvy knew that the Spring storms could be worse than those in the Winter, catching Wind Reach off guard as they were lulled into a false sense of security as the seasons changed.

“We have to hurry. What if he’s…?” Garvy glanced around at the trees and then up at the heavy clouds. He didn’t want to be the one to say it, to wonder if Mia’s special brother was going to be trapped out in the storm. Nodding firmly to himself, Garvy glanced back at Mia and offered his hand to the girl and they took off at a run- or, was much of a run as they could manage through the snow, the young man using their joined hands to help pull Mia along.

Panting, the pair stumbled in through the front gate, past Val without returning his cheery wave and flew down the darkened corridors that lead to the city proper. They had just barely stepped past the doors of the Valintar when Kaden himself opened the great doors, poking his head out and looking weary.

“Garvy! Did you find him?” The lean man paced quickly to their side, his eyes on Mia as he offered his inquiry.

“No we haven’t, I was sent to find Mia but-“ Garvy was cut off as a woman rushed around the corner. She was later in her years, her hair more gray now than red, the stress that was written clearly across her features easily adding five years to her face.

“They found tracks through the snow!” Panting, the woman addressed the two men, seeming not to notice Mia at all. “They think he left the city. Towards the forest.”

[Mia Zaro]

“He’s missing”

Have you ever fallen from a few meters on your back? Have you ever been punched in the stomach? Have you ever ran and collided with something, coming to an abrupt stop. Have you ever been under water, but held your breath for a little bit too long? Then you would know that horrible sensations of your lungs being emptied of all of their air. It’s that pressing weight on your chest that makes you think you will never really be able to take another breath. Your head spins and the world turns black in front of your eyes, if only for a tick, and for that single moment it seems like that is it. You can sleep now... Until the world crashes into you with incredible force and demands you breathe again, bringing all the horror of the present and thrusting it upon you.

To Mia it seemed that Garvy’s words were reaching her through deep water. They were muffled and hard to distinguish and understand. Her mind was picking them up and letting them float in the mist that was currently her consciousness, peering at them every once in a while, as if too scared to actually let them sink in. They were too horrible to be true, too real not to be.

By the time the Chiet finished with his explanation Mia’s face had gotten considerably paler than it usually was. Her breathing was shallow and she was sure that if she tried to speak a sob would leave her lips instead of words. So, when Garvy asked if she was alright, the only response she managed to give was a false nod. Of course she wasn’t alright - if the man hadn’t been able to foresee it, he would surely have read it by now in her wide-eyed, terrified expression. Breaking down now, however, wouldn’t be helping the situation at all and was thus unthinkable. She couldn't afford such a luxury right now. Despite that realization, the moment the first snowflakes started falling, Mia came close to loosing her self-imposed control. The breeze softly caressed her suddenly burning face, as if to offer comfort, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. The only thing she could do was swallow around the lump in her throat and cling to the desperate belief that Mao hadn’t managed to leave the safety of the city.

Mia reached out to grab Garvy’s hand, noting absently that no, thankfully her own hand wasn’t shaking, and they broke into a run. She didn’t know if she stumbled along the way and the man had to pull her up and if they had passed by the crew she had been meant to aid she hadn’t seen them at all. There was only the immediate need to move forward, mind projected in front of her, already searching familiar caverns and corridors for her brother’s possible location. The only thing the Yasi could remember from leaving the spot where she had practiced archery (which seemed to have happened a lifetime ago rather than just this morning) to speeding past Val without bothering to return his greeting was the death grip she had on Garvy’s hand. She knew she was holding him much tighter than was required for her to keep her balance, but she found this small physical contact with someone else who knew her brother incredibly comforting. If the girl remained at all aware of her surroundings and her own body struggling to move forward, it was thanks to their linked hands.

Mao.

By the time they reached the doors of the Valintar and a worried-looking Kaden came out to meet them, Mia had managed to lock away the swirling mist filled with nightmarish images and ‘what if’-s that were too horrible to contemplate. The girl still felt rather numb, as if stuck somewhere between the physical world and the one created by her rushing thoughts, but she still managed to meet Wind Reach’s leader’s gaze head on. Her expression was one of cold determination as she wholeheartedly embraced her version of reality where in a matter of bells or even chimes she would be finding her brother and bringing him back to safety.

Still, despite her firm belief that things would turn out alright, the moment Mia saw the woman approaching them in a rush she knew immediately she wouldn’t like what she had to say. It was a sinking feeling of dread that settled over her and the girl found herself willing the unknown Inarta to turn around and walk away. Unfortunately, the woman didn’t even seem to notice her glare, or her presence at all for that matter, as she delivered her message. Words Mia felt she could recite before they had even been said.

Mao hadn’t been found. Mao wasn’t in the city. They had found tracks instead. Outside. Where a snowstorm was just about to hit. Mao was outside.

Before the two men could even respond Mia had torn away from Garvy with one swift movement, had whirled around and was now running back in the direction from which they had just come. Her blood was pumping loud in her ears and if there was someone calling after her she didn’t hear them. Her brother’s name was a wordless, soundless cry that reached out over and over again in her mind.

Mao!

[Phoenix]

Garvy was the only one that noticed when Mia tore away, instinctively turning and running after the girl. He made it only a few steps before the sharp ring of the Valintar’s voice broke through the snow muffled air.

“We need to split up. The road is already bad and I doubt that he is still on the path anyway. The Yasi returning from their Bendi will stop her before she gets too far.” Kaden’s tone held the note of authority of someone used to being obeyed immediately; Garvy’s hesitation in complying with the command caused the Valintar’s mouth to curl down at the corners. “Garvy...”

The single word, heavy with implication, weighed heavily on the young man’s decision. A frustrated sigh manifested as a puff of mist that hovered in front of his face before the wind tore it apart. Neither the woman nor Kaden moved until Garvy started back towards them, the trio disappearing into the snow at a steady trot.

For the most part, Mia had an easy time retracing the path she took earlier that morning. With the snowfall steadily increasing, the girl shouldn’t have been surprised when the wind brought her a mixture of chatter and complaints; the band of Yasi were, as The Valintar predicted, on their way back up the slope, just around the bend from her.

To the left there was a ridge of stone that joined up with the side of the mountain a few dozen feet away; with the wind whipping the snow around, it had begun to pile up around the ridge, the mounds far taller than any man in Wind Reach. It was the perfect place to hide while the Yasi passed by, but Mia would have to hurry to reach rocks before she was spotted.

With the snow obscuring everything and desperation clouding her judgment, Mia hardly thought to check the area for soundness before rushing behind the ridge. Almost as soon as she disappeared behind the outcropping, the ground heaved beneath her feet, a brittle snapping sound filling the air; for a moment, Mia was standing on nothing before she plummeted swiftly downward.

Pure luck had the young girl land in a high drift, her fall cushioned by the fluffy snow. Over a hundred feet separated Mia from the group of Yasi now, and there was no way for her to climb back up the sheer cliff face between them. And still, there was no sign of Mao.

Just when everything started to look hopeless, the wind threw a blast of the fine white powder into her face, the force of it burning her eyes and stinging her cheeks. With the snow, however….

“Stuck! Stuck!” Mao’s voice would be instantly familiar to his sister, though distant and barely a whisper. “Help! Stuck!” If Mia could figure out the direction the wind was blowing from, it would lead her parallel to the path above them, around the side of the mountain face and towards the edge of The Unforgiving.

[Mia Zaro]

What had initially started out as running slowed down to a rapid pace soon after Mia made it past the Sanikas Gates. The wind had picked up considerably and so had the snowfall and it was more of a struggle to walk against the air current. The snow was falling wet and thick, piling up on the current mounds quickly. The girl was advancing with a hand up, trying to shield her face just enough for her to be able to see ahead. The bow and quiver were awkward to carry over her shoulder, but she was so focused on moving as quickly as possible that she didn't notice.

Mia didn't actually know what she was planning on doing or where exactly she was heading. At first she had hoped to find any tracks her brother might have left, but with the weather as it was, it was very likely that they had already been covered with fresh snow. Still, she couldn't have stayed back, waiting for the Valintar to devise a plan of action, which would probably involve her staying behind and leaving any search to the Avora hunters and the Endal. And her being left behind while Mao was somewhere in the mountain, having to face one of the vicious Spring storms, was an impossibility. She would continue down the road and once she was a little bit further away from the city she'd start calling the boy's name and hope that if he had gone off the path he would still be close enough to hear her.

Soon enough the girl realised that she was approaching the spot where she had split up from the rest of the Yasi and the road crew. Just as she thought that, a new gust of wind brought the sound of voices and of a group making their way up the slope. They sounded rather close, probably just behind the bend and for a moment Mia panicked. If they saw her out here alone, they were sure to bring her back with them. And she couldn't go back! Mao needed her!

The eleven year old quickly scanned her surroundings, looking for some place where she could hide, until the group passed. That particular part of the road seemed rather open and desperation was just about to settle in when a quick glance to her left revealed a stone ridge almost completely covered by snow. Without thinking, already easy to recognise voices carried on the air, Mia dove off the road. The girl had barely taken cover, not even having breathed out in relief yet when the ground seemingly heaved beneath her. The snow mound was not strong enough to hold her weight and send her tumbling down the cliff side.

There was a horrifying moment of free falling, Mia's stomach unpleasantly lurching upwards as her hands tried to grab on to something - anything. There was only snow. By the time the realisation that she was most likely falling towards her death settled, her back collided with the snow piled up in a high drift what must have been a hundred metres below the path. The air was blown out of her chest and her ribs and back were probably bruised on the side where her weapon hung. Still, she was in one piece and she was pretty sure she hadn't broken anything, the mound having softened her fall.

Her plan of action however, had very abruptly become impossible to execute. A quick glance up told her she couldn't climb back to the road - not in this weather and without any equipment anyway. The fall could have just cost her her brother. The girl suddenly felt the weight of all of her eleven years, her fear and apparent weakness, and her eyes welled up with tears. What was she supposed to do?

It was the wind that struck harshly against her face, preventing the salty droplets from spilling, that brought her hope again. Mao's voice, barely louder than a whisper, but still undeniably his, was all the girl needed to send her scrambling to her feet again. Whispering an impassioned thank you to Zulrav, Mia threw herself in the direction from each the call for help had come. "Mao!" Her own voice rose in a desperate shout that probably didn't carry more than a few metres down the slope. "Mao, I'm coming!"

This side of the mountain was very steep and would have been impossible to scale in either direction during Summer, but the snow was piled up high between rocks, ridges and crevices, allowing for someone Mia's size to make her way down. The girl was mostly sliding and falling, unable to find good footing or stand upright for long, but she was making quick progress. Her face was red from the cold and her effort, her katinu feeling heavy and too warm. Her hair was full of snow, her clothes covered in it. It was melting down her forehead and her neck, but she ignored it.

Every once in a while Mia would call out for her brother again, listening to the wind for his voice. The boy's shouts, while becoming clearer, were sounding weaker with every gust and the closer she thought she got the more time seemed to pass between them. "Hold on!" Mia screamed as she pleaded with Zulrav for more strength and speed. She slid past the last ridge, her hand getting cut on the stone as she tried to keep her balance and slow her progress a little bit. The tree line was there, but it had been more than a couple of chimes since she had last heard Mao. At a glance, her surroundings held no clue to her brother's whereabouts and Mia felt her previous desperation crashing over her like a wave.

"Mao! Mao, please! Where are you?!"

[Phoenix]

The wind had surely begun to pick up, but whether or not it was Zulrav responding to Mia’s prayer was unclear. It wasn’t a gentle, guiding wind that made her fleet of foot, nor did it whip away a mound of snow to conveniently reveal her lost brother. No, the wind was angry and harsh, its needle-like fingers stabbing through every layer of the girl’s clothes with each gust. The eddies of powdery snow that had once danced through the sky now streaked by as the wind whipped the earths white cover every which way, completely obscuring the girls senses; the angry white storm became everything.

With some of the drifts up to her knees, it would be hard for Mia to keep going but she knew she had to. The urge to just sit down and sleep was strong, weighing on the girl; She could look for Mao later. He would be fine and warm like she was now. He had stopped crying for her, after all… but they had taught the Yasi from a very young age that the warm, sleepy feeling that you got when caught out in the cold meant that you would never wake up. She must fight it.

An unknown amount of time passed as Mia struggled through the snow, cold and lost and frightened. Zulrav continued to use his winds against her, giving her no reprieve, no chance to stop or give in, relentlessly pushing her forward and away from the city. Should she try for the trees, she would find the way blocked by large hills of snow, blown against the trunks of the massive trees and piling into a giant barrier that kept the small girl out. She was stuck to following the side of the mountain.

Night began to fall- or was it the clouds simply drowning out Syna’s light?- and Mia had heard not another whisper from her brother since his last call, the winds just as fierce as ever, persistent in their pushing of her forward. And perhaps that was what Mia’s patron god had in mind, using his winds to guide the girl in the right direction.

Just as twilight fell, a few fingers of light had managed to fight through the cloud cover, illuminating a spot ahead, cleared of snow by the wind, glittering against the frozen earth. Glittering. From a distance, it didn’t look like anything particularly special lay in her path, but closer inspection would find a lump of glass, deep brown and red in color, the light reflecting off of the smooth surface where the colors had blended in with the dirt. It was in the shape of an eagle, one of it’s wings missing. Mia would recognize it as Mao’s favorite figurine, one that he carried with him everywhere.

Perhaps it was just a crazy random happenstance, but only a dozen feet away was another area, the snow cleared away to reveal the dirt below and a long, deep gouge in the earth. It was much bigger than Mao could have been, and it looked as if something was dragged. A mass of bright red feathers, not unlike Mia’s hair, lay in clumps, scattered about the area. Not only that, but the gouge lead directly into the mouth of a cave in the base of the mountain.

And then she heard it, from deep within the darkness of the unknown cave.

“Help! Stuck!”