PM to join [Suren Cliffs] Down with a Splash

[Lavira]

Timestamp- Summer 23rd, 513

"Hey, watch it!" Vira shouted after the kid when he shoved past her, nearly knocking the woman off the edge and into the water some twenty feet below.

It was a fairly warm day. Too warm to hang out in the aeries or elsewhere in the city that was perfect for winter, but horrible sometimes for life in the summer. But Inartans were used to the heat. They were tough cookies; they could take it. It wasn't miserable enough to take a trip to the Bay and the cooler waters therein, but the warm weather was definitely ideal for swimming.

So, once she'd finished getting things organized at the nests in use and finishing her usual tasks, Vira had taken the rest of the day off, returned to her quarters to grab some dry undergarments, and then headed down to the lake to participate in some cliff diving. The did bring her bracer though, that obnoxious harrier of hers having decided she shouldn't go alone this time and would not let her leave her room without him.

She reached the cliffs to find it almost jammed with others apparently having the same idea as she. Get done with work, go swimming. Mostly it was Yasi who'd been let early from their classes. The Chiets she saw were ones typically seen down in the gardens, their faces lighter because of their time spent underground most of the time. The teen recognized some from Market, and one Dek she worked around at the nesting aeries. But the majority were not Inartans she knew.

The kid that had shoved past her was a rust haired lad with big freckles on his neck. He had the rough-and-tumble look of a youth that would likely die before reaching caste assignment. Not a good nature to have in a city already full of dangerous environments. Vira shook her head and pursed her lips, telling Tulaj to fly for now. Let him hang on the thermals overhead. The woman then stripped from her pants and folded them neatly, laying a stone from the ground on top to keep them from getting accidentally blown away by the hot winds.

Her eyes turned to the cliffside then where two Yasi were jumping tandem, whooping as they went over and into the water below with a mighty splash. A few moments later she heard them surface, laughing heartily and swimming back to the base of the cliff to climb back up and do it again. The little snot who'd shoved her was getting ready to jump then, running to the edge without care for who was there now, and leaping off. He tucked his knees in and wrapped his arms around his legs as he plummeted to the warm water down below.

"What a jerk...he does this every time." She heard someone saying from nearby and turned her head their way. Another yasi, a little older than the kid who'd jumped.

"He's going to get himself killed if he's not careful, and probably take someone with him." She said off-handedly.

"Agreed; you know, he tried climbing the Edge last season during that storm that broke the glass? Idiot almost got blown off by the wind sheer! I think he's got a death wish with how careless he's being. Maybe his parents dropped him on his head..."

This made Vira laugh, that pretty grin spreading from lips. "Well, whatever the case, once he does get hurt, he'll probably be more careful. It's amazing what an injury can do for the mind." Vira nodded off to an open spot a little ways up from the twenty foot drop. "That looks like a better spot to jump. I don't wanna be near him; better safe than sorry, right?" She went to the rise of the spot she'd indicated and climbed the rocks up. It was a little over twenty feet to the bottom, a nice sized drop that really gave one the whoosh and feel of flying. The water looked deep enough too with no outstanding boulders beneath the surface that she could see.

She heard her harrier give a screech overhead and glanced up briefly. Tulaj was still soaring lazily, giving his wings a flap. Briefly, the chiet wondered if he might know something she didn't when he decided to come with her instead of doing his own thing like he preferred to do.

[Aidara]

Heights were to be respected, and everyone should have a adequate fear of them; it was only natural to be afraid of that which took ones safety completely out of their control. The Inarta, however, disregarded that fear daily just by living as they did, perched atop a volcano and riding giant birds.

Addy had grown up watching her sister take the risks, while she sat at a distance and appreciated the courage it took to achieve what Sairque did, knowing all the while that it wasn’t for her. But things change, people change, and now Addy was an Endal. Sure, she strapped herself to Sira’s saddle more often than not but she still put herself out there, and that was what counted.

The cliff dropped away to reveal a sheer cliff face that plummeted down into the silky looking waters of the Twin Lakes, Addy’s legs dangling over the edge as she let the breeze buffet them back and forth. She had to admit that there was something to the thrill that left her nerves tingling as she sat so close to the edge, something to the danger. It wasn’t as hard to see why people flung themselves towards peril while sitting up so high. It was freeing.

Caught in her thoughts, the little woman was startled into a yelp as a pugnacious ginger boy jostled her on his way to the edge, flinging himself into the air with a great wind-milling of arms before tucking his limbs in close for the impact of the water below. Now that was something Addy wasn’t going to do, that was for sure.

Aware of her surroundings now, Addy glanced up as a scraping and scratching on the far side of the cliff announced the next climber, her wary, thoughtful expression transforming into a smile as the top of Vira’s head appeared over the cliff. “Well, well. We’re just destined to meet up high, aren’t we?” Pulling her legs up and over the edge, Addy pushed herself back a safe distance before standing and moving to encase the younger woman in a hug.

Pulling away and holding her at arms length, the way a mother would when observing her child, Addy raised a delicate brow and twisted her lips to the side in a smirk; Stripped almost bare was not how Addy had expected to see Vira next. “It’s hot, but it’s not that hot. Don’t tell me you’re going to jump?” Of course she was going to jump, but the question was asked out of sheer surprise.

“I came up here to try and lost my nerve. Rock climbing is one thing but... I’ve seen far too many come into the Infirmary with impact wounds to think it a good idea.” It was true. Addy’s experience as a healer had stolen a lot of the daring from her, since it was hard to be reckless when you were faced, day after day, with the results of such decisions. “Way to ruin the mood, right?” Rolling her eyes at herself, Addy stepped a bit closer and peered over the edge once more. “I wouldn’t be against swimming, though. Maybe I’ll meet you at the bottom?”

x

[Lavira]

The woman was pleasantly surprised when she saw Aidara sitting not far from where she had just climbed up. "Addy! Hi!" She said, laughing as the shorter one embraced her. Vira returned the hug with kind reserve. "Didn't think you'd ever dare this kind of thing after we met on the Edge last season. How've you been?"

There were few that the teen was willing to call friend, or at least close acquaintance. Addy was one of them for the sheer fact that the other hadn't made her feel a fool on the huge climbing wall all knew as the Edge of the World. She'd been bold that day, brave, and Aidara's receptivity to Vira's modest knowledge of climbing had given the chiet a great deal of courage. It was nice to be needed, even in so small a way.

As the Endal laughed at her limited garb, Vira rubbed the back of her neck a bit. "Oh, well I can't exactly get my clothes wet. My wardrobe's not that big; and yes, I am absolutely going to jump, aren't you?" She nodded to the cliff edge where a pair jumped in tandem, two Yasi, barely in their class, best friends. "It's not all that bad, but I won't deny the danger; then again, what's the point in living if we don't take the risk? Besides, this is as close as I get to flying, Addy." She stepped bravely to the cliff-edge and looked out over the open water for a moment before both eyes shut. There was a look of pure bliss on the teens face as she stood, chin up and hands slightly away from her hips the way a bird might open their wings.

"When you close your eyes, you can almost feel like you're flying. And when the wind is really strong, you can lean into it and it'll hold you there." She tipped forward some, as though imagining the strength of a gale, supporting her weight as she stood with arms out. "As free as the birds on high. Could you imagine being so blessed?" She held the pose for a moment longer, then exhaled in a longing sigh, lowering her eye to Addy afterwards.

"Well, that's the point of cliffdiving, Addy! It's as much mountain climbing as it is swimming; now come on, jump with me. There's only one way down. Unless you're quail..." She jabbed her gently in the ribs, winking. It was offsetting for the fact she did so with the blind eye instead of seeing one.

OOC"Unless you're quail". Synonymous with what you or I might call being chicken. Derived from the jumpy behavior of the Unforgiving's Falling Quail which tend to take flight at almost anything; thus, coined "Being Quail!"

[Aidara]

Vira stepped away and toed the edge of the cliff, spreading her arms and waxing poetic about the joys of flying. “I remember the longing, the hoping to fly, the dreadful disappointment when the daydream ended and the realization slammed you hard back onto the ground.” Lifting a hand to swipe at the stray hairs that had been captured by the breeze and sent to tickle her nose and cheeks. “I built it up so much that the daydream was better than the reality. Eagles are brats.”

Grinning at her own little private joke, Addy stepped up next to Vira and peered down over the edge. “I hate to break it to you, flying is nothing like falling. I’ll have to convince Sira to take you up so that you can see how silly flinging yourself from a cliff is.” A chill raced down her spine and Addy frowned. “Being quail and smart are two different things, you know!” But the challenge had been set and Addy knew that she had no choice now.

“You really are a jerk. I should have tossed you off that cliff, girl.” Tossing Vira as much of a glare as she could muster as a smile fought for dominance of her face, Addy stepped away from the edge and began to peel off her own bryda and vinati. Both were wedged into a crack in the mountain face before the little healer returned to the edge. “I bet those are going to be gone when we get back up here. Expensive…”

Grumbling, the lake below was given another once over as the yasi and other adults cleared out from under the jumping cliff upon seeing the two women approach the edge; no one wanted to be in the wrong spot when the women hit the water. “Alright. Are we going to do this together, then? Lets back up and take a running leap. If we’re going to do this, lets do it right. ” Not waiting for Vira’s answer, Addy reached out and grasped the younger woman’s hand, interlocking their fingers as she pulled them back from the edge a few paces, settling into a runners stance as she began to count down. “Lets go on three. Ready?”

When Vira asserted her readiness, Addy took a deep breath and shouted. “One! Two! THREE!” Before she could think twice, Addy bolted towards the edge of the cliff, Vira with her as she flung herself into the air. With her arms and legs wind-milling wildly, a shriek ripped itself from her throat as a loud rushing sound filled her ears. There was no beautiful lingering on the winds like Vira described, no sailing and floating gently towards the water. No. Just falling.

And everyone below got the pleasure of seeing an Endal scream like a little girl.

x

[Lavira]

The teen scoffed back at Addy, though her smile betrayed how she truly felt. "Oh, no they're not. They're just misunderstood. A lot of us justr glorify them into something that they aren't." But such a serious discussion was not what Vira wanted today and quickly steered from this topic. She was here to jump and swim, not bode and talk.

When the little healer tried to downplay the sensation, the other just laughed at her. "I wouldn't say no to the offer, that's for sure. And I know falling is nothing like flying, but boy is it a rush!" She had no idea how true this was, nor how different falling into water felt compared to colliding with a hard surface. The ideaology of their current setting vast outweighed the forecast of what was to happen later in the season.

"I'd love to see you try! I bet I could have you in the water before you could say Eywaat!" The good-natured taunts between them were purely sport, Vira apparently trying to build up her new friends confidence enough to take the plunge without chickening out. Thankfully, Addy had accepted the challenge and stripped from her top and bottom, trying to conceal the pretty cloth in a crack. "Why don't you stick em inside my clothes? Nobody'd steal mine." It was just her standard work clothes, the material pretty worn by now and needing replacing, but Vira had spent a good chunk on a new outfit at the first of the season and didn't want to hand over more pinions just yet for a whole new set.

Following Addy's gaze into the water some twenty five feet below, "Sure, we'll jump tandem. Just leave space enough so we don't hit each other resurfacing. I don't need to take you to the infirmary because you broke your neck." The call of the cool water below was like a song and for a moment, the chiet was reminded of something else, something that still partly felt like a dream. A really good dream. But she was pulled from that reverie and away some yards from the edge, Addy's hand in hers.

Sucking wind to stretch her lungs and ready for the leap, Vira danced upon each foot, measuring the distance from where the Endal had pulled her to. Thankfully, she had Addy to gauge this by as the other reached three and took off. The younger woman whooped and followed after her, leaving a few steps behind for when she reached the edge. She pushed off, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around both knees to keep them together as she cannon-balled down to the water.

Vira heard Addy screaming as she too began the rock-like plummet, and grinned. She held her breath and hit the surface butt first, dropping a good ways under and then popping back up with a big exhale and gasp. "Woo!" The woman cried delightedly, turning to find Addy as others began climbing back up the rockface to resume their day of fun.

[Aidara]

So hard was the water upon impact that Addy dazedly wondered if she had somehow missed the pool and instead landed on the rocks instead; but soon they were both sinking, the icy chill of the water quickly sapping the breath from her lungs and threatened to steal the strength from her limbs. With a gasp that did more harm than good, Addy clawed her way to the surface, her head breaking above the water with a storm of choking and coughing.

“That sucked!” Still sputtering, Addy cried out and turned in place, looking for where Vira had come up as well. Despite the lungful of water and the burning that raced down the back of her throat, Addy was grinning from ear to ear. The initial jump had terrified her, but it was the rush afterwards that kept her heart pounding and her blood pumping. Her friend had been right, after all. “Lets do it again!”

But something wasn’t right. For every other jumper, there had been an explosion of cheering as soon as they had hit the water and it had continued until the surfaced. Pumped with adrenaline and the rushing that filled her ears, Addy hadn’t noticed that the sound she was hearing wasn’t cheering at all: It was screaming.

Unable to get a good vantage point from where she tread water, Addy gave up on her search for Vira and swamp towards the shore, quickly pulling herself out of the water and spun to face the pool. Everyone who had been watching were on their feet, looking towards the center where the ripples from the pairs landing still spread. “What’s going on?!”

Nearly shouting at the woman standing next to her, Addy got only a shakily pointed finger in return, her reply muffled by the hand that had been clamped over her mouth in what looked like pure shock. It was someone on the other side of the lake that gave Addy the information she needed, even if it hadn’t been there intention.

“Where is he! Where did he go!” A woman, Chiet by her dress, screeched as she ran up and down the side of the pool. “He was just there! In the water! WHERE IS MY BOY!”

x

[Lavira]

The younger woman spotted the Endal standing at the edge where the rest had set about climbing, next to a woman who looked somewhat upset. She couldn't hear what was going on from here, the water splashing in her ears as she tread water making it hard to pick up on what they were saying. With a frown, Vira swam towards the shelf when the first scream from the woman hit her.

Something about her son missing? He was in the water? Vira turned 'round and looked, searching for bubbles or something. Maybe flailing? She didn't know; she'd never seen someone drowning before and couldn't possibly know the subtle signs of what to expect. The Chiet looked skyward where Tulaj flew overhead, the bird almost invisible against the white-blue backdrop above. Letting out a trilling whistle, she called the harrier down. There was nowhere for him to perch except on the ground or in the trees on the ledge they'd jumped from. She'd have to deal with claw-marks and have them treated later.

Her arm extended and it was to this that the raptor landed, his claws for once not intentionally pinching her. He was a heavy bird, yes, but it made no difference at this time as he screeched at her and waited for instructions.

"Tulaj, fly up and see. Look for a boy." She wasn't sure how much the daft raptor might understand, but she hoped he would get the message as she directed him with gestures to the sky, her eyes, and the water. If he did, remained to be seen as he took off again, pushing off from her arm (decent sized pricks in her skin where his talons had grabbed for purchase) and returning to the sky.

The albino soared over the area twice before fixing upon a spot a good twenty yards from the shoreline that Addy, herself, and several others stood, including the apparent mother of the child missing. For a moment, the harrier seemed to hang there, supported by the thermals; then, he gave another screech and dove towards the waters surface, touching the spot he'd hung over and then rising again.

"Good boy, Tulaj! Good boy!" She called with a hand cupped by her mouth. She'd spotted where he'd landed and from that location, she could now make out the change in wave patterns. Something was there, bobbing, sort of. Vira thought she could maybe see a hand rising in the water every so often, then sinking down again. "Addy, there." She nodded to the spot the harrier had dove over and was continuing to rise, dive, and rise again, waiting for the humans to do something about it. "I'm going to swim out there; whoever it is might be hurt."

Not waiting for a response, the teen jumped back into the water and swam towards where Tulaj continued diving, marking her progress every five yards to make sure her lack of proper depth perception wasn't leading her astray. When at last she'd reached the spot that had been marked, however, there was nothing on the surface. No boy, no clothes, nothing but a bobbing chunk of wood. And there was nothing special about it. However, Tulaj continued to dive, even going so far as to touch the surface with his claws. He had to have seen something...

Was whatever he'd seen under the surface...?

She hoped not!

Sucking in a big breath, Vira dove under, turning as best she could to try and see beneath the surface, searching. Her sight was not good for looking under water any more than it was seeing accurate things from a distance. With a curse, the woman resurfaced, shouting back to shore. "I don't see anything!"

She didn't see that Tulaj had moved to her right ten yards now and resumed diving, the bird on her blindside this time.

[Aidara]

“Calm down!” Rushing over to the panicking woman, Addy tried to lay a hand on her arm, her voice raised to be heard over her screams. “Please just-“ But as soon as her fingers made contact with the woman’s flushed skin, the little healer was pushed away with another intelligible scream.

By that time, not a soul around the Lakes was unaware that something was wrong. More than a few concerned Inarta rushed towards the screaming woman, Addy soon finding herself outnumbered by far pushier do-gooders. Shuffled to the back of the helpful crowd, the little woman had a prime view for what was going on in the water; everyone was so focused on the woman yelling on shore that they completely neglected what she was yelling about.

Her child.

The pieces snapped into place just as Addy saw Vira dive into the water, her harrier taking wing and perching nearby. “BE CAREFUL!” Cupping her hands over her mouth, the little healer paced the shore, following the young woman’s progress along the edge of the water as she took to swimming towards the middle. “We don’t know what happened! It could have been something in the water!” But it was no good. All the commotion surrounding Addy drowned out her words long before they made it to Vira.

Holding her breath in sympathy when the Chiet girl dove, Addy stood on her toes, trying to see down into the mucky water even though it was pointless; Vira had seen something, or else she wouldn’t have gone under. Tulaj had hovered over that spot, right? Good god, why was this happening… Anxiety turned her stomach and twisted it into painful knots. Watching wasn’t helping at all, but everything was happening so fast that Addy found that she was one step behind at every turn.

When the surface of the lake began to roil, Addy sucked in a breath and put her hand to her mouth, leaning forward as Vira surfaced and turned to shout in Addy’s general direction. “What do you mean? How do you-“ but she had dove again. Growling in frustration, Addy lifted a hand to shade her eyes as she scanned the shore. Could the boy have climbed out when everyone was busy looking for him in the water, could he have slipped away and-

Tulaj. He had moved. “No… no no no.” There was no time to waste, and clearly Vira hadn’t seen her birds shift in position. Without sparing a further thought for it Addy dove into the water, stretching her arms and kicking her legs as she propelled herself towards the center of the lake, though angled now towards where Tulaj perched. Giving where she thought Vira lurked beneath the surface a wide berth, Addy tread water for only a tick or two, taking as deep a breath she could before plunging beneath the surface.

Almost immediately her vision was reduced to directly in front of her face, no more than a few inches past her nose. It didn’t help that more people had joined the search, stirring the water and disrupting any chance of finding the boy by pure sight. But the bird had moved to this spot. It could see what they could not. Loathe to waste any more breath, Addy began to reach around her, her arms and legs flailing wildly as she tried to find the boy by touch alone. Her chest was starting to burn, the air that she had trapped in her lungs screaming to be let out so that she could gasp in more, clean air.

But she was so close.. He had to be here.. just a tick more.. THERE! Something warm and solid brushed against her hand as it failed and Addy reached, grasping what turned out to be a forearm with both hands. With her head swimming and her lungs near to bursting, Addy tugged and hauled the boy as she kicked her legs, propelling herself to the surface as best she could.

Though it seemed like forever, the little healers head broke free of the water and she gasped in big lungfulls of air, unable to call out until she had restored some of her oxygen. “Help! Someone help! I found him! I can’t pull him up!”

x

[Lavira]

The cacophany of splashes from the shore drew a curse from Vira now. Everyone leaping in at once was about as reckless as it could get; were this Rhysol's domain, he'd have been rolling in ecstacy at such detestable chaos. "Hey! Stop!" Vira tried in vain to call back at the shore as more began leaping in, clouding the water even more.

"Petch, buncha bloody dek-lickers!" The woman heard Tulaj call from overhead, no longer able to see where Addy had been on the ledge of shore. Had she been knocked in? Was she swimming nearby? There wasn't time to think about this as Vira sucked a breath again and dove beneath the water once more, using her arms and strong kicks of legs (heedless of the others beginning to coagulate around her) to get her further beneath the surface in an effort to see the victim that had been the source of such commotion.

She managed to get down about ten feet when she spotted Addy resurfacing with something in tow. The mess of bubbles made it even worse for her already diminished sight to make out what it was; the only thing the woman could do was resurface. Her lungs sprayed the moist air from them in a quick exhale before she sucked wind again, treading water and looking. "Get out of the way, move!" She shouted, even going so far as to splash a few that weren't really helping at all other than to further heighten the confusion.

Finally, she made it up beside the Endal, reaching under the surface, sputtering as water went up her nose in the process, and grabbed hold of another arm. With a noisy grunt, Vira helped haul him to the surface. The boy was limper than seaweed in spring and had to weigh a good seventy pounds. He was a chunky thing, the biggest Yasi Vira had ever seen in all her own eighteen years. "Good gods, what has that woman been feeding him??" She grunted, pulling the deadweight childs arm over her shoulder to take the weight off the smaller woman. "I don't mean to sound cruel, but I'd suspect kitchen-theft to get a kid this big..."

Using her other arm, Vira worked the boys head onto her shoulder to help keep it above the water. She wished she could give more complicated orders to Tulaj now, but the crazy harrier wasn't as intelligent as the Wind Eagles. She'd worked very hard with him since his rescue three years prior, but the unpredictable nature he had made ensuring certain tasks were completed even more difficult; besides, harrier's weren't the most intelligent species of raptor in Mizahar...they were more closely related to owls than they were eagles or falcons. Of course, that didn't mean stop Vira from wishing she could send him off to find help.

"Help me get him to shore, Addy; if he's hurt, there's nothing we can do from out here."

[Aidara]

With Vira’s aid, Addy was able to help tow the boy to shore; the young woman cradled him awkwardly while Addy pushed, pulled, and kicked with all the strength left to her. It was a struggle, but they made it to shore without losing the child beneath the water again. “Hold on, let me get out first.” Dread weighed heavy in Addy’s stomach as she scrambled onto the slick rocks, turning to offer her hands to help pull the Yasi up. He was too limp. Something was wrong.

“Back up! Get away! You’re not helping!” The crowd that had gathered at the shrill screech of the panicked mother had seen the two women struggling to get the child to shore and, of course, had flocked towards Addy and Vira hoping to get a better view. A glare and the firm tone was enough to send most of them backwards and out of the way, leaving the healer to focus on the child.

Laying the boy out as flat as she could on the uneven shore next to the lake, Addy searched for a pulse while leaning over his tubby frame, her ear hovering directly over his mouth as she listened for his breathing; it was hard to tell by sight if the chest was rising or falling. There was too much commotion around her to be able to concentrate on locating the slightest of movements. “He has a pulse, but it’s weak.” Dropping his wrist, Addy placed a hand on the boy’s chest and listened again for any inhale or exhale. Nothing.

“He’s not breathing. Water in his lungs.” Talking mostly to herself at this point, Addy scrambled to her knees and positioned herself over the Yasi boy, placed the heel of her hand on his chest, her free hand resting atop that while she straightened and locked her arms. Pushing down from her shoulders, Addy began a quick, steady rhythm of chest compressions using her own body weight, counting to herself as she did so. “One… Two… Three…Four…Five…” and on until she reached thirty. Pausing, the little woman ducked her head and tilted the boys own back, opening up his airway as she pinched his nose closed and breathed deeply into the boys mouth for a full tick before pulling away, regaining her breath and repeating the process. Though his chest rose with the air that Addy had provided, the boy failed to regain consciousness or breathe on his own once the healer stopped.

Repeating the process, Addy pumped away at the little boy’s chest, supplying two quick breaths of air before continuing the cycle over again until he stirred, coughed and choked out a mouthful of water. Immediately sinking down beside him, Addy tried to tilt his head to the side so that he wouldn’t re-swallow the water when the child cried out in pain.

“Ow! No! Hurts!” Taking her hand away, Addy cast Vira a worried glance and spoke clearly and calmly to the child.

“What hurts?”
“Head. Back… I can’t move my arm, or my leg!”
“Which arm? Which leg?”
“I don’t know!” Crying now, the little boy cast a wild gaze around the group of Inarta towering over him, tears streaming down his ruddy cheeks as he searched the multitude of unfamiliar faces. “Where is my mom? WHERE!”

“Please, calm down.” Panting from her efforts, Addy wiped a hand across her brow and placed a steadying hand on the boys shoulder, doing her best to shush and coo him into silence. “Shhhhh, It’s okay. Just answer my question. Your mom is here… She is here…Which arm and leg can’t you move?”

“My l-l-left!”

“Okay, okay.. Shhhhh, It’s okay. Here. There is your mom. No, no! Stay still. She will come to you. Let her through for petch sake!” Waving the mother over, Addy stood and left Vira to tend to the boy and make sure that he didn’t move. Tear ravaged and hysterial, the boys mother pelted through the crowd and tried to dive straight for her child before Addy stopped her. “Avora. Stop.” Instinctual response to the command in Addy’s voice caused the woman to stop dead, her head whipping around to stare as if it was the first time she’d seen another human being. “You can’t touch him. He is badly hurt. I need to look over him further… I think he may have broken his neck.”

x