[open] let the sky fall - anyone

[Heloise]

h e l o i s e Heloise hated her subconscious. She’d intended to leave Beqanna behind her, to never return to the lands of her birth.  There had been nothing for her in Beqanna. No family that gave a single fuck, no reason to stick around. But apparently there were side effects of spending so much time living as a bird. Her wings literally brought her back here one day like some misguided sense of migration.  Birds were genetically programmed to return home, and apparently she’d inherited this particular proclivity.  Much to her chagrin. She knew where she was as soon as she crossed the border.  The lands looked different - gone were the unmistakable landmarks and the kingdoms that she was familiar with. But she knew, undeniably, that this place was home.  At least the gnawing sense of needing to return churned in her belly.  For the journey, Heloise had used the form of a migratory seabird to conserve her energy, but as she grew nearer to inhabited lands she shifted into one of her preferred forms - a common kingfisher. She liked the kingfisher because they were small, nondescript, and territorial. Which meant that other kingfishers usually would leave her the fuck alone. The kingfisher-mare landed on the lowest branch of a bare tree.  She stared at the ground below, trying to will herself into shifting back.  But it's been such a long time since she’d inhabited her birth form, she found herself more than a little reluctant.  She was stalling, and she knew it. So with a final sigh, she leapt from the branch and in an explosion of limbs and feathers and fur and just a little bit of crunching she made her way back into her body.  There she stood, on four solid equine legs, panting somewhat from the strangeness of being full-size again.  When it came to shifting into birds - Heloise was an expert - but shifitng into her own body?  The avian mare always brought remnants with her. Perhaps it was laziness, perhaps it was her not so subtle attempt to cling to the very best parts of her.  She honestly didn’t care either way.  But the turquoise feathers and the kingfisher wings were a comfort.  She pulled the teal wings tighter to her sides against the bitter winter air and turned - wondering what bullshit adventure her homeland had in store for her.   image credit