with the new moon

[Pteron]

finger trips across my cheek----------------
----------------kiss me until i can't speak

As it always has, the feel of the wind against his face and beneath his wings washes away his worries. That it is but a temporary reprieve makes it all the sweeter, and when Pteron laughs at her warning it is without the tight band of discomfort that has bound him for months. He appears again, still chuckling, and watches with visible admiration as Oriash begins a vertical climb in the air.

There are no drafts this low to the ground, so he circles beneath her with steady beats of his pale wings, waiting for whatever stunt he is sure she is about to pull.

He worries despite himself, the same concern that had gripped him when Celina decided to show him her regeneration by throwing herself off a cliff or Elio by flying too close to the trees. Concern for a sibling, a sibling that is now diving toward the ground at breakneck speed. Pteron is suddenly grateful for the wind to carry his voice away, for he gasps just before she pulls up from her dive – certain he is about to see her broken in the treetops.

But instead she catches herself, rising from a broken dive that Pteron is quite certain he couldn’t perform himself, and he whoops loudly in praise as she soars lazily back toward him. The grin on his face is bright, and the “Eh, you’re alright,” that comes with casual shrug of his shoulders is clearly untrue. He realizes, belatedly, that she has pulled a few stars along with her, and for a moment his smile falters.

It lasts only a moment though, and he sees golden wings and blue leopard spots rather than pure and glowing white, and Pteron returns to himself, and to the adventure that he had promised her so long ago.

“Shall we race to the Icicle Island?” He asks with a shake of his blue-maned head as he turns to the north. “Loser has to eat a mouthful of snow.”

Rather than wait for her to agree, Pteron races ahead, and his laughter rings out behind him.

-- pteron --

@[Oriash]