Free, For Aelwyn

[Spider]

Artemis wore her trademark scowl as she wandered to Suicide Leap. She felt no need to test her capabilities like many of the young Avians did, but she did need to get away from the crowded Aerie for a bit. Sometimes she felt almost claustrophobic in the Aerie; so many other Avians all around her, wings and bodies and squawking youngsters. So in her desperation to escape she had come here. It was nice to feel the wind through her feathers, through her hair, it made her feel free.

A long white shapeless draped robe wrapped around her frame, the wind getting it tangled in her long legs. Her short hair was standing on end, she had not bothered to neaten it up when she had awoken this morning and her face was still slightly puffy with sleep. Around her left wrist was wrapped a strap of leather, with an odd charm hanging off of it. It was a compass, found on the wreck of a ship that had washed up on shore on one of the many islands outside the circle of the Aeries. She liked exploring places like that, despite the danger, despite the fact that it was thought a women’s place was at home. She like pushing the boundaries.

She neared the cliff edge, stopping right at the very edge, and stretched her wings as if to jump. She felt so free when she was here, as if nothing could hurt her, nothing could get in her way. Here, she was just Artemis, not jobs, no people relying on her. Here, she was simply the person she wanted to be, she didn’t have to think about anything.

[Warchild Aelwyn]

Ha! She'd lost them. It had taken the better half of an hour, but Aelwyn had finally shaken off the two idiotic young guards who'd thought they'd be heroic and follow her around to 'protect her'. Really, how stupid were they, thinking that she'd need protecting on Everest of all places? Honestly, it was the largest, busiest aerie of them all; someone was always around. And for crips sake, it wasn't as if any avian in the main aerie wouldn't recognize her.

Or, if they did, it would be an immediate red flag for her. She was no fool. She would promptly fly herself back to the Warlord compound and lock the doors and windows behind her.

Giggling at the thought of her father's face upon discovering all the door and windows locked on him, Aelwyn dipped and bobbed on the wind currents. When picture of Rittin crashing into a closed window popped in, she laughed outright. Turning her wings upwards, she soared up the face of Suicide Leap, chest only a foot away from it's craggy surface. Back muscles straining, her wings made hard, deep, powerful strokes through the air, pulling her upwards, picking up pace. Oh, how she loved this. In Aelwyn's opinion, skimming up the cliff's face was much more challenging and thrilling that dive bombing down it.

A smile plastered on her face, she zoomed up past the edge of the cliff, gin slipping at the sudden appearance of another avian at the cliff's edge, wings spread, as if ready to jump off... and crash right into her. A hiccup of surprise caught in her throat and her wings jerked, loosing their grip on the air. She lost a few feet, wings flapping crazily, trying to regain that easy balance.

[Spider]

Artemis let out an exclamation of surprise as she saw another young Avian flying up the height of the cliff edge, chest almost brushing the craggy surface of the rock face. She hadn’t expected to see anyone else, not at the time. She took a quick step back, trying to let the girl know she really wasn’t going to jump, that she just liked standing on the edge, but it was too late. The girls wings had jerked in surprise, she had lost the air currents she had been riding, wings flapping to regain the balance that she had made look so effortless.

Artemis was at a loss when it came to what to do. She could fly down and help the girl, but more often than not that was far less than helpful. It crowded the airspace, made things more complicated than they needed to be. On the other hand, Artemis didn’t like to see anyone struggle.

“You ok?” she called, hoping not to distract the girl any further, but also hoping that he answer would be the affirmative and she wouldn’t have to work out a way to help her. “Need any help?” she asked again, praying that the struggling girl would find an air current and be able to land safely on the precipice of Suicide Leap.

[Warchild Aelwyn]

Forcing herself to calm down, Aelwyn steadied herself and forced out a few smooth, steady wing beats. She still lost a little height, but she was stabilized. An up draft picked at her wings, and she tilted them slightly to fly into it. It was the last bit she needed to get back to flying normally.

"Yes, I'm fine," she called back to the girl on the cliff, letting out a sigh of relief over having her wings back under her. Soaring back to the cliff, she landed gracefully, turned, and nodded in acknowledgment of the other avian. "You just startled me, is all."

Looking over the other girl, Aelwyn had to press down a mild feeling of intimidation. Just a tiny bit taller than her [perhaps it was that cursed quarter inch coming to haunt her once again], the woman seemed like she was scowling at her. Mentally swallowing, she took in the short hair cut and the toned arms that showed out from under robe, wondering what she'd done to anger her new acquaintance so.

Oh, right. She must have given them quite a good fright. People didn't really get hurt very often at Suicide Leap, but when they did, it was usually due to loosing control of their wings. It was something easy to do when one was frightened.

Hoping to do some amount of damage control [getting in trouble when just a few minutes before she'd been thinking how even a child would have a hard time with that at Everest], she nodded her head slightly again and said, "I apologize if I frightened you. I didn't see anyone a the edge when I was coming up." It was the deepest apology Aelwyn would ever give a stranger, though the sincerity was real. "Thank you for the offer, though."