XXXXA pale white impression of the burning light above Levien remained in his sight despite closing his closed eyes and the arm thrown defensively over his face. Repeated blinking did not provide a solution. Such an unfriendly light to be welcomed by. Uncertain of the height he had appeared at, he turned to face the ground and began to spread his wings. He did not have enough time to fully expand them before being introduced to the bright green foliage of a tall tree. All the way through the tree's rough branches, he failed to grab a hold of anything sturdy enough to stop his fall. A barrage of painful branch hits later, he was dropped unceremoniously from the final arms of tree to the ground below. Groaning faintly in disapproval of the embarrassing event and rubbing the location of a possible bruise, he looked up to the terrestrial entity he was so intimately acquainted with. Giving in to a bit of amusement, he said to the tree,
“Earth has quite the way with greetings, doesn't it?”XXXXLeaving his arm to bruise as it willed, he turned his attention to what was in his hand. In place of the letter he had been tightly guarding was now a small earpiece. He had never used one quite like it before, but he was familiar enough with it. It was placed in his ear, for now, where it could let him hear from the Seraphim or allow him to report to her. He hoped for neither of those possibilities to become a reality.
XXXXHis gaze drifted back to the tree as he reflected on his distaste for Faida. He found the calm swaying of the tree's leaves to be rather captivating. He would like to think it was much more splendid a sight than trees in Aurae, but was aware of lacking a good reason for the biased preference. Getting to his feet and attempting rather fruitlessly to clean the dirt from his light clothes, he took in the companions of his tree greeter. All around, tree after tree stretched up into the sky, blocking the sun from the ground enough that no grass grew. Instead the dirt ground was occupied by saplings, flowers, and other uncertain foliage growths. Near and on some trees grew collections of what he assumed to be fungi. Everything was foreign and uncertain. The similarities they bore to things growing in Aurae were barely enough to give him a compass of understanding of the new life around him.
XXXXLevien glared at the dirt that had smeared into his clothing. He had not expected to be confronted with dirt so immediately. If only he had brought spare clothing. Thinking back on the descent through the tree made him itch, as though invisible bugs had overtaken him. He ran his hand through his hair, seeking the source of the phantom discomfort, not convinced by the single leaf he managed to find that he had cleared himself of stowaways. He was not about to walk around in this new world looking a mess.
XXXXAmong the unfamiliar calls of birds, he recognized the sound of rushing water. Beyond those sounds he picked up little else. Nothing he thought to be particularly human. The area was encompassed by a peaceful desolation. For a moment he was regretful not to find a buzz of human activity quickly after his arrival, but he knew it was for the best to get his bearings somewhere hidden. It would be a bad start to a stealth mission to fall from the sky into the middle of a town, outspread wings gleaming in the sunlight.
XXXXAs he followed the sound of the water, its gentle murmur rose from background noise to an overwhelming roar as he reached the edge of a precipice overlooking a large pool. Crashing noisily to the pool below, the water, which flowed on into a river that stretched on through the trees, was emerald and clear when undisturbed by the waterfall's flow. The tranquil water seemed trustworthy enough to wash in, so he calmed and first sat with his legs over the edge, and watched the flow of the water below.
XXXXThere were plenty of peaceful spaces for reflection in Aurae, but none felt to him the way this place did. Here the peace was not undercut by the unending air of restraint. It was true peace, he believed. Untamed and
youthful, befitting the youngest realm. His serene smile grew wider at the thought of sharing this place with another lover of peace, his dear familiar. He held out his hand and murmured soft ceremonial words. A white light spun from the centre of his palm and grew until its white colour was tainted with rainbow and light became feathers. His small rainbow bird raised her head and made adjusted herself with a ruffling of her feathers.
“Have a look, Jiya. We've finally made it.” He bounced her in his hand to encourage her to take flight. She took the initiative, and watching her sail out under the bright blue sky, he added softly,
“And what a sight it is...”XXXXJiya crossed to the far side of the precipice, swooping upwards in the face of a tree before flipping backwards towards Levien. When she had almost reached him again, she turned into a wide spiral, descending closer to the water with each pass. Levien chuckled at her enthusiasm, paused for a moment, and then indulged in a full bodied laugh. Tucked among trees with the rush of water drowning other sounds from his ears, he felt for a moment as though he was released from all the pressure of his goals. Though, it was not long before he reminded himself that there was plenty more to be done before he could really be free, with Felspar just as free at his side. He wondered what his mentor was doing while he was being lazy by the water. The mission was Felspar's idea, but would he be playing a role in it?
XXXXJiya had already settled in a peaceful portion the water where she was able to float without being taken down the stream. As Levien watched the distant movement of her head as she straightened the feathers of her wing, he was reminded of his own wings. One had little reason to hide one's wings in Aurae, and he quite liked the look of his wings, so he was not very practised with the camouflage process. Nonetheless, he remembered the lessons on it well enough. With closed eyes, he embraced a sense of calm and willed his wings to turn unseen. Standing, he extended his wing to the side to see how he had done. The process was successful. His wings had become invisible. Reaching into what appeared to be empty air, he noted that his wing felt no different, as promised. He would need to remember to keep from backing into any humans, lest they discover, through the touching of hidden feathers, an undeniable hint of his origins.