There's a hole in my heart that's bleeding
There it was. The pang. While Noah had mostly come ot terms and was comfortable with the life ahead of him, there were prideful parts of him that would mourn his mantle as a demigod. He didn't say anything else, but the way his eyes flashed from her face to the Firecracker's sails may have been a sign for someone astute enough to notice the shadow in the glacier.
But as she moved on to his prompting, he lifted his eyes again and smiled. It was a broad, mischievous kind of smile. Noah gave a short nod, then let the half-shift unwind. The change rolled through him in a smooth, familiar surge. Human lines blurred and braodened as pale feathers spilled back across skin and scar alike. His bones stretched, reknit, and the weight of him redistributed as wings grew vast again, blotting patches of sky with their span. In a heartbeat he was once more the massive griffin.
He beat his wings and drifted outward, putting deliberate distance between himself and the Firecracker—far enough that a sudden gust or a misjudged current wouldn’t buffet her sails or rigging. Only when he was certain of their safety did he turn, circling wide. Then he drew in a deep breath.
Heat gathered in his chest, a low, building pressure that hummed along his throat and behind his teeth. The air around his maw shimmered, warping faintly, and when he exhaled, it was not wind that spilled free but fire. A plume of white-hot flame poured out into open sky. It roared for a brief, brilliant moment, lighting the undersides of his wings and casting molten reflections across the water below, before he cut it off with a snap of his jaws. Glacier eyes cast back to Melita, waiting for the response.
But its given me strength I needed to carry on
