The instant her weight settled across his back, Noah adjusted his weight and readied. His talons tightened against the stone as his shoulders shifted, redistributing his balance so she sat securely without being jostled. Relief moved through him in a choking exhale, as smoke continued to curl thick and black around the cliffside, turning the air heavy with heat and ash.
Hold on. Don't rip any of my feathers out. The griffin set across the attuned bond, voice laced with what seemed to be humor in an attempt to loosen the tension within his chest. Nova herself seemed oblivious to the kind of danger that the hunter sensed. And lean with me when I move.
It was clear as her excitement flickered bright and buoyant against the tension coiled inside him, even as he tried to untangle it. The air was worsening too quickly to indulge the moment. He rose from the crouch in one powerful motion, wings spreading wide as they caught the fractured thermals. With a heavy downbeat, he launched from the cliff, ash and loose snow bursting outward beneath them.
For a heartbeat there was only the drop, the open air yawning beneath them, before instinct and strength carried them forward into steady flight. Rather than climbing, Noah angled them downward, deliberately seeking the clearer air closer to the water where stronger winds cut through the haze. The choice was instinctive and calculated in equal measure — thinner smoke meant easier breathing, and the open stretch of ocean below meant that if Nova slipped, the fall would be water instead of the stone of the cliffside.
Are any of your birds following us? He asked, trying to distract herself more than her.
Hold on. Don't rip any of my feathers out. The griffin set across the attuned bond, voice laced with what seemed to be humor in an attempt to loosen the tension within his chest. Nova herself seemed oblivious to the kind of danger that the hunter sensed. And lean with me when I move.
It was clear as her excitement flickered bright and buoyant against the tension coiled inside him, even as he tried to untangle it. The air was worsening too quickly to indulge the moment. He rose from the crouch in one powerful motion, wings spreading wide as they caught the fractured thermals. With a heavy downbeat, he launched from the cliff, ash and loose snow bursting outward beneath them.
For a heartbeat there was only the drop, the open air yawning beneath them, before instinct and strength carried them forward into steady flight. Rather than climbing, Noah angled them downward, deliberately seeking the clearer air closer to the water where stronger winds cut through the haze. The choice was instinctive and calculated in equal measure — thinner smoke meant easier breathing, and the open stretch of ocean below meant that if Nova slipped, the fall would be water instead of the stone of the cliffside.
Are any of your birds following us? He asked, trying to distract herself more than her.
noah
you touched my heavy heart and made it light
