reaching out across the sea

REMI

the alchemist

there's a feeling i get when i look to the west,
& my spirit is crying for leaving.

He can't reach Hotaru as fast as he'd like, and given that he can't use portals, he doesn't even reach her as fast as someone else might have. Instead, Remi has had to stop in the Greatwood to drop Mateo off with Vai, before flying up and over the Draig Cordillera. It's as harrowing as it is dangerous, and on more than one occasion he spies dragons lingering below the cloudline. Whether they ignored him or simply didn't notice, he neither worries about nor cares. Even Remi's endurance has its limits, and as he nears the redline of what he's capable of, he sees the spa Hotaru had mentioned like a shiny stone amidst the snow-wasteland below.  Descending and shifting, it's with shaky hands, fluttering lashes, and a body that's actually tired for the first time in months, that he pushes open the door.

With cheeks flushed crimson with colour but not from the cold, Remi pushes back his curls from his face. They sit windswept and tousled on his head as he blinks into the warm light of the spa, trying to catch his breath without breathing loudly or rapidly as his body seems want to do.

in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
& the voices of those who stand looking.