They had been flying for an hour before they would find the storm beginning to curve west, a slow arc that would herd them back the direction they had come from. It was at that point that a particularly vivid flash of lightning struck through the clouds, illuminating their interiors for long seconds in its fury. Something long and scaled and sinuous slid within, thicker around than the largest of trees in the Greatwood, and at the level the birds were flying at, with no clear means of support. It was a creature, alive, but vast, the greater part of its bulk hidden deeper within the storm.
When the trio regrouped shortly after midday, Jigano was clearly shaken, and a weary Isuma chirped worriedly beside him. The storm extends to the north before curving back west again, he admitted, defeat in the slump of his head and the water that had beaded on his feathers from flying too close to the storm. I couldn't find an end to it. It looks like it blocks us from the ocean all the way around... And... there are things in it. The raven shivered, a flicker of awe and fear in his blue eyes. If it's the same to the south, I'm afraid we will find no access to the ocean in this direction. That still leaves the West and South but... not today. We have a long flight home again, he finished, dejected but trying to shake off his despair before he could fall back into it. As long as you keep trying, Amalia had said, and he meant to follow her words, to be the man she thought he could be.
At least we can stop at the oasis on the way back and take another rest, he said with wry humor. As long as we keep an eye out for snakes!
This ends the Exploration to the East PQ! Thank you so much for participating!
