Safrin's words made Arialla smile: a beautiful sentiment, and one she would live up to if she could. And then Arialla's body was changing -- not as foreign an experience to her as one might think, but this was a far greater change than anything Apollo had gifted her. Her eyes widened in confusion; without Safrin's presence, she would have been terrified, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and trust in the goddess. And then she had wings.
Oh, gods. Oh, goddess. Arialla lifted her wings, spread them, made an experimental flap. It felt surprisingly natural -- she would have expected to feel clumsy and awkward in her new body, to take ages to get accustomed to it, but no, her body knew how to move even if she did not know it well yet. Closing her wings, she made a decorous bow to Safrin; if she'd had lips, she would have been beaming. This wasn't what she'd expected when the goddess had asked for her trust, but gods, she'd take it.
Thank you, she thought at Safrin. Thank you!
A thought occurred to her, and she looked to the edge of the lighthouse. She could fly. And this seemed like the perfect place for it ...
May I take my leave, my lady?
please don't take my sunshine away
