Chapter 10: So Far, so Good

Just above the ground they shifted into human form and landed on a marble terrace. Exhaustion nearly making Celi’s knees give out. She was used to long flights, it had taken many days for her and her parents to travel from the place of the wyvern’s birth to Wyvern’s Court, but never had she been forced to fly during the night. The rising sun was both a comfort, and a sign of how tired she was. Celi didn’t notice the audience that had begun to gather, until somebody spoke in a language that sounded both familiar and strange. The young wyvern lifted her head, trying to make sense, but instead her gaze was captured by her surroundings. All around her were people, and the similarities were rather scary.

These people, falcons she quickly corrected herself, looked like they could had been crafted from the same mold, with subtle differences that could be seen upon a closer look. Most of them had creamy white skin, like that of fresh milk. Their hair was long and of various shades of blonde, but all had the fronts dyed a shade of blue, just like her father's...just like her own. All around she could see the wings of peregrine, gyrfalcon, Aplomado, and merlin, worn with obvious pride as the citizens moved around. And then she realized that the roads were singing beneath her very feet. But the beauty was lost to her. Celi's eyes darted from falcon to falcon, dread beginning to coil up within her body. Their features were somewhat like hers, but none of them were like her. For a moment the girl wondered how these people were seeing her at this very minute. She might pass for a falcon, but the streaks of ebony hinted that there was more to this stranger. Celi stared at the woman who was speaking, a gyrfalcon judging from the black specks on white wings. Faintly she realized that this was the old language, from the days of the Dasi, the realization did little to help her understand what was being said, and Celi could only blinked at the falcon. Lily placed a hand on her shoulder, she nodded to the falcon. “Follow her,” the peregrine said. “She will take you to your room.” Celi stood up, feeling the other falcons back up slowly, their expressions were hard to read. She could only watch Lily walk off, feeling the panic begin to rise again and it took every ounce of her being not to run to the woman and cling to her.

“Right this way,” the gyrfalcon instructed, turning to begin to head off. Celi could only follow.

The instant that she set foot in her room, Celi knew that this had been her father’s room when he was on Ahnmik. The room was still the same as it had been when the male falcon had left it. The massive bed was in the same place, the walls still glowed with their strange symbols, and she could hear the sounds of a distant choir. But one glance was all it took for Celi to feel out of place. This land was not for her, if it hadn’t been for her magic…the magic that she was supposed to NOT have, then she would not be standing here right now. “Why Me,” Celi murmured to herself, drawing in her wings with a sigh. Her father had once been tempted by this world, but he was a pureblood even if his parents were now just a crow and a sparrow, how would these people react to a person whose blood carried the lines of hawk and cobra? If Hai had been anything to go by…it wouldn’t be long before she would be unwelcomed.