Thousands of years ago a war broke out on a distant island, splitting its occupants into factions. Alifero, Cornucopia, Querencia and Aranea. The tension between them that has been unyielding for centuries only grows when their precious water starts...
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Brown feathers slip silents between my feathers as I preen them, taking extra care when I touch the misshaped dips and bends of my right wing. The heat from the Nether fucked them up in more than one way. Some of my primaries were singed around the edges and I had to pluck them out so they would grow back later, others were frizzed or dried out, and nearly all of them were askew. I have already lamented the time I would have to spend caring for the new feathers.
My fingers moved deftly in little circular motions between the massive feathers on my even more massive wings. Sunlight poured into Tommy's room through the little paned window and warmed my bare skin. I had forgone the sweater I was wearing earlier in favour of a singlet so I could reach my wings properly and paid the chilling price as goosebumps prickled my shoulders. Little keratin flakes fall onto the thin blue towel I had grabbed from the bathroom as I work. I dip my fingers into the almond oil again and massage it into the skin around the base of my feathers, careful not to touch them.
In the comfort of the gentle Querencian sun and the soft embrace of the mattress beneath me, my thoughts were free to roam my mind. As soon as I could, I explained to the boys how I thought the water may be inside the old lava caves. If groups of blazebornes travelled through old reservoirs and springs into the lava caves, water could too. Seeing as most reservoirs and springs were in the mountains, and that's where most of the rain falls, it made even more sense why we were in a drought. What didn't make sense was why the council had turned their backs on the issue under Typhon's influence.
The boys had barely asked any questions before they believed me, and now we're organising the last of our supplies so we can explore a reservoir on the edge of Alifero. We sent Beau a letter after deciding to leave as soon as possible; in two days. Two days had become tomorrow as we started planning the long day we would spend underground.
More than once we had considered telling authorities about our hunch and discussed it even, but we always arrived at the same conclusion. Nobody would believe us, much less aid us in our search.
Thoughts of the people I had left behind in Alifero crossed my mind. Typhon had omnipresence in my mind as I debated his motivations. The memory of the scent of his cologne singed my nose hairs.
I thought a lot about Amélie and Phil too. The state I had left her in made me feel guilty. I growl at the icky feeling, reaching back to preen the base of my wings. My frustration grows as the last look I saw on Phil's face crosses my mind. The unjust look of indignance on his features was something I knew I wouldn't forget, and that angered me to my core. I stretch further, trying and failing to reach the feathers. I was always more for strength than flexibility.
