A Land of Flowers and Fae

Hunted

By mid morning Lavan was struggling to hold in a yawn. They'd had to fly near a few more clouds of the toxin that hung in the valleys. While Elina, her puffball and Pyrrah were as chipper as ever. He was developing a splitting headache.

He couldn't hold it in any longer and yawned mightily. His wings dropping with the effort.

Elina chuckled against his chest and reached around blindly with her hand until she found the side of his face.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

She didn't answer but gripped him lightly on the side of the head and tugged him forward until his chin was resting on her shoulder.

"Take a nap. I'll wake you if anything happens"

He groaned. "You can hardly sense magic. What if we're spotted?"

"We're over the grasslands now so I can see really far. No trees for dryads to hide in and nothing tall enough for fungi to climb on"

"And the firebirds?" He grumbled into her shoulder blade.

"I'm guessing Pyrrah knows another firebird when she sees one. She can let me know"

He sighed, the fight already draining out of him. He really wanted a nap if he was being honest.

"Promise you'll wake me if anything happens? Literally anything. Don't hesitate"

"I promise. Rest" she said, patting the back of his head gently. He figured he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. He'd just close his eyes for a minute to appease her.

.......

Something under him shifted.

"Lavan, there's cliffs"

"What?" He mumbled.

Elina shifted again, patting his arm insistently.

"There's cliffs ahead of us. Is it Crystal Cove?"

He straightened, suddenly realizing that the sun was in a very different place in the sky. It was afternoon.

He rubbed his eyes "Why didn't you wake me up?"

She shrugged "There was nothing to see. Until now that is" she pointed ahead of them, at blue stones that took up a portion of the horizon and beyond that, a sparkling expanse of water.

"It's the ocean right? Where the mermaids live?"

"Yes, a tiresome bunch. We'll just be hugging the coast. But we cut a day off our travel by going through here"

"You sound like you've got more energy. Feel refreshed after resting?" She asked, too innocently.

"When you want to say 'I told you so' you can just say it you know"

She giggled "I'm glad you feel better"

They flew between enormous bluish pillars, carved out by the ocean. Elina marveled at the sparkling water and the rainbow hues that rippled in the tide pools below them.

She peppered him with questions about mermaids and their culture. He didn't have much to tell her. The few times he'd interacted with merfolk it had been ....unpleasant....and he generally avoided the coast as a result.

They had barely scraped the edge of the cove when Pyrrah let out an ear splitting shriek. Lavan jerked his eyes up. If she was making that much noise then they'd probably already been spotted.

Coming at them from a ways inland, a few sparkling red specks crested the clouds. Firebirds.

"Fly Pyrrah!" He barked "get between the cliffs. They won't follow us when we get closer to the water"