Bug collector

chapter 6

TW: this includes a few heavy themes ngl, beware or some shit

Ma'ru leaped off of the edge, wind carrying him and Swiriya into the darkened sky, Swiriya placed her feet properly onto Ma'ru, steering him towards the forest, the chilly wind making her hair messy, and her eyes squint.

They dove down, the trees making themselves more and more and more present with every second, their lush leaves rattling for down, Swiriya's keen ears picking up on distant squeaks of animals, her Ikrans breath, and her own heart, the adrenalin making it beat faster than usual, Swiriya patted Ma'ru's back, making him suddenly turn upwards, abandoning their previous route to the forest, Ma'ru crooned, confused.

"Catch me?" she asked, not even knowing why she had to ask, Ma'ru was her brother, she trusted him more than any other creature on Pandora, but it gave closure to know she voiced her question, Ma'ru suddenly perked up, looking back at Swiriya, then at the sky, his flight up suddenly much more exerting. Swiriya let her hands release the saddle she has previously been holding onto, making Ma'ru stall his upwards flying, and even out, making the path as smooth for his sister as he could, Swiriya patted his head, climbing up on his back to stand still, the only thing connecting her, making her stable was her Tswin, which she grabbed when she crouched down, unconnecting it, grabbing onto Ma'ru's saddle as to not fall when he shook as she disconnected from him.

She stood up once again, this time she closed her eyes, used her hands to swipe her hair back from her eyes, crack her knuckles, and then.

She fell backwards

laughing as she evened out, her arms stretched, her body hurling towards the ground as, she looked back to see Ma'ru hovering near her, waiting for her signal, his trust completely in her, she looked at the treeline again, noticing it was getting a bit too close, she whooped, loud, repeating and a hoarse, making Ma'ru speed to her body, his smoother, made for the air form flying under her and making her land on his back.

"Jesus-" Swiriya laid on her ikran's back, catching her breath she grabbed her Tswin and Ma'ru's and reconnected them, hearing Ma'ru softly chirp and shake from the sensation.

Thank you, Ma'ru, I needed that.

She sat down stable back on the saddle, looking to the sky, seeing they were flying straight to one of her favourite places. finally actually flying down to the ground she jumped off of Ma'ru's back, Walking towards the spirit tree, she grabbed its long and purple tendrils, connecting her braid to it, closing her eyes, waiting for darkness to come over her.

...

She felt cool water trickling over her hand, pulling her head up from the ground near the tiny stream she looked around her, noticing tattoo's and jewlery adorn her figure, she was confused, looking around she saw herself in the forest, a huge shadow covering her body, hometree.

Chatter woke her fully, making her stand up, look around herself,

"Swiriya?"

A voice, who was that? She looked towards where the voice came from, to see Loak, but older, and adorned with face tattoos, a sling of fabric wrapped around his shoulders, the sling holding a weird coloured, teal baby.