Chapter 8 - A Better Way

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*So sorry this wasn't posted yesterday. I had some technical difficulties ;)*

Distantly, I could hear Bohai and Martimus shouting, but terror distorted their words. The wind swirled around me in fierce bursts, and I gasped for breath, trying not to look down at the distance between my feet and the mountainside. A rough blast of air pelted my face, and my fearful yelp of surprise was ripped from my lips.

"This is the new See-ee-eer?" The hollow, echoey voice made me freeze. "You're so small." Gusts of wind like a laugh swirled around me.

The words were so clear, and behind my fear, I knew I wasn't imagining this: it was speaking to me. As the realization settled in, I was instinctually aware that the voice didn't belong to a human or some kind of monster like I'd been think this whole time. It was the wind.

"I don't even have to work to hold you up, See-ee-ee-eer. How does it feel?"

A breeze slung my hair over my face, knotting and tangling it around me. Anger replaced my fear, and my teeth ground together as my fingers curled into fists. This Wind had, apparently, followed me all the way up here just to scare the living daylights out of me, and now it had the audacity to tangle my hair?

"Put. Me. Down." I growled.

"What?" The voice seemed mildly shocked, and a breeze lifted the hair out of my face as if curious. "This face isn't the same..."

"I'm not afraid of you." I glared, and the thought poked the back of my mind that I must look utterly ridiculous making such a fierce expression at nothing, but no one was here to witness my foolishness.

"Are you sure about that?" The gusts holding me up dissipated, and I felt myself falling.

My heart dropped into my stomach, but no scream escaped my lips. A part of me deep down wished I would just fall to my death now to save myself all the troubles of my future and to free Kotaro from the burden of worrying about my life. The more logical part of my brain, however, knew I had far too much to do before I was free to die, and that part of me took over.

"Yes, I'm sure." I said with a levelness of voice I didn't feel, and as my feet were no more than a short ladder's length from the ground, the Wind caught me up, shifting me slightly sideways almost like a curious crow inspecting something unfamiliar.

"You really aren't afraid." The voice was almost small and was backed by confusion. "You must be the Seer-child."

And then, as if I were floating, it let me down gently. The breezes flowed through my hair, taming the knots with surprising gentleness.

"Don't do that again." I said, feeling like a parent scolding a misbehaving child.

"Do what?" The faux innocence in the voice made my frown deepen.

"Don't pick me up or tangle my hair." I said.

"Not ever?" The voice turned sullen.

"Not unless I want you to or specifically ask you to." I said firmly.

"But you will ask?" A little tendril of breeze danced around me in excitement.

"Maybe." I relented slightly.

The breeze increased in strength. "Goodie! It's been so long since I've had someone to play with—no one at the Eighth can hear me when I try to speak to them, so they can't appreciate my efforts to make their lives a little easier." The voice was bridging on indignation.

My eyes widened at the words, and questions spun through my mind one after another. "Do you know how to find them?" I swallowed tightly, too stunned to hope for anything.

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