Fugitive of the Sky

Chapter Two: The Sounds in the Forest

Aqie pulled up to land in the doorway, but her feet were still going faster than her hands and she flipped over and tumbled forward until she slammed in a tangle into the back wall. She managed to turn her yelp into a moan and sat up to see if Mom was still behind her. They'd been flying a little way from each other and weaving a lot like Dad said, and Mom had told her to fly over the rock scrape from the left while she came from the right. Whenever the hunters came getting back home was scary, but being caught outside with smoke from the fire made it so much more likely the hunters would find traces of them and stay instead of going on to look somewhere else. Aqie prayed Dad was finished and coming back already, so he could get away from the fire too.

Mom took the time to stagger and land without crashing, gliding instead of flying in and pulling up under the ceiling. She whirled in a cloud of sunset orange and flashes of green, checked the trees, and pushed Aqie back inside. Frowning at the wet spot Aqie's shoe had left on the wall, she put away her shoes in the alcove and collected Aqie's to do the same. "I don't think we were seen, but let's keep away from the entrance just in case."

"Is Dad going to be okay?" Aqie rubbed her knees and her head where she'd bumped them and reached sideways to straighten all the pillows she'd crashed into. She wasn't supposed to need the pillows there, but there'd been no time to slow down without staying longer in the open in front of the house. Would Dad take time to slow down or should she leave the pillows here so he could crash into them?

Mom took a couple of moments to answer and Aqie snapped her head up to see if Mom was hiding her worries from her. But no, she was squinting anxiously out the entrance and shaking her head. "He'll manage just fine." Her voice was tinted purple with exasperation, not so much fear anymore. "He's going to scout out now we're inside. We'll be here awhile, so you should work on your kaprae."

"Now? But Dad isn't back yet and the hunters still might be out there!" Aqie shifted backwards against the wall and squeezed the end of her braid. Mom and Dad were supposed to be there, watching and helping her as she wove her kaprae. And she would be weaving it, since the sunlight thread around her wrist was still there. It hadn't even gotten soggy while she'd been focused on flying instead of paying attention to it.

Mom took out her brush and started working through the tangles in her pale spring-sunlight-golden hair. Even though her shoulders were still worried, she was telling Aqie it was going to be alright. "You've only got one day to gather all the supplies. Since you want to make yours out of sunlight threads, and we can't go reach the nightlarks for feathers, you should focus on spinning instead."

Aqie forced herself to untense and stop clutching her braid. Worrying wasn't going to help Dad get back safely, though praying would, so she should hurry up and work on her kaprae for Adonai. She had to get all the string done today if she could. Mom was right.

Taking another breath, she scooched over closer to the sunlight and pressed into Mom's side. "Okay." Focusing, she opened her hand and made the sunlight become solid again. It was easier this time, so Aqie tried stretching the string and adding more sunlight so she wouldn't have to tie lots of knots to get enough thread to weave her kaprae. The little songbirds weren't so fluffy now, and the ones about being not good enough for her kranais were flying away. Her identiae was mature enough she could get this far, and maybe it might not look as pretty as she'd like when she was finished, but at least it wouldn't be super terrible. Right?

Mom shifted to get some cloth of her own and started to hum while she worked on making newer, bigger summer clothes. The safe, familiar gesture made Aqie smile somewhat and settle in even more, joining with her own little swooping extras. Too bad the hunters were nearby and they had to be quiet, and Dad wasn't here to add the lower bassline. With only two voices and dynamics restricted to humming, they couldn't do any of the fancier improvisations like mialé or toshlé, and she had to only take the melody more times, when she wanted to add descants and flourishes as well.