Giving Way

The Descent

"Aleriel! What in the bloody hell do you think you are doing?"

James questioned in a shouting whisper. In hopes not to raise any alarm.

James was so furious. He could feel the sting of his nails piercing his flesh in his right fist.

"That damn girl." He muttered  hotly under his breath.

"James it's fine no one will see me. I'm just taking a quick look. " Aleriel replied in a teasing tone.

She had never been caught. So why now? She thought to herself.

Aleriel snickered to herself when the sound of James pacing reached her very sensitive ears. Even from the top branches of the grand tree she was currently perched in. Where the only thing above her head was the empty air and the twinkling stars.

"That's it Aleriel! I'm not going to stand down here like an idiot risking to get caught." James was quickly becoming more agitated and Aleriel knew it.

"Relax James, I'm coming down now."
Aleriel was reluctant to leave her perch, but it was the longest she had ever spent in the grand oak and she knew she could not risk being caught.

She stood to her full height, relaxing her cramped muscles from her awkward crouching position. As she moved the branches swayed and the ruffling of the leaves alerted James of her downward descent.

James quickly backed away from out under the tree Aleriel was perched in.

About time he thought. James wondered how he even put up with her half the time. She knew exactly how to aggravate him.

James couldn't help but think how stupid he had been for letting her pull him into her antics once again. She doesn't understand how much trouble the two of them could really be in if anyone saw or reported them.

Yet Aleriel took it too lightly. It was like a game to her, she doesn't understand when to stop. It was one of the things that drove James crazy to no end.

"Aleriel!" He called quietly one last time.

She knew how anxious James was to leave, but this was unmistakably her favourite place in the world.

She moved to the edge of the branch she was standing on to have a better view of the ground far below. Even in the dark her eyes could still make out James tense pacing form standing under a nearby tree.

Aleriel haunches her legs as if she was about to jump. Muscles ready to spring her upwards into the sky.

Finally, she let her back relax and in response felt a brush against her lower calves.

With one final grin, she took off from the branch. For a moment the world stopped around her as she hung in the air.

Gravity quickly caught up with her as she plunged to the ground. The earths surface rushing up to reach her falling form.

The wind whipped her brown hair in every direction, it stung the corners of her eyes. It also brought a smile to her face.

The adrenaline pumping through her veins dared her to continue her dangerous descent.

Aleriel was nearly to the ground. She could now make out the earth more clearly.

The area where James had paced was dark from the turn up of damp dirt made Aleriel laugh even in the midst of her plummet.

As the ground came closer and closer Aleriel couldn't help feel giddy for she knew what was about to happen.

With one last look at the world beneath her she closed her eyes.