On Mount Alyppia

The Flight

Though she claimed she wasn't tired, Arista  fell asleep while Vivalius was giving her his tour of the stables, which he called an aerie, explaining that he bred griffins for a living and how they needed to be exercised every day and their feathers and fur shed at the same time. She awoke in the evening, when torches mounted on the walls cast light and shadow onto every surface, bathing the room in an orange glow. Vivalius was in the stables with her, sitting cross-legged on the floor and holding in his lap the small, fluffy baby bird that had awakened her that morning. He cradled it like a babe, feeding it raw chunks of meat from a bucket. The bird gobbled the pieces down, its tufted tail twitching.
    "Did you sleep well?" Vivalius asked, without looking up from the bird.
    Arista half jumped. How had he known she was awake? "Yes," she said.
    "Good," he said. He smirked as he gave the bird another piece of meat, one that was a tad too big. The bird bit the piece in two with its sharp beak, one piece going down its throat and the other flying. Vivalius caught it before it could go far, chuckling and scratching the fluffy feathers on its head. It purred, an odd sound to come from a beak.
    "Can't it eat by itself?" Arista inquired.
    "He could," Vivalius admitted. "But Jack's a bit spoiled, the young rascal. He's been babied." Vivalius smiled fondly down at the bird, as if it were his own child.
    "What about- Jack's- mother?"
    Vivalius shrugged. "Jack's mother was very old. She only laid one egg, and died a few days before it hatched. None of the other nesting mothers wanted him, so I brought him up myself. He doesn't play well with the other hatchlings, so I let him roam free."
    Vivalius fed Jack the last bit of meat and wiped away the grease on his own red tunic. He put Jack on the floor and, coaxing him forward. "Go say hello to Arista," he told the bird.
    "Will he bite me?" Arista asked hesitantly as Jack drew nearer. Vivalius shook his head.
    "He did earlier," she protested, shrinking back ever-so-slightly, glancing down at her mauled finger. Vivalius frowned, coming closer and crouching next to her.
    "May I?" he asked, gesturing to the scab on her hand. "I am a healer."
    Arista wasn't sure what he meant, but she nodded. Vivalius took her hand and gently, slowly ran his finger over the cut. The scab fell away, the skin sealing over and leaving only a shiny pink scar, which faded to unblemished white skin in a moment.
    Arista gazed at it in wonder, turning her finger this way and that, smiling slightly.
    "You can take me back to the city?" she asked suddenly, looking up
    "Of course," Vivalius said. "Whenever you want. Do you feel strong enough?"
    Arista shrugged. She didn't want to go back at all, not really. But Gregor was waiting. And her stonemason boy. Leonid.
    "Why're you being so kind?" she blurted. "No one's ever kind to me. And nymphs kill us men."
    Vivalius didn't blink at the outburst, just shrugged, petting Jack absently on the head. "And men kill us right back. We have each wronged the other. There are kind nymphs and there are kind men, no matter what anyone may claim. Besides," He added, his eyes going to her hair. "You are not wholly on one side."
    Arista shrugged, twisting her hair into a tail and tugging it. Jack bopped her on the side with his head, and she reached her hand out and stroked his soft feathers, gently. He let her.
    "Spend a night or two more here," Vivalius offered. "I can take you back tomorrow morning, or the next."
    Arista spent the rest of the evening befriending Jack, stroking his fur and feathers and getting him to chase his own tail like a ribbon. Vivalius left her alone except to bring her dinner, and she fell asleep late, since she had slept so long during the day. She curled up in the hay with Jack like a nesting hen with its chicks and slept dreamlessly. She was well rested in the morning, and after breakfast asked Vivalius to take her to the city. He had no objected to it, just gave her back her old rags, clean and sweet-smelling, but still shabby-looking. He even gave her a band of leather to cover her eye, and a stiff stretch of brown cloth to replace the red scarf she had lost.
    "How're you getting me there?" Arista asked Vivalius.
    His eyes twinkled. "By griffin."
    While Arista said goodbye to Jack, which might have been more tender if he had stopped squirming and snapping, Vivalius readied roused the biggest griffin in his stable; an old, proud beast named Bernie. Bernie was well over six feet tall, his feathers white and russet and his fur golden. His beak was large and his talons sharp.
    Bernie was majestic.
    Vivalius mounted the griffin with ease and hoisted Arista easily behind him, warning her to hold on tightly. She slid her arms around his chest and leaned against his back.
    "Ready?" Vivalius asked her, looking over his shoulder. Arista nodded.
    Bernie went through the aerie's large window and jumped off, flapping his mighty wings, and just like that they were in the air. He soared high, above the clouds, gliding on the wind instead of flapping his wings. Wind brushed at Arista's face, whipping at her hair, and though Bernie's body was a solid mass beneath her, she nearly emptied her stomach as the griffin soared and swooped.
    They flew and flew, over hills and valleys, ponds and streams, grass and trees. The city wall grew steadily larger in the distance. The city, with its sounds and smells and cruel-eyed people.
    "Where do you want to land?" Vivalius shouted over the wind as they grew nearer and nearer.
    "Outside the wall," she said, pointing, her palms beginning to sweat. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to. She hadn't thought this through...
    Bernie the griffin landed with a mighty thump that nearly knocked Arista to the ground. "Are you alright?" Vivalius asked, looking at her over his shoulder. "Your heartbeat is very quick."
    Arista managed a nod. "We just flew," she pointed out.
    Vivalius chuckled as he dismounted with ease and helped her down, grabbing her around the waist and swinging her off the griffin's back. "So we did."
    Arista swallowed as she tried to stand on her wobbly legs. She would be fine, she told herself. She was dressed like an urchin again, and no one would glance at her twice. She would slip in through the drainage gutters, head over to Gregor's, and her life would go on as it would have, minus an eye.
    Arista bit her lip as she turned to face Vivalius. "Thanks," she murmured. "For.. all of it." This felt like a goodbye, and she wasn't sure what to do or how to do it. Her words didn't feel like enough.
    Vivalius smiled at her and inclined his head. "Goodbye, Arista. It has been a joy and an honor to have you in my home. I wish you well."
    Arista nodded.
    "Perhaps," he added, "someday you can come and visit Jack."
    Arista nodded again, even though she knew she wouldn't. "Bye," she said softly, and disappeared beneath the wall as Bernie launched once more into the sky.