ATreeFullOfStars

Bound had meant to go home from the Conservatory, she truly had. But as she searched within herself for the path, a thought intruded on her focus. Raaga. She had helped someone today, hadn't she? But not quietly, and not with her wind. What would he think? Or would he even care? Eon had nothing to do with his mountains, after all. Did it count if she helped a forest esk help someone else? In that moment of distraction, she vanished. She didn't arrive at her flea market. Nor did she reappear on the mountaintop where the ancient Wanderer had met her before. Instead she was somewhere in between, halfway up a slope catching the full light of th

The Confrontation White swirled around Eon, bringing bone-deep cold which lingered even as the mist faded away again. He was on a mountain once more, knee-deep in powdery snow which stretched out and down in all directions from where he stood upon the peak. Above him, around him, the sky was ragged, with heavy, hard-edged storm clouds dividing streaks of brilliant blue sky. The wind which struck his face and his sides bore fragments of ice, stinging like flies. There was no shrine here, no compulsion to bend his will. A shiver in the earth made Eon turn to find an immense esk approaching, watching him. Black streaked his white hide, and a l

Where the River Ends The snow hanging in the air blurred into motion around him, its color darkening until it almost matched Eon's pelt. The sand stung his flanks, his face--and why shouldn't it? He'd done something terrible. Something irrevocable and therefore unforgivable. If the wind and snow and sand hated him for it, they had the right. When the whirlwind died, it left him standing at the edge of a cliff. Overhead, the hazy green sky shaded to gold in the sunset. The stone arches around him were an unreal orange color that made him wince and look away--down into the canyon, no less colorful, where the call of another shrine was tugging

Where Clouds Fade Into Snow After the crows were out of sight, Eon shook his ruff, losing another of his large dandelion seeds, and stepped away from the tree. He didn't want the energy of the shrine itching at his mind as he tried to make his way back to the Conservatory and home. But even as he walked, fog swirled up around him, wrong for the heat of the day. Before he could step away from this realm, the mist had taken him somewhere else. Cold wind howled and bit through his fur like a starving wolf. Eon backed a step and his head came up sharply in startlement. The wind tore the remaining seeds from his ruff to leave him bare under a sk

What Dwells Beneath the Canopy After an eventful trip to the Conservatory, Eon felt too on edge to visit Bound's home boundary. "Next time," he said. "We can travel to each other as often as you like; it'll only take moments." Bound drooped, but a second later she was rubbing against Eon's forelegs. "I understand. So, getting home...?" "Just the same way you came here," Eon said. "It's a little harder because you have to concentrate on the place, but--" She was already gone. Eon shook his head, broadcasting amusement. "Impatient thing." He glanced up at the fragmented glass overhead. It was less like a sunset than it had been earlier, mo

"You've never been to the Conservatory?" "No?" Bound said. She had to trot to keep up with Eon's long stride, but she would have trotted anyway; she was in a lovely mood. "I've never heard of it." Eon shook his ruff, casting an extra scatter of dandelion seeds into the air which drifted down to join the ones by his feet. "I should like to have a word with whoever transformed you and just left." Bound galloped ahead a few steps so she could face him, still walking backward. "But the same thing happened to you." "Yes, and I'd like to have a word with Ikkit about that too." Eon shook his head as though shaking off a fly. "But for now, the Co

The Confrontation A tide of growth followed in Bound's wake as she bolted down the canyon. Hardy grasses sprouted from crevices in the stone and tiny purple flowers opened on dusty bushes. Even the river seemed to run faster, its laughter sounding breathless in the deepening night. Eventually, Bound slowed to a trot, then a walk. The brimming energy that had flowed through her had subsided, flowing out into the scrub and the sand. But she still felt different. Taller? More solid somehow. Brighter, maybe, despite the weariness. The shrine had given her something, even if she wasn't sure what. In the midst of this contemplation, she hardly n

Where the River Ends Bound had her front half in a drift of snow and her tail flicking in open air when something in the world shifted. At first she thought it was the snow underfoot, and she stilled—but no, her footing was solid. It was more... underneath that. The same way her energy was underneath reality. Somewhere in the same unseen realm, the world had changed around her. Something warm brushed past behind her, then came again with more force, a buffeting wind that stung her hindquarters as the snow above her began to slide away. She jerked her head up and out of the drift to watch it subside, growing warmer in color as well as

Where Clouds Fade Into Snow Now that Bound was no longer being pulled along like a toy on a string, it was definitely time to go find some of those birds to chase. She cast a farewell to the snake, rubbed up against the ancient tree one again, and dashed for a gap in his drooping branches. As soon as she stepped outside their shelter, a wall of warm and clinging mist hit her. She stumbled and halted, first in confusion, then in a sagging weariness far worse than she had felt trekking through the jungle. She wilted toward the ground, staring numbly at nothing, as her nictitating membranes flicked, trying to clear away the strange heavy feeli