sugar berry

[imeanforever]

Near a stream that pours off a high cliff and then snakes away is a garden, carefully tended, and a house, built of wood and stone and transmuted pearl. Fairies weed the plants. One is fixing the roof. A berrybush, hair atangle with spidery branches, is painting gold stripes onto her purple arms.

Comments

[imeanforever]

Promise goes on talking in her sleep for seventeen hours. It is somewhat doubtful that she had been allowed to sleep recently under Thorn's jurisdiction, but sudden freedom may have served as a stimulant.

She wakes up. She startles, but takes stock of the situation and composes herself presently, heart rate calming down.

[infinitely_stranger]

"Hello," says Arcane. "You utter nouns in your sleep."

[imeanforever]

"I know."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I wasn't sure. It seems the sort of thing one could escape knowing."

[imeanforever]

"I didn't use to know, but I've since been told."

[infinitely_stranger]

"When I sleep I just keep going in about the same direction at about the same speed that I was going when I fell asleep. It's convenient on long trips, and if I drift off course I can correct it easily enough with fast-flight when I wake up. I think I will stop fast-flying and go to sleep soon. Do you expect to be able to keep up with me for seven or eight hours if I pick a reasonably sedate pace?"

[imeanforever]

"Mm - I think so. I haven't flown for a very long time in - a very long time. If I need to wake you up how should I do that?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"Saying 'Arcane, wake up' is a fairly reliable method, and if that doesn't work and you urgently need my attention, grab the edge of a wing - you won't damage them that way, but it's very startling."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[infinitely_stranger]

Arcane slows down their fast-flight until the landscape hardly seems to be moving beneath them at all, and then lets go of Promise's hand.

[imeanforever]

Promise flaps to keep up. She eats a soft-skinned melon.

[infinitely_stranger]

Arcane closes his eyes.

It's hard to tell exactly when he falls asleep. It's not like he was doing much other than fly in a straight line to begin with. But his eyes are closed and the rippling movements of his wings are very regular.

[imeanforever]

She keeps up. She does not tug on his wings or tell him to wake up, just nibbles down her food supply and flies.

[infinitely_stranger]

About eight hours later, he opens his eyes and looks for Promise.

"Hello. Ready for fast-flight again?"

[imeanforever]

"Yes." She holds out her hand.

[infinitely_stranger]

Arcane takes her hand, and off they zoom. Fast-flight is fast.

[imeanforever]

"How hard is this spell to learn?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"One of the problems of having a direct harmonic sense is that it's very difficult in general for me to teach my spells to anyone. Fast-flight is one of the ones I haven't managed to translate. I might be able to translate a stripped-down version with fewer conveniences, but so far no one has expressed serious interest in being able to fly very rapidly while making a terrible racket that can be heard for miles in every direction, leaving behind a very obvious trail of disturbed air, and running out of breathable air in somewhere between one and six hours. Or about a minute if the spell didn't include an air bubble at all."

[imeanforever]

"It seems better than nothing under some potential circumstances, but admittedly not nearly so appealing."

[infinitely_stranger]

"If I ever come up with a teachable version of proper fast-flight, perhaps I'll find you and let you know."

[imeanforever]

"I'd just as soon the Queen never notice I exist. By the way."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I have no particular reason to mention you to her, except very incidentally in the course of describing what happened at Thorn's court if that comes up. She doesn't ask for detailed accounts of my travels, just for points of interest I may have discovered while I was out. 'So I took one of his vassals and deposited her out of his reach' will not provoke her curiosity."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[infinitely_stranger]

"Not wanting to come to the Queen's attention is a very reasonable preference."

[imeanforever]

"I mean. She's probably better than Thorn."