Role

Chapter 5

Taenya sat in the middle of the plains, the tall grass around her rippling in
the gentle breeze with a dry, rattling sound. She closed her eyes and reached
out her senses, hearing the poetry of the wind. It was almost like words, the
patterns of the blowing grass coalescing into imagery. She saw in her mind the
flies that flitted from blade to blade, pollinating, the sprouting of seeds,
the thatching of dead foliage, the... suddenly a clear voice whispered in her
mind:

"FLY!"

Almost unconsciously, she transformed her body into the graceful form of the
Couatl, red and orange and yellow and blue feathers glistening in the early
evening sun. Spreading her wings, she sprung into the sky, gliding and
sweeping low over the fields. "HIGHER!" the voice whispered. Taenya beat her
powerful wings, lifting higher into the air. From this height, she could see
the sweep of the land spread beneath her, from the ugly bulk of Galadon to the
south all the way to mountains of Udgaard. "HIGHER!" the voice urged again.
Taenya found an updraft, and beat her wings again, lifting even higher. Now
the land below looked dizzyingly vast. Voralian City to the east was a small
but glittering white circle set as if a jewel in the green band of forest that
surrounded it. The mist clung low over the swamps to the west. Clouds obscured
her vision to the south, for now she was above the lowest of these.

"HIGHER!" the voice urged again.

"I can't!" Taenya thought, emitting a hissing as she beat her wings,
struggling to combat the strong winds that buffeted her at this height.

"YOU CAN. HIGHER!"

Taenya gathered all of her strength, then with powerful strokes lifted higher
and higher, heedless of the currents of wind that pushed her in many
directions. She pushed higher. Up here it was cold, very cold. She could see
nothing below her but a rippling expanse of white and grey cloud, dazzling her
eyes from the sunlight. A strong gust of wind overpowered her. Her wings were
not designed for this altitude. She struggled, but found herself falling,
falling, falling. The clouds, the vast land, the plains, the forest rushed
toward her, disorienting. At the last moment, she righted herself, spreading
her beautiful wings to slow her fall. But it was too late. She crashed through
the branches of a forest she did not recognize, bouncing hard to the ground
where she transformed back into her half-elf shape. She lay on the forest
floor gasping in pain, small cuts lacerating her bruised body.

"Stand," a familiar voice said, very close.