It's only forever, it's not long at all

Zahra & Ilham

It was pride that turned angels into devils

True to its name, the Green Labyrinth, was proving to be a hindrance now that her father couldn’t fly - now that their journey was more or less bound to the misted, invisible contours of this, the western flank of the Rift. 

Explore, had been the directive from the many-face god, the centre of the jigsaw that they were slowly piecing back together. Zahra was trying to unravel the tangles of his world, the reasons, the reality, and section by section (event, by cold, callous event), the picture was beginning to shine through. 

"We haven’t much further…" she whispered, lied, hoped in vain, as they drew a blind path through the ever moving fog. After the Wolf, the shadows and their wicked apparitions, there had been little other option for the travelling duo, then press forward; continue, study the landscape which by now, seemed all but escapable - there otherworldly new reality. 

And before now, it had seemed rather alright. 

Manageable. 

Eyes glanced back, stealing a tentative view of the one-winged man who lagged behind. He’d grown so quiet, preoccupied, lost beneath a tsunami of thought, and for the most part, the awkward company that they had been sharing, had grown rather more uncomfortable; distant. Never the less she guided them forward at a gradual pace, examining the scenery with baited interest - for really, there was little else to do. 

"You look tired…" Zahra announced finally, swivelling upon lean pinions to confront the stallion. As though descending through his own version of fog, her father’s eyes lifted to meet her and she smiled with quiet reserve. "You wait here," she mumbled, realising as she spoke that he had very little option anyway (that it was probably a cruel direction given his predicament), "I'm going to fly ahead to find shelter." 

But from what?

The rain had eased a day ago, and though the stagnant air was pregnant with revolting humidity, there seemed to be no relief on the horizon. "I mean… food," she mentioned as an after thought, turning, spreading guiltily her glorious monochrome wingspan to venture off for a moment without him. But she did so regardless, and the rush of wind through her rippling feathers quickly overrode the weight of the remorse she felt for leaving. 

Unfortunately, there was little in the way of earth to be found from on high, and soon enough, Zahra was forced down once more, to make use of other senses instead of sight - sound, touch and taste, while the thick mist shrouded everything else. Far to the north (west), the silhouette of a something jagged jutted out against a golden, eerie sky blanket of sky, and she wondered perhaps if her father had the energy to walk far enough to find it. 

She sighed… "He isn’t injured..." The golden-bellied had made absolute certain.

Hesitantly she paused, raking whiskered lips across the humid, grassless loam, caught in time between the savage hand of indecision, and the bubbling, brooding urge to move forward.  
 

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Note: She's alone, any welcome :)