"Make me cayre..."

[Jennalyn]

Zephyr, an Air Elemental mare

Long and lithe, Zephyr snaked through the air like a serpentine ribbon, the beating of her wings combining with her elemental magics to keep her high above the landscape. This stretch of sky, it was her home, though perhaps that would change in the next few months or weeks or days. She was never sure. Sometimes she didn't worry about thinking words like 'home', just following the currents of the winds as they took her across the ever-changing landscape below. Forests, desert, rivers, blue seas... none of it made any difference to her. So long as she could find a place to sleep when she tired and food when she hungered, it didn't matter where she was.

Sometimes she hungered for more than fruits and grass, though. Even she felt the pangs of loneliness at times, when the call of the open sky or the dance of a cloudy morning just couldn't boost her spirits. She hadn't been around other Samanayr-kin in a very long time, possibly years. She didn't keep track of things like that. The last time she'd even glimpsed other equines had been several months ago during a break for food in a tree high above a Song's territory.

She had roamed the world for years, content to flit and fly wherever the winds took her. Something about that seemed less satisfying than it had before, though. Something in her longed for the company of another, at least one other. She would never want to give away her freedom, but somehow knowing that she would always have a place to call home... it made her sad on those long, lonely nights when the mind wanders to things it normally wouldn't consider during the light of day. Something in her had started to want a home.

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OOC:

This beautiful Elemental mare has been a roamer for most of her life thus far, having left her Song at the equivalent of about fifteen to answer the siren call of the open sky. She is the equivalent of about twenty-five or so and has been roaming for as long as she can remember. Now, something inside of her is telling her that it may be time to find herself a stallion. Maybe it's her biological clock? xD Do Elementals even have those?

Zephyr is a floaty and gentle mare, but disconnected from the Samanayr world at large due to her wandering. It's hard for her to focus on things sometimes, and it's hard for her to care about the troubled world below when the freedom of the winds beckon. She would never be interested in a stallion who couldn't fly and join her in aerial displays, so winged boys only.

You do not have to respond in RP if you don't want to. I know some people aren't as comfortable with or good at it and I have no problems with that. Whether you reply in RP or as you, the owner, explaining more about your stallion and why (and how) you think they would encourage Zephyr to care about them, either is fine.

I'm looking forward to seeing what males step forward. ^_^ It might take her a while to make her choice. No worries if someone else responded before you. Just post as if they hadn't and we'll conduct separate conversations in the same thread, with me using differently colored text to denote who I'm/she's talking to.

[silvermoondragon]

(OOC: well, I was planning to wait until I got one other mare of my own to found a song, but Zephyr is just so beautiful with the scales and feathers as I said in my other post, that I just can't help trying to convince her to join Blue. Also, as I am enjoying the roleplays on the forum, an elemental would add very cool roleplaying possibilities. I was thinking about forming a song with only winged samanayrs and having the song on some high up mountain with a waterfall, but I am open to suggestions if Blue is accepted)



The last few days Blue had been following a strange but intriguing long lithe shape way high up in the sky. He knew it had to be something living the way it darted and weaved back and forth so mysteriously.

Always looking for adventure, Blue had mostly kept himself occupied, wandering, exploring, and meeting many interesting creatures, but lately, he too had been feeling lonely. He wanted someone to share his adventures with, someone to rely on if he got into trouble, and someone to protect. He had always been slightly jealous whenever he saw another strong stallion protecting his mares their foals. Blue was generally always high spirited with high energy and he loved flying.

This morning, when Blue got up, he looked up in the sky for the mysterious shape he had been following but it was gone. A little disappointed that he wouldn't get to find out what it was, he leapt up into the air to find himself some breakfast. He hoped he could find himself a fruit tree, as fruit was always sweeter than grass. After a few moments circling above the trees, Blue spotted a nice tall fruit tree just blossoming with juicy fruits. He spiraled into a dive, pillowing out his wings at the last moment to allow him to alight neatly on the branch nearest to what he thought was the biggest and juiciest fruit in the tree. As he reached out to grab the fruit, he suddenly noticed that he was not alone, there was another samanayr, one that resembled the beautifully mysterious shape in the sky, staring at him from a nearby branch, "Oh, hello theyre," Blue said softly, the words catching in his throat, "my name is Blue of the Open Sky, soyryry if I stayrtled you."

[Jennalyn]

OOC: I know how you feel about not being able to wait until you have a mare to start a Song. That was how I felt about my Mystic of the Opaline Fire and his lead mare, Reflection. She was just so stunning that I couldn't wait to own one myself. I had to ask Orasteele straightaway if she might be interested. If she does end up accepting him, your homeland setting sounds ideal for her, and she would certainly connect better with winged Samanayr-kin than flightless ones.

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Taking bites from the barely ripened fruit still hanging from the branches of the tree, Zephyr heard and sensed the flapping of feathers nearby. It seemed larger than a bird native to these areas, many of which she had seen in the sky. Perhaps it was one of the larger birds that preferred staying closer to the forest?

Or perhaps it was another of her kind, she reflected as the sound drew closer. Pupiless blue eyes glanced up from her meal and her legs tensed on their perch, ready to push her long body into an immediate ascent if the approach turned out to herald danger. After another few breaths, she caught sight of the bright blue shape diving towards the very same tree she happened to be occupying. Only his species kept her from flying away immediately, that and the fact that he didn't seem to be aiming directly at her. Otherwise she would have fled in a heartbeat, disassociating herself from the entire situation with the abnormal and magical speed available to her in the air. Only other air Elementals could keep up with her when she poured magic into her flight.

A moment after landing, the other's pale blue eyes finally caught sight of her and she stared back. It wasn't an intent stare, or a hostile one. It was merely... watchful. From her pose, it seemed as though she might take to the sky at a moment's notice.

Should she respond? Was this his territory? The rules and laws of ground-dwellers eluded her sometimes, useless in the world above the clouds. He looked somewhat younger for a stallion, closer to her own age than some of the others she had encountered, though of course she couldn't be sure. Did she really want to involve herself in something as unnecessary as a conversation? She hadn't bothered to actually speak in... years.

Feeling no hostility after a moment's hesitation, she slowly inclined her feathery head in a nod of acknowledgment. "I am Zephyr," she replied in a voice that sounded dry from disuse. "Are these your lands?"

[silvermoondragon]

(OOC: I got a another samanayr! I am still interested in trying to make Zephyr care though. Would she mind other mares in the song eventually? It doesn't have to be right away)

Blue glanced quickly at the surroundings and sighed inwardly, the surrounding lands just didn't call out to him, they didn't have the spark that he was looking for.
"No, these ayre not my lands," he replied with a shake of his mane, "I am a wandeyreyr, yroaming the land in seayrch of the peyrfect place to call my own."
Blue then slowly reached out towards the juicy fruit that he had first spotted before landing in the tree, picked it carefully off the branch, and then offered it to Zephyr, "Foyr you."
As he waited Zephyr to take the fruit, he immediately launched into some questions, his eyes beginning to sparkle as he got over his initial shyness, "What about you? Do you have any lands? Are you all alone?"

[Jennalyn]

OOC: Zephyr has nothing at all against other mares in a Song. She's very flighty, so she might come to feel a slight amount of guilt towards her future stallion if he didn't have someone to keep him company if she ever decided to flit off for a while. It wouldn't stop her, of course, just make her slightly uncomfortable. So yeah, no problems at all on that.

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Watching him, Zephyr wondered what he was about until he reached for the food. Ah yes, he had been about to eat that one until he noticed that he wasn't alone in the tree. It confused her when he offered it to her instead of eating it. What? Why?

She reached forward and accepted the fruit slowly, having to take the stem in her mouth and place it next to her on the crook of the branch. Being a wyvern left her with less dexterity on land or in a tree, but a great deal more in the air. After a moment's thought, she remembered some vestige of manners and nodded her head in thanks. Some part of her was still wary, but he seemed genuine enough that she probably wouldn't have to flee. A conversation was in order, as strange as it seemed to her.

"I am a wandeyreyr as well. I yroam the skies, yratheyr than the land, and I tyravel alone by choice." Solid blue eyes watched his shine with genuine enthusiasm. Was he simply so friendly because he had never seen an Elemental before? Did he know what she was? Some didn't, those who had no Songs with Elementals near their territory. "The land holds fayr less appeal foyr me. As an aiyr Elemental, I have little need of it. The clouds ayre fyreedom." And yet, sometimes... lonely.

[silvermoondragon]

Blue listened with awe, an elemental? He'd thought she was special with her long sinuous body and wyvern wings but he had never imagined that he would actually meet one. The way she spoke, with such passion about the sky, it was easy to believe her statement.

"I love to fly too, soayring the skies, the thyrill of diving thyrough nothing but aiyr," Blue stated, "but my wings ayren't built for constant flight. I must yreturn to the land to yrest when my body tiyres."
"May I... May I fly with you?" Blue questioned shyly after a short pause, "at least foyr a little while?"

[sera]

He stretched his blue tipped nose into the water to sip thankfully at the cool water. Even as he did, his ears slipped forward and back excitedly. Life was an adventure and it was great to be out and about, even for a short time. He was hoping to find something TRULY GREAT so he could tell Towering all about; the other stallion was a good friend of his. He lifted his head thoughtfully as he finished swallowing. Rumour said that something had been haunting out here, which he found horribly exciting. He'd never made friends with a ghost before! He flicked his orange-y tail and spread wings in a full stretch before leaping up into the air and quickly fighting for altitude.

As such, he wasn't immediately aware of the mare above him, especially since his timing was such that she was literally above him. His ears twitched curiously; were those wings beats other than his own?

[Jennalyn]

silvermoondragon:

The awe visible in his whole bearing, from the intent gaze to the way his wings sat while he listened, struck Zephyr as remarkably young. Or perhaps unworldly? Or simply an innocent soul. She wasn't familiar enough with judging characters to decide which it was.

"I must yrest at times as well," she replied with a small shrug of her wing-arms. The movement looked odd on such a long body. "Usually I sleep afteyr a day or so of flight, afteyr a meal. I must still eat, afteyr all. Which I plan to do yright now. It is why I came down in the fiyrst place." That seemed to be her response to his question as she settled her balance more carefully on her branch. Then her long neck extended to the fruit that he had given her, still tucked in the crook of the branch, and she began to eat in small, quick bites. Part of her seemed to forget that he was even there as she concentrated on the food, though it could be noted that her ears twitched with every movement that he made. She had not remained unharmed for so long on her own without developing a healthy degree of caution.

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sera:

The wing beats seemed less frequent than they should be for a normal Lamanayr or winged Sam. Between her naturally light and aerodynamic body, buoyed by the body structure of a wyvern, and the air magic that assisted her flight... she rode the air like a quiet breeze. It was her life, flying, and she embraced it as an art form whenever possible. On a clear day like this one, with no strong gusts mussing her feathers or stormy clouds calling for more magic to navigate through unscathed, she could afford to play with the sky like an old friend.

It took her a moment to notice the shape below her, one of her twists putting her in line to catch a glimpse of orange tail out of the corner of her eye. She immediately back-winged and went higher simultaneously, magic assisting her in making the maneuver smooth and silent, and gazed down at the shape below her. Not a predator... another Samanayr-kin. Should she flee? Probably.

With the calm assurance of an air Elemental, she flew forward like a winged ribbon in the sky, becoming visible to the stallion if he tilted his head just slightly up as she moved ahead of him. She was going quickly, but nowhere near full speed. This was to test and see if he would give chase, and if he did... whether or not it would be a hostile chase. If so, she would have to make a mental note of this skyway as hazardous in the future.

[sera]

Aha, there was definitely a sound up there! He twisted his head catching sight of a white-ish shape, probably a mere moment before she spotted him. He caught only the idea of a long, lithe body at first as his face immediately lit up with this knowledge that there was someone else out here and his naturally gregarious nature popped out and he went, "Hi!" He followed her upwards higher instinctively and then realized that she was flying away! It did not occur to him that there was no sound of backwinging, only that his potential new friend was going away.

His ears tilted backwards for a moment and he felt a surge of disappointment. Aww. And then he wondered if he had frightened whoever that was or even offended them somehow! Well, that certainly wouldn't do! He quickly flapped harder, sending his body quickly after the other creature.

"Hey! He~y!" he called in his friendliest voice. "I didn't mean to scayre you!" He hoped that would make whoever it was slow down; he flew a lot but the other's ease in the air suggested that she might be quite a bit faster than he was.

[Jennalyn]

sera:

There was chase, but it wasn't hostile. That unnerved Zephyr. What did it want? The words came to her as though from a distance, wind whipping past her ears and carrying sound away as quickly as it arrived. The voice sounded masculine, but she couldn't be sure. Between the distortion and her lack of recent experience in discerning the difference, it could very well be a mare.

Why was it contacting her? Did it want to warn her about a potential hazard, or ask her a question - the common 'what exactly ayre you' floated in the back of her mind - or just curiously socialize? The voice didn't sound threatening.

Making a quick decision, she switched her flight to purely magic and twisted in midair, wings still as she continued to move backwards. There had been no obstructions for as far as she could see, so it would have to be something approaching for her to run into anything. At least now she could get a good look at her pursuer. A Lamanayr, certainly, with an odd blend of muted and bright colors. She still couldn't tell gender on sight.

Continuing to move so that it didn't get too close, she watched the Lam closely as it followed her. "I am not scayred. What do you want?" The words came out in a matter-of fact tone.

[silvermoondragon]

Since food was also the reason Blue had found himself in the tree, when Zephyr started to eat, he grabbed another nearby fruit to munch on as well. He had noticed how cautious she was, every motion causing her to start slightly, and he tried to make his motion as slow and nonthreatening as possible. The two ate in silence, Blue waiting for the elemental to make the next move, but he couldn't help stealing glances at her every once and awhile. Her quiet and mysterious, almost alien nature intrigued him and he felt an urge to learn more about her.

[Jennalyn]

silvermoondragon:

The stallion had given her a large, ripe fruit and it filled Zephyr well enough that she didn't feel the need to go back for another. She had nibbled on one prior to his arrival, but it hadn't been nearly as juicy as the gifted fruit. Nudging the inedible bits out of the tree for some ground-dweller to consume, she gave the winged Samanayr an inscrutable glance and then launched herself abruptly, taking to the sky as a fish takes to water.

She was going slowly enough that she could be followed. Part of her wondered if he would bother to pursue without a direct invitation. If he didn't, he would probably never see her again. If he did, she would wonder why. Wouldn't he have better things to do with his time? Perhaps not, as a wanderer. She could understand the lure of curiosity, though hers didn't often revolve around other living beings.

[sera]

The white form was still definitely outdistancing him and for a long moment he thought that whoever it was was simply going to leave. He couldn't quite make sense of what he was seeing. It didn't look quite like a Samanayr, yet not entirely unrecognizable as one. He could see the flash of feathers, but they didn't seem to be where feathers were normally. He was about to call out again when the creature nullified the need to.

Capture was relieved when she turned, but it was slain with shock and admiration at the actual turn itself; so smooth and graceful, it was like a dance movement and he knew for a fact that he couldn't copy that particular move. "That was amazing!" he said excitedly, still flying towards her, though she closed the gap between them much more quickly than he did. "How did you tuyrn like that? I'm so glad I didn't scayre you; I yreally didn't mean to. I was only dyrinking down theyre, afteyr all; I didn't even know anyone was up heyre until you flew off. My name is Captuyre of the Eayrth's Gyrace; what's youyr name?" He'd spent enough time around humans that some of his speech patterns might be a bit more modern, regardless of the fact that his accent remained.

[silvermoondragon]

Blue watched, as after finishing the fruit, Zephyr gracefully took to the sky, snaking through the leafy branches without even a graze. Blue hesitated, she hadn't exactly said that he could fly with her, and her glance at him hadn't revealed anything. He got the impression that this was his one chance to impress her, and after a mental debate with himself that felt like ages but was in fact only mere seconds, he decided to follow. After all, she hadn't said no either.

He leapt out of the tree with a grace that under any other circumstances would have been admired, but after watching the smooth, fluid take off that only an air elemental could have accomplished, looked plain and jerky with each beat of his wings. Still a little unsure about her reactions to being followed, he tried to stay a few meters back. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Blue began to feel more at ease. The wind softly blowing, ruffling through his feathers and fur, calmed him down and his joy of flying resurfaced as it always did each time he left the ground to soar high above it.

[Jennalyn]

OOC: Hmm. You know, the more I've been thinking about her and examining her personality, the more I think she's just not going to be able to settle with a stallion quite as happy and easy-going as either of these lovely boys. Not that she isn't gentle and easy-going herself, but her apathy won't let her settle unless forced. I think I'm going to have to go looking for a more dominant or aggressive personality to help her make up her mind.

I'm apologize for 'wasting' your boys' time, but I'd imagine they would have some very brief but unusual conversation before she flitted off again. xD

[Orasteele]

((More aggressive eh? *eyes Rend* He may as well give it a shot! Hope you don't mind me throwing in a bit of weather into the mix...))



Rend was hunting again. Not for any need of sustenance, but to add to his small but growing song. There was something about having more that pleased the Elemental. There was a pride about claiming them as his that made his heart swell. It was an odd feeling, but one he accepted. So far it hadn't hindered his being.

The wind picked up with promise of a storm. A nice change from what had started out as an almost too warm day. Ruby eyes scanned the darkening horizon, perhaps he'd cool off sooner than expected. From the corner of his eye a sliver of movement against the darkening sky caught his attention. Now what have we heyre? Rising more by magic than by use of his wings the elemental stallion moved to meet the fleeting form.

[Jennalyn]

Storms always came with an element of danger, tinged with a large dose of anticipation and excitement. The blaze of lightning, the roaring of thunder, the howling of winds, they were all exciting and electrifying. They made Zephyr feel alive, having to rely more on her magic than her natural flight abilities, trusting herself to her heritage rather than her own fur and feathers. It was exhilarating.

She flashed through the sky like an aerial silverfish, the distant but approaching lightning gleaming off of her scales. The clouds would arrive, the storm would hit, and then everything would be a mass of motion and chaos and survival. Sometimes, after too long alone and too much peace, a good storm helped convince her that she could still feel.

A stray gust of wind turned her half-around, the only reason she caught sight of the rising form before it reached her. As it was, the red and blue and gold shape moved in quickly. Her wings stopped beating for a moment in shock at its rapid ascent, but she quickly resumed. No sense in draining herself too much magically before the storm even hit. If this was a threat, she could flee faster than it could chase.

Probably.

Hopefully.

It really was coming in fast, wasn't it? She hesitated in a moment's nervous indecision. Fight or flight? Was either necessary? Making out that it was another Samanayr approaching did little to ease her worry. It looked decidedly dangerous. Very... spiky.

[Orasteele]

((Sorry for the long delay! I've been so busy at work that I come home exhausted. *should be working now too* >_>))

Fast as a silverfish was the form he spotted moved and stopped, facinating. There were few sams that he knew of that could hover in place, all of those being more magically inclined. His curiosity was certainly peaked if nothing else as his nostrils flared with the scents on the wind. Not a stallion to be challenged but a mare! With a gust of wind he changed his posture from somewhat threatening to more languid. Garrish colored wings outstretched to catch the breeze as he slowed.

"A sliveyr of sky and wind, ayren't you the inteyresting lady to be saught afteyr. A flickeyr that moves thyrough the sky yratheyr than the woyrld below it." He said as he came close enough to see the individual scales upon her body. Lightning flashed, revealing a spray of color in the growing darkness as his solid red eyes lit up. "By what name do those you meet call you? I am known as yRend." A smile played across his lips revealing slightly sharpened teeth. A demon elemental by birth appearance took more after the Sa'kiren, though his personality wavered when it came to the aspects of the species.

[Jennalyn]

Zephyr had only briefly encountered other elementals, and never one so colorful as this. Both of her parents had been air elementals and she had met two others on her travels. Most others didn't have wings, or at least didn't fly so high or so long as she did. She could only assume that this other Samanayr, this stallion as something in his bearing screamed to her, was an elemental after looking at those solid crimson eyes.

The gusting of the coming storm, combined with the potential danger brought by this strange 'yRend', made her breath quicken and her feathers fan out. Had his posture not changed before he slowed, she would have bolted then and there, magic guiding her into the heart of the threatening clouds. As it was, the sky remained only slightly more threatening in her mind than the approaching stallion. She needed time to prepare for weather like this and diving into it headlong would be a dangerous prospect.

"Veyry poetic," she said in a rough voice barely audible over the whipping wind. It sounded like she didn't use it to speak very often. "yRend, I am Zephyr. Ayre you an elemental as well? Only I have neveyr seen anotheyr with youyr coloyrs."

[Orasteele]

"Zephyr, hm? Beautiful name, lady of the wind. Yes, I am an elemental too. Though my type of element is fayr diffeyrent fyrom the noyrm. I have yet to meet anotheyr with an element similayr to my own, so I'm not suyrpyrised that you've neveyr seen one quite like me. I have neveyr seen one quite like you though I have seen the aiyr whisps that fly acyross the sky a time or two." He turned his head to regard the growing thunderclouds. The danger of it sent his blood flying! Now this was weather!

His tail flicked with anticipation as a loud crack resounded within the cloud. Snapping his gaze back to the mare he let his eyes roam over her form, as his mind decided what to do now that he found her. She was amazing and the stallion in him screamed to keep her, but how to make her his was the part he hadn't quite figured out. "Cayre to yrace with me thyrough it? Elemental to elemental? You'll have the advantage of being in youyr element," he said as an idea formed in his mind, "but what would be the pyrize? Hrmnnn...tell me, should you win what is it that you would want as a pyrize?"

[Jennalyn]

Very eloquent indeed. This stallion had a way with words that Zephyr had never had the need or the desire to master. The best she could do was polite. Poetic was beyond her, except poetry in motion. That was what she lived for. No words describing flight, however pretty, could ever compare to the action itself.

His words had to be leading to something, though. Perhaps it was simply that elementals rarely ran across one another by chance? The excitement and interest due a new discovery? Or was the storm getting to him as well? From his colors and appearance, she could guess that his element had something to do with chaos. Maybe that was what had called him to the stormy sky in the first place.

She couldn't discern the placement of his gaze, solid eyes giving nothing away. It would have concerned her more if she could. "Something tells me that youyr wings ayre not for show. But..."

The idea of a race piqued the tiniest bit of interest. She had never actually raced another Samanayr, though she had seen her parents partake in aerial competitions when she was a foal. They had been a beautiful sight, her sire's wyvern build against her mother's oversized wings. "I have all that I want," she replied. Something in the back of her mind hesitated. No, that wasn't entirely true. Something inside of her wanted more, even if she had trouble placing a name to that want. "Howeveyr, I would settle foyr knowledge of all the elementals you have eveyr met. Our species ayre veyry elusive and inteyresting fyrom afayr. But what would you ask of me? I wayrn you now, if you ask foyr my fyreedom then this conveyrsation is oveyr." No one had the right to ask for that.

[Orasteele]

"Ask for youyr fyreedom? Why would any stallion wish to ask a mayre for heyr fyreedom? It is heyr choice whom she joins in flight, dance, or song." He back flew and shook his head. "No, I would not take youyr life fyrom you. We must be who we ayre and what we ayre."

"Should you win, I will gladly share my knowledge of our kind. And should I win...I only ask that you give thought to joining me in Song. To consideyr joining me in the aeyrials of life with all the twists and tuyrns that the cuyrrents send our way. Just a thought to it. I will not foyrce you to stay in one place should you wish to tyravel on. Tyrapped aiyr becomes stale and that is no way foyr an elemental to live." Rend was careful with his choice of words, he didn't want to ask her to give up her life to him, only to become his. To belong to him and no other, no matter where she flew.

He extended his wings out, letting the wind buffet around them. "Do we have a deal?"

[Jennalyn]

His words simultaneously put Zephyr's mind at ease and made her tense. A Song? Join him in Song? Did he already have one, or was he looking to start one, and was either option better or worse than the other? He was a stallion and so of course such things would be on his mind. The request gave her mixed feelings.

And yet he wasn't interested in stealing her freedom. That was more than could be said for one or two others she had met by accident on her journeys, stallions who guarded their mares as closely as they might food or supplies or jewelry, objects to be owned and possessed. The thought revolted every fiber of her being.

"I agyree, but have seen it in action. Youyr yrequest is... yreasonable. Should you pyrove youyrself supeyrioyr in the skies, I will consideyr what you say. We have a deal." With that, she flared her wings as a clear warning of her intentions and then dropped in a swoop to gain momentum. The action would give her a moment to gather herself, her energies, and her resolve. Then she sped towards the ominously roiling clouds.

[LvSoulFriend]

((*munches on popcorn and watches*))

[Echos]

With the winds of the storm whipping around him, tossing his feathers, and tugging at his wings, Plume could not have felt more at peace. The winds called to him, teased him with their swirling currents, begged him to join. Come, play with us brother, they called, sliding playful by before whirling away in spiraling gusts, we are many, strong, gathering. When he didn't answer they left him, hurrying on to join the winds that whipped up the sky into a dark curtain of thunder and rain. He felt them go longingly, wishing he was still free to join them in there aerial games, to fly across the land without pause like he used to. These wings and feathers that could bring him so high and close to them also pulled him away, kept him forever apart from them. Hanging there, wings beating the air, surrounded by the storm he could not have felt more alone.

With the help of one gust, Plume's wings lifted him higher, closer to the dark clouds that threatened to break any moment. He had joined such storms many times to feel the surge of power and speed that they created. Old memories helped guide him through the turbulent winds, though the many feathers that hid him flew wildly around his form making him sure he looked like a disheveled puffball. But it didn't matter much, there was no one up here to see him and he wouldn't have missed this chance even if there had been.

Slipping through a dense pile of cloud he emerged invigorated and slightly damp. The cold water had done much to dispel his earlier dourness and now just the thrill of the flight and the storm coursed through him. To his surprise Plume noticed he'd been wrong. He was not the only one storm chasing today. Not far above him floated two figures, one's colors standing out vividly from the grey sky, the other an almost invisible serpentine sliver. They were an unusual sight to say the least, not only for their appearance. In the many storms Plume had flown he had never encountered another samanyar, those with wings tended to prefer safer flights, fearing the heights and the winds and the danger of a storm like this. A few wing beats brought him up to the pair as the clouds around them all rumbled in warning.

"Hello! It is not often that I find otheyrs willing to fly a stoyrm. I don't know many of ouyr kind, but I still believe this to be an unusual encounteyr. I am he who is called Plume, could I ask the pyrevilage of knowing youyr names?"