The Elder's Path (6 page)

Alir seemed to sense her unea
se, and shifted uneasily. Lyn glanced at him and sighed.

“It won’t do either of us any good to linger on the negative, will it friend?” Lyn said, her voice sounding loud and intrusive against the silence. Alir responded with a small cry, and ruffled his f
eathers. Lyn smiled, glad for the company, and finished packing her bedding.

Shouldering her pack once more, Lyn jerked her head away from the outcropping and motioned for Alir to follow her. Alir spread his wings and took flight, coming out from under th
e stone and earth and taking to the sky. Lyn’s eyes followed him as he circled above, and her heart went with him. Even against the dreary grey sky, her companion seemed so majestic and free. She thought back to her first meeting with him, which now seemed like a lifetime ago. How simple and different her life seemed back then. How worried she had been about not be able to connect with anything or anyone. She smiled at the thought, looking at the hawk flying high above her and thinking of her friends in the caravan, and even the ostentatious bandit. For being more alone than she had ever been in her life, she sure had some good company.

Overcome by a youthful spurt of energy, Lyn’s smile turned to a grin and she spread her arms like wings. Laughing and call
ing to Alir, she took off full speed up the barely-visible trail she traveled upon, and ran to and fro as if she were flying. Alir responded to her exuberance by diving and circling above her, calling out all the while. This was it, Lyn thought, this was her adventure; all of it, every moment, was hers. She felt lighter than she had ever felt in her entire life, as if the sky was coming to meet her.

Then she realized the sky was indeed coming to meet her, and she felt a moment of vertigo. After a moment, s
he realized the sky wasn’t coming down, but rather she was going up. Her view changed and she saw she was looking down on the world, and with a moment of panic she saw herself down below. Her panic quickly turned to exhilaration as she recognized that she was again seeing the world through Alir’s eyes. She let herself be lost to the feeling of freedom and lightness, and was swept away by the moment. After a time she found herself back on the ground, exhausted but blissful.

Lyn did not make as much progress
that day as the day previous, but she did have the presence of mind to gather firewood and once again found a shelter amidst a rock formation. Big rocks, that was one thing the mountain had no shortage of. While the fuel for a fire was sparse, over time she collected enough for a small fire, at least enough to warm themselves by. With shelter secured and fuel for a fire, Lyn decided to use the remaining daylight to try and find some game. She and Alir had become quite the team at hunting, and after a time they procured a brace of rabbits. Lyn made faces as Alir took his meal.

“You may be content to have that raw,” she said, “but I will wait until I can put some fire to mine.” Alir ignored her and continued about his business. Scoffing, Lyn prepared her fir
e and bedding. She spoke softly to her companion for a while, easing the silence and making them both more comfortable.

That night, as she lay awake with the last remnants of her fire, she wondered to herself at the events of the day. How had she suddenly
been able to share Alir’s eyes when she could not before? Granted, it had been some time since she had tried, but this time she hadn’t tried at all, it had just happened. Lyn compared her experiences in her mind, and suddenly it hit her with a warm feeling; when she had tried to purposefully enter her companion’s mind, she had used her own mind and determination to do so, trying to force a merge of their consciousness. But their minds were not where they shared their bond. Rather, it was a bond between their hearts and spirits. And the first time Lyn had felt the exuberance and freedom when they first left the forest, she had a moment where their hearts united. The same was true for this last time. She felt the same way she had felt when they had first left the forest together, and she had felt her heart unite with his. An immeasurable feeling of love came over her as she realized how deep and intimate their bond was, realized that in truth she shared her heart entirely with another being. She had been doing it all wrong, trying to force and quantify what had already existed in the very core of her being.

She looked over to where Alir was perched, and saw that he looked passively back at her. She almost thought she could see the satisfaction on his face. She
smiled and reached out with her heart, and for a moment her vision doubled as she simultaneously saw her companion, and herself. Returning fully to herself once more, she again felt a deep sense of satisfaction. She could feel Alir’s love for her as close as she could feel her own for him, and the completeness of their bond washed over her. Alir emitted a small noise, tucking himself away for sleep.

As Lyn’s eyes slowly closed and the fire died down to embers, she slipped into peaceful sleep. Her last con
scious thought was of contentment. For the first time, Lyn felt like she truly belonged in her own life.

Much to Lyn's chagrin, the next day was characterized largely by a raging snowstorm. She had never before experienced a storm of this nature, and she f
ound herself unable to enjoy the novelty of it. Unlike the previous terrain, the more she progressed the more the snow stuck to the ground. In another circumstance involving the correct preparation and gear, such an obstruction would be in fact little obstruction at all. Unfortunately for Lyn, this circumstance involved in large part a notable lack of such preparation, and Lyn was indeed hindered. Moreover, she was miserably cold. The wind cut a chill path directly through her, carrying with it more of the infernal snow that continued to pile up. The more the storm went on, the slower Lyn and Alir were able to progress, and the more miserable they each became.

To make matter
s worse, what little sunlight that did come through the mountain's foggy barrier was drastically lessened by the storm; it was not long before Lyn found she was unable to determine which direction she was going or from which she had come. This was compounded when Lyn hit a patch of ice underneath a bank of fresh snow and tumbled fiercely down a small path for some distance.

Coming to a halt, Lyn rose and checked to see that she was all present and accounted for. Satisfied that she remained relatively intact, she checked her surroundings bleakly and sighed. A rustle from a nearby tree caug
ht her attention and she turned to see Alir preening himself on a low branch.

Lyn shook her head and said aloud, "It's not funny, you know. I could really have been hurt. We are both lucky that isn't the case. After all, how would you find yourself a way
off this Gods-forsaken icicle?" At this, Alir stopped his vanity chore and cocked his head at her. She gave a half smile and brushed herself off once more.

Lyn had always put on a brave face for people. For her mother, for Nana, for the rest of the villag
e. Even for herself in an attempt to believe it. But despite her seemingly impetuous nature, Lyn was accustomed to feeling very deeply indeed, and those feelings often included fear. Fear that she would never amount to enough, fear that she was doomed to a life of complacency and solitude. Fear that she would not meet the expectations of her role. And now, true fear that she was lost, alone, and would perish if she could not soon find shelter and gain her bearings. Her joking remarks and smirk to Alir were a familiar charade on her part to mask these feelings and convince herself she wasn't feeling them. But she was, and Alir knew it. She could not hide from him like she hid from everyone else. Like she tried to hide from herself.

Alir watched her with a kno
wing look, and after a moment took to the air. Lyn felt a moment of panic as she lost sight of him, and she frantically searched the sky for a trace of him. Not seeing him, she looked around her and took a moment to regain her composure.

"I got down here,
I can get back up," she breathed to herself. While the trail that she had been following before was meager at best, it
was
at least some directional guidance. She intended to return to it at once and watch her footing much more carefully from then on. She took her time and carefully laid about to find a route back up the slope she had just come down. From what she could see, the slope was relatively steep and covered in the same ice that had caused her slip in the first place. She doubted very much that she could make her way back up the slippery surface without falling prey to another unintentional slide. She came to the conclusion that she would need to find another way around. She was loathe to do so, however, because the storm was picking up again and visibility was low. The last thing she needed was to lose sight of where she fell and lose her way among the mountain crags. To make matters worse, she seemed to have fallen into a small outcropping of trees, making visibility even lower as she tried to peer through the foliage to find an alternate route.

Back in the forest, Lyn was accustomed to tracking. But that was in familiar
territory, where she could tell what was out of the ordinary. On this unfamiliar ground it was difficult for her to determine signs of irregularity and disturbance, and what signs she might have had anyway were quickly being covered in the snow that was whipping around her. She sighed to herself and racked her brain for an alternative.

As she was puzzling to herself, she heard the
familiar beat of Alir's wings as he alighted on a nearby branch. She looked up at him and met his eyes, and while she could hear no words to the effect, she knew he wanted her to follow. As soon as he realized Lyn was indeed intending to follow, he took off to a tree some distance away and waited for Lyn to catch up. When Lyn reached his new perch, he took wing once more. As Lyn followed her companion through the trees and snow, she realized that he must have been scouting a route for her from the beginning. She smiled to herself and felt warm adoration for him. What would she have done without him?

It took them some time to find a way out of the small ravine Lyn had slid in to, but Alir guided her faithfully back to the path she had been following before h
er slip. However, by the time they made it back, darkness was rapidly approaching and the snow continued to fall. Lyn found herself very cold indeed, and was wishing fervently for better insulation. Alir let out a displeased cry every once in a while, indicating they shared the discomfort. The blustering wind clawed at Lyn's eyes, and she found herself blinking away tears. She put her arm in front of her face in an attempt to block the icy onslaught, but it did little to alleviate her discomfort. She cast her gaze about, looking desperately for some shelter.

Alas, luck was not on their side; no shelter or outcropping seemed to stand against the storm, and snow was piling up at Lyn's feet. Feeling panic grip her once more, Lyn tried to get a hold of herself
and consider her options. Alir let out a particular startling cry, jolting Lyn from her reverie. She glared at him and turned back to her thoughts, trying now to think of how she could compile a makeshift shelter. Chewing her lip, she turned and looked back the way Alir and she had come, towards the small ravine and the trees therein.

Alir
squawked again, and Lyn turned back to look at him in frustration. "What?!" she yelled over the wind. But as the outburst left her, she saw what her companion had been calling out for. A shape was manifesting in the storm before her. She could not make it out, but it was large and moving steadily toward her. She took an involuntary step back, feeling her breath catch in her chest. She did not know for sure what it was, but she had a suspicion; while there were some few in the forest in which her people dwelled, she had heard that the mountains were home to many more. Bears.

Panicking now in full, Lyn checked again about her for any possible hiding spot or refuge. Seeing n
one, she turned to run and yelled for Alir to do the same. In her haste and panic, she lost her footing on the ever-deeper snow at her feet. Lyn stumbled and with a cry, fell to the ground, receiving a mouthful of snow for her efforts. She scrambled quickly to her feet and cast about again for some better option. Seeing none, she grit her teeth, stood her ground, and put her hand inconspicuously on the haft of the knife that Zhiva had given to her. Squaring her shoulders and raising her chin, she stood as composed as she could be, waiting for whatever the shape was.

She did not have to wait long, and as the shape took on more tangible form she saw it was not a bear at all, but something far more dangerous; a man. After the desolation of the mountain so far,
Lyn had somehow forgotten that there were indeed people here. Seeing another individual startled her and put her off her guard. Forgetting herself for a moment, she drew the knife and cringed, making herself smaller. She may have indeed become acquainted with good company so far, but this was different; she was all alone in the middle of nowhere, in a storm, lost...caught as she was in this train of thought she did not hear the man call out to her the first time. The second time, he bellowed substantially louder.

"Ho, there!" he called, and waved his arm. Seeing that she was not responding, the man tilted his head curiously and took another step forward. Well within her visual acuity now, Lyn could see why she had mistaken the man for a bear; he stood at l
east seven feet in height and looked like he weighed as much  as any two men she had ever seen. He was also bundled in layers of furs, and his face bore a great beard unlike any she had ever seen. Whereas Yusef had a beard that was long, it was well trimmed and shaped. This man had his beard unkempt and scraggly, as if he hadn't been in front of a mirror to maintain it in a long time. She could not make out any other facial features, with the beard covering half and what appeared to be large goggles covering most of the other half. Lyn stood her ground, not sure what to expect from him, and more than a little disappointed in herself for the creeping feeling of relief that began to nudge at her. She had always been accustomed to doing things relatively on her own, and had no issue with keeping her own company, but that did not seem to stop her from feeling grateful for seeing another person in this desolate place.