The few times she escorted him back to Serenes, the few times she willingly stayed in one of the offered rooms… she always encountered an experience that was far different compared to the last.
The resurrected forest was far different in comparison to Hatari. She was so used to the unevenness of sand beneath her that walking the long, winding dirt paths almost made the soles of her feet hurt; her sandals less than equipped to handle the change of terrain. The long, white fur of her tail caught everything in its path: leaves, twigs, a couple of small rocks she had to pick out; her fur didn't remain clean for very long against the dirt and grass.
And while part of her almost felt annoyed with the changes, she remained mostly curious for them instead. Her ears turned and perked with every sound; eyes felt as though they couldn't follow all the subtle movement around her; she was completely surrounded by unfamiliar scents. While he remained busy catching up with his siblings and father, as well as King Tibarn and King Naesala on some occasions, she allowed herself to break away from him. She never stayed away long and made sure to be back before the end of the hour. As long as she was certain that he would be safe with the others, she'd give herself a moment to step out and explore once more.
Her Laguz form felt too large against the closely-knit trees and the underlining brush that got caught in her claws and tail. She was at least thankful that the heated sand of Hatari had hardened her gray pads so that the rocks underfoot were barely felt as she scaled down the side of a small ditch and leaped to the other side; her blunt claws digging into the thick soil so that she could pull herself up. Hunkering down, she followed the different scents in the air and followed the odd impressions in the soil. Her ears picked up on the sound of snapping twigs long before her eyes could catch sight of what was calling for her attention.
She remembered pushing her way through a small gathering of bushes to reveal the fragile-bodied doe on a few yards from her. The poor, senseless animal never even knew of her approach and nibbled peacefully at the grass around its hooves. Her back was low, her tail stiff as it moved side to side- counterbalancing every step she took.
She could've rushed the creature and struck before it even knew she was there.
She could've taken its fragile, slender neck between her jaws and snapped it like a twig in mere seconds; killing it before it could so much as swallow the grass between its teeth.
But she didn't. She wasn't hungry nor was she in the mood for blood lust. She was more curious of this environment and wished to explore it further without having to worry for protecting a kill- not that she thought there were any other suitable predators around to challenge her. Although, she supposed it was worth mentioning that she did remember Rafiel telling her that there was to be no killing within the forest. The Hawks and Ravens had agreed on such a pact… she supposed she could've dealt with such nonsense for a day at least.
After she had explored the middle grounds, she resorted to climbing a few of the rock formations around; taking note that she wasn't alone at some points. There were a few shifted forms flying around overhead and she wasn't stupid enough to overlook the occasional sound of footsteps following behind her. She had no doubts that they were just curious bystanders who had been drawn in to her curious behavior and figured it was worth sticking around to watch. Her strong legs helped her to leap against the rock formations, easily gaining height over the rough terrain underneath. Seated at the top of one pile, she pinned her ears back once again and took in the sight that was sprawled out in front of her.
It was… magnificent to say the least.
She had witnessed plenty of changing environments during the war but none could come close to this. She could certainly see why the Herons would think this to be the perfect environment; their own haven from the world outside. Sometimes she forgot about what happened here. Sometimes it never occurred to her that the brutality that happened here was what guided him to cross her path by sheer chance and luck. There was a sense of good and bad residing in this place.
While it had been resurrected and healed, she could still find the scars that remained in the land. Scars that all those remaining bore as well.
That first night, while she stood on top of those rocks, she threw her head back and let out a low howl to pierce the calming air around her. The forest echoed her own voice in a way she had never heard before and she sat back to listen to how the soft tone carried its way through the branches around her.
When she returned to where the others were gathered, she noted their slightly worried, if not confused, expressions.
"That was absolutely haunting." the Hawk King remarked.
"You're welcome." she retorted in response.
Each visit, as few and far between as they were, offered her something a little more, a little different than the last.
Their second conjoined visit was spent running through the forest once more, this time he was at her side during the travel. He couldn't keep up with her as well as he could in the desert but he seemed content with trailing behind while she went on ahead. She remembered exploring the outer edge of a lake once before, never minding the mud that clotted the fur around her feet while he remained in a stationary location. It seemed to be a rare event for him to shift into his Laguz half, but in the comfort of the forest, he let himself go that one time. She watched him from the other side of the lake, watching as he nestled into one spot; while there was nothing to harm him in the forest, he kept himself slightly protected with a few boulders nearby, keeping his back guarded. While she saw the sense in it, she was still with him and she would spot a predator far before they could see her. She would be on them before he would even know it.
She remembered walking through the shallow portions of the lake, washing the mud from her feet along the way before she made her way back to him. He had been in the process of preening his feathers but as she rubbed along one side, the process seemed futile to do as she brushed them out of their places. Finding a spot next to him, she stretched her legs out in front of her and pinned her ears back again as a small screech echoed overhead.
"I can certainly see why this place is like heaven for you." she commented.
"It feels like a substitute now." he whispered. "Hatari is my home now… and you are my heaven."
With the next visit, she found out that the brush and overgrown trees weren't necessarily as annoying as she had portrayed them to be.
He may had tried to hide his laughter when he spotted her running her back against a thickly tangled portion of brush, but she was, for the most part, okay with that. After all, laugh as he wished, the relief of the annoyingly placed itch was far greater than her sense of humility.
With this latest visit, she walked out of the small cottage they were offered and found him out in the back. The weather was rather gloomy as one could describe and the onset of rain was easy to see as it slowly rolled in from the horizon. The wind was picking up and already able to whip the small curls of her hair around her neck and across her shoulders; the light fabric of her eye patch even shifted a few times and required some minor readjusting.
His white uniform fluttered around him in a somewhat elegant dance of fabric that was powerless to an invisible force. When she drew closer to him, she saw that his eyes were closed and he held a look of sad comfort on his face. She felt the next heavy breeze blow in and watched as the force of it briefly lifted his wings from his back and shook his feathers from their places. Slowly, with what had seemed to be some reluctance, his wings loosened from their stiff position and allowed for the wind to push them back. He wouldn't completely release them but gave enough freedom to let the breeze lift them slightly in its power.
At first, she thought it was a senseless, subconscious act.
She might've been right about the subconscious part but… she supposed the feel of the wind beneath his wings again could mimic the freedom of flying. After twenty years, he had adapted to life on the ground and didn't really speak about his disability all that often. He was lucky to have escaped with his life, the loss of his ability to fly seemed to come second to that, but it was difficult to forget about when he was always carrying his wings with him. They were essentially useless and yet still a part of him.
She always wondered if being here in the forest reminded him of that.
"It's odd how something can look the same, how something can look just how you remember and yet… be completely different just the same." he started. "It all looks right but it's not."
There didn't seem to be much for her to say and she wasn't entirely sure if there even were words for her in this kind of situation.
"I'm glad it's back, I really am but… I can't get over the fact that it feels like an imposter just as well." he continued. "It's beautiful, but without the voices, the sense of life that used to be here, I can't feel the same for it."
He was confused, he felt lost here, because that sense of life he was referring to… all those people were gone now. He spent twenty years accepting that, coming to terms with it, forgiving it, but standing here he could feel the ghost places of those he had long since said goodbye to. It was easy to accept when he was a long way away from this place, when he couldn't see nor connect with it.
He had lost his family, his home, his ability to fly…
She wondered if he felt that he had just completely lost himself in the end. With the exception of his voice, of his Galdr… what else did he have that connected him to not only just the Herons but the Bird Tribe overall?
Her fingers found their way to his shoulders before she pulled him in against her, keeping the motion subtle at first before she disregarded the opinions of whoever might see them. He was slow to return the motion before his arms moved to wrap themselves around her waist, pulling her into him. She heard the soft rustling of his wings once more and felt the slight pull from his back as they finally stretched outward behind him; finally catching the full appeal of the wind beneath them.