Annabelle sat on a particularly hot patch of sand in the vast golden desert. Three pyramids lay on the horizon, their points piercing the clear blue sky. She took a swig from her water bottle. "East of the sun and west of the moon, yeah? You don't think he'd mind if we took a bit of a side trip?" She untied her hair and shook out the thick locks, shutting her eyes as strands whipped the side of her face. When she was finished, she tied it up again with her green scarf, happy to have the weight off her neck.
The Four Winds sitting around her were giving each other dubious looks.
"What?" she snapped. "A girl can't have a look around at the Wonders of the World before she whizzes by?"
More glances. "It's just that this is the fifth side trip in the past month. Aren't you worried about him?" The East Wind, the first one to help her, was of course the one to say this. He no doubt remembered when she came to him, red eyed with weeping. She'd made a horrible mistake, and the man who slept beside her each night was gone, trapped in a far off kingdom. But then she meant the Four Winds who swept her across the earth and filled her lungs with new air; she saw the great mountains and the hanging gardens, statues as tall as ten men. There was so much to the world than one man who never told her his own name.
The pyramids were shining in the distance. "I doubt he's dead just yet." South Wind's mouth hung open. She stood up and stepped toward him, pushing his jaw back up with her index finger. "Careful, you'll catch flies. You think I'm heartless, do you?" She whirled in a circle, trying to catch all of their expressions.
"Not heartless, my lady," said the North Wind. His black hair whipped in a breeze that surrounded only him. He was the only one not covered in a sweaty sheen from the midday sun, and his blue eyes were cold as ice. "It is only that you came to us with a particular mission in mind. If this was what you wanted all along, you should have said so. There are more wonders than these in my corner of the world." The smile on his dark red lips quickened her pulse only a moment; he was a wind, after all.
"I'll find him someday. It's just that there are so many things in the world. And you four are such good company." She gave a winning smile and then improved it with a coral lipstick from her pocket—something she picked up in one of those shiny cities they kept passing.
The Four Winds reflected their own smiles back at her, but only the West Wind had a different look in his eyes that shone sky blue but sometimes filled with far away places, fields of gold. "Will someday ever come, Annabelle?" he asked, his voice carrying on a breath of wind meant only for her; no one else could hear. It was a wind that smelled of grasses and sweet flowers, blooming far away.
She tucked her water bottle into her backpack and started toward the gold tips on the horizon, jutting into the sky. "Come on, boys. Let's explore some pyramids." They were quickly on their feet, two on either side, keeping up a windstorm that whipped and rushed around her. When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that they'd blown away even her own footprints. The desert sand was smooth and sleek, as though she never passed this way at all.
I haven't written a oneshot in a while and this one's a bit odd, probably partially inspired by things Clar the Pirate has written, particularly Iron Shoes in her Ones That Failed series, because falling in love with the world and things. So go read her work because it is better than mine.
But first leave a review, because I am curious if I have become horrible at oneshots, or if you thought this was good or interesting in any way, so let me know!