The Prince wondered what the name of the big garden-y… courtyard-y… what the place in front of the temple was called. Probably something pretentious. Everyone knew you couldn't have a dangerous ruin without a ritzy name. Elika's people had probably relieved themselves in the Toilets of Ormazd.
He thought about asking her, but she was intent on the daises for Ormazd's gifts. Arms crossed, than wandered into hugging herself. She was probably thinking of her father. The Prince had pressed, but if she was set on tragedy, some glib remarks wouldn't help.
And as totally sensitive as he was being, the distant wail of Corruption was setting his teeth on edge and all this silence was boring him. "Would you just pick one, please?"
Elika startled. She'd been chasing mirages. "Patience is a virtue!" she snapped, not wanting to admit she'd been distracted.
"Fine. I'm having a snack. Or should I say last meal?" He dug into his pack until he found some salted meat to eat.
Elika turned, obviously annoyed by his lip-smacking. "How can you eat at a time like this?"
"How can you dither?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full."
"It's the end times. Why do you care about manners?" He took a big juicy bite.
"Because it's disgusting."
The Prince chewed with his mouth open for a few moments before swallowing. "Just hurry up and… eeny-miney-miney-moe, hold a donkey by its toe, if it's heavy let it go…"
"Fine. You pick." She pointed to the dais he had chosen. "The Breath of Ormazd. That one lets us run up walls."
"I can think of a few times that would've come in handy. What about this?"
"Ormazd's Step. Fires us like a catapult to our destination."
"Pass. Hey, what about this?"
"The Wings of Ormazd."
"Wings. Wings are nice." He sat down on it. "Go on."
"It lets me fly."
"Fly!?"
"You know." Elika flapped her hands together like a bird's wings. "Whoosh."
"Go with that one."
"You haven't even heard what the Hand of Ormazd does."
"Elika, you can fly. Don't tell me you never looked up at the sky as a kid and dreamed of rising above it all and going wherever the wind took you."
"That sounds like the voice of experience."
"The lower you are, the further up you can look."
The Prince looked up at her. She took his hands, pulled him up, and swapped places with him. The dais glowed as Elika's light seeds took root in it. "I can fly, though. You're just along for the ride."
The Prince watched as Ormazd's power gave her wings, white and shining, which folded back into her shoulder blades with the fading of the light. But she still smiled.
"I can live with that."
