I fall.

Drop out of the sky

As if I forgot

How to fly.

I don't understand,

but lying here,

sprawled across branches,

Iridescent wings

Maybe punctured,

I screech out my cries for help.

Am I too deep into the forest for anyone to hear?

My vision is fading,

And I want dearly to find

Ecl and its cold numbness.

But it's not there.

Mother's old words come back to me

And I'm hearing her order me not to go back

To the Nothingness.

It isn't safe.

I smile, think how she doesn't even know

Anything.

And yet I still love her.

The beating of wings meets my ears;

It's the sweetest sound in the world.

"Mother?" I call,

but no, it's Acelan.

How could he hear me from so far away?

I ask him as he shifts into Demi-form,

And I'm human again,

But he doesn't look me in the eye.

"It's what friends are for,"

he whispers.