Hello! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter done. My work has been very demanding lately and I haven't had much time to write. But I'm glad I managed to finish this chapter. I hope you like it!
Chapter 9: The boy who died
Koushiro woke up agitated. He had had a long, horrible dream, but the details quickly faded from his mind. It took him a few seconds to realize he was sitting on that futon, wearing that simple white kimono he wore to sleep as a child.
When he was a child...
What a strange thing to think about. Koushiro was still a child, he was only 10 years old. For some reason, he felt like he hadn't been a child in a long time. He no longer remembered the dream, but he knew he had been an adult in it. He had been an adult for an extremely long period.
From inside the bedroom, he heard the door to his house being forced open. Footsteps of several men breaking into his house were heard, followed by the sound of things being broken.
"Get out of here, you filthy soldiers! Get out!" his father ordered. Koushiro heard the sound of a body hitting the ground, followed by the sound of boots hitting something. His father screamed.
"Stop! Please! Stop it!" his mother was crying. He heard another body being knocked over.
Koushiro crept to a corner of the room, where a loose board in the wall hid a hole he used to sneak out to play with his friends. He managed to flee seconds before his bedroom door was knocked down.
In the yard, the darkness of the night was broken by the flames of the torches carried by the soldiers who surrounded his house, all in armor and with swords at the ready, talking to each other in the language of the conquerors.
Koushiro knew what would happen next. He would run and be chased by the soldiers, he would see his house set on fire and hear his parents scream... and he would not see the abyss he was heading towards.
He knew... he remembered... Koushiro was going to fall to his death.
"Not again..." Koushiro said, dropping to his knees on the ground as he put his hands on his head.
"Please...not again... I don't want to go through that again..."
Then everything went completely dark.
The complete darkness in which he had been was being diluted by faint light coming from below, where a bright blue world shone.
Koushiro was floating in an empty space, still wearing the simple white kimono he had that night... how long had it been? It was dark when the soldiers came... was it still the same night? Where was he?
A feeling of dread grew in him. He had confusing thoughts. There was something he was trying to remember, but it kept escaping from him. Nevertheless, the things he wished he could forget wouldn't leave his mind.
He closed his eyes, attempting to keep the tears from falling. In his memories, he saw his house on fire. The soldiers were holding torches... they chased him... his parents were screaming... the abyss...
When Koushiro opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful blue staff floating in front of him. The object had a transparent sphere attached to one of its extremities, inside of which there was a blue spark. Koushiro stretched his arm in order to touch the staff. He felt compelled to do it, not knowing why. However, before he could touch it, the staff floated away from him.
Suddenly, intense white light came from his front, forcing the boy to close his eyes. Once he opened them, he was standing on a bright white bridge surrounded by emptiness. The blue world was below the bridge. Several meters in his front, Koushiro saw a giant double door, as tall as a hill, connected to nothing. Between him and the door, there was someone wearing a black cape; their face was almost completely hidden by a hood. That person was holding the blue staff.
Koushiro felt pressure on his shoulders, as if something was trying to push him down, but he managed to stay on his feet. The pressure increased as that person approached him, walking slowly.
"How old are you, little boy?" that person asked. She had the voice of an adult woman.
"T-ten..." Koushiro murmured.
"Really?" the woman sounded skeptical. "Nobody that young should be able to come here. Well... it's not like I'm complaining... I don't get many visitors, after all... what is your name?"
"Yukimura Kou..." he stopped talking. Ever since the soldiers came to his village, nobody was allowed to introduce themselves in that order anymore. "I'm Koushiro Yukimura."
"Nice to meet you, Koushiro," she greeted. "I am Justine de Léon. You might have heard of me."
Koushiro knew that name too well.
"The men who invaded my country..." he reminisced, "they closed our school... they burned my house... my parents... they did it because of you!" Koushiro glared at her. "They were your soldiers... you're the goddess they worshiped!"
"They killed your parents, huh?" Justine asked. "And I can assume that they killed you too... hold on! You know you're dead, right? People don't always realize that and it can get awkward..."
Koushiro looked down.
"I know... I remember..." he said.
"I bet those soldiers killed you and your family for some stupid reason. They've been doing that kind of thing for a long time." Justine said. "It's an institutional problem. I might have fought for freedom and justice, but those who built an empire in my name only care about power. They don't get tired of abusing it..."
"Why do you let them do that?" Koushiro inquired, glaring at her again. "You're a goddess, aren't you?"
"People have been calling me that..." Justine murmured.
"Then, why didn't you do something?!" Koushiro shouted. "Why didn't you stop those men? If you know about the horrible things your followers have been doing, it's your responsibility to stop them!"
"Is that so?" Justine had sadness in her voice. "Do you think that if someone knows that there are people being wronged, it's this person's responsibility to do something about it?"
"Yes! Of course it is!" Koushiro stated. A few tears escaped his eyes.
"If that's the case, if you knew there were people in danger... people who needed help... would you try to help them?"
"Of course I would!" Koushiro affirmed. "Everybody has the moral obligation to help those who need help! Nobody should ignore people who are suffering!"
"I used to believe in that..." Justine said. Under the shadow of the hood, her eyes glowed blue. Koushiro thought he had seen her smile as well. She pointed the staff at Koushiro and suspended him into the air. The spark inside the sphere glowed intensively. Strings of blue light surrounded the boy, who couldn't move nor speak.
"I can barely remember how it is to be so naive..." Justine spoke with sorrow. "I couldn't save the world, like I wanted. But maybe you can... who knows? Maybe you could be better than I... I'd like to see that." Justine showed him a small smile. " How about this? I'll allow you to return to the world of the living. You'll be granted the ability of seeing tragedies before they happen. It'll be your responsibility to prevent them. Save the people you'll see be wronged. Show me that you're not another selfish human being."
Once again, everything turned dark.
There was a palace among the snowy mountains.
In a luxurious room, a woman with orange hair kissed a blond man on the lips. They were both wearing heavy coats. He lifted her as they twirled around. They seemed so happy.
"We won!" the man exclaimed. "I can't believe we actually won! The Empire is over! You did it, Sora! It's all thanks to you!"
"We did it, Yamato! The nightmare is over!" the woman said, beaming. "We have to let everybody know!"
The Empire is over... that phrase echoed in Koushiro's mind. He didn't know exactly where he was. Somehow, he felt as if he wasn't really in that room with those people, but watching them from somewhere else. That didn't matter, though.
As he watched the woman named Sora grab a golden crown that had been placed on a large table and walk towards the balcony, an irresistible feeling took him over.
The Empire is over...
As he saw Sora raise her hand and show the object to a crowd outside, as he heard the people cheer, the feeling grew more and more.
Koushiro remembered when the soldiers came to his country in their ships. They called themselves liberators as they murdered the entire royal family and their supporters. They said they were warriors of justice as they entered the villages and took everything valuable they could find. Those men... those horrible men who beat people who disrespected them, men who saw a couple of teachers as threats... soldiers who, not satisfied in closing their school, set their house on fire with them inside... those men would be defeated.
The soldiers who took everything from him would be defeated.
The Empire would be brought down and the world would be saved.
"You did it, Sora! It's all thanks to you!"
Koushiro kept repeating that phrase in his mind, determined to remember the name of the woman who would save the world.
As he recovered his consciousness, Koushiro heard voices of other children close to him.
"He's waking up, brother!" a little girl said, excitedly.
"Give him some space, Hikari! We just pulled him out of the sea!"
Koushiro opened his eyes and saw a boy that seemed a little older than him and a little girl looking at him. The boy had brown skin, big beautiful eyes and very large hair. The girl's hair was short and her skin was pale. Her kind smile seemed as bright as the sun above them.
"Are you alright?" the older boy asked, helping him to sit up. Koushiro noticed that both kids were wearing simple gray kimonos.
"Where... am I...?" Koushiro asked, looking around. He was in a small boat with the other two children and a basket of fish, in the middle of the sea. "Was I sleeping...? I was dreaming about something..."
"We just rescued you from the sea. You must've fallen from a ship. We're heading back to our village on Turtle Island now, but we could take you to your place after we give our Dad the fish, if you're okay with that," the other boy told him. "I'm Yagami Taichi, by the way. This is my little sister, Hikari."
"Nice to meet you!" Hikari greeted.
"You just... introduced yourself in the traditional way..." Koushiro was mortified. "If the soldiers hear you talking like that..."
"Those dumb imperial soldiers aren't here now, are they? We could even speak in our own language and they would never know!" Taichi smirked. "What's your name, anyway?"
"I'm Koushiro Yukimura," he muttered. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Taichi, Miss Hikari."
"W-Why are you calling us like that?" Taichi asked, blushing. "Are you trying to translate honorifics? That sounds really strange. You can just call us by our names, you know?"
"I-I couldn't!" Koushiro stuttered. "It would be inappropriate, I barely know you. My mother always says..."
The memory of the fire emerged in Koushiro's mind. And then, he remembered the woman in that strange world... and he remembered Taichi.
Flashes of that strange boy filled his mind. They played together, laughed together, grew up together. When he was with Taichi, the world didn't seem like such a hostile place. Koushiro remembered how happy Taichi had made him... would make him... that didn't make any sense... how could he remember someone he had just met?
"K-Koushiro, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Taichi asked, alarmed. He turned to his sister. "Hikari, what do I do? How do I make him stop crying?"
"Just let him cry, brother," Hikari said, turning to Koushiro. "You have been through a lot of hardship, haven't you? Don't worry. You're going to be okay now."
Koushiro remembered Hikari, the sweet and wise girl who seemed to know more than she let on. She used to say that they had met in other lives and that she could remember them all. Fantastical lives where they were friends with monsters. She described them so well, Koushiro could almost see them in his mind, especially the ladybug. Hikari said strange things... she claimed to be able to talk to dead people... sometimes, Koushiro thought he had seen a strange spark in her eyes... a subtle pink light.
Then, he remembered her death.
"That can't happen again..." Koushiro said, looking into Hikari's eyes. "I won't let that happen again! I'll save you this time!"
Neither Hikari nor Taichi reacted to that. It was as if Koushiro hadn't said anything.
"It's not real..." he heard a whisper in the wind. He knew that voice, but couldn't remember from where. "They're just memories... you're not really there..."
Darkness emerged from the ocean, quickly covering everything.
Several scenes materialized around him at high speed: the day he was taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Izumi, an elderly couple who could no longer manage their farm without help; the times Taichi and Hikari invited Koushiro to take a boat ride; the times they helped him take care of the animals on the Izumi farm; the summer festivals where the three kids went together; the time the Izumis told him that Koushiro was like a son to them; their visits to the city; the nights when Taichi, Hikari and Koushiro lay on the grass and admired the stars; the times when Koushiro taught his friends how to read and write in their real language...
However, not all the scenes were happy. Every day, every night, Koushiro had visions of tragedies. He saw unknown people dying in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, shipwrecks, because of plagues or because of other people. He saw soldiers breaking into homes and taking lives, just like they had done to his parents.
Justine's voice echoed in his mind. She had given him the gift of seeing tragedies before they happened. It was his responsibility to prevent those tragedies. But how would Koushiro avoid them if he didn't know where and when they were happening? There was, however, one misfortune that he predicted would happen where he lived.
Koushiro didn't understand much about diseases, but he needed to learn if he wanted to prevent the plague. It wasn't easy to find books and scrolls about illnesses, but he still spent all the money he could get on every medical document he could find. Taichi thought he just liked to learn. Hikari said nothing, but looked at him with a mixture of sadness and guilt. However, as much as Koushiro studied, he couldn't figure out what would cause the plague or how to stop it.
In his visions, the only person he saw dying was Hikari. How surprised and desperate he was when the plague hit the Izumis first. Then, it was the turn of Taichi and Hikari's parents and many other people in the village. The medicines Koushiro tried to prepare with herbs never worked. How could they? The boy didn't actually know what he was doing. However, he didn't give up. Even when Hikari fell ill, Koushiro kept trying to find a cure.
Nevertheless, she died.
Scenes from the past stopped rushing around him.
He found himself in the room where Taichi watched over his sister's lifeless body. Taichi was kneeling beside Hikari, grunting as thick tears streamed down his face.
Koushiro didn't know what to say to him. He wanted, above all, to apologize for his failure, but how could he do that without revealing that he could see the future? Taichi didn't need to know about the burdens that Koushiro carried. What Taichi needed was his sister back.
There was a way. There was a person who could bring someone back to life. She had done it with Koushiro, she could do it with Hikari too. Justine could save her.
After making his decision, Koushiro got up and walked towards the bedroom door.
"Don't go..." Taichi asked, in a weak voice. "Please stay with me...don't leave me..."
"It's going to be okay," Koushiro promised, not turning to see Taichi. "I'll help Hikari!"
When everything went dark once more, Koushiro wondered what was coming next. He didn't want to relive the moment he ate those berries. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary. The next scene that materialized around him was Justine's dimension. She was standing in front of him, on the white bridge surrounded by nothingness. Her body and most of her face were covered by her cloak. Justine was holding her blue staff. The blue world continued to glow below them. Behind Justine, the gigantic door stood.
"So, did you give up?" Justine asked dryly.
"Save Hikari! Bring her back to life, please!" Koushiro begged, dropping to his knees. "Just like you did to me… you can save her! Please save her!"
"How I did to you?" Justine asked, smirking. "Do you think I was saving you when I sent you back? That was a curse, kid!"
"Curse?" Koushiro was confused.
"I awakened in you the gift of seeing the future, but I didn't tell you the most important detail…" Justine smiled broadly, "the future cannot be changed! No matter what you do or how hard you try, you can never save anyone! You can never stop Fate! Nobody is capable of that! Not even gods! Do you understand? I sent you back to learn humility!"
"Humility...?" Koushiro asked in a murmur, slowly rising to his feet. "You did this to me…you made me see all those people die… see Hikari die… to teach me humility? At what point was I ever arrogant?"
"When you said that I was responsible for what living people do," Justine recalled. "Everything that happens is predetermined by forces beyond human comprehension. I never had the power to change anything, although I had that illusion for a while..."
"But you have power!" Koushiro stated, furious.
With every step he took towards Justine, he felt as if everything, including the air, trembled around him. Small sparks of blue energy began to surround him. On some sparks, red dots could be spotted mixed in the blue.
"No one can be saved. Humanity marches towards its own destruction." Justine said. "How else can you explain human cruelty? It is the innate desire to destroy, to return everything to nothingness! That's the nature of the universe! It's the very truth about existence! Only fools believe the world can be saved!"
"Liar!" Koushiro accused. "You have the power to save people! I know you do! You have the power to save Hikari with your staff! You just don't want to do it because you're a horrible and selfish person!"
Under the hood of her cloak, Justine's eyes glowed blue. She gripped the staff more firmly and pointed it at Koushiro, who had his body paralyzed and lifted into the air.
"You haven't learned anything at all," Justine said. "I believe it will take more time for you to understand the nature of the world. You will live many lives and die many times, always seeing the deaths of people you cannot save, trying in vain to change Fate! You will have no peace, you will not rest until you accept reality! Until you accept that life is nothing more than a sequence of painful and meaningless events, that all effort is futile, that all hope is illusionary, and that the only comfort we can have is to accept that oblivion is the fate of all things!"
"No... Hikari... I need to save Hikari..." Koushiro muttered, trying to withstand the intense pain he felt.
"I'm going to imprison your precious Hikari in the deepest cell of Hell!" Justine promised. "You will be remembered by the world as the Devil who tried to steal a soul and was sentenced to infinite deaths! Maybe this will help you learn humility!"
Koushiro was standing alone in the dark, waiting for the next memory to form around him. Would it be the first time Taichi had killed him or one of the other hundreds of times? He didn't want to relive any of that. The mere thought made Koushiro shed tears. However, as much as he waited, no new scene materialized around him.
Koushiro heard, louder and louder, the sound of something hitting a surface. There was also a whisper in the distance... a muffled voice... someone was calling for him... someone he knew.
"KOUSHIRO!"
And then he remembered.
"Miss Sora!"
It was as if an invisible wall of glass broke in front of him. Sora crossed the hole, coming from another equally dark place. However, somehow, she seemed to emit light. Sobbing, she put her hands on his shoulders.
"The moment that witch cast the spell, as soon as we reached your mind, a wall rose between us!" Sora said. "I saw you and listened to you and the people in your memories, but you couldn't listen to me or see me! You relived so many horrible things... you were suffering so much... I wanted to make you stop, but I didn't know how! I couldn't help you! I'm sorry!"
"The spell... I had forgotten..." Koushiro muttered. "I wanted to show you the vision you were in, but I ended up getting lost in my memories... and I kept you behind a wall... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that..."
"I don't understand you…" Sora confessed. "How come you still haven't given up? You challenged the Goddess twice, you've been challenging her for centuries... what keeps you going? I would have given up a long time ago!"
"No, you wouldn't have," Koushiro disagreed. "Did you not see that vision? You will end the Empire, Miss Sora! You are proof that humanity is not marching towards destruction, that the world can be saved! That vision was what has been motivating me to keep resisting, for hundreds of years... until I could get to meet you."
"I can't do this!" Sora muttered, ashamed. "I can't…I'm not the person you think I am! I'm not a hero! I am not a savior! I'm not even a good revolutionary!"
"Of course you can do this!" Koushiro stated. "You are that person, Miss Sora!"
"No! You don't understand! You don't know the real Sora!" Sora yelled, taking a few steps backwards. "I am cowardly and selfish! I fantasize about abandoning the cause and going somewhere safe with my loved ones! Every day, I want to run away! And I feel so guilty! So ashamed! Everyone thinks I'm kind and brave, but I'm a fraud! The vision you had... there's no way that could be true!"
"Miss Sora..." Koushiro muttered. "Do you think I don't want to run away every day? That I don't think about giving up?"
"But you don't give up!"
"Neither do you!"
"I could give up in the future! I could reach my breaking point and walk away from everything!" Sora cried.
"So could I!" Koushiro stated. "Do you think I'm some sort of hero? I ran from my house when my parents were in danger! I got cursed twice because I couldn't watch my tongue! I failed to save Hikari! I failed to save hundreds of people! Because of me, my best friend was turned into an abominable creature that murders me constantly! My other best friend was sent to Hell and stayed there for a while! I am a mess, a walking disaster! You think you're a bad person, Miss Sora? In case you weren't paying attention, I am the Devil!"
Koushiro trembled as a couple of tears formed in his eyes. He couldn't bear to look at Sora's astonished face.
"You haven't even seen everything that happened..." he muttered, closing his eyes. "When I was resurrected and rushed back to Taichi's place, Hikari's body had disappeared. Taichi said that Justine had appeared to him and told him everything I had done... he said that he had to kill me to purify my soul and save his sister... he took my life that time and hundreds of other times after that. Taichi chase me wherever I went and murdered me... he's the one who spread the story of the Devil, you know? That's how he sees me... as a heartless creature that dooms everybody to misery..."
"Koushiro..." Sora murmured.
"I've spent the last centuries trying to prove that I wasn't that," Koushiro said, opening his eyes and looking at Sora. He felt bad to see how sad and worried she seemed. "I've traveled the world, trying to help people... I tried to avoid catastrophes... to warn people to run from the danger before it came... but they never listened to me! I never changed the futures I had seen! Several times, I wondered if Justine was right... I caught myself thinking that my effort was pointless and that I should give up... but then I remembered the vision of you, Miss Sora! The one good vision I ever had, the one thing that gave me hope! I don't know what you'll do, Miss Sora, but it'll lead to the fall of the Empire! I'll assist you the best I can, I promise! You won't have to do it alone! But you can't give up! Please, you can't! We have to do this! We have to save the world and prove Justine wrong!"
Sora looked down, bracing herself. They remained in silence for nearly two minutes.
"Is Hikari still in Hell?" she asked.
"Hikari found a way to escape the place where Justine had imprisoned her. We've been meeting every time I go to the world of the dead. I've tried to tell Taichi that Hikari isn't in Hell anymore, but he doesn't listen to me..." Koushiro informed. "If only I found a way to break his curse... I have to find a way... I have to save him..."
"He must be really special for you..." Sora said, showing him a small smile.
Koushiro didn't say anything back. He looked upwards and saw several green spots appearing. They were slowly taking over the dark sky.
"I think the spell is about to end," Koushiro said. "We're going to wake up..."
"Yes..." Sora murmured, sadly.
"What I showed you wasn't enough, was it?" he asked in a depressed voice. "I didn't convince you... did I?"
"Yamato is a very supportive boyfriend who praises me even when I don't deserve it..." Sora commented. "To hear Yamato saying that 'I did it' and that 'it was all thanks to me' doesn't actually prove anything. The more I think about it, the lesser is the evidence that I will do anything especially remarkable that will end the Empire. You certainly put a lot of faith in a vague vision."
Koushiro lowered his head and looked at her. To his surprise, she was smiling.
"It's kind of funny..." Sora said. "Ever since I met you, I was under the impression that you were a being from out of this world, some sort of formidable mystical creature with knowledge of the future and supernatural powers. When you told me that I was fated to save the world, that scared me to death. I just couldn't accept it... I couldn't believe it... after what you showed me, I still don't think I can. Seeing the vision didn't make me 'know in my heart' that it was my destiny."
"Then, I failed..." Koushiro muttered, heartbroken. "I really thought that... I really believed..."
"Despite seeming a rational young man, you're actually a pretty emotional person," Sora said. "You can be quite blunt when you're upset, you try too hard to help people... you think you have an obligation to do that... and for all the mistakes you made, for all the things that you're ashamed of, you're still trying to fix everything. That vision you had of me, when you were a traumatized child, had an effect on you that I can't really understand. But I can understand that you wanted desperately for something good to come in the future, despite all the pain you've been through. You wanted the world to be better... and you wanted the people you cared about to be safe and happy. I bet you feel guilty for wanting to give up at times."
"It's true..." Koushiro admitted.
"You're not mystical nor out of this world. You're not a demon, and definitely you're not the Devil," Sora stated, holding both his hands as she showed him a reassuring smile. "What you are, Koushiro, is a human being. Insecure, anxious, prone to feeling guilty and making mistakes and yet trying your best to do what you think is right. You're... not so different from me..."
Koushiro was surprised to hear that.
The darkness around them was almost completely gone, replaced by the green light.
"What are you trying to say, Miss Sora?"
"I don't believe I'm the savior of the world, but that doesn't mean I can't do my best to help," Sora told him. "It's what I've been doing so far, despite my self-doubt and my moments of weakness. My flaws don't take away the fact that I want the world to be better. This is not an obligation! Injustice angers me and to see people suffering breaks my heart! I'm not a revolutionary because I think I have to be! I'm a revolutionary because I want to see a world where people aren't oppressed, where nobody has to be afraid that they'll lose their loved ones to petty tyrants! I understand that now!"
Koushiro smiled upon hearing that. Things hadn't gone accordingly to what he had planned, and Sora didn't embrace what he believed to be her destiny. However, the hope he felt at that moment was greater than any hope that vision that ever brought him. And even though he knew Sora would disagree, Koushiro realized that the woman was even more formidable than he could have imagined.
They woke up on the cave's floor. From inside the glowing circle that had been drawn by the witch, Koushiro and Sora saw Mimi standing close to them, smiling, wearing Takeru's trench coat and fedora.
"I really should return those clothes to Mister Takeru," Koushiro said, sighing.
"That's never going to happen," Mimi said back, sheepishly. "Anyway," she continued, "did you get the results you expected from the spell?"
"Not exactly," Sora said, feeling as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders after several years of weighting her down. "But I know what I want to do now."
She rose to her feet and helped Koushiro to stand up as well. He looked at her with anticipation.
"We're a small group of revolutionaries living on a small island. We can't accomplish a lot by ourselves," Sora stated. "But if we join forces with other revolutionaries, we might be able to make a difference."
"By 'other revolutionaries' you mean...?" Koushiro was guessing what she meant and smiled.
"I think we should go to Tierra Roja!" Sora said.
"ALRIGHT, THEN! LET'S GO!" Mimi shouted in excitement.
Sora and Koushiro gave her perplexed looks.
"Was that not an invitation?" Mimi asked. "It sounded like an invitation! Don't you want me to go?"
"O-Of course you can come along!" Sora hurried to say. "I just didn't expect you would want to come with us. You're a witch, after all. Are you willing to leave your life behind to follow us?"
"I live in a cave. I don't have much of a life to leave behind," Mimi told her. "I can't wait to meet new people who aren't dead!"
"And to join the revolution," Koushiro added. "You want that too, right?"
"Yeah! Right! Whatever! Let's go!" Mimi shouted again as she hurriedly gathered her belongings and arranged them inside a cloth bundle that she would make Koushiro carry.
Once they left the cave, Sora saw some gulls flying in the distance.
To her, they didn't seem to be too far away.