Zepour Ghazaryan was finally here. The wind lashed at her face like a scythe slicing through paper, but she didn't care.
After all, the woman carrying her didn't.
"I know you asked to see the top," Alexandria said. "But the Great Wall of China doesn't really have a defined peak."
Zepour shivered. To distract herself from the chill, she focused on the feel of Alexandria's muscles beneath her costume, their solid contours shifting as her body absently accommodated for the vagaries of flight.
"Should I put you down now?"
"Yeah," Zepour breathed. She pointed. "Right there."
Alexandria swooped and set her down on the scrubby bit of rock. "Wish granted."
Zepour surveyed the rough-hewn mountainscape. With her failing eyesight most of the landmarks she'd planned on spotting were a smudge of browns and dull greens, but again she didn't care. She wrapped her arms around her parka-clad body, consumed by the delicious thrill of being alive. A part of history, if only for a fleeting moment.
All by the grace of her benefactor, who'd taken time out of her own busy and infinitely more important schedule just to bestow upon an insignificant little girl this small happiness.
"It's beautiful," Zepour said quietly. "Tha—thank you so much. I don't even know what to… nothing I say will ever be enough. It's just, I never thought, I—"
A shock wave swept her off her feet. A lucky stumble sent her sprawling across the compacted earth instead of over the edge. She gathered her wits just in time to see a black speck zooming off into the horizon, leaving her stranded on the bulwark.
