They were up, fed and ready to leave by sunrise the next morning, well only a few hours after Zoe's little episode. She didn't care if anyone had seen, she was exhausted and couldn't care much about anything at this point. She was strapping her bags to Uri's saddle, Hayden, Zeb and Alice still inside talking, Atlas trying to get a few more minutes of sleep in the rising sun light.
"Uri!" She heard a high pitched voice call. Zoe turned around to see Angel running towards them, a man who she assumed was her father, running after her.
"Sorry," he panted as he reached Zoe, Angel already climbing over Uri who seemed to be enjoying herself. "I'm Dean, Zeb's brother and Angel's father," he said, putting his hand out for Zoe to shake. He looked exactly like Zeb except his hair was slightly darker and he wasn't as muscular.
"Zoe," she responded, shaking Dean's hand.
"I'm so sorry, I told her I was going to see Hayden and the other rider and she ran straight out the door."
"It's ok," she laughed.
"So you're the one who's led Hayden on a wild goose chase?" He asked suppressing a laugh.
"So I've been told," she responded a little guiltily, Dean just laughing. At that moment, Hayden, Zeb and Alice came out.
"Uncle Hayden!" Angel yelled, climbing off Uri and running to Hayden who picked her up and threw her into the air, catching her again, Angel giggling.
"Where's the love?" Zeb asked, pretending to be offended. "I'm you're real uncle! Hayden's just a parasite that comes and goes as he pleases."
"That's not true, but it is why she's more excited to see him," Alice laughed as Hayden stuck up his finger at Zeb but so Angel couldn't see.
Zoe just stood there, watching the group with a small smile on her face, listening to them banter and give their farewells to Hayden. She turned her back to the group and walked to the edge of the cliff, taking in the view and inhaling the salty air.
"You ok?" Alice asked who she hadn't realised had come over to her.
"I'm fine," Zoe said with a smile that was slightly forced. Alice was looking at her, concern written all over her face. "I'll be fine," Zoe reassured. "Thank you for everything, you've really helped me."
"You're more than welcome. Remember, we're here, no matter what. Write to me if you need, ok? Sharpshot can deliver them," she said, offering Zoe a wad of parchment and a few charcoal pencils.
"I will," Zoe said, slipping the parchment and pencils into her saddle bag before she was engulfed in a hug.
"I'll miss you," Alice mumbled.
"I'll miss you too," Zoe replied, sincere.
"Take care and remember your promises, about the Academy and Hayden, ok?" Alice told her as she broke the hug, Zoe nodding. "You two better get going."
Hayden said goodbye to Angel, Dean and Zeb. Alice was over with Zoe so he'd say goodbye to her once they'd finished talking. "Come on, Atlas, time to go." The half asleep lizard dragged himself over to Hayden who strapped on his bags. By the time he had secured them, Alice and Zoe were back, Zoe saying goodbye to the others.
"You look after her," Alice told him.
"I will," he assured her.
"Remember what we talked about this morning and look after yourself too."
"Yes, Mum," he joked, earning a punch to the guts. Still groaning, he was pulled into a hug.
When he was released, he looked to see if Zoe was ready. She caught his eye and put Angel back on the ground, giving one last goodbye to Angel, Dean and Zeb. As she walked over to Uri, she whistled for Sharpshot who landed on her shoulder.
"Thanks again, Alice," he heard her say before putting on her helmet and leaping up into the saddle, Hayden following suit and mounting Atlas.
"Good luck!" Zeb called out to him as Atlas and Uri walked to the edge of the cliff.
"Until next time!" Hayden called back before Atlas leapt into the air, beating his powerful wings, Uri not far behind, heading south.
-o0O0o-
Hayden had hoped that after last night, Zoe would be more relaxed around him, but he was mistaking. Unless Zoe apparently sleeping on Uri's back as they flew counted as her being relaxed. He seriously didn't know how she was comfortable enough to sleep. Atlas and Hayden flew mostly in silence, Hayden trying to convince Uri to tell him (well tell Atlas then Atlas tell him) what she knew about Zoe and what they were doing in the first 11 months of being bonded, but she wouldn't budge.
It was getting close to midday when Zoe sat up in her saddle, glancing at the sun's position and their surroundings. "We should land," she said suddenly.
"Why?" Hayden asked confused. They could fly for another few hours before they needed a break.
"There's a storm coming."
"What? How can you tell? It's blue sky in every direction and I can usually sense storms with the gift from Atlas."
"It's not that kind of storm."
Ok, now Hayden was really confused. "What kind of storm then?" He asked. Uri seemed to say something to Zoe that seemed to calm her.
"Don't worry, let's just keep flying."
Hayden looked at her with a weird look on his face. The last few minutes were weird, they made him uncomfortable.
-o0O0o-
That night they had landed on an uninhabited island. It didn't have any mountains on it, so no caves to sleep in. Zoe still seemed tense, but not because of him. He walked over to her, she was standing next to Uri, both of them seeming tense, Uri scanning the forest and Zoe watching the horizon. "Ok, what's going on?" He asked.
"There's a storm coming."
"You said that before," Hayden said, exasperated. "But I can't sense anything and the sky is still clear."
"It's a wind storm."
"What?"
"I can feel the shifts in air pressure and moisture. It shouldn't kill us but we shouldn't fly until it's passed. Also we shouldn't sleep in the open," she responded, not taking her eyes off the horizon. Hayden was sceptical, but he wouldn't doubt her.
"So what do we do for shelter?" He asked. "Being able to earth bend would be helpful right about now."
He saw Zoe hesitate for a moment before saying: "I can take care of the shelter."
He thought he saw where this was going now, she was going to tell him about her gift of winter. "We have just over an hour until sunset, I'll be back by then. Can you get fish for the dragons?"
"Um, sure," Hayden said, confused again. "If you need me, use your whistle. Atlas can hear it, three whistles if you're in trouble, ok?"
"Will do." And with that she turned and walked straight into the forest, Uri and Sharpshot following.
She was looking for a location that was close to water and was sheltered from the elements. She suspected that Hayden thought she was going to use her ice to make a shelter, but it would be too cold. Instead, she was going to create a sort of bunker using her earth bending. Although she wasn't that good, she could do the basics, like moving earth and finding weak points in rock.
After looking for half an hour or so, she came across a small rock formation that looked like it went below the ground. It was small, but large enough to fit the five of them if she could make a cavity. She walked around the rock, running her fingers over the surface until she found the weak point. She stood in front of it, squaring her legs and planting her feet firmly on the ground before thrusting out her overlapping hands, a hole appearing in the rock. She repeated the process until she had carved out a hole large enough. Making sure it was stable, she used her fire, and with Uri and Sharpshot's help, they scorched the stone near the entrance so it looked somewhat weathered.
Zoe sent Sharpshot to get Hayden and Atlas while she removed the bags from Uri before going to get some water.
-o0O0o-
By the time she returned, Uri and Atlas were eating outside and Hayden had arrived, setting a fire in the middle of the newly made cave. "Nice find," he said as she came in.
"Thanks," she said as she handed the water skin to Hayden who took a long drink.
"Thank you," he said. They worked in silence, preparing their food.
"Can I ask you something?" Hayden asked, breaking the silence once they'd finished eating.
"You can ask, but whether I answer is a completely different story."
"Helpful as always,"
"I try," she shrugged with a smile.
"But seriously, after I went inside last night, I saw-"
"You saw my little tantrum?" She cut in. She thought he may have seen. The way he had phrased things earlier and hinted at things made her reasonably confident that he had.
"I wouldn't call it a tantrum, but yeah, I did," he answered quietly. She didn't respond, so Hayden continued: "you have the gift of winter." It was a statement, not a question, so she stayed silent. "When were you going to tell me?"
"I don't know," she whispered.
"The Academy won't like it. They'll watch you closely if they find out," he said. As if she didn't know that already. She could only imagine what the Academy would do if they found out she was an elemental too.
"Are you mad?" She asked quietly.
"Why would I be mad?"
"Because I didn't tell you."
"Of course not. I was frustrated, but not mad. You tell me what you want to tell me and when you want to."
Zoe looked up at him, slightly taken aback. "Ok, thank you."
After a few minutes of silence, Zoe decided that she owed Hayden an explanation. "It's my gift from Uri. Since she has white scales, a thunder storm wouldn't hide her, but snow storms do."
"Makes sense. Do you think you could show me?"
"Only if you make a mini storm."
"Deal."
So Zoe summoned the snow, letting it float around before making it disappear. She made patterns from frost that ran up the walls, creating delicate pictures of various dragons and landscapes that stretched out at a rapid pace, all the while emitting a soft glow.
"It's beautiful," Hayden whispered, watching the frost, mesmerised.
"Your turn."
"You think I can compare to that? That was incredible!"
"Of course you can, I love thunder storms. I used to always watch them from the living room that had huge glass doors and windows."
Hayden's eyes softened at her reminiscing, dark clouds beginning to form around them. He made shapes with them, the air also beginning to smell like a storm was coming.
Outside the wind had picked up, they could hear it howling as it whipped past their underground shelter, assaulting the trees at the edge of the forest.
"You were right," Hayden said. "It looks pretty brutal out there."
"It certainly does. I think I'm going to try and sleep, I'm still tired from yesterday."
"Ok, sleep well."
"You too," Zoe mumbled, settling down with Uri. She watched Hayden for a little while as he played with the fire, making shapes with the flames and changing the intensity that it burned with. Before long, Zoe had drifted off to sleep. Even though she was still wearing her armour, it was in case they needed to make a quick getaway, not because she didn't trust the young man sitting on the other side of the cave to not kill her, who, to be honest, was starting to grow on her.
They had finally arrived at Hayden's island after 3 days of flying. To say he was relieved was an understatement. As soon as they landed he headed straight for the hot springs, taking off his armour and shirt before diving into the water. When he resurfaced, Zoe was lying flat on her back in the sun, eyes closed.
"Hey! You should join me, it relaxes your muscles," Hayden called out to her. She turned her head towards him, cracking one eye open to look at him.
"But then I have to move," she said, Hayden just laughing and shaking his head.
"You won't regret it, come on!"
"Fine." He watched her get up and remove her armour, leaving it in a pile on the ground with her helmet that she'd removed as soon as they landed. Hayden was both relieved and slightly disappointed when she kept her shirt on, only removing her riding pants before jumping in.
"Ok, you were right. This is really nice," she said as she lay back, floating in the water. The two just stayed in the warm water, both with their eyes closed whilst the three dragons napped in the sun.
After about 15 minutes of peace, Hayden felt the sun disappear. He opened his eyes to see a massive ball of water hanging over him threateningly. "What the-?" Was all he got out before the water crashed down on top of him. He heard laughing, both human and dragon as he spat out water. "What was that for?" he asked as he turned to face a guilty but smiling Zoe.
"It was Atlas's idea," she said.
"Oh really? And how do you know it wasn't Uri telling you something else?" He questioned in mock offence.
"Because he told me," she said shrugging.
"What do you mean he told you?" Hayden asked, more serious.
"He said it in my head. I'm impressed he was able to speak to my mind without speaking to yours at the same time, actually."
"What? Is this the first time he's done it?"
"Nope. He's spoken to me twice before."
Hayden was kind of in shock, but Zoe was acting as if it was normal and that he shouldn't be surprised. "Does that mean Uri can talk to me?" He asked.
"I assume so."
"I can." He heard a feminine voice in his head.
"What? Why haven't you spoken to me before?" Hayden asked, throwing his hands into the air, Zoe laughing.
"Didn't feel like it," Uri shrugged.
"Unbelievable," he mumbled, the three dragons joining Zoe with laughter. "Really feeling the loyalty, Atlas."
"Sorry," Zoe laughed. "Your expression was priceless!"
"Whatever. I'm going to light the forge," he grumbled as he got out of the water and walked to the forge next to his house, still dripping wet.
-o0O0o-
Once the forge had heated up enough, Hayden threw in a few pieces of scrap metal to melt down. After several minutes, he poured the molten metal into a mould, letting it cool. He was making a dagger for Zoe to replace the one she had given to Angel. He didn't know if she'd accept it, but he felt bad seeing the empty space where the dagger should be.
Once it had cooled, he sharpened the blade and used some acid from a changewing to engrave a few snowflakes near the handle, becoming more sparse as he went up the blade so it looked like they were floating down the blade. He then polished the blade until he could see his reflection in it, wrapping leather around the handle and burning a silhouette of a fury onto the base of the handle.
He didn't know how long it had taken him, but when we went back outside Zoe was putting her armour on and strapping her swords over her back, a net of what he assumed had previously been filled with fish empty between the two dragons. "Where are you going?" He asked her.
"I need to go somewhere, I'll be back by morning at the latest."
"Um, no. You aren't going anywhere alone without telling me where you're going," he stated firmly.
"What, so now you're in charge of me?" She snapped.
"No, that's not what I meant," he tried to back track.
"Then what?"
"I-... I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't lose anyone else," he admitted quietly.
"I can take care of myself, more than you know."
Hayden just looked at her for a few moments until she partially softened under his gaze. "I'm going to the world of Grey," she said.
"Why?"
She paused, clearly thinking about how much she should say. "I need to go home," she said.
"You're going to have to elaborate."
"Look, if you want to come then you can come but I'm leaving as soon as I've checked Uri's harness."
"Ok, I'm coming then," he told her, putting his armour on. "Wait, you said you'd be back by morning, the nearest gateway is a days flight."
"You'll have to get used to a new form of transport," she replied, cryptic as ever.
-o0O0o-
They were in the air, hovering as Zoe explained how they would get there. "Uri can create a sort of portal thing. You'll have to go first. Uri will fire the shot and Atlas, you need to dive straight through the middle, got it?"
Atlas nodded, getting ready. Atlas seemed to know what he had to do, Hayden on the other hand was confused and slightly worried if she was telling the truth. Before he was ready, Uri reared back, firing a golden flame instead of purple and Atlas took off, diving and spinning through it, Hayden squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened his eyes, the gateway was in sight. He turned behind him, just in time to see Uri appear, her scales returning to their usual white, Zoe clearly unfazed.
"That's a handy little trick," he told her as they flew to the gateway.
"It's good for a quick getaway, yes, but it drains a lot of Uri's energy."
Just as they were about to pass through the gate, Zoe used her bending to divide the flow of water so they could pass and stay dry.
They emerged in the middle of the ocean, no land obscuring the horizon in any direction. "Ready?" She asked, who she was asking he didn't know, but Atlas responded. Again, before he was ready, Atlas dived through the rippling golden air that Uri had shot.
This time they emerged above a large land mass, stretching to the horizon in all directions. It was night so he and Atlas would be almost invisible. Uri and Zoe on the other hand, were glowing in the moonlight.
"We need to fly lower so we don't hit any planes. Uri's going to camouflage her scales so Atlas will have to follow our scent or the sound of Uri's wings." As soon as she said this, Hayden lost sight of the duo, Atlas seeming to have no trouble following.
-o0O0o-
They didn't have to fly for very long before Atlas started to approach the tree tops. They glided for a little longer, the leafy trees turning to burnt trunks and branches with new growth starting to appear. Hayden looked around him, seeing more burnt remains of older trees and young vegetation growing up from the ground, mostly grasses. He then noticed the roads that weaved through the landscape, and then what looked like a train line. They seemed to be following the train line, the roads becoming more abundant. They kept flying, the roads deserted and no buildings in sight.
They landed on what looked like the main road, Zoe appearing in front of him but Uri staying hidden. Hayden removed his mask, Zoe scanning their surroundings. He watched her walk up to a brick wall that he guessed was two and a half metres tall and about ten meters long. She seemed to be reading something, then moving on to stare at photos that were encased in the wall, covered by a glass window. Hayden walked up to the pictures, each one was roughly a meter tall and one and a half meters in width. We looked at the first picture: it was a photo of a main road that said it was taken in the 1950's. He moved along to the next one, also showing a main road but taken in 1975. There was one from 2000 and a fourth taken in 2019. He realised that they were all of the same place, the road that they were standing on right now. He turned around to get his bearings, looking back at the pictures for reference, imagining the servo across the street and a primary school further down the road, a few buildings in between.
"What happened here?" He asked, turning to look for Zoe, seeing her walking down the road and out of ear shot of his latest question. He ran after her, catching up to her when she stopped at the end of what looked like a smaller road that was paved with brick. He noticed her vacant expression, deciding not to say anything, he followed her as she continued walking. Trees and shrubs had been planted everywhere in an attempt to heal the burnt environment that was recovering itself at its own pace. Zoe stopped in front of three plaques that had been placed on the ground, a gum tree planted behind each plaque, staked to keep them from falling in the wind until they were strong enough on their own. She knelt down in front of the plaque on the far right, running her fingers over the engraved name that he couldn't read, a tear escaping her eyes and landing on the plaque.
Zoe stood up, wiping her eyes and coming to stand next to him. "She was my best friend," she whispered to him. "I was hoping that she would have made it out, being so close to the main road. But I guess I was wrong."
Hayden didn't know how to respond. He was putting the pieces together of what had happened. Alice had said that Zoe had lost someone the night she became the fury rider, but she had clearly lost more than just someone.
"I'm surprised that they did this," Zoe said to him, gesturing to the plaques and revegetation. "I thought they would have cleared everything and rebuilt, taken the opportunity to fully urbanise the area. I'm glad they didn't though. And to clean it up in a year, I'm impressed."
"Why would they rebuild? People lost their lives here," Hayden asked, confused.
"We're in the world of Grey," she reminded him, "all people want here is money and fame so making such a large area into a memorial site is unusual. The government and council would have made plenty of money by selling off the land to developers, well the public land already owned by the government. I have no idea what they would have done with the privately owned land." Hayden just nodded. He didn't understand the world Above.
Zoe took one last look at the plaque for her best friend, turning and walking back to the main road. She then weaved through the empty streets, walking what seemed to be a familiar path to her, briefly stopping where the primary school used to be, before continuing on, Hayden following close behind.
About 20 minutes later, they reached the top of a hill with a dirt road leading off it. Zoe turned down it, almost hesitant. On their walk there, Hayden had seen hundreds of plaques and trees planted behind each one, marking the person who had died in the fire. Occasionally, they would pass a single plaque that would say that the residents of a house had managed to escape and wishing them well, but they were rare.
Zoe walked down a driveway until she reached four plaques, again, a tree planted for each person who had passed. She approached them, almost scared of what she would see. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the plaques, reading the names of her mother, father, her older brother, and finally her own. The plaque with her name had a note at the bottom saying that her body had not been recovered. Hayden watched as she dropped to her knees in front of the plaques. He gave her a few minutes before kneeling down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and holding her close.
He read the names, assuming they were her family, looking for a mention of Zoe until he realised that 'Zoe' must not be her first name, but her second. "You're first names Elisa?" He asked, receiving a nod in response. "Why don't you use it?"
"It was a name only my friends and family knew, all of who are gone, except the ones I went to high school with who don't live out here. I wanted to start anew, not tie myself to this world. But I didn't want to forget where I came from either, so I decided to go by my middle name," she explained quietly.
"They think you died," he pointed out rather stupidly.
"I know. And it's better it stays that way."
They sat there for how long he didn't know, but eventually Zoe got up, brushing her hands over the plaques, minus her own, before calling for Uri who appeared next to her, Sharpshot sitting on the saddle. "Let's go," she said, sitting down in the saddle and putting her helmet on.
-o0O0o-
When they got back, Hayden led Zoe inside who was lost in her thoughts. "You hungry?" He asked, pulling her back to the present.
"I'm fine. I think I'm going to go to bed."
"I only have one bed which you can take, I don't mind sleeping with Atlas."
"You take your bed. I'd prefer to sleep with Uri tonight."
"Thank you for letting me come with you," he said to her.
She looked up at him before responding, "thank you for coming. I don't think I would have been able to leave without you there."
"Of course, anything you need." Hayden decided he'd give her the dagger tomorrow, she wasn't in any state for further conversation tonight.
With that, he went to his room, leaving Zoe with Uri in front of the fire he had lit. It took him a while to get to sleep that night. He couldn't stop thinking of the extent of the damage and how intense the fire must have been. So many people had died. Zoe had lost her family, friends and the whole place where her childhood memories were made. His comment earlier about him not being able to lose anyone else seemed almost lame now, Zoe was the one who couldn't afford to lose anyone else.