The rooftops were a maze of tightly twisting passages between buildings. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some slippery and slanted wanted only to be left alone. Still, others that looked unfaithful were as true as an old hound. Here and there, wood beams bridged or climbed from one perch to another. They formed a path of sorts for those that could step lightly enough and knew the way. She grinned. This was a rare treat, as she rarely stayed this late. Topside was nearly salient, and the moon was bleary and shy. Stopping, she eyed Old Sotall with an accusatory glance, it should be well behaved for hours still, but it wasn't a mistake she cared to make twice. The long way around then. So she stepped quietly around Chalktalk. It needed the rest, poor thing. It was packed to the brim with kindly kinematics and fearsome fractions. The wide hidden enclosure below was empty save stone figures, bird nests, and keyless doors. She would be at Applecourt soon, then down to fetch...
It came like an arrow high above, a hammer blow against feather, flesh, and then a mass of tangled falling. The terrible sound seemed to hang in the air, to take shape and clutch inside her chest. She stared at the crumpled mass of mottled brown, not wanting to see but unable to turn away. No, never again, she understood what a selfish turn could bring.
The thrush lay with its head towards her, its tiny shape outlined by black clay tile, a silhouette of confusion and pain. She saw bone and blood. Such a small thing. Hardly more than a notes tail in an endless song. It had barely seen a summer's passing.
She inhaled sharply and let the air fill her lungs. The wind calmed, time-stretched, and the world struggled to breathe. She bent and took the form in both her hands. The fluttering heart beating on a torn sail. She knew what was allowed, the proper way of things. The seasons change, the forest stays, the tree leaves.
Her eyes burned. They found the glass far above. It stood against the cold stone and offered no penance. She heard the distant clatter of students arriving. To them, the noise had been hardly anything, a stubborn door closing perhaps. They focused on what stood before them, with no eyes for what lay above or below. They loved the sun but feared the wind and rain, and so they wrapped their walls in lies and were blind to the price the light demanded.
The beats were coming slower now, a tears worth, almost nothing. She was frayed, fraught, a taut line stretched across the horizon. It trembled in her hands one last time, and then sti...
Auri spoke, and her voice was the dawn breaking. The earth keened and scudded. It shook in waves from out beneath her. The windows did not shatter. They burst like clouds. Shimmerant, it fell like rain about her. And from her hands shone a cerulean light that paled the morning sky. It rose like flames and, with glistening wings, took flight once more. She smiled to see it go, arms raised as if to push it higher, leaving her tiny frame swayed gently in the wind.
The ground found her then, and she lay staring up at a kaleidoscope of colors. The grass didn't seem to mind the intrusion and she was so tired. All broken up inside. Tossed and turned by tide and time. He would be coming soon. Hallowed and hopeless. She had no gifts, no candle to light his way, or gentle caress to close his eyes. But still, she must try. Above her, the wind danced, the birds played, the sky drifted. And though the day was a burden rolling over her, she would do what a girl must. Walk back down the hill and start pushing again. It wasn’t much, but it was, and that had to be enough.
