At the top of the mountain is a religious monument that is important to his people. Or was important to his people: does something lose importance when it becomes easily accessible? The Terrible Owl perched about two and a half Kaifen’s above him ruffles its feathers and hoots. Kaifen grunts and shrugs away from it. He starts left, the sun heating his back.
The owl follows, first lighting from outcrop to outcrop until it realizes his path and flies far ahead to wait. The first time in happens Kaifen thinks the bird might have flown off to go be wherever owls usually go during the day, but once he catches up to it and does it again he realizes that the beast has no intention of leaving.
HELLO !! 🌙, 👁, and ☀️ for Illarion and Kaifen?? :O
Thank you!
Illarion
🌙
Midmornin’, ‘specially wakin’ up then. It’s perfect! Early enough to relax but late enough to have slept good. Or evening, but only in the summer. Winter evening? Stinks worse than horseshit.
👁
Green. Lookin’ like emeralds or forests or somethin’. They’re easy to make pop, too. Greenies look good in anythin’.
☀️
Ha! Easy. Warm. Sunshining, blue skies, maybe a little bit of a breeze blowin’ in from the east to get rid of the city stink. It’s nicer in the wilds.
Kaifen
🌙
Sunrise. Everything is still quiet; I can actually hear myself think.
I wish I could’ve found a way to work Dongguo into North Node but I couldn’t :( He’s a minor character but his role of motivation is kind of gone.
As a side note, Leimin is much more important now! She was a poet and came from a family of prophets. She kept all her visions private, and when Dongguo left with Kaifen they took the book with them. Jiawei knows, but he thinks it’s so inconsequential that it’s not worth worrying over.
There’s an avalanche; Pelageya, Saoirse, and Xiulan are stuck in a cave together. Kaifen and Illarion are stranded on a cliff with no clear pathways off.
No one can account for Adesawa.
Send me an emoji and I’ll tell you a random fact/spoiler for my WIP!
“A secret admirer. You’re very fun to watch.” It’s a girl, and her accent is from somewhere very far away. Kaifen scans for her, but he sees nothing.
“Stop hiding like a coward.” There is nothing, not even a sound, a scuffle, a rattle, for a long time. His guard dissipates until his heart is no longer racing, and his fists slowly loosen and lower to his hips. He straightens his back and sniffs. If some mocking girl wants to spy on him, he won’t be happy about it, but he’s just glad to be left alone.
He turns around and steps back to take another run at the incline and screams. He takes a step back, and heel hitting nothing he thrashes his arms until he’s flung forward. He lands on his knees and pushes loose wefts of hair back from his face so he can stare up at the face that’s emerged above him. On the ledge he’s been aiming for squats a girl with black skin and tightly curled hair. She’s laughing.
Kaifen’s cheeks scorch the rest of his face until it’s all burning. He scrambles to his feet and puffs out his chest. His back is straight and shoulders high; perfect posture that he hopes to be intimidating. The girl laughs so hard she falls back off of her feet and lands on her butt, one leg tucked under her and the other hanging over the cliff. Kaifen’s pride, wounded and sulking, finds anger to help it regrow.
“Is this how you conduct yourself?” He tightens his hands into balls. “Unladylike on the side of a mountain. Do you not have a chaperone? A guard? Or are you some kind of miscreant? I truly cannot think of any reason you should be out here on your own unless you are a thief or a runaway. You’re beneath me.”
She lets him finish and leans on one arm, but doesn’t conceal her eye roll. “You’re the one who’s beneath, actually.” She kicks the rock with her heel, for emphasis. There is a charm to her voice that only makes Kaifen angrier.
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I’ve switched away from Kaifen being the main protagonist and made it more of an ensemble. There were too many characters I was interested in and it was too hard with my focus being just on him.
