January 30, 2025
Hoo boy, has it been a week! I would love to say I spent that time getting to know the residents of what I have learned is called Sukutsik, which is Inuttut for "Somewhere." Appropriate for a place that’s near impossible to find. I learned very quickly that the snow elf language was almost exactly the same language the Native humans who lived in the North used as well. Not really sure which came first, but I don’t think it matters. It does clearly show that the snow elves and the Native humans here had some sort of relationship and, if they shared language, then it seems it was mostly a good one.
Tuesday afternoon, a plump woman wearing an apron absolutely covered in flour went into the village square alternating between yelling for help and yelling for ‘Iris’. Somehow a young witch snuck outside of the village’s border and her family had no idea. The group who was on sentry duty went to help her with trying to figure out where she could have gone. I guess when they tracked her to the spot she used to sneak out and realized that she’d gotten out into the wild, they decided that Desith and I were the best choice for the search and rescue. Of course when they came and told us what was going on, we didn’t hesitate. We aren’t so far removed from the dangers that the outside poses.
As grave as this is, I have to say (because it all turned out well), this is where it gets really cool!
As I ran out of the cabin, Polaris was waiting, holding out a long, beaded necklace. He put it over my head, telling me that it would allow us to pass through the village’s barrier, and ushered me on. Desith was lying in an odd position on the ground. In fact, it was weird that she was lying at all, when she should have been ready to take off. No sooner than I had that thought did she “say” to me:
Climb on. I wish we’d had time to practice this slowly, but the crash course will have to do.
Again, I didn’t hesitate. Looking back, I probably should have. That’s weird, right, to just walk up a dragon’s wing like a bridge? I settled at her shoulders, my legs straddling the base of her neck. Not only do I completely trust her, but I could feel what she wanted me to do. Or I could feel what I was supposed to do, like intuitively. Not sure which. But it makes no difference. Hell, maybe it was a little of both.
I held on with my thighs, remembering horseback riding at Girl Scout camp, and gripped fistfulls of her neck fur. I leaned forward with her neck and she began to take off. She took three steps, each bigger than the last, and took off on the fourth, springing into the air with all the power of a cat. Her wings remained folded to her sides until she was approaching the peak of her leap. When she did unfurl them, she flapped them in big, but slow, pushes into the air. Her neck remained low and in line with her body as she pushed forward, so I followed suit and leaned into it.
I will get back to how it felt to FREAKING FLY!!!!!, later. Let’s suffice it to say that nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to it! Not even the fastest roller coaster...
Anyway, as we approached the border to the village, where Iris’ family and seemingly the whole neighborhood stood, Névé waved us down. Iris’ mother gave us a quick description (3.5 ft tall, 6 years old, blond pigtails) and told us that she was wearing a red hoodie. She held out a scarf that belonged to Iris to Desith, who sniffed it and nodded. I told her that we wouldn’t stop until we found her, knowing that I also accurately spoke for Desith as well, and we launched.
Passing the border was strange. A bit of a tingle, like every little spot on my body touched a plug for a split second. And then it was nothing but cold. I didn’t think to grab my parka since I haven’t been using it for the last week, so I was wearing nothing but a sweater and some jeans.
Anyway, we flew around, staying close to the tops of the trees, working our way outwards from the village in a spiral pattern. I called out her name so many times, my voice was hoarse within half an hour. When we didn’t get a hint as to where she went, we returned to the spot where we’d crossed the border and looked for signs on the ground. It was difficult to look for clues, since the search party were making their own tracks, but Desith did find the girl’s scent.
Snow dragons are not tracking animals, but can recognize a scent, so while we couldn’t follow it, we could guess the direction she went and try to find the scent again. A little girl is likely to leave an easy trail to follow. All that mattered was finding the girl and getting her home.
We followed the path that Iris’ scent seemed to go for ten minutes before we found a dead thistle bush with a piece of red cloth. About five minutes later, Desith began to feel on edge. When I probed her to see what was wrong, she said she sensed something of pure evil, possibly even more than one. Staying on guard, I climbed on to Desith’s back again, since I didn’t have any sort of weapons with me. You know, other than Desith herself. Haha
We continued on, my head on a swivel, Desith’s sniffing. We still don’t know what it is that she sensed, since within a few minutes we found Iris alone, crying under a tree. She had a string of beads doubled around the neck of her teddy bear. When we first approached, she immediately recognized Desith and began to beam. I hopped down to help her climb up and while I did I asked her how she got so far out there and where she got the necklace.
Apparently she’d found the beads in her grandma’s jewelry box and thought her teddy would like it. She went for a walk, but got lost. I think ‘lost’ might be an understatement, but whatevs.
Once she was settled between Desith’s neck and myself, I wrapped my arms around Iris, grabbed on and Desith took off. As we quickly discovered, however, it is a very different ride with two passengers than with only one. Desith got up into the air but as soon as she tried to turn around to head back, no amount of knee-squeezing was going to help me. I was thrown off and began hurtling toward the ground. I could feel Desith’s panic when she felt me slip off, but we were still too close to the ground for her to catch me. I landed hard, tumbling and rolling, eventually coming to a stop with my head hitting an ice rock. Immediately, my eyes filled with hundreds of tiny blinking lights and I felt like I was going to be sick the moment I tried to sit up.
Desith landed next to me apologizing over and over again through our communication link (still don’t know what to call that). I couldn’t really form the thoughts or words or even emotions to respond to her. Next thing I knew, Iris was no longer on Desith’s back, but was now at my side with her hands touching the sides of my head. Her eyes had tears welling up, even if none had fallen, and yet she smiled a genuinely nice smile. Not grinning with teeth or anything, but a smile that said “Everything is right.” And just like that, the throbbing in my head that I hadn’t even registered yet, was down to a basic, dull headache. I looked at her, confused and she just kept smiling and said, “All better now.”
That was when I began really hearing Desith again.
*We need to go. Now.*
What’s up? I had already begun to usher Iris back up onto the dragon’s back.
*Several evil somethings heading this way...and quickly.*
Got it.
We took off immediately and no one was thrown again, thankfully. Before going directly back, however, Desith made sure to fly over the search party to notify them that we had her.
The reunion was about as happy as you might expect: tears, laughter, hugs. I made sure to let Névé know that Iris’ grandmother might need to be more careful with the keys to the village, which turned Névé’s face to stone. She squared her shoulders and walked off with a sense of purpose. Desith and I returned to Tamarack’s cabin, only to be told to write the whole experience down...for the records.
Anyway, I spent most of the rest of the week reading and watching Tamarack work as he transcribed older books that were falling apart and fading. Cal’s been bumbling around and I sense that this is the norm. He never really knows what to do until Tamarack decides he needs him. And I read books. Lots of books. Dusty, smelly, fragile books.
The first two days, I kinda just looked through books that Tamarack had put in a pile for me. They were all about the snow dragons and winter elves, but many were written in an old dialect of elvish that I certainly couldn't understand. I read what I could, but really I was itching to just be outside with Desith.
I read a few stories from what could have been a book of fables or a historical account, for all I knew. There was this one about this Praxalim, Pâk and Unatak (meaning 'to fight' and 'to war') who were the greatest warriors of their time. Apparently, the nomadic clans of winter elves would war amongst each other, much like the native humans, but they had dragons so the wars were much more dramatic. Well, one day, Pâk and Unatak were in between battles and training together in the wilderness when they happened upon another Praxalim, Pitsiak and Tatik, bathing in a cold lake. Watching from the tree line, Pâk and Unatak saw how much fun they were having splashing each other and laughing. This was something they'd never experienced; they were always serious because their lives depended on it. To be so reckless and unobservant of their surroundings would get them killed. Just as they had decided to go back to their village, Unatak, being a heavy dragon, snapped a branch underfoot, drawing the attention of the bathing Praxalim. They quickly got out of the water, Tatik blocking Pitsiak so she could dress.
Stumbling over their own feet, Pâk and Unatak scrambled to explain that they hadn't been invading their privacy, only that they were mesmerized by the fun they were having. But, having names like Pitsiak, which means 'to be kind,' and Titak, which means 'love,' they quickly forgave them. The pair of Praxalims spent the day together, giving Pâk and Unatak a chance to learn how to have fun. The next day, they met up again for Pâk and Unatak to show Pitsiak and Tituk how to fight and defend themselves.
Alternating days, they trained like this for a few months, in between other obligations to their own clans. Eventually, they found that both pairs were falling in love. Their meetings began to become more social than educational. One night, the four of them spent the night under the stars by the lake, enjoying each other's company. But in the morning, the elders of each clan, who had grown concerned at the absence of their respective Praxalim, found them all curled up together, asleep and happy.
Then, it seems, all hell broke loose. Turns out the two Praxalims were from rival clans who'd been fighting for several generations. An argument broke out between the two clans' elders and when it seemed it might turn physical, Pitsiak spoke up. She announced that she was with child and the group silenced in response. She and Pâk took advantage of the stunned silence and explained how they'd shared their perspectives and skills with each other. Pâk pointed out how his periods of relaxation and fun had helped him focus during one of the recent battles. Pitsiak told them how one of her missions of diplomacy had gone south and they were attacked. She used some of the self-defense tactics that Pâk had shown her and the clan had seen that she wasn't weak and made the deal with her.
Having seen the benefit of balance, the elders decided to agree on a truce. The child inside of Pitsiak would be the test to see if they could co-exist and raise a child in both ways of life. That child turned out to become Angajukkâk, a great leader who helped the two clans form a truce, which led to building a highly successful village-city. But that's a different story. And with that, they learned that war and fighting are most effective when tempered with kindness and love. Balance.
Anyway, I didn't just spend all my time reading. Having been here for a week, I was put on the watch rotation a few days ago. My first shift was with a psy-pyr, which apparently is a type of vampire who can manipulate what people see and don’t see through their third eye chakra, their mind’s eye.. Of course, when Polaris told me this, I was immediately on edge. He introduced me to Maeve and she was not what I expected.
Maeve's style could be best described as kawaii. Lots of color, especially pink, and super cute cartoon-y animal images. She is small (only about 5 feet), blonde, and super bubbly. She talked my ear off the whole time, trying to point out who was who in the village. Of course, I couldn't follow it. I need to actually meet someone to commit their face and name to memory.
Anywho, I was on edge all day, but I don't know that I really need to be, going forward. At least while I'm here. Though, I don't think I can turn it off now. Of course, there's still the chance that this place is too good to be true. Nothing of note happened while we were on watch, but I did get to see quite a bit of the village and honestly, I'd say it's more of a town. There are probably close to 1,000 people here. I can't believe they've hidden this big of a place!
What I do know, however, is that flying is like nothing else, which I find funny since I’d have said that very thing 5 or 6 years ago when I cheered. But really, this is nothing like that. I’m actually a little offended that we called the top of pyramids a flier. Lol j/k But seriously, it couldn’t be more different.
Flying on a dragon’s back is much more like riding a horse...except it’s much wider of a straddle, moving at approximately 70mph, and swoops! Of course, that’s more of a sprint speed, but still! After our crash course while searching for Iris, which had my stomach in knots and my hands white-knuckled into her fur, we spent about three hours yesterday working on technique and body placement and whatnot. We did a few sprints but mostly just practised mounting/dismounting and takeoffs. My belly only had knots that one time, though. Every other time I’ve been on her back since, nothing. Felt totally natural. Which has me wondering, was it the flying or the missing child that had my stomach all screwy?
I wish I could describe the ”wind rushing through my hair” but I wear my hair in two braids most days, to keep the wind from blowing it across my face. Rest assured though, I will make sure to wear my hair down the next time we go up. And though my hair was denied access to the free flowing winds, my skin was not. If I thought the air was biting when I was on my own...being up there is worse. It seemed to penetrate my very soul. My jaw locked up, my back seized, all because of shivering. Not even shivering. I was well past shivering and into seizing muscles. Oddly enough, when I thought about how cold I was while I was up there, I thought I’d had a moment when everything in my body relaxed. Just for an instant. I was probably hallucinating or something, but it was weird, nonetheless.
Anyways, it’s been a very long day....hell, it’s been a long week...and it’s only Thursday! And I have just as much, if not more, to do this weekend. I’m gonna go curl up with Desith now. Night night.
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