Verana moved through the woods, following Sencha and the others, feeling awkward with her one arm in the thing the healers had called a sling. The contraption braced her arm, preventing it from hanging heavily on the shoulder that was still injured and keeping it immobile against her chest. Though the restraint left her with only one hand to balance and move. 

They had been trekking for days, leaving the human world far behind them, returning to the centre of the island, when slightly before noon, as the summer humidity built to its peak, Shaktay and his fighters stopped, separating from Sencha's group.

She slowed and turned towards her friend, offering him a smile as he paused beside her. "Your knee is just about good as new."

"It'll be healed by the end of winter." Shaktay shrugged easily, stepping close to her, offering her a gentle squeeze of her good shoulder. "Our passes are always open to you, if you need a different place to spend the winter. It is warmer down south and there's more room."

"Room?" she gave him a quizzical look, contemplating his words.

Shaktay shrugged, his expression unreadable. "To think. You can finally see the ocean. Maybe you'll see the Wild that is supposed to be in it."

Verana nodded. "Alright, I will think about it. It sounds nice."

And with that, Shaktay was gone, headed south through the Wild and she turned to catch up with the rest of Sencha's group, doing her best to leave behind the growing nervousness and  disquiet as she neared where the Council would be waiting for her.  

Part of her doubted she wanted another Sight,  which would show her what her life's Path was. She felt as if she had dealt with enough, that she could be happy having passed her first test, without finding out what else waited for her for a little while longer.  

She meditated on her exhaustion with the world and lack of certainty of wanting more  through the next couple days and to the large collection of trees so big that they had built an entire city within their branches.

Verana glowered when she had to be lifted from the ground in a basket, unable to climb with one arm, finding herself on a separate floor from her travelling companions by the time she climbed out, whisked away by Feysha who served with the Council.

She was washed, her wound was re-bandaged, her arm re-slung. Then she was dressed in the soft flowing robes reserved for non warriors. With no more time for contemplation, Verana was quickly brought to a small room overlooking a darkening forest and gently tumbling waterfall. 

Verana frowned, unprepared at the sudden urgency that the Council seemed to be showing in seeing her so soon, having hoped for a day, or even a couple hours, before having to face the formidable elders that decided the path of every Feysha on the island.

Still, she had travelled far and despite her nerves, she was able to force herself to eat the food that had been left out for her, so lost in thought that when the man came to fetch her, his silent appearance made her jump.  He didn't speak and she followed dumbly, the walk to the council room shorter than she would have liked.

"Earth's blessing to you, sister" He murmured, leaving her at the door to the chambers before she could respond to him in kind, disappearing down another hallway.

Verana let out a slow breath and raised her good hand, knocking gently on the wooden doors, which had been carved into an image of a giant tree, the Life tree. In the carving, humans stood below, on the ground, Feysha climbed amongst the branches and above the tree, flew winged people she wasn't entirely sure actually existed. 

Still, she reached up, standing on her tip toes, her finger tips tracing  over the form of one, before she lowered herself down, letting out a slow bracing breath. For a moment, the feeling she had found building in her on the cliff top as she watched the eagle came back, leaving her struggling to find peace.

Just as she felt like she was calm and settled, the doors opened, causing her heart to leap into her throat. Verana swallowed her tension as she walked into the room that was vaguely familiar, though she couldn't say for certain if this was the same room she had been in before. 

It was an effect of the elders, their locations were not as solidly placed into the ground as the rest of this world. There shouldn't have been anything intimidating about the council. Only two of them were formerly warriors. Hunters, perhaps; their faces serene, peaceful and welcoming, gentle. But still she felt on edge, watching them sitting in various positions around a small low table that contained a dish full of water. 

It seemed so informal after dealing with the protocols of the human councils, but she raised her single hand as if she were pressing it against the other, bowing her head over her finger tips, murmuring the formal greeting to them.

"Veranandein. You have passed your life's test. Come forward to see your life's quest." The oldest one, a small female who's hair had gone completely grey said musically and as Verana approached, she found herself wondering if this woman had been alive when the Humans had first arrived.

"Child, your path is longer than you realize and you still have a great many trials ahead of you." Another murmured as she kneeled, looking into the dark surface of the water in the dish.

She knew she was not supposed to look up, but it took all her self control to bend her head over the dish further as she felt cool water poured over it to stream through her hair and into the dish. She closed her eyes as she felt hands running through her hair, loosening it from its braid, running down her neck and over her back, sending shivers through her entire body.

"You are more than Feysha and it is time you embraced the rest of your inheritance. You will always be a child of the Wild but you are also born to be part of the Sky. Your father has been your teacher but in order to find your mother, you will need to go beyond where any of us has ever gone. Beyond the shores you protect."

She didn't move, didn't dare to as she felt hands grasping her hair, cutting it. Smelling the acrid smoke of it burning choking her, causing her head to swim, she braced one hand on the table, fighting to make sense of the words they spoke around her.

"You will fight the evil and then you will also fight the darkness that causes it. Your enemies, their Gods and their enemies will all need to join you and our allies. The Wild is disappearing from the world and you need to stop what is devouring it before it reaches the Island here. You are Feysha and more. You are different but Feysha and you belong to more than this small part of the world, we can keep you here no longer."

She felt a heavy weight on her back, dragging her backwards, forcing her to fight to stay crouched over the table. 

"Stand, Nama Veranandein Neeria. This is your path. This is your burden." The voice commanded and she obeyed.

 Verana stumbled backwards as she stood, her eyes widening in confusion as she felt something still weighing on her back, shivering as she felt the sensation of the wind passing behind her, pulling her backwards even more. She watched the group of them, now all standing before her, letting out a cry when her eyes focused on the mirror held between five of them.

On her back, somehow attached as surely as her arms or legs, were large, membraneous wings. The hard limbs of the wings were an opaque white that shimmered gold and silver, like pearls. The skin connecting them shimmered with a rainbow of colours, spreading wide as she jerked in surprise, sending her stumbling once more. 

She suddenly had no idea how to balance on her feet, with these massive things growing out of her, every movement was a struggle to hold herself upright.

"What did you do to me?" she glanced over her shoulder at them, then back to the group of elders, she expected anger to blossom but felt only sadness and fear. "how did you do this?"

"When your father brought you here, after your mother had given you to him, she had instructed him that you needed to be raised as a Feysha. Her people had seen that you needed to think you were one of us, learn our ways before you learned theirs. None of us could teach a  young child to fly and you were already so different, we hid them from you." The words were mournful, apologetic.

" We wouldn't let you know your father, because he was hurting from a broken heart... his love, the half of his soul had left him, and abandoned their child. We feared he would not give you a chance to achieve everything you were, so we could not let you know him." Came the gentle explanation, though she couldn't pinpoint who amongst them was speaking, her vision still swimming from the smoke, "but now is the time for you to know, to learn. Your father never abandoned you."

Verana stumbled another step, before falling to her knees and then completely into darkness.

.