Chapter 18 The Grand Canyon

~Duncan~

I hated to admit it, but I was getting tired.

My wings pumped frantically, constantly correcting my flight path as the weight of the sack I was carrying tipped me off balance. We were making good time, with Fiona carrying most of the weight up front, me behind trying to catch some of her draft, and Raven soaring along with a walmart bag clutched in her talons. Karata galloped along below, several packages strapped to her back. Dane sat in front of Fiona's pack, looking at a GPS.

The blue sky was streaked with white cirrus clouds, and while the sun shone down, our altitude made it hard to stay warm. I didn't have fire or feathers or a jacket, like the others in the odd little flock, so I decided to glide down to Kerata, resting my wings and warming up at the same time. Or so I told myself.

We were over thebottom of South Dakota, watching the undulating fields of grass stretch away in every direction for what seemed like eternity. Occasionally, a road or farm or small town would break the pattern, but they were few and far between. The air smelled of both growing things and dying things, and altogether it smelled rather like the color green, if green had a smell.

I descended the last few thousand feet lazily, gliding with the occasional flap as the weight which had been hindering me now acted as a counterweight to help me keep up my speed.

Finally, a white streak came into view on the road, and while she was doing around seventy, her actual pace was a slow, almost lazy gallop. I swooped down over her head, my acid green scales flashing. She flicked an ear at me and tossed her head. "How's the weather up there?"

"Cold." I replied. "I came down to warm up and to see how you were doing."

She kicked up her hind legs. "I'm doing great. You guys should have given me more stuff to carry. I'm almost bored."

I flicked my tail at her, playfully. "Well, in that case..." I swooped lower and dropped my burlap sack on top of her pack, the contents making a satisfying thunk as they landed. She didn't even stagger, but grinned up at me and tossed her mane. "What was that? A mosquito? Mannnn, they were really going easy on you when they divvied up the bags."

I mock-growled at her, baring my fangs in a half-smile, half-snarl. She laughed, and picked up her pace, making me flap harder to keep up. "No fair!"

She eyed me. "What? You're the one with wings!" I could hear the envy in her voice. Suddenly, I felt ashamed of complaining.

She saw my expression dim. "Hey, it's not your fault you weren't born with supersonic speed..." She winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

We traveled alongside each other for awhile, talking occasionally about random things like cloud shapes or the animals on the occasional passing farm. A few times, when we got too far ahead, we would pause for awhile and take a breather, or play a game of tag in a field. I learned how high she could jump, which was a rather impressive fifty yards into the air. Although I wasn't sure that she wasn't holding back.

Finally, the grasslands gave way to higher hills and pineforests, and just as the sun was setting, we came to the Grand Canyon.

I alighted on the edge of one of the most beautiful natural wonder of the world, and peered over. The sight took my breath away. It was as if God had decided to split the earth in two, then changed his mind halfway through the process. I saw eagles circling below me, and far, far, far down in the shadows, the brown, wild streak of the river rushed, wearing the canyon ever deeper. I had the sudden, intense urge to simply fall over the edge, and dive all the way down. Without even saying anything to Kerata, who was standing next to me with the same awed expression, I simply tipped over the edge, nose first, and fell headlong onto the glowing red depths. The dying rays of the sun lit up the inside of the canyon like a cathedral, turning the walls every color from violet, to tan, to gold and crimson.

I could feel the air rip past my wings, screaming across my ears and whipping the end of my tail back and forrth. I closed my second eyelid and tucked my wings tighter to my body. The muddy, brown water rushed toward me, a liquid death trap. The vertical walls closed in around me, rocky needles reaching out to impale me. I let out a whoop, opening my wings at the last moment and shooting in between two protruding rocks, just clipping the water with my tail. Using my speed, I shot upward, startling the eagle I had seen circling earlier. I caught a strong updraft near the cliff face that I had just jumped off of, and rocketed back upwards, shooting past Kerata's nose and into the sky.

I soared straight up until my speed ran out, and did a huge backward loop, gliding in for a landing just inches from where I had taken off. Immediately, I was confronted by the huge white head of a very angry horse. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! You could have KILLED YOURSELF!"

I Changed back to human and scratched my head. "What do you-" The next instant, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, and her head pressed against my chest. "If you die, I'll kill you." She muttered. For a moment, I stood, shocked, then I put my arms around her. "That doesn't even make any sense."

She leaned back in my arms to look up at my face, an annoyed, pouty look on her face. "You're always so literal."

I didn't like that look on her face. I wanted to change it. Slowly, I leaned forward, and pressed my lips to hers. Her eyes widened, then closed, and she kissed me back, with more passion that I had dared hope for. Finally, after a long moment, we broke apart, staring at each other. Then she looked away, and gasped softly. "Look."

I turned, still holding her gently, and my eyes widened at the sight of the canyon before me, painted in brilliant bands of color, in royal blue and purple, in brilliant gold and silver, and deep green and alabaster and fawn and ebony and lemon and fuschia.

We stood for awhile, just like that. Neither of us wanted to move. Neither of us even wanted to breathe. And for the moment, there was peace.

~~~

This chapter is dedicated to the world as it is now. Things are looking bad all over the world, with Israel bombing hospitals, Russia invading it's neighbors, and that stupid airplane that got shot down by those idiots. You all know who I'm talking about. That thing is going to start the next world war, seriously. Wars have been fought over less. Much less. Anyway, my point is, enjoy what you got, while you got it. Even if your life looks like the Gaza strip right now, you can still look around, at the world in general, and find some little bit of peace. If you have even a split second to stop and think, you can find peace. I know, I probably sound all buddhist and weird, but trust me, I'm not. I look around me, at the texture of the blanket next to me, at the taste of water as I take a drink, (seriously, have you ever actually tried tasting water? It's a whole new experience, when you think about it.) the way the shadow from my desk lamp creates a pretty orange color on my ceiling... life is really beautiful, when you bother to look at it. And once you start looking at it that way, it becomes like an addiction. You just can't stop. Not that I would ever want to...

This has nothing to do with glass half empty vs. glass half full. This is just enjoying as much as you can what peace you have, while you still have it. Things don't just have a possibility of getting worse, they WILL get worse. Probably before they get better. So enjoy what you have while you have it. I'm not a hypocrite when I say this, either. I'm 18, with no job, and parents with no job, and lucky to still have a roof over my head and food to put into my mouth, and a bed with blankets, and electricity. I'm extremely lucky to have this laptop that I'm currently typing on. Courtesy of my deceased grandfather, may he rest in peace.

But I still enjoy my life. I still dream of all the good things that are going to happen. And at the same time, I prepare for the bad. And I wait. And I write. And you see the result above you.

Woah. That was really deep. Even for me. I guess I was trying to make a point, somewhere in there, but I'm not sure where I put it... lol XD

I have to post this now, since my internet is about to go off. I'm sorry about the long-arse author's note. Won't happen again. I hope.

Goodnight! :)