Adrift VII
“Jooorreeeeey.”
Sputter’s call snapped Jorey from her reverie. She was off course for the first bridging. She shook her head as she spun into a corrective loop. Old age was making her complacent. Taking a little more air in her modified wings, she gained the altitude necessary, diving to accelerate through the final correction.
Sputter waved at her as he spun lazy spirals. It was a wonder how he didn’t throw up more regularly. Jorey had developed a fondness for the boy over the years that they had been traveling together. More of the protective older sister than a mother son relationship, but she hated thinking of the time she would have to leave them. They were a good bunch, but she had to move on from time to time for everyone’s safety.
She regenerated whatever damage she took, and some of her comrades were starting to notice. She had also stopped aging.
Jorey didn’t know what happened after Kremm’s duel, but something had changed. She had awakened to the prodding of comrades undamaged and invigorated. Subtle inquiry over her decades of travel had yielded no enlightenment, but her unusual abilities had become apparent over time. She knew there were factions in the Hierarchy that would be interested in her, whether for good or evil was a matter of moral nuance. The fact that those traveling with her would be exposed to the dangers was enough motivation for her to take on the nomadic life.
Grom was on the bridge taking his breather. Jorey hit the island of rock at full tilt and transferred her momentum into a run. The big man smiled at her as she bounded by. “Sooner rather than later,” she said, sparing all the time she wished for instruction. Pounding across the terrain, she remembered the leg that had been shattered so long ago. Not the specifics of it, but the primal crush of pain which had scarred her memory. She didn’t know what had healed her, but she was always grateful considering the alternative.
At the far end of the island, Jorey cast herself into the open air once more and took the lead as they skimmed across the sky toward Windfall.