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 Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:44 pm
 It wasn’t unusual for Lucian and his father Jumaane to go for walks along the canyon edge. They enjoyed the chance to talk together; Jumaane would tell stories of his family and their history, and Lucian would repeat them back to him, trying to learn the words by heart. It had always been his ambition to follow in his grandparents’ slipstream, find the Valley of the Smiling Sun, and find out the truth of what had happened to his father’s family. All they knew so far was that they had left for their summer territory one year and never returned, leaving their flightless son orphaned in their winter feeding ground.
Lucian had never met them, but he believed that his father’s herd had befallen a terrible fate. From the stories he’d heard, they would never have willingly abandoned Jumaane. But in order to find out what had happened, Lucian would have to find a land that Jumaane had never seen and could only describe from anecdote and riddle—mnemonics, generations old, used to identify the Valley of the Smiling Sun from the air. He would need this ancestral memory if he was to find out what happened to the family he’d never known. So he and his father walked side-by-side, singing songs and chanting rhymes together as they watched the sunset on the canyon wall.
So absorbed in the stories, Lucian and Jumaane did not notice the crumbling edge of the path where a rockslide had narrowed the trail. With a sudden lurch, the world spun violently. Lucian scrambled with his claws, trying to catch something, anything, not really understanding what was happening. He tumbled, not down a slope, but over an edge, into the air, upside-down, and still too startled to fully understand what was happening.
Rocks slowed him down. He tried to flap his wings, tried to catch himself, but the attempt backfired; his wings hit boulders sticking out of the side of the canyon. He yelped with pain, still tumbling, unable to arrest his fall, when he stopped with a dizzying lurch.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:45 pm
Jumaane saw his son fall and he panicked. His heart stopped as his son slipped from his view, tumbling over the edge of the cliff. His eyes. His eyes had been full of shock and terror, and though Jumaane lunged forward, trying to catch his son as he fell, he was too late; his son had disappeared into the twilight of the canyon below.
He rushed to the edge, only stopping when he felt the ground begin to crumble under his claws. Relief, tinged with dread, flooded his mind as he heard wordless cries from down below him. He searched the gathering gloom, trying to find his son, somewhere, anywhere, hoping, beyond hope, that Lucian was alright.
From down below, there was a sound of twigs snapping and Jumaane, his eyes finally adjusting to the gloom, caught a glimpse of gold and blue in the darkness, ten bodylengths down the canyon wall. “Lucian!!” he screamed. “Lucian, where are you?!”
His eyes were still adjusting the longer he looked, and he could see, just barely, what was going on. A venerable bush of some kind, one of the many thorn bushes that grew in the area, had caught Lucian’s fall. “Lucian, don’t move! Stay still!” The words were out of his mouth by instinct, not thought. He recognized the thorn bush—they were tough as stone, but the impact of a fully-grown stallion was still a lot to take. If Lucian moved, the branches holding him might break, and then…
He didn’t want to think about that.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:49 pm
The shouts from above were alarming. But strangely comforting. It meant he was still alive. Or at least, he thought he was. Surely Papa wouldn’t be shouting if he was dead?
“Okay!” he shouted back. He still didn’t understand what was going on. He tried to move, only to hear something at his back creaking, and his whole body swayed. He had landed on his back on…a thorn bush, most likely. One of the tough ones. A really big tough one, if it could hold his weight even from a fall. The panic was slowly subsiding, letting him think.
And feel.
His body ached, and that was nothing compared to the pain in his wings. Every part of them burned with pain. He wanted to scream, and keep screaming until he couldn’t feel anymore. But if he did that, he’d start panicking. And Papa will start panicking too. I need to stay calm—for both of us. “I’m alive!” he shouted back. “I think I landed on a thornbush. But I’m okay.” He hesitated. “I…I can’t fly.” That knowledge hit him like a boulder, and it was all he could do to stay calm in the face of that.
Flying was…sort of important. And it was something Lucian hated bringing up. He loved his father—very much. Of his two fathers, it was Jumaane that Lucian was closer to. But his papa was the only member of their family without wings. It made Jumaane different from the rest. And it was the reason that Jumaane had no birth family to talk to. He had been left behind when his family left that last time because he couldn’t fly with them. He couldn’t keep up, and so he had never seen the homeland that Lucian was trying so hard to learn about. Lucian enjoyed flying, he didn’t think anyone with wings didn’t enjoy flying—but it felt…tactless to mention it in front of his flightless father. He didn’t want to remind him that his son had something that he couldn’t have, that had changed the course of his life in so many ways.
But he had to say it right now—he couldn’t fly. He couldn’t get out of this situation. He couldn’t even tell how bad the situation was or he might break the branch. He was stuck. He could not fly.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:53 pm
He heard the words and felt a bitter darkness in his heart. Lucian could not fly. The miracle of existence that could have saved his life, that gift from the stars, would not save him.
Jumaane took deep breaths, willing himself to be calm—he had to be. If he panicked, Lucian would panic too. He’d thrash and struggle, and he’d fall and—Jumaane had to stay calm. “We’ll get you out of there,” he said. “Just stay calm. We’ll figure something out. Stay calm, and don’t move.”
They fell silent for a moment, then from below came Lucian’s voice. It was small, and despite his age, Lucian’s voice sounded like a child, and Jumaane’s heart twinged with fear for his son. “I can’t fly...”
Jumaane shook his head, even if Lucian couldn’t see it. “I’ve lived all my life not being able to fly,” he said. “And I’m still alive. You’ll still be alive too. We’ll figure something out. It’s going to be okay.” He clacked his beak, mind racing. “Just…give me time to think. I’ll figure out where you are, see if there’s any way I can get you down to the ground, okay? Just hang on.”
The sun was setting fast, and soon it would be too dark to work. Whatever he had to do, whatever plan he had in mind, he would have to come up with it fast. Fear and determination lent speed to his feet, and he pounded down the trails that wound down from the canyon wall. He would figure out where Lucian was, and then he’d…figure out a plan from there. If nothing else, I’ll know how close he is to the ground. If he’s close enough, maybe we could break the branches. It was a risky move, though—he would have to be very close to the ground indeed for that to be in any way safe.
Darkness fell fast below the canyon wall, and already he was having to navigate by his feet. He had to slow down. He’d be no good to his son falling off another cliff. He wondered how Lucian was doing—was he okay? He hadn’t heard anything from him—surely he would have heard something if Lucian was hurt?
Right?
He took a deep breath and started to sing, one of the old ones. It was an old one, meant to teach the foals the landmarks they would need to navigate around the Valley of the Smiling Sun, in case they got separated from the rest of the herd while on a lark and needed to find their way back to the others. He’d been teaching it to Lucian lately. Hopefully it will keep Lucian’s mind on not dying.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:54 pm
Lucian tried not to panic as he heard his father leave. It was the logical thing to do—Jumaane couldn’t help him from there, so he would have to leave some time to figure out how to save him. His father needed to leave in order for him to survive.
It was funny. He was an adult, one preparing to go out on a grand solo adventure to a strange and foreign ancestral land—all by himself!—and yet, the moment he was in any kind of danger, he became a little child, wanting his papa to stay close to him, to comfort him and tell him that it was all going to be okay. Am I really ready for this? Am I really ready to go out on my own? How can I survive on my own if I panic at the first sign of trouble?! Lucian wanted to cry. The independence he felt was just an illusion. I don’t want to leave my papa. I don’t want to be alone! Like he was, for all those years, before he met Dad—
In the distance, still above him, but further out now, and lower than before, he could hear the words of a familiar song, called out to him. He recognized the words from the song. He’d only started learning this song recently, and he still couldn’t remember all of the words most of the time. The song was a call-and-response. After the first few lines, his father would be waiting for a reply. How did it go again? “Around the rock of blue and white”—no, that’s the second verse—
It was hard to remember the words. He had to concentrate hard to remember the correct order, but if he put his whole mind to it, he could remember. The words came to him, and with them, calm. His father was here, still looking for him. He was not abandoned. It was all going to be okay. And as he listened and sang, he could hear his father’s voice making his way down the canyon wall, gradually coming from below him. They had to change songs at some point—twice—but by the time his father was directly below him, Lucian was as relaxed as he could be in the current circumstance.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:55 pm
It took a long time before Jumaane reached the point on the canyon floor where he was below his son. It wasn’t too deep a canyon—there were deeper points—but it was too far for Lucian to fall safely. At least like this…
Singing had turned out to be a perfect idea. Not only did it keep Lucian’s mind on not struggling, but it helped them know where each other was. By now, the moon had risen and was lighting the way, but even with the moon, it would have been impossible for him to find Lucian without his voice. Jumaane looked up at his son, mind still racing with thought. “Lucian!” he called out. “I’ve got an idea! It’s going to take a while to get together, though. Can you still hold on up there? Are you…still alright?” He was afraid to hear the answer, but at the same time, he had to be reassured that everything was still okay up there, that he hadn’t missed something vital while he was singing and exploring.
But he heard Lucian’s voice above him, and his son sounded calm. “Yeah, I’m okay. It’s, um, really uncomfortable up here.”
“How are your wings? Are they broken, do you think?”
“N-no. No, I…I don’t think so.” Lucian’s voice sounded pained and Jumaane’s heart twinged. “Just…really sore, I think. I’m okay. I’m worried about this branch, but I don’t hear it creaking or anything.”
“Well, keep still,” Jumaane said. “It’s going to take me a while to get this together. Just, stay still, and stay safe, I’ll get you down as soon as I can.” He shifted from one claw to the other. “Lucian, I’m going to have to go. I will be back. But I’ll have to go pretty far to find what I’m looking for. Is that okay?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:56 pm
Lucian almost choked on the fear he felt at those words. It was almost enough to drown out the pain of his bruised and strained wings. To be honest, he didn’t know if they were broken or not. But he was trying to stay positive, and thinking positive meant assuming that they were okay. He has to go away. I’ll be all alone!
But I can be alone for a little while. It’s only for a little while. Then he’ll be back, and he’ll save me.
Yeah, I’ll be okay. Yeah. “I’ll be okay,” he said, then swallowed hard, pushing back the terror. “I’ll be okay, Papa. Thanks for asking. I’ll be okay.” He took a deep breath. “But hurry back, okay?”
“I’ll be back,” his father called back. “It’s going to take me a little while. I’ll come back, and then I’ll go again, and then I’ll come back, okay? But I will be back!”
“Okay!” Lucian said. He took another deep breath. “Okay.”
His father left then. After all this time singing, Lucian was feeling nervous. The silence was oppressive, and he couldn’t help but feel panic at every sound around him. What if there were predators around? Mountain lions could navigate here, and they could easily knock him down, send him into the canyon, kill him by the fall and then feast on his flesh…
Who would go looking for the rest of the Kimondo if I die? Papa can’t. I have to live. For him.
…And for myself too, I guess. It felt absurd, that the thought had come to him so late, he couldn’t help but laugh. He laughed for a long time, until he was out of breath. But finally, when he stopped, he realized he’d been hearing sounds from below him for some time. He took a deep breath, coughed, then tried again. Was it getting harder to breathe? No, I can’t think about that! Throwing caution to the wind, he called out “Papa? Is that you?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:57 pm
The sound of the hysterical laughter above him had been…terrifying. Lucian was starting to lose his grip, from the sounds of it, and the idea of that made Jumaane shudder in terror. He worked quickly, gathering as much brush as he could. The local bushes and shrubs were tough but springy. Hopefully a pile as large as he was would be enough to catch Lucian without hurting him. It has to be better than being stuck in the bush up there! Luckily, there were plenty of them, easy to grab and gather into a pile. It didn’t take long before he had to rear onto his hind legs to pile more bushes on top of the makeshift mattress. By the time he had, Lucian had calmed down. When he called out to his father, his voice was hoarse; hardly surprising, between the singing and the hysterics.
“It’s me!” Jumaane called back. “I’ve made a…landing bed for you. It’s directly below you. If you wriggle side to side, you should be able to fall on it.” Jumaane looked up at the sky, where the horizon was starting to look distinctly lighter. It was easier to see right now. His heart raced. “It should catch you. It will catch you. But…be careful, okay?”
There was a long pause in which all either stallion could hear was the hammering in their throats. But at long last, Jumaane heard “Okay.” Then the creaking of the bush far above, then finally a snap! of the branch breaking. Then Lucian was there, falling on top of the mattress. Bushes went flying, but Lucian’s legs were still twitching, and he rolled onto his side, looking exhausted and spent. Jumaane rushed forward, scattering the remaining bushes, to nuzzle his son. “Lucian!! Are you alright?!”
“Yeah,” Lucian said, his voice rasping, sounding every bit as exhausted as he looked. “I’m okay. I think I’m okay.” He slowly pushed himself to his feet. Jumaane whined and rushed forward, bracing Lucian with his shoulder. “I’m okay,” his son said.
“Thank the stars!” Jumaane gasped. “Lucian, I…” Words failed him. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He nuzzled Jumaane again. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m okay too,” Lucian said. He nuzzled Jumaane clumsily, then rested his head against his shoulder, eyes closed. “I never want to do that again. Thank you, Papa.”
Jumaane laughed. “It was nothing, little star,” he said. He closed his eyes too and sighed with relief, tears running down his cheeks. “I’m just not ready to let you go.”
“I know,” Lucian said softly. There was a long pause. “I’ll be careful, when I go. No walking at night.”
His son would still leave him, go into the dangerous world out there. For him. For their family. And Jumaane couldn’t stop him. “If you still want to go, I won’t stop you,” he said. “Just be careful.”
“I will,” Lucian sighed. “I will. Now let’s go home.”
“Yes,” Jumaane sighed. “Let’s go home.”
But they stood there for a long time, too tired to move.
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