It had been taunting her for her entire life. She had been coming to this little inlet of land, with its little cliff, with its land, and she'd been staring at it for as long as she could remember. And it had been taunting her.
'It' was a tree. It had been tantalizingly out of reach, up there on a lonely cliff, with what looked like the prettiest, juiciest, most delicious apples - or some kind of fruit, she thought - and for years now, she had watched them grow, ripen, rot and fall. For years. She might be the only Soquili who even knew about this tree, which was equal parts disappointing and exhilarating.
It was exhilarating because Splendida loved a secret - she loved for things to be hers and hers alone.
It was disappointing because the tree was up a cliff that was fairly easily climbed... for someone who had four legs, instead of two. For someone who could breathe air regularly. For someone who was a land- based creature.
That is, someone who was not Splendida herself.
So she was being taunted. By a tree. And she was staring at it, quite intently, and that was why she noticed the flutter of a wing, just over the crest of the cliff. Within spitting distance of the tree.
"Hey! Hey, you up there! Hey! Hey!!!" Splendida shouted, perhaps the loudest she had ever yelled in her life. If she had half a chance of not being tormented by the dream of perfect fruit, she was going to take it, and take it with a quickness.
Cirro Strata was taking what she was calling a 'Mama's Minute', wherein her children were not allowed to bother her, and would instead bother Sol'Lunier, their father, for any concerns. She was entitled to a break every now and then, and she was taking it.
It was so quiet, without the children. Most of her life had been quiet, before the children were born, and she had no idea how much she had missed the silence - it felt like she had room to think, for basically the first time since her beautiful, most precious children had tumbled out of their basket.
It lasted about eighteen seconds, and then someone was shouting.
Cirro Strata looked around, the breeze ruffling her hair and her wings. She didn't see any source of the noise, but here it came again, someone yelling. She had come all the way out to this cliff to avoid shouting, but it appeared that shouting wasn't planning on avoiding her.
Cautiously, Cirro Strata moved toward the edge of the cliff, under the tree that clung to the ground with strong, twisted roots. Cirro peered over the edge and noticed someone in the ocean below. She could only assume that this was the source of the yelling.
"Are you okay?" Cirro called down, unsure if the person was calling for help - were they drowning? - or just yelling to get her attention. It didn't really look like the creature was drowning - she was moving back and forth, seemingly of her own volition, against the waves of the ocean. "What are you saying?"
((Splendida WC: 265
Cirro Strata WC: 261))
