- Adventures with Moira
Excerpt from Saving Leilaka
We were far out over the sea when I returned from my internal reflection. Moira was aware of the content as I had kept an active connection to her. She seemed ill at ease with what she was feeling through our blend, not quite sure what to make of the content, aware that raising Huracanets were probably a much easier task compared to what she had been witness to.
With my attention back on my physical environment, I could appreciate Moira skimming the golden waves, racing dolphin-like creatures that were trying to jump up at us, resulting in salt water splashing over us.
After a few more minutes of indulgence I asked Moira to take us higher and she did so, gliding to a comfortable height from where we could see an incredible area below us.
From our angle, the area to the South was just sea. The coastline faced North, highlighted in green, grey and yellow where the desert area was to the West.
Moira climbed higher while changing direction towards home.
All seemed well with Leilaka and I felt content.
After giving Moira permission to return to Leilaka, she closed her wings, dropping like a rock towards the sea, necessitating me to hang on, tears being forced from my eyes because of the cold and her speed.
Before crashing into the sea, she levelled out, gliding towards the land.
We flew over the Western Colonies where the Huracan were chatting up a storm so early in the morning, their noise overwhelming in the clear air currents.
The Huracanets are hatching and everyone is excited. It would be the third year that young ones are born. You still have many Riders who need to return Moira informed me.
Looking down as we passed, I could see only adults sitting on the rocks, sunning themselves before the hunt for fish would commence.
Are you accepted by the Colony? I wanted to know from her, watching Elms Wood pass underneath us. She was heading for the mountains.
I may come and go as I please. They disclose what they have to, to me, but I am not a friend to them. Neither have I been accepted as a Colony member. Even if Raman is the most famous Huracan ever born into their society, they do not accept his strange daughter. I am as much an outcast as you are amongst the peoples of Leilaka.
She said it without regret. It was a fact of her life. She felt being connected to me was all that mattered anyway. What other people or Huracan thought of her was none of her concern. As long as I loved her and was proud of her, she was happy.
She landed between trees in a gully, asking me to wait for her while she hunted. The wild goats had left the immediate area of Floverne and she had to extend her hunting grounds.
What are you going to teach the little ones to eat? I wanted to know from her while slipping off her back. She was a predominantly meat eater while Lance preferred fish, as did the Colony.
It is still being debated she told me, disappearing between some trees. I think it wise that we should teach them to eat both as we had to learn to do. Lance wants to stay traditional and go with fish that is easier to catch.
She was quiet for a while and I joined her consciously.
She was stalking a small deer. There were no goats on the menu today.
With a roar that left the stunned animal standing for a second longer than it should have, she jumped on it, crushing its spine with her weight while her strong jaws mashed its neck and head.
I told him he was lazy she informed me while holding onto her catch, waiting for the last bloody bubbles to subside.
Today she actually encouraged me to stay blended with her, as if scared that we would be separated permanently with all the changes that were occurring in our lives. Time for ourselves has grown scarce, having to share each other consciously with other people.
She ripped the skin off the carcass, starting to chew on pieces of warm, bloody flesh. The scent of fresh blood permeated my nostrils, strangely not making me nauseous as it sometimes did.
She was enjoying her meal and I was sharing in her delight.
I shared in your enjoyment of the substance you call Cacao. I just wished you to feel my pleasure at this deer as well. This is my pudding, as you call it.
I understood. She was trying to tell me that she did enjoy life and shared consciously in my enjoyment.
I waited patiently where she had left me, keeping the blend, sharing the deer, her ecstasy when she crushed the thicker bones between her jaws and the sweet marrow ran down her throat.
Eventually she was satisfied, her belly so full that this meal would last her a few days.
She found a trickling of water between some trees where she washed herself clean before rolling in some bracken to give her scales a good rubdown.
Then she returned to me, holding her head level with my chest, asking for a cuddle.
Embracing her huge head, she lifted me off my feet for a few seconds before putting me down.
I miss you immensely she told me.
As I you I replied, climbing on her back so she could return me to my duties.
Copyright © H Gibson Chronicles of Han 2009-2017
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