Silence settles around us, and the steady peace flowing from my True Mate lets me sink deeper, pulling me inward toward hidden layers of my own energy.
It’s like reaching blind beneath the surface of a lake, brushing my fingertips along the bottom, searching for treasure. Hoping. Trusting.
This beautiful, endangered creature deserves to be saved.
My heart fills with a longing to help it, and I let myself imagine the falcon in flight, rising into the sky, riding warm currents above the ocean on broad, unbroken wings.
I let the image take over, lift me up.
In my mind, the falcon climbs higher and higher, chasing freedom in the endless blue above.
My chest expands, stretching wide enough to hold the bird’s whole wild soul. I feel it, its need for open space, for height, for the infinite sky and powerful updrafts.
That instinct to soar, to disappear into the vastness, unbound.
I don’t know how long I drift like that, flying with it through the clouds, spinning with joy in a sky with no limits.
Eventually, I open my eyes.
I’m exhausted. My body feels heavy and spent. I take a deep breath.
Ragnar watches me with that soft smile of his.
"You’re so beautiful. Inside and out."
I frown. I still don’t believe it. "That’s not true… and I don’t think it worked."
I pull my hands back. The gyrfalcon is still there, crouched in the sand. Not moving. Not flying.
Is it in pain?
"Nothing changed," I whisper, disappointment creeping in. A quiet sigh escapes me as I look down at the bird, a bitter ache curling in my chest.
But when I try to stand—wobbly, like my limbs forgot how to work—the falcon flinches.
It shifts. The wing doesn’t seem to be dragging anymore. It’s holding it closer to its body.
"Look!" I whisper, tense with hope. "The wing looks better, almost normal!"
We both rise slowly. Ragnar takes my hand, steadying me. My whole body feels strangely weak.
"Let’s give it a little time. Maybe it just needs to catch its breath."
His voice carries the same hopeful edge as mine.
We watch. A minute, maybe.
And then, out of nowhere, the falcon shakes itself, turns, and meets our gaze.
Those dark, intelligent eyes lock on us for a breathless second.
Then it jumps, pushes off the ground, and launches into the air!
I cry out, barely thinking, and leap like I might take off too, forgetting about exhaustion.
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" I scream like a lunatic, laughing, yelling, flailing my arms.
Ragnar bursts out laughing too, loud and full and honest.
