CHAPTER 2: part 1 of 8; back to Matthiel

back to the BEGINNING
Matthiel

It seemed to take much longer than he expected, to rise from his home within the earth to the surface of the water.  He was more grateful than he would’ve imagined for the cocoon he was contained within because, though they were protected by a pocket of air, as they were rising from their home he could feel the cold seeping into the air around them from the deep waters through which they were rising.

Dio was very still.  He dared not move for fear of puncturing their pocket of air before the correct time.  As they continued their journey upward, Matt realized he had no idea how to determine when it was time to begin upward navigation.  He’d never been taught the timing of the journey.  He paused a moment to prepare the question and then sent it directly to Dio’s mind.

“This is one of the reasons you are mentored, my friend.  You must travel with me or another experienced spotter for many journey’s before you will have the timing correct and sense the changes which occur in the propulsion and environment around us just before surface is reached.  The surface of these large waters change based on moon position and weather, to name only two considerations.”

Matt was silenced by the awe he felt.  How did he not realize there was so much more to these expeditions than he thought?  Why hadn’t anyone told him there was so much more to learn?  After a few moments reflection, he realized he had been told!  His mother, father, Dio, and all the other mentors had communicated regularly that the training they went through on the learning field and in the theory school.  In fact, they had declared that their training was only beginning when they teamed with a specific mentor to make surface journeys.  He simply hadn't consciously remembered those conversations because he simply discounted them.  Matt realized how big-headed and overconfident he’d been in thinking he could handle these journeys himself just because he was able to shift more quickly and with greater ease than his peers.

Dio’s thought was jumbled.  Matt could not determine what Dio was trying to say.  “Emergency.  Mon….” Dio was losing altitude.  Matt knew that if they lost too much air, Dio would be spotted by the surface dwellers and the results for both of them would almost certainly be horrific.  Not able to calm his mind sufficiently to attempt communication, Matt made a spur of the moment decision.  Dio was still losing altitude, and fast, so Matt quickly climbed out of his cocoon and smoothly shifted.  He immediately began flapping while holding firmly to Dio’s wings nearest his body.  Dio was almost completely asleep, it seemed.  Matt knew  he was a strong flyer, but he also knew he would not be able to carry Dio to their planned observation point.  Thankfully all of the youth in training were taught how to locate the emergency hide-stations that dotted the surface.

Matt calmed himself as much as possible and quieted his mind.  He began to search his senses so that he could locate the point on the surface from which he would feel a greater sense of Peace to which he might orient himself.  The internal guidance system had been one of his weaker areas in practice, even though he’d been practicing it with his parents since his earliest years – long before he began his official training time.  He knew how to feel the points of greater Peace, which would guide him to the hide-station nearest where he was, but it took far longer than he expected.  He was sure the additional focus time was, at least in part, due to the intense focus he had to maintain to hold somewhere near the correct altitude while also trying not to feel too worried about the whole situation.

Just when Matt was beginning to feel fear almost overwhelm him, he began to sing the seeking song.  Without even thinking about beginning to sing, he found himself singing it.  It came from his beak and he immediately felt the nearest hide-station.  Matt immediately re-oriented himself to the location and as he did so a map with areal pictures seemed to appeared before his eyes until he knew he would recognize the spot from his current height.  Thankfully the direction he'd originally been flying was almost exactly the correct one.  Matt felt a heart surge of gratitude and allowed it to explode from his true-self into the world.

In less time than he thought it require, Matt saw the key identifiers on the land below him and began to dive toward his destination.  All signs indicated that Dio was still sleeping.  Matt was so relieved at their imminent arrival that he almost lost his balance in the air.  He righted himself and felt Dio’s mind still closed in sleep.  Matt knew there must be something terribly wrong with his mentor for sleep to have overcome him this way.

Once he was almost nearly directly above his destination, about 6 feet from the ground, Matt fell the rest of the way into what looked like a solid rock.  He let go of Dio just before he, himself, tumbled and rolled into the rock and fell through the ground onto the smooth ground of the hidden cave.  Dio fell and rolled and stopped in a horribly uncomfortable-looking position a few feet from Matt.

© 2008-2012 Tori Gollihugh All Rights Reserved

next installment: June 22nd, 10am

First Part of CHAPTER 1: Matt

MATTHIEL [pronounced Matt-high-EL]

Matthiel was excited about his first flight into the out-world.  He had been training to be a sign spotter since he was 9 years old.  He'd loved the training in the beginning, but after the first couple of years of it, he'd wanted to fly out and find signs himself.  Now, at 14, he was a Junior on his first flight.  He was far more excited than he'd expected he would feel.

Dio waited patiently as Matthiel climbed onto his back.  The wandering albatross (Diomedea Exulans), Matt's acting patrol senior, was able to shape-shift into an albatross much larger than those typically seen in the out-world.  But because they flew so high, Dio's size wasn't noticed much, if at all.  A scrawny 14 year old harnessed and camouflaged on Dio's back would be barely noticeable from the ground.  Once day in a few more years, Matt knew he would be allowed to use his shape-shifting ability to fly out and spot signs on his own.  Until he was given leave and advanced to that station, he would simply have to accept his Junior position on his mentor's back.  He was frustrated that he wasn't allowed to go out on his own now even though he'd been smoothly shifting for more than a year.  It was almost unheard of to have such a strong gift at his age, but given his parentage, Matt thought his shifting ability should have been expected and plans for his education made accordingly.  That's not how the Elders saw it, though.

As Matt waited for last-minute arrangements to be made, he shifted in his cocoon.  The sack he was lying in was firmly attached to Dio's back and they'd made numerous test flights around the training house, but Matt just knew it was going to be different on his first trip into the out-world.  Dio and other Spotters had told him stories about their journeys.  Matt was excited and nervous all at once.  He felt the moments move by as slowly as the flying snails flew.  Yet, when the signal came to Matt and Dio that all was clear for takeoff, Matt felt as if he'd only been in the sack for a split second.

His parents were watching from the training grounds.  He didn't know if they'd be able to see much since it was still pretty dark.  The center sun wouldn't light thier land for another hour or more.  Matt knew his classmates were anxious to hear about his first flight.  They were especially excited because he was the first among them to begin training as a Spotter.  As Matt felt Dio shift and move under him, Matt heard Dio in his heart-mind, "All snug?"  Matt calmed his mind for reply, "Yes.  Assuredly."  Dio, with a smirk in his vibrations said to Matt's heart-mind, "No reason to get all formal, Matt of the Heel!  We'll have a grand ol' time!"

© 2008-2012 Tori Gollihugh All Rights Reserved

NEXT installment... TOMORROW!  ^_^