13 Lie

Up this high, even Whirlwind was feeling short of breath. The clouds far below her were faded into a shroud of fog. The world crowded tight around her body, and the sun shone down with heat that fueled her wings despite the growing chill. Tens of thousands of feet in the air, the Avi circled.

Her siblings always chattered, the wind brushing lovingly against her in messages and whistling past on its way to others. There was never a quiet moment, and it was true, what she had told Keegan. The wind is always with you. Her siblings were forever connected to her.

Yet, for days now, her sister Summer Storm had not spoken, not a peep. The Avi was the quiet type, the opposite of Whirlwind. Despite that, the two were kindred spirits, holding long conversations and spiraling over human hubs in the night sky. Summer had seemed to enjoy the youngest sister's company enough to leave the battlefront for weeks at a time.

The duo shared an unpopular opinion, one that their other siblings could never understand. The youngest had never experienced this human hatred, and the elder had outlasted it. Their discussions were quiet, hidden in the dark of the English language, far from the prying ears of the wind. Their whole existence had been called into question.

Now, the humans knew about Summer. She had betrayed their siblings, taken that final leap. Somewhere in the depths of her heart, Whirlwind felt something horrible had happened.

"Tempest." Her wind-voice stretched to the ends of the world when she was this high. This altitude, this was her element. In her measly century and a half life, Whirlwind had only spoken that name with reverence and respect.

Now the mountains halfway across the world trembled with the promise of something more. Her siblings, every single one, fell silent.

Her eldest sister responded, quiet from distance, edges still sharp enough to slice. "Whirlwind."

"What happened to Summer Storm?" Her sister's name sparked another memory. Summer loved the name their deity had given her long ago, but with Whirlwind, she insisted she be called another. A human given name. Avi names translated horribly into tongues. Summer had let the creatures name her instead, and the sounds were a mix of human and still held and otherworldly quality. It felt like Whirlwind's tongue would tie itself in knots while talking to her.

None of her siblings dared comment. She could sense their discomfort from here. They had known. Even Tempest allowed the silence to lengthen. Their guilt spread on the wind and colored the horizon in shades of lavender and jade.

A lonely thunderclap ricochet through the sky as Whirlwind gave a mighty flap of her wings. "What happened to Summer Storm?" She repeated, her messages rising to a cross between yelling and a growl. Her blood sizzled like lava brewing within her, rage building.

Gale was who answered this time. "She is no longer with us." His mastered gift, the wind's song, filled the air between them with a hum of energy. Whirlwind ripped her talons through the charm's weave like it was spider silk, enraged. He was lying.

"No." Tears pooled and froze into ice as they plummeted to the earth far below.

"She is already dead." Tempest was as cold as a blizzard, and just as deadly. Her words encompassed death, and swore to future bloodshed.

Something inside Whirlwind tore into shreds. Everything hurt. Her siblings were lying to her again, keeping secrets. "You're wrong," she protested weakly, already her rage melting into sadness and grief. How could she trust them? Summer could be hurt, or in trouble. Whirlwind sent screeching messages to every corner of the blasted lands, the frozen wastes, the human cities they had hovered over together. She would find her sister.

Whirlwind dropped out of the sky, her sibling's words lost to the shrieking, howling wind. She surrendered herself to free fall, her wings below her. She stared up at the sun. Would her sister ever see the sun rise on the horizon to stain the sky with pink and orange? Would they ever swerve between the stars together, counting the false ones scattered like dust on the ground?

She reached a claw upwards, curling her talons around the sun. Her body tingled, and she tumbled through clouds heavy with rain. The sun disappeared, and she was soaked, grasping at mist.

She flung her wings out as she flipped around, the jolt of pain a welcome change from the growing numbness spreading through her limbs.

Whirlwind flew over the landscape, momentum transferred into raw speed. Even, she started thinking, the thoughts catching in her mind like thorns. Even if Summer was gone, maybe she could continue. Make a difference like they had hoped to together.

Pawing an ever-flowing supply of tears from her eyes, Whirlwind returned to the murky pond. Keegan could be the start.