Exploring

At first, Bia and Pollux were grabbing each other's arms but, they stopped after getting used to it. They heard Alek screaming with excitement and, that was how they realised they were holding. Bia blushed slightly with an awkward smile and, Rin also smiled the same way with a little blush covering his ears.

While the two cousins were having an awkward moment, Alek was having the time of her life.

She was screaming with excitement. She couldn't help it. She never imagined being in the air was this excitement that she almost forgot to breathe. She has been to high places and seen and felt how it is and, she thought that is how she would feel when she is up in the sky, but that was wrong. It is more than that. It feels free and refreshing.

Alek inhaled deeply to calm herself. Thankfully, Walter wasn't flying that fast and, she and the two on his back could open their eyes and enjoy with no problem.

Then Alek found other bird-human people staring up at her from their houses. She realised she had been making noise and covered her mouth. Good thing Walter held her by her waist. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to hide part of her fury red face.

Walter flew not that up in the sky and let them enjoy details of the forest they lived in. He then went to the river. The forest was divided by the river. One side of the river was the high forest and where they were was the lower forest. His wife mostly ruled the upper forest and, he ruled the lower forest.

In truth, Cora is the head and, no one else is supposed to rule. But, because the area she ruled was big, she divided the forest into two by the river with her husband. So that she could concentrate on her space while her husband ruled the other half. The whole forest was just too big for her to manage. Now, she could concentrate on her area.

The cold flowing water touched Alek's shoes and, it soaked into her foot through socks. It felt weird in her feet but, she didn't mind it. She then saw a big beautiful fall in front of them in about a hundred metres and Walter flying into it, increasing his speed.

When he reached the fall, he went vertically up to the origin of the fall to his wife's side of the forest.

Alek pretended like she was running on the water while going up. While Bia and Rin were being attacked by the mists created by the fall. They couldn't see well as they entered their mouth. The river tasted fine.

Once he was all the way up from the fall, Walter spun mid-air and surprised his guests. He then flew to the upper forest and explored it just like before.

The upper forest had fewer treehouses but compared to the lower forest, the houses were larger. Other than that, there was no major difference in the Kan'nazuki territory. It was beautiful as the lower forest.

Walter went up in the sky again, like at the falls, to the clouds. This action almost made Bia and Pollux fall off, but to their surprise, Walter was a little tilted like a rocket flying to space and, they were able to hang on. The only people who were enjoying this were Walter and Alek. She had resumed screaming and, her pitch went high as she was going up to a higher altitude.

She stopped screaming when she felt something stroke gently on her exposed skin. Alek had closed her eyes and stopped breathing, thinking she wouldn't be able to breathe up in the sky. Guess she was wrong.

When Alek opened her eyes, she saw whiteness in front of her. Like a fog all over the place. But when she looked down, she saw the forest she had been exploring. Suddenly she felt dizzy, remembering she was afraid of heights. She didn't feel dizzy when flying near the forest because there were a lot of people and she could see the ground, but this?! She is too far away from the ground. She couldn't even see the bird-human people in the forest.

"Hey, Alek? You alright?!" Alek heard her sister shouting from the back of Walter and, she weakly said she was fine. People in her family knew that she was afraid of heights. Sometimes Alek couldn't go down the stairs in the school because of that.

Bia sighed after hearing her sister's weak voice. For her, she felt fine. She wasn't afraid of heights. The heights were good because she could see how big and beautiful this place was.

Walter kept on flapping his large wings to keep a steady altitude. And, the wind caused by the action made the nearby clouds disappear from where they were.

Alek did her best not to think about what was below her. Instead, she focused on what was in front of her. She was back in the world of whiteness.

She thought somehow the clouds would be see-through, but guess not. The clouds were almost opaque, to her surprise. Why did she think clouds were like fogs when, clearly on a cloudy day, the clouds don't let even a little ray of light through.

Alek laughed slightly before asking Walter if he could go through the clouds. He said yes and, he began to move in the whiteness like a snake.

Alek stretched out her hands to touch the clouds and, the two cousins also did the same. They wanted to know how the cloud felt like. The cloud felt weird and moisturised their skin. It was as if they were in the bathroom after showering with hot water.

They swam through the cloud for some time before Walter started to lower their position, slowly to the forest. But before leaving the sea of clouds, Alek took a mouth full of clouds and swallowed it. It didn't taste particularly of anything and, it left her unsatisfied. She wanted it to taste like something!

Walter eventually came back to the forest and flew a little after they decided to go back to the house.

Alek was thrown gently into the house before they all came in. She found her parents talking with two people, a man and a woman. They were not part-bird like normally in this place, and also, the two people were facing their backs on her so, she couldn't see their faces.

"Oh, hi. Niko and Myra. How are you feeling?" Walter questioned them after dropping the two young people off his back.

"My lord." They stood up in a second and said in unison. They lowered their head but not in the way of their one ruler, Cora. They only lowered their head like a bow and sat down. "I am feeling good thanks to you and the young girl." The man said while sitting down.

"What did my sister do?" Pollux asked a little sharply. He was worried about his beautiful sister.

"She saved my life." The man told him softly while the woman held his hand.

"Oh..." Rin didn't say any more and kept quiet. By now, he realised he was the man Iris stung. As long as she was okay, then he was okay.

"I am glad to hear that, Niko." The man named Niko nodded towards Walter.

"Well, I was done talking with them," Niko eyed Panacea, Robin and Astraea. "And was about to leave so..."

"It was fun talking to you too." Panacea told the couple with a smile while she held her husband's hand in hers as they were doing. "We'll talk again."

They nodded while jumping off the treehouse. The man was not recovered fully yet so, he couldn't shift. Instead, they saw a white bird-human flying with him on her back. Alek then realised she was the woman that came to call Cora to the doctor and, he was the one who needed help.

"So I hope you had a good time." Walter asked after watching the couple disappear from their sight.

"It was amazing!" Alek told him excitingly and turned to her parents and aunt. "We went up in the sky! I touched the clouds and...ooh! We went to the fall. It was actually more than amazing!"

"I am happy that you enjoyed it. How about you too?" Walter asked Bia and Rin

"It's an experience that would remain in my head." Pollux answered and, Bia nodded to it.

Walter nodded with satisfaction. "Oh yes. It's already past noon. Is any of you hungry?" He asked his visitors after seeing the clock on the wall.

"Me." Alek told him with no shame.

"Okay, Alek. I got you." Walter smiled at her honesty.

"By the way, where is Kai?" Bia asked her parents after looking around the room.

"He left shortly after you people but hasn't come back." Panacea answered her daughter. As long as he was in the forest, he was safe.

"Okay." Bia answered and lay on the floor. The floor had carpets and, they were soft and comfortable against the skin.

Pollux followed her and, Alek joined them too. "Man, the carpet feels like a bed." Alek said like an old man.

Rin chuckled at Alek's voice and agreed to it in his head. He didn't want to move his mouth to speak. He was exhausted from all the adventure they had.

"Here are your food and, I hope you would enjoy it." Walter told the kids lying on the carpet when the helpers came into the room with food. "Excuse me, I will call my wife." He exited the room again while flying effortlessly.