When she woke up the next morning, Madalarnari had no idea where she was. She remembered falling asleep in a tree, her new trophy cleaned of its skin and flesh. And the next thing she knew, she was up a different tree, trophy nowhere to be seen. She sat in her tree for a moment and surveyed her new surroundings. The scavenger was gone, and the trees were in different places, but other than that, it looked almost exactly the same as where she’d fallen asleep last sunrise. Had she sleep-traveled?
She dropped from her branch and skimmed the ground, looking for any kind of tracks that might tell her where she was, but there was nothing bigger than a squirrel more recent than a week old, and no sign that anything had climbed the trees, either. That was odd. This must be a very strange place for not even a large wild animal to pass through in the space of a week.
A moment later, she was in the air again, moving more slowly this time, careful not to miss anything on the ground below. The small game was similar to the place she’d left, but there was less of it. She’d have to move to a more suitable hunting ground, at least. And that could take some time to find. She sighed and stopped for a rest in a tree. She hated being on the ground, for all of her ‘half terran-ness,’ and liked being in the air and free to move more than her small wings would allow sometimes. So perching in trees suited her just fine.
Water, that’s what she needed to find. A place with a watering hole, or river. Animals would flock to water, no matter the size, shape or appetite.
When a gust of wind carried with it the dry scent of rock and sage, she knew she had to follow it. There would be no water where it was coming from, but perhaps where it was going was moist enough to support the rich forest she now found herself in. She let the wind stay at her back as she climbed her tree and looked out over the canopy. In the darkness, she couldn’t see much detail of the tree’s color or leaf-shape, but that didn’t matter so much just yet. She had a ways to go, most likely, before running finally into water.
That goal in mind, she leapt into the air, conserving her energy by gliding out over the canopy as far as she could manage, then from tree to tree when she couldn’t get high enough to go over anymore. For a while, the trees grew further apart, so that it was easier to navigate, but she began to be worried that she may be going the wrong direction when she came upon a cliff where the breeze was sent whistling out over the edge into the dark unknown. It looked like the end of the world to her.
At first she tried skimming the edge of the cliff, hopping again from tree to tree, but that didn’t seem to be doing any good at all. Nothing changed, except she could see that she’d run out of trees soon.
She was hungry. She didn’t think well when she was hungry and tired from a day of hard flying. Madal perched up a tree for a moment, waiting for some small, unsuspecting night creature to wander past, and soon enough she was rewarded. It was very small and furry, and she didn’t think there was actually that much edible flesh on it, so she just gulped it down whole and waited for another one. After two more, her hunger was sated for a little while, but now she was thirsty. And the river she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
*Just my luck,* she muttered to herself, a dark, brooding little rain cloud in a tree at the edge of an abyss. She sat there for a while, waiting for dawn to come and tell her how high the cliff was she was settled on, and reflected back. Her caretaker would be frantic by now, most likely, she thought amusedly. Would they ever find out where she went? Probably not. That made her even more amused.
As the sky began to lighten, Mdalarnari peered out over the wide expanse before her. It was huge. From her perch, she could see miles and miles. She could see forests and meadows like a jumbled patchwork quilt, mountains rising gently out of the morning mist, and rivers cut long swaths through the land. As it got lighter, she could even see the ocean, a blue smudge on the horizon. Well, that was just perfect, wasn’t it? She was high enough to gauge distance and get a good glide to wherever she wanted. Like that little river down there, flowing out toward the ocean that forked in several places, including around an interesting outcropping of rock. That looked about perfect, she thought, as she stretched her wings. And just enough time to get there before the sun actually rose, too. She wondered if there were any suitable caves in that rocky jumble.
With that thought in mind, she leapt from her branch and let herself fall out over the cliff for a second or two, enjoying the rush as wind swept back over her horns and spines and tickled the edges of her wings. Then, with a lazy snap, her wings opened and she turned her vertical speed into horizontal motion, sending her hurtling far above the new canopy below her at dizzying speeds.
It didn’t take her long at all to reach her desired destination, but she was glad of that; her wings were just beginning to tire, and it wasn’t good to exhaust your only mode of transportation miles above the ground. Before even the sun had reached the horizon, she’d made it to the outcropping of rock. It wasn’t as close to the river as she’d initially thought, but that was a good thing. It meant she wouldn’t get flooded out in the spring, and she wouldn’t have to worry about uninvited guests during the summer months that might’ve wanted to check and see if there was water within the cool shade of the rocks, had they been closer to the actual river.
As soon as she’d arrived, she noticed something else odd about all of this. She scented a familiar odor emanating from the river, and swooped lower to investigate before she turned in for the day. Sure enough, her newest prize had apparently been dropped in the river, and washed up on shore at one of the forks the river made. How coincidental. But then, she had apparently left it behind the day before. Something probably just found it up her tree and made off with it. And then dropped it off the edge of the cliff into the river?
Now that was just a bit too much coincidence for her to swallow. This was probably just another one. That would explain it. She was sorry it wasn’t her own, but still, no use just letting it wash away again and go to waste. She’d caught herself one fair and square, so this one could make up for her loss of the first.
After a quick drink in the river to slake her thirst, Madalarnari hefted the skull up and returned to the rocks just as the sun decided to rise. She’d found the perfect place, apparently. At least, for the time being; she’d have to see how the hunting was around here.
Apparently, hunting around the river was very, very good. She’d been awakened more than once during the day by something trekking past the entrance to her new den, which she’d had the foresight to create a door for, as well as seek out an escape route in case something should happen to that way in and out. She could take on anything that decided to come after her, but in the event of a cave in, she’d rather just have a back way out.
The next night, she had quite a lot of fun hunting and playing with the skittish little night animals. There was even some form of large spider that she never saw directly, but could steal the webbing from to decorate her nest with. Oh yes, she liked it here.
