The wind flowed around their feathers like a small whirlwind. They glided on the air like a dance above the buildings of Hayek'Hi. The wind caught them as they twirled and shifted in the air. They passed through a swirl of clouds that began to wrap around them like a robe as they got close. They flew among branches twice as thick as the buildings that rest upon them. Far below a platform rested surrounded by the followers of Circe'Hyuk, the maker of Aarakocra. One of the three creator deities across the Jarlends.

They were performing a sacred dance, signifying the departure of the goddess's chosen envoys. A dance where the freedom of Circe'Hyuk guided them. Though it may look as such, each swoop and curve around a building, or twirl in the air, was unintended by the performer, simply shifting their body with the currents of wind. As was the nature of the Dance of Circe'Hyuk.

As the dance ended, the performer gently floated towards the ground as the winds buffered them as to not injure themselves upon colliding with the large surface or white stone.

Within the crowd, an aarakocra studied the dance, slightly moving her feathers with the wind. The performer landed before the aarakocra and bowed as an eruption of applause surrounded the platform.

A gentle talon rested on the aarakocra's shoulder. At her side was Kai'Blanca. "Sri'Blanca, don't think on the way their body turns. Think on how their feathers meet the wind. How they glide effortlessly along its current. And when it comes your time to glide among Circe'Hyuk's wind, don't think, let it guide you."

Sri'Blanca looked up to her father. His brown and black feathers made his form look bolder then it truly was. While he was no coward, he too, was no warrior. The edges of his beak were curved up in an assuring smile to his daughter.

The performer of the dance stepped forward, clearing a path of the onlookers towards Sri. He bowed once more. His faint blue feathers still waving gently in the breeze. "It is my greatest honor to perform the Dance of Circe'Hyuk for you, Sri'Blanca."

Sri could feel the feathers on her face ruffle as she suddenly felt the eyes of the crowd on her. He attempted to clear her throat, but her father stepped forward to speak.

"It is us who should be honored. Shaman Hei'Tevak. However the applause shall need to wait until the final departure." Kai set his talon on his daughter's shoulder. "The high shaman still awaits us."

The crowd parted as Kai flapped his wings once, lifting both himself and Sri off the ground and souring into the sky.

It took Sri a moment to right herself as the current of wind forced her upward. But once she finally steadied, she set to gently glide alongside her father. The large marble platform was quickly left below them as they flew passed several branches that held among them entire city blocks of buildings. Temples and houses alike were scattered neatly among the branches of the world tree. Both above and below, as far as their keen eyes could see was a brilliant city: Hayek'Hi. The second largest Sky-Nest of the aarakocran people. And the second closest to the beacon of the heavens: the Atlas.

The winds curved their flight for them to land at the doors of a large temple, nearly twice as large as any others before it. Circe'Hyuk's greatest temple.

As the two stepped to the massive double doors, a gentle breeze that hardly made their feathers ruffle, pushed the doors open, allowing them to step forward.

Regardless of the times Sri'Blanca had entered the temple of the goddess, she never ceased to be amazed by it.

The temple was made of a single large room. The floor was made of polished tile, shaped and colored to depict a sphere being circled by three feathers, as if holding it aloft. On the wall opposite to the door was a large statue of an aarakocra. Her arms were outcast as if conducting an orchestra. The robes she donned flowed in a gust of invisible wind. Four pillars held up the second floor where a hole in the ceiling led to. As they walked across the temple, towards the statue, Sri saw other aarakocra leap up to be pushed by the winds onto the second floor and disappear behind its floor.

Standing at the base of the statue was an elderly aarakocra. His back was hunched over so much so that he needed a staff to properly keep his balance. His white and silver green robes donned the symbol of Circe'Hyuk upon its back. His light brown feathers covered most of his body, though some of them had gradually faded to a dull grey at their tips.

The old birdfolk turned to Sri and Kai as they approached. "There's the envoy of the hour." He said with a slight laugh.

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Sri waved a talon at the head shaman as her father spoke. "Head shaman Hkali'Hyuk, thank you for meeting us."

Hkali shook his head. "The thanks is mine, Kai'Blanca. After all you are the one to have raised this young envoy to be as she is." The head shaman waved a talon to the young birdfolk. "The winds of Circe'Hyuk flows through her. But," he clasped his talons together. "It is the day of the departure, let us not let Circe'Hyuk and the whole of Hayek'Hi waiting. Please, follow me for the final rites." Hkali'Hyuk cast out his arms as a burst of wind shot him up to the second floor.

Kai and Sri briefly followed behind the shaman. Hkali continued down a hall, beckoning the two birdfolk forward.

"D-dad..." Sri muttered as the two walked.

The birdfolk turned to face his daughter. Sri's talons were clasped together, one of her talons gently pulling at a feather on her arm. Her eyes were downcast at the tiled floor.

"What is on your mind?" Kai asked

"Do you think I'm ready?" Sri asked, her voice so faint it could have been carried off by a light breeze.

Kai set a talon on Sri's shoulder. "Of course you are, my fledgling."

"I'm not strong enough to save the world like everyone expects of me."

"No one excepts you to be the savior of the Jarlends just yet. After the departure you will grow. Your connection to Circe'Hyuk's freedom will grow deeper."

Sri clicked her beak together. "I can hardly control what I do. A journey ago I struck one of the shamans with a flurry of my feathers. Before that I burst myself into flames while trying to create a spark. Then there was that one time I turned into a plant. And then..." she trailed off for a moment, staggering in her steps. "... there was the flumph that I accidentally shoved off of a sky branch."

Kai turned his daughter towards him and looked her in the eyes. "Sri'Blanca, the freedom of Circe'Hyuk isn't about control, it's about being one with that chaos. About learning to fight alongside it, rather than with it." Kai touched his forehead to his daughter's. "And... I'm sure that flumph made it to the ground safely." He added as they began walking, though he sounded much less sure of that statement.

Finally, they reached another large door. "This is the sanctum in which the final rites will be preformed. Afterwards, you will depart." Hkali'Hyuk stated as he tapped his staff against the set of doors. A whirl of wind flowed into from the hall behind them. The winds converged at the tip of the staff before the currents calmed and, a second later, the door opened.

Sri was led to the center a circular room by Hkali, letting her stop at the center of the sphere that made up Circe'Hyuk's holy symbol. Pews surrounded the perimeter of the room. Nearly two dozen aarakocran shamans were seated throughout. Hkali led Kai to the side of the room, near the doorway. At the other end of the room was another doorway, similar to the one that led into the room.

Once the envoy was properly in the center of the room the shamans, as well as Hkali, began to speak. They didn't speak in the common tongue. Nor the language of the aarakocran people, but the language of the winds. The 'words' sounded more like whistles of wind as they went passed her ears, though she could still make out the meaning of the twists and turns of the wind.

"Through foresight of the end a fledgling has birthed. A child of the Sky Mother cast down to aid the earth."

As they spoke, the words mixed with real gusts of wind as they wrapped around Sri, coiling around her and lifting her off her feet.

"A calamity unknown to be quelled at their talons. Our great Circe'Hyuk has chosen her vessel; an envoy of the wind and sky. Find your destiny oh envoy, and let the wild winds carry your wings."

The instant they chant stopped, the doors before them swung open. The next moment, a powerful burst of wind struck Sri's back, sending her rocketing forward. She was cast into flight beyond the door as it opened to the sky. The rest of Hayek'Hi was cast among the branches around her.

More aarakocra then she could possibly count surrounded every inch of the platforms and buildings around her. Some were even flying in the air alongside her, only to be left behind as more air caught in her wings and speeding her forward. The buildings and cheering crowds blurred by, as Sri was flung from the sky nest by the wind. She reached the end of the city in a matter of a minute, but still, more aarakocra stood upon baron branches. Several cities worth of her people had gathered in celebration of a once-in-an-age occasion: the final departure of an envoy of Circe'Hyuk, the one who would save the world.

Another minute passed before the crowd thinned, and eventually came to be nothing more than a spec in the distance behind her. Flying as fast as she was, she was surprised she wasn't flattened by the air, but the wind worked wonders; quite literally moving itself with her to not only keep her from impacting with the air pressure, but also to make a sort of 'tunnel' to guide her path as she gently curved her flight and began downward.

Soon, the colossal branches of the world tree faded, giving way to the largest amount of open air she'd ever seen. All of Sri's life had been within the sky nest. As an envoy she had been studied on the ways of the Jarlends and its people. But even so, she never imaged it to be so large. Now below the world trees canopy, open air spanned every direction as far as her keen eyes could see. Despite how fast she was moving- and it felt she'd gotten even faster since she left the branches of the world tree- the land far below her seemed to hardly move.

The currents turned her flight towards a landmass of hills and...

She had to think a moment on the large spikes of earth jutting from the land.

... mountains. To the south was a forest, casting a dark shadow over the otherwise green, brown, and grey land. She knew of this place. The Rolling Plains, home primarily to hill dwarves and wood elves. And of course humans, though from what she knew, they were absolutely everywhere. Nonetheless, the plains were where the wind chose to take her. It was where her journey would begin. It was where she would learn to save all of the Jarlends.