It was rare that only one dead thing fell this far down on this side of the chasm, these were always special days. There was still so much daylight left to burn and so many possibilities. Esper turned around, she could go back to the Burrow. But that would be pretty boring and she would have to spend most of the day there anyways, so there seemed to be little point. She looked towards her right, towards the long path which had long since been overgrown by the bushes and trees seeking to reclaim all of the old soil. Casually, she strolled towards it, her arms swinging comically too far to the front and back as she walked.
“Hmm…” She stopped in front of it, wondering what she should do. The path was much narrower here then on the flat plain behind her which she worked on. Gently, a warm breeze lifted and tousled her hair. The frayed ends tickled her shoulders and she shivered in response to the sensation. Looking towards her right, over towards the great pit, she frowned and with a stubborn “hmpf,” faced back forward and began her way down the remnants of the path, with eyes shut and nose held high in the air. Though she quickly reopened her eyes to step over the large, thick roots that had spread over the path, as if trying to hide it from sight.
Her eyes were open wide, absorbing the sight of the sun-filled leaves rustling above her head. The thick, old branches of the treetops high above were waving too and fro, as the wind itself seemed to be trying to pry them apart, to reach down towards her through their thick shielding arms. She stuck her tongue out towards it and laughed. A rustle, smaller, sharper this time in front of her. Esper’s eyes locked onward towards the new disturbance with wild childish excitement. There she saw its blurry silhouette. A bird.
She gasped, covering her wide smiling mouth and stared with keen focus at the small creature sitting atop the inside of a low set branch, hanging over precariously towards the chasm. It was large, with midnight blue feathers and black shiny eyes. A tiny black beak adorned its round head, set next to its sharp eyes which had already seen her long before she saw them. “Bird…,” she whispered under her breath towards it and watched as the creature ruffled its coat of feathers, its head turned to the side to closely watch the girl.
Esper wanted the bird. It would be delicious. Her stomach rumbled, resuming its usual daily chorus of groans and growls, as she slowly crept towards the tree sitting by the edge of the abyss. The bird’s eyes were closed now and it seemed to be resting. Another step, then another brought her closer. The weight of her small body suspended on the tips of her bare toes. The old tree was just before her now and she rested one of her frail hands on the rough bark and felt its dry, coarse texture beneath her fingers. This was a strong tree, she wasn’t sure how she knew that exactly, but she was nonetheless sure of it.
Some combination of the rough bark and deep smell of something old gave her comfort. This wasn’t a blue tree like the ones on the way to the Burrow. No, the trees out here were thick and bottom heavy things with a deeply saturated, red tinge and strangely shaped, much smaller leaves. They looked just like in the ones in mama’s book, the leaves. They were double pronged with round ends, almost like drawings of a heart. The branches began spreading out already very low, low enough for the girl to reach with ease. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes for a moment; the old smell was sweet and herbal, and it permeated the air here as a thick perfume. She yawned. Esper's eyes shot back open as she remembered the bird mid-gape.
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A pair of small, round black eyes were open now again and it stared at the approaching intruder curiously, its head turned sharply to the side. “Well, no matter,” thought Esper, indifferent that the bird had seen her approach. “It had nowhere to go after all,” she thought, as she placed two muddy feet on the base of the tree and pushed herself up onto a low branch with some effort. The wind was picking up and the tree groaned in response, the branch the girl was on bucking gently in the breeze and she braced herself against the fat trunk of the tree, wrapping her small arms around the width as far as they could reach, as she began sliding around the other side. Taking careful steps from low branch to branch.
The rough, old tree groaned like a weary mother overburdened with her children clambering over her before the respite of a night's rest, overburdened and exhausted. Esper had reached the other side now and planted both of her feet on the thick of the branch, her back against the core. The bird was still there, seemingly unimpressed by the girl, still an entire branch’s length away. “Bird,” she called towards the little creature. It responded with little more than a twist of its head to the other side, switching the eye that was watching her. The branch began swaying gently from side to side, being brushed by the rising winds.
Esper's vision focused on the blurry creature before her, entirely putting the black void just before them both out of focus. Another gust of wind. Her eyes raised upwards for a moment following the flow of the wind shaped world above her. From one outward jutting cliff-side to the next, came the familiar chorus of the world. The sound of blowing wind and swaying trees, the peep of thousands of small whistles and the buzz of the last summer cicadas singing their final songs for the year. Each rising layer of the abyss, all the way up to far beyond where she could see, created a song of its own and it all combined and echoed into a vibrant melody. She closed her eyes and let the sun touch her face, feeling the warmth dig deep into her skin.
“It’s so pretty, isn’t it?” she asked the bird, her eyes shut. “I wonder what it’s like. You know, the sun.” Her gaze returned to the dark blue bird. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could fall up?” She asked it now too, releasing her grip from the trunk of the tree and taking a step out onto the branch, her arms spread to the sides to keep her balance. “If the sun makes it so nice down here, imagine what it’s like up close. It’s probably amazing!” The bird now begins fidgeting uneasily, as the child’s weight bent the branch down further and further towards the drop. The tree continued its pained groans.
“-wah!” Esper stumbles back towards the trunk, barely managing to catch herself with her flailing arms, as a heavy gust of hot wind rises from the pit below. “You jerk!” she shouts into the void. “Leave me alone!” The rustle of the leaves was loud, almost like a swarm of angry insects. They began falling from the tree, only to be swept up by the rising breeze, to be carried to places far, far away. The girls eyes locked onto them and watched them rise up into the distance, flying ever closer towards the warming, kind rays of the sun above. An explosion of sound before her stole her attention once more and she saw only a dark-blue blur for a fraction of a second, as the large bird soared into the air, she gasped unaware of such a possibility existing.
The bird rose further and further into the air, its silhouette quickly blending in with the rising leaves, before disappearing into the light above. Esper stood on the swaying branch for a while longer, her wide eyes scanning the air, waiting for the bird to fall back down. But it never did. A loud growl escaped her stomach.