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Apres 4

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I shook off the water and took to the air. My wings beat hard till I caught an updraft above a nearby limestone tower, one of the many buttes eroded from the limestone monocline in which I had napped. I spread my wings wide and let my tendons and ligaments stretch against the wind. My left wing-shoulder.. wolder? gave a most satisfying *Pop*! The ground dropped away, and with it, my earthly cares. I closed my eyes and savored the wind ruffling through my feathers, the stretch and strain of my wings against the updraft, and the taste and smell (just the faintest hint of ozone) of the air.

I wonder...

Is Tonerg still around? It's all about location, I suppose. Sometimes cities stick around forever, sometimes they vanish before I even find an excuse to smite them. I think I chose well.

I wonder if any of Sarah's great-great-however many-grandkids are still around? I guess I neglected her last wish. I wonder if Lily's kids are doing okay?

I wonder where I can get a bath and rinse this calcite off? I don't think the travertine look suits me. I'll have to complain to central casting. Heh. That'd be funny to see one of those old fogeys all covered in flowstone. Velveteen rabbits and travertine dragons. It'd be creepy when they yawn.

Hotspring or Tonerg?

I fly Northeast over the karst. The land of cliffs and canyons slowly rises beneath me, each step a monocline, each monocline cut through by ever more fantastic river gorges, till finally plutons of granite burst forth from the ancient seabed and rear their craggy peaks.

Home.

There's the river that flows out of the Lonelarch Valley. What ever did happen to that punk, Tarx'wargle? If I recall right, there was a geothermal spring a few miles up one of the side canyons that empty into Lonelarch.

Why choose when I don't have too? Surely even Tarxy's not such a cad as to watch a lady while she bathes.

Over the mountains and over the woods, second star on the left and straight as the dragon flies. Now which valley was it... nope, nope, ah, there. I see the steam. And there's the pools I remember, carved out of the rock. No one's been here in a while, the pools are getting silted in.

I sink into the uppermost pool and relax, resting my chin on a smooth rock at the bank, relaxing as the warm water seeps through my feathers, dissolving away the dirt and lime.

Ahhh.....

But now that I think about it, where is everybody?