Azriel looked at Ashmeer as he stood in front of her. He stood in front of her in all his glory. She looked at him through her new form and saw so much more. She saw his heart beating, she saw his piercing eyes, with flecks of gold in them. She saw his veins, flowing with human and phoenix blood, both red and purple colours intermingling with each other and yet separate. And yet, in that was another stream, silver and sapphire blue, her blood, she saw her blood as well within Ashmeer.
She looked around her and the world seemed anew...."True nature", Nuria's words reverberated in her mind. Yes, this was what Nuria meant, her true nature, that Ashmeer...had helped her unleash. Did that mean that she had to search for the Book of Secrets in her natural form?
"Yes, I like the way you think, but I liked the thoughts in your mind that happened before this as well,"
What was that? Was that a voice in her head?
"Yes, Azriel, it's me, in your head...it's me Ashmeer."
She looked at him in shock and chirped out, "Eeeeeeeeww"
"Ha ha....Azriel, not like this with your mind."
"How?", she threw the thought into the void.
"Yes, like this...Just think of me and throw out the thought and it will reach me. But there is more."
"What?"
"Azriel, breathe, calm down...your mind is jumbled and so are your thoughts. We need you to be very calm for what is going to happen."
"Ummmmm....what? I don't know....."
"Azriel, today you need to rise and be airborne..."
"Airborne?," her thoughts were now skittering around.
"Azriel...calm down, Now." Suddenly a wave of calm enveloped her and she sighed "Ahhhhh...."
"Much better, now face me."
She turned around on her bird legs which felt surprisingly strong and steady.
"Now, think of yourself as light, as light as a feather, and also think of how wonderful it is to be up in the air."
"That's it, don't I have to use my wings or something."
"Yes, you do, but only once you are in the air...on the ground, your wings can only thwack someone I guess."
"Ummmmm...ok....sure, I'll do that...let me try."
An image flashed in her mind suddenly, of clouds, and strong winds, and of herself up in the air, and blue skies, stretching before her to infinity."
She felt herself rising, and she knew it was not her will alone but Ashmeers. "Join your mind to me Azriel, open up to me, let me guide you and help you through this."
She felt a lifting, she felt an opening and she felt a deep peace and something more, love, desire, passion, worry....."
"Wow, now you want to enter my mind and experience all my emotions...that was fast Azriel...."
"Really?"
"Well, for now, you should beat your wings a few times and look down."
Azriel, did as he told her and gasped, "They were both now high up in the clouds, and it felt wonderful. The ruined castle looked like a teardrop from the air, and she sighed with delight. She beat her wings feeling strength coursing through them. She felt excitement, she had never felt before, deep happiness as well.
Meanwhile, Ashmeer was hovering near her and staring intently at the castle. "Where would you hide the Book of Secrets? Where would you hide something so powerful and magical..."
"At the end of the teardrop?"
"No, at the beginning of the teardrop....because misuse of the Book of Secrets caused the Ruin in the first place."
"So, now?"
"That's the ledge I saw you at Azriel, that's where you always sat. Don't you remember? It's there, that Book has been there the whole time, probably calling out to your magical blood and waiting for you to find it."
"How will we find it then?"
"I trust Nuria's process, even if it is not always the way I'd like it. Let's fly down to that Bulwark and proceed."
They flew down, on headwinds, and Azriel now felt much more confident of her wings. Even if her mind was new to flying her body seemed to understand it much better, so she allowed it to take over. They swooped down to the Bulwark, Ashmeer landing on it gracefully, Azriel with a bit of a thump.
She looked around and realized that her vision was now enhanced and magnified much more. She stared at a small carving in the Bulwark wall, so tiny, her human eyes had missed it, but her Phoenix form did not.
"There is a carving....of a whisperer...holding a ...is that a book?"
"Yes, it is .....Mia Kara, you did it."
She sighed with delight, and said, "We did it, oh we did it, Ashmeer."
"Indeed we did. Azriel, you are amazing."
She felt so happy and full of love for Ashmeer. She felt delighted and watched him transfigure back to human form. His naked body made her feel something even in her bird form. She ached to touch him suddenly. His body was hard, all ridges and scars from battle and she sighed with delight. She only wanted to love him and be with him for the rest of her life.
The tiny book carving turned out to have a very tiny lever in it. He pulled the lever and the stone moved with a creak. A marvel of the engineering of years ago. She watched him pull out The Book of Secrets and touch it reverentially, and touch it to his forehead. She wanted to hold it too. It seemed they might actually be able to pull off sealing the Blight in Andora's mines.