He stared into her shining green eyes, and watched as a new person emerged from within her features. She was aglow with the fire of passion and childish abandon, which matched the scarlet hue of her plumage, and clashed so violently with the gradient of her irises. Before him flew a woman with excitement bleeding from every pore of her very being.
"What is it? I can tell you're just dying to tell me." Thrall remarked, sardonically.
"Hee hee hee hee hee!" she grinned impishly, and almost seemed to bounce upon the winds. "I do not assuredly know. Maybe you will just have to guess!"
Her talons clenched and unclenched repeatedly as if to signify the vast magnitude of her impatience. She was simply bursting at the seams with delightful ardor, but that wasn't enough to allow her to waste a perfectly good opportunity to brag, and by all the spirits who shone at night she was going to take full advantage of that chance.
"Guess, guess guess! Tell me what you think just happened!"
"Well, I'm assuming you just woke up. That look in your eye told me that much, after all."
"Ah!!!" her cheeks flushed, as she had often wondered if he could tell how she wandered off in the middle of his sentences. She hadn't known how to broach the question, nor how he felt about it, if indeed he could tell. She didn't wish to be rude, and had silently hoped that it was completely unnoticeable. "Y-you saw that?!"
"Of course I did. Your expression changes so plainly from one second to the next every time that you do that, you know. You're so easy to read." Therein lay the other, truer reason that Xantheaa had dared to ruddy her cheeks before him. This confession revealed just how much time Thrall spent studying her features.
"Heehee! So, you attest to be that familiar with my face, do you? Spend a lot of time thinking about it?" she teased, maliciously. "Be careful, or a lady might assume certain things about her handsome alien companion. Like, how often he may spend fantasizing about this dream girl, even when he happens to be awake!"
Thrall swallowed hard, and tore his eyes away in distress. "Thy so-called 'companion' doth no such thing! It fares a trite better that a cursory glance shouldst not permit a gentleman as myself to intuit much of your entire nature! Thou art simply wanton in disregard of appearances. 'Tis no fault of mine, that one shouldst take notice of that which ist so duly plain and obvious to witness!"
"You know, for a compulsive liar, you are absolutely full of tells." Xantheaa prodded, mercilessly.
Then, she leapt onto his back, grinning madly, as the embrace sent them tumbling out of the sky. Her talons were enough to hold his body into hers, and her wings wrapped around his torso impeded his own from functioning as efficiently as intended.
"W-what are you doing?!" Thrall screamed as they plummeted out of the air. She simply giggled, and pressed her body further into his, much to the seraph's chagrin; rubbing the softer down on her head against his cheek affectionately.
She simpered, amorously. "Guess. Kurozel." He tried to shake her off, but he could not. Her legs were surprisingly strong, and the position made it difficult for him to maneuver his arms into service.
So, panicking as the three of them dove headlong into the sand below, Thrall did the only thing he could think of; obey. Not out of duty to the name, she had made sure of that, by using it only after the command. It was more out of the reminder of the vow they had made to one another, all those months ago, under the tree in the Garden.
This was a test. She was asking him to trust her, and in that, he no longer had worry about the encroaching ground. He would prove his faith by diverting all his attention to the more important task of playing along with this little guessing game she had conspired.
He closed his eyes, and calmed himself. "I suppose that thou didst work fairly well upon the task which I applied you the eve before. Hadst thou at least a small modicum of success within this endeavor?"
"Oh, more than you know! Hee hee!" She couldn't help but feel completely captivated by the sight of his inherent fluster. No matter how much he tried to disguise his panic—and believe you me, she did appreciate how hard he had tried—it was clear how completely she had control over him in this moment. It filled her with a sense of unrepentant glee.
It wasn't fair. He failed miserably. Not only were they quickly approaching terminal velocity, but the damned siren had pressed her body firmly against his uncovered back! She had found the one spot on his entire body that could not be shielded by design, and had attacked him so ruthlessly. He could sense everything! It was completely sadistic!
She smiled so broadly, at his apparent distress. Then, licked her lips, and whispered a single word. "Ruach."
Thrall's eyes shot open, and his stomach lurched in awe as she came to a sudden stop by force of a mighty wind, which filled her outstretched wings, and met his party right in the air. Even the crow's mighty leg strength was not enough to secure himself after that great impulse. So, he watched 'Aswad fall to the sand beneath them, harmlessly.
He couldn't believe it. They were inches from the earth below. She released him onto his feet with an azure glow of paling energy from her body casting a second, hazy shadow onto the soil for the remaining centimeters.
Thrall marveled, speechless at what had just been witnessed. The quality of the breath was like nothing he had ever seen. She had not only summoned the word within one day of practicing, but was sure enough in her execution that she had attempted a maneuver within the figment of the dream, and she had summoned precisely enough wind to decelerate them to a stop within half a foot's reach between his soles and the ground.
The control she would have to display to perform such a feat was beyond even his imagining, and he had been sedentary in the very continuum that Ruach was born from! By all accounts, they had lived together! Yet, he had never been one with the word.
'Aswad crowed and spit and kicked his way around on the sand at his rude awakening. "You akh! You damned hamag, follower of Sekhmet, throwing me to the sand from out of the sky. How could you do this to a loyal servant of Nephthys! You will answer to her if I am ever harmed in any way, you know? Do you realize what would have happened to 'Aswad if he died?!"
Xantheaa just laughed, "Oh, do be silent. You only fell four cubits! Besides, It is only your own fault for falling asleep—I am not your tempestuous courier."
Thrall felt like he had to bow before her, so awed was he by this impeccable display. She likely had no idea how incredible an achievement this was.
"Theaa..." He began. "I-I don't know where to begin."
"Hmmm?" She grinned, knowingly. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Her eyes dared him, as if to say, 'Do go on. I would like to hear all of your opinions, now, more than ever.'
Who was he to deny her? She obviously earned the right. He strolled over, and put his hands on her shoulders to ground her, and himself. "I wanted to say... That you have shown such remarkable growth, that I am quite frankly in disbelief."
Yes! This was everything she had hoped for and more. The broadest smile had been plastered on her features, from the moment he approached her, but when he pressed his hands against her feathers, a completely unexpected sensation overtook her almost to the point that she couldn't lavish in the moment.
"Hee hee..! Do praise me more..." she breathed, emerald eyes locked into his, and filled with longing.
"You only learned the word yesterday, and you were already capable of a titanic acrobatic feat, that even the Dominions would quaver to witness. It's like you were..." No other way to say it—she was a genius! In fact, so casually did she achieve this landmark feat that she had the wherewithal to joke around with this animal.
Only then did he have the presence of mind to think back to their guide. "The animal!" he shouted, searching around quickly. His eyes widened at what he found in stead of a horizon.
"Caw! I resent the implication of the term 'animal.' I will have you remember who is the greatest of all the stewards of Nephthys, sir!"
"No, not you, bird." She spat, soured for having her moment ruined by his interjection. 'Aswad inhaled an outrageous breath at the notably worse title, but she continued before he had chance to retort. "He refers to the jackal, obviously. Do not worry—It is just over that mound, there."
She gestured to a small rocky pile in the distance, with damp earth compacted into a modest hill. On top of this hill stood an ornate Pylon, atop a platform far too flat to have been naturally occurring; considering the hills and peaks of the landscape, surrounding. Opposite this great brick structure, was a smaller, stouter one, within a surrounding hedge of stone. The kindled form stood pacing, restlessly, before the great gate that led into the temple.
It appears they had reached their destination, after nearly two days of constant travel from the river. God only knows how a tiny spider was capable of making the trek before them. Thrall's countenance fell, as he drank in the sight of what he was witnessing, and considered what that meant he would have to do.
Seeing him this worried made her unnerved. To her, it just looked like any old building. It wasn't that impressive all things considered. Sure, they had a big gate, but that was about it. "W-what is it, Thrall?"
'Aswad simply hopped onto the guy's shoulders so he, too, could appreciate the scene. "Oh, I see. What you're looking at is the Temple of Dakka. It is the home of the god of Wisdom, Thoth."
Thrall swallowed, "Which means that our little friend has taken refuge in the presence of the Sphinxes' master, and he has granted him sanctuary. We will have to go in there, and take him."
She remembered how easily those two servants had toyed with them, and she was not looking forward to another encounter. "Oh, prýmni̱."