Young Writers Society

"You do not trust me to keep my balance?" she said. She shook her head, stopping abruptly when an idea came to mind. Looking back at Asteri, she nodded, restraining a smile. "Fine, do so. Tell me what it is that you see."

He gladly did as asked, though something about the situation rubbed him the wrong way. It vaguely reminded him of how Artemis acted around Hades sometimes; that was enough to make him pause, but he didn't have the time to linger for long. The sooner he could get back to Kentaro and their mom, the better.

He took a deep breath and let the magic run free.

A small pillar of ice began to appear at his feet. He confidently stepped onto it, urging it to grow in size. He made sure to give himself enough space so he could stumble a bit if needed, and made the surface rougher than its sides; he didn't want to slide off.

She didn't wait long before reacting. It wasn't like she was planning on hurting Asteri - that would be rude and excessive, given that his only fault was his comments. Still, she wanted to get him to shut up, and this would certainly do the trick.

Getting down on a knee and setting her palms against the earth, she willed the wind to pick her up. A howl reached her ears as she shot above the ground. Taking care to dodge the branches that littered the canopy, she raised one hand to aim at Asteri for a fraction of a second. Then she settled down in one of the higher branches of the tree, brushing the leaves and pieces of bark from her hair.

His eyes widened in alarm as the gust of wind slammed into him; though it had only been a gentle gust, it felt like a hurricane when he wasn't used to it. He stumbled for a quick seconds--teetering dangerously close to the edge--but then quickly regained his balance while simultaneously shooting a glare in her direction.

Hmm, he handled that better than she'd hoped for. Still, she saw an opportunity.

"Is something wrong?" she said, face as neutral as she could manage. "Were you having trouble with your balance?"

The air clearly dropped several degrees as he glowered at her, but he didn't feel satisfying her. He remained atop his pillar of ice and looked at the forest around them. Trees seemed to span for miles; the only break in the otherwise green landscape was a grey dot on the very far away horizon.

That glare, and his refusal to comment, was all she needed. She wore the smallest, most unnoticeable smile she could muster until she spotted what Asteri had.

"What could that be?" she said, pointing to the gray dot.

"Probably some sort of building," he guessed. He didn't want to talk with her right now, but he realized that he would have to deal with her until he could find a way back home. He sat down on the ice pillar - coaxing it to rise a little taller to make up for the height he had just lost - and stared at it for a little longer.

"It's probably something made of stone, and probably something on the big side." He crossed his legs. "If it was smaller, I doubt we would see it from this distance."