Starfall - Chapter 1.1 (Elliott)

**Author's Note: This was totally last year's NaNo! So all the breaks between chapter segments are pretty rough because I kind of just chopped it up so that all y'all didn't have to deal with really long pieces all at once. The majority of the first chapter is flashback, hence the italics, sorry about that in advance, haha. Anyway, the beginning (and the whole thing) might be kind of rough, but I hope you enjoy!!**

Elliott knew what she had seen. Even here, waiting outside of the office of Evelyn Marq, she remembered. It was now a whole decade ago, when she was ten and her sister only seven...

“Don’t leave the river!” Gwendolyn had warned her. Always following the rules. “You know the ocean is forbidden.”

“The shallows aren’t,” Elliott had replied evasively, all the while inching further in. The ocean stood before her, wide, shimmering, blue. It was fed by the little river where they were standing, all fresh water. As Elliott took another step out, Gwendolyn lunged for her. Though she was young, she excelled at sports and Elliott knew that she would soon be caught and their mother would know. Elliot just stood there, waiting, bracing her knees. Because there was only one thing that she could do better and faster than Gwen. As her little sister leapt at her, Elliott leapt into the sky.

Her great black wings unfurling, she plunged forwards, out towards the ocean, skimming the water. Gwendolyn, behind her, gave a frustrated cry as she tripped and began to fly herself. Elliott kept her ears open for the wing beats behind her, though she kept her gaze ahead. She knew she was the faster flier, simply because her wings were more fully developed, but she didn’t want to risk it. After a while, all sounds save for her own breathing and wingbeat faded into nothing. She was alone. She was over the ocean.

Looking around, Elliott could see only the blue horizon created by the ocean. White puffs of clouds were scattered here and there, but most importantly, there were no other people. No land. She was free. Whooping in joy, Elliott had somersaulted in the air, flipping around to dive headlong into the clear water. She was immersed in the water, enjoying the wondrous feeling of ocean all around, but then the sensation stopped. It was almost as if she had resurfaced.

Elliott opened her eyes to see herself out of the water. Air swept past her face, pulling at her long black hair. Falling. She was falling. Finally collecting herself, Elliott snapped open her wings, immediately drying and safely carrying her on the wind. Her heartbeat evened out- she hadn’t realized how worried she was. She wasn’t meant to fall. Looking around, she had seen a bright city, as bright as the sun, and a vast expanse of roads, hills, and land. Land as far as the eye could see.

Curiosity overtook all of her other senses, and Elliott turned downwards. A bank of clouds hung thick over the city, but the hillsides a little ways off appealed in some way to Elliott, like even then, she knew where she had to go.

Lower and lower she flew, as if in a trance. The green, earthy hillsides were like nothing she had ever seen. In Silea, everything seemed so airy- which made sense, because everyone flew. But, still. Elliott herself being so imaginative, with her head in the clouds, this entire place seemed foreign to her. It was foreign to her.

Suddenly, she spotted a figure on a hill. Peering closer, she could see that it was a person, a person without wings. A shock went through her heart; those who had no wings were the exiles, the ones who had betrayed their benevolent country, those who had had their wings cut from their backs. Could this be one?

Circling ever closer, Elliott discerned that is was a boy, seemingly close to her own age. He had beautiful red-blond wavy hair and was sitting at the top of the hill, one hand resting on a sketchpad and the other holding a pencil. He had stared out at the sunset, and it seemed as if he had been that way forever.

Holding in her breath, Elliott had slowly tucked in her wings, bit by bit, and landed behind the boy. How softly she had landed, and yet he turned. He didn’t seem surprised that she was there, his brown eyes looking steadily at her. He moved slowly, as if afraid that he would startle her like a wild animal. Which, if anything, he was more than she.

“Kalla,” he said in a warm, soft voice. Elliott’s mind spun like wheels in her head. She had heard that there were other races, other kinds of people, long ago. They had spoken different languages, and their people had served as translators. They had long retained their ability to learn languages almost instantaneously. Though Elliott had never been able to use it, she felt sure that if the boy spoke but a few more sentences, she would be able to start speaking the language herself.

She hadn’t notice the boy stand up, but now he was standing very close to her. She looked around once more at all of the hills, the distant city, the lights. She took a step closer. Suddenly, a voice called out from over the hill.

“Matthias!” The shout came once, twice. “Matthias!” Elliott’s head snapped in that direction, and her heart’s beat quickened again. A man began to appear from the side of the hill, and Elliott’s wings flew up in a great burst of wind. The boy might be harmless enough, but the man? He could’ve been one of the staalan. The outcasts. With this fear came other fears, about her sister and mother, and how long she had been gone. Her curiosity, like a flame, guttered and died. She should go. She should have been gone. With a final glance at the boy, she took to the air once more, now uncertain of how to get home.