Sadly the sky full of clouds and the dull light took some beauty of the place away, but Somna’a still hoped that a magic user like Aveen would find it interesting here. They jumped out of the Chocobos Saddle and the Bird stayed casually layed down on her belly and rested a bit. Somna’a saw Aveen’s ears move curiously as they made their short way to the edge of the stony cliff they were standing on.

“This place feels… ancient.” Aveen said quietly, looking around a bit.

“Well, I don’t know if ancient is the right word, because I don’t feel anything. But I heard many mages say that here is some kind of interesting… don’t know, aether flow? At least they said that this place is very worth visiting.” He almost felt a bit nervous suddenly. What if this was just rocks and sand for Aveen as well and he didn’t see anything interesting here? They reached the edge and below them was a old dried up riverbed in an almost round hidden valley. It snaked between the canyons of steep hills that surrounded the great valley before them, shielding it from most eyes, with nearly no accessible paths safe for the view from their little Plateau. It was once a beautiful sight, when the river had been full of water, finding its way through the landscape, giving life to flora around it. But that seemed to be many years ago. Before Damaluds fall. What made this place interesting were the things inside the old riverbed. Shimmering stones of different sizes, polished yellow and black orbs like a secret little treasure that the rivers water once protected like a water serpent its pearls.

Aveen gasped as the valley came into view below them and his ears gave an excited wiggle.

“By Thaliak.” he whispered. They were still some Yalms above the ground below, so making out the riverbed-stones in details was a bit hard. But still. The cloudy afternoon light bathed the scene in a serene and mystical light and the Orbs glimmered shyly when a ray of sunshine founds its way through the ocean of clouds.

Somna’a stood next to the smaller Miqo’te, his hands in the pockets of his pants and observed him. As Aveen began to smile, the blond Miqo’te did too.

“But you sense the aether streams down there, like an echo of the flowing water that once was there, don’t you? It’s beautiful!” Aveen asked with a cute excited voice.

Somna’a just shook his head. “Nah, I don’t but that doesn’t bother me, I find this place beautiful nontheless. Thera… my sister would have said the same things as you. She had a keen sense for this magic stuff. We wanted to visit this place here together someday, but never had the chance.” Somna’a’s smile felt a bit strained now. Yesterdays daydream of their Chocobo races had reminded him of this place. He had been here before, about five years ago. Already without Thera. How he whished he would be able to show it to her.

Aveen turned a bit more to the Keeper next to him, his brown eyes a warm and assuring color. ”What happened to her?”

Somna’a kept his hands in his pockets, his head inclined towards Aveen. ”I helped her to flee beyond the border to the Black Shroud. Before the Garleans came for our Village.” he sounded a bit flat and then shrugged lightly as if he knew that the past lay unchangeable behind him. He did know that but that doesn’t mean it stopped hurting. Aveen looked truly sad about that information and his ears twitched downwards.

“I haven’t heard from her since.” Somna’a added as if he needed to explain it further as the other Miqo’te infront of him stayed silent for long seconds. He shortly looked as if he too was fighting with upcoming thoughts.

“I am sorry about that. But though hope sometimes seems frail, it’s hard to kill. So don’t lose it. Chances are high she is still alive.” again Aveen’s voice sounded so warm and convinced of this belief. ”Did she have a specific kind of magic she was drawn to? Earth? Water? ….”

“I can’t say for certain. We didn’t have the chance to further explore her skills.” Somna’a turned his head again to look over the valley below. “But she often spoke of things I couldn’t see. It’s funny, actually, because we didn’t have a single magic user in our family for generations if I remember correctly. But well… Thera was different.” he said very affectionately. The wind brought a small breeze up to them and Somna’a’s bare arms caught a short chill. He already missed his coat.

Suddenly he felt a touch on his wrist and looked to Aveen again, who had come closer, still looking up to him. ”Close your eyes.” he said softly and Somna’a had to surpress a smirk.

“No need to become cuddly, Aveen. I am fine.”

“Don’t be silly, Somna’a. I wanna try to show you something.”

Somna’a raised one eyebrow a bit but curiosity quickly got the best of him. “Interesting. But don’t try to push me over the edge, would you?”

Before he closed his eyes he saw Aveen’s shy smile and how he rolled his eyes a bit. Then he felt Aveen’s other hand and on his flank and for very long minutes nothing seemed to happen. Somna’a heard the wind singing around the canyons, Aveen’s slow breaths.

But then, in the darkness behind his eyelids something suddenly seemed to move. It looked like flows of colors, like thin, moving clouds.

“Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them.” he heard Aveen speaking quietly. And so Somna’a’s eyes stayed shut and he tried to make something of the moving shadows he seemed to… see. Though the more seconds passed, he wasn’t sure if sight was the right sense for that. It was also like a sound. Like a movement. Like a touch. He felt the wind with more than just his hair and skin. His body seemed to be moving although he stood still. He pressed his teeth together to push upcoming dizziness away. Then he felt that Aveen slowly turned himself a slight bit around, so that Somna’a would have the view of the Valley completely before him again.