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Kaladin flew through the skies like a breeze of the wind. The air rushing through his hair and the world passing under him. A smile played on his face, small yet peaceful.
Syl laughed lightly as she sat in the air beside his head, happy to see a smile on his face. "See! I told you that you needed to fly! I know these things. When was the last time you flew like this Kaladin?"
The smile faded slightly. Three months. It'd been three months since he'd gone flying simply for the sake of flying. Or longer, if he thought of how Lynn had to convince him to go on a date together.
The issue was that he'd had so many responsibilities. Taking care of the Windrunners. Watching over Dalinar. Scouting Singer troop movements. Maybe it was little wonder why Lyn had broken up with him. They weren't right for one another. That didn't mean it stopped hurting. It was just one more pain to bare.
Syl had spoken with him, more bothered incessantly and nagged at him, to take a day to just fly on his own. To his surprise, Dalinar agreed with the request, though Kaladin wasn't sure what to make of the look in his eyes when he accepted.
And so, Kaladin found himself soaring over the Shattered Plains. Clouds passing by him and dampening his coat like morning dew.
"Hellloooo, you know it's very rude to ignore a lady when she's talking to you. Even more so when it's a God."
"A small piece of one." Kaladin smiled lightly to her before relenting, "And you were right...I need this."
"Of course I'm right." She grinned widely at him as he lashed himself higher into the sky.
Kaladin didn't argue as they poked out of a cloud, canceling his lashing and then half lashing himself up. Floating in the air as the cloud passed beneath him to reveal the Shattered Plains, a sight that Kaladin had seen from this view twice before, and he basked in it this time just as much.
Syl perched on his shoulder, eyes cast down as she kicked her feet lightly. Her dress flowing the wrong away in the breeze. “You should do this more often, get away from…things.”
“The fighting?”
“The stress. I’m worried about you Kaladin.” Her eyes filled with concern.
Kaladin’s eyes shift from looking to her, back down to the plateaus below. No words pass between them for some time before Kaladin spots something moving below. A spot of color in an otherwise grey crem coated land. Streamers of red fluttering behind the figure. A single Fused. A Heavenly One.
“Kaladin…” Syl breathed out the name, concerned as she spotted them as well.
Kaladin ended his half lashing, plummeting to the ground. He lashed himself further down. Once, twice, thrice. Each angled slightly to follow the Fused. Burning through Stormlight with some abandon as he had brought enough for a full day of flight.
Leshwi glanced up leisurely, attuned to the Rhythm of Thoughtfulness as she flew over what was once the human nation of Natanatan and before even that it was once a beautiful Singer nation. She could almost hear an old Rhythm. The Rhythm of the Lost, but all she could attune to this sight was Thoughtfulness and Agony. She looked over the Shattered Planes and looked down over the plateaus, the cracks, the crevices. She smiled softly at the sight of the rock buds and other signs of life, even here in this wasteland destroyed by the radiants. Leshwi hummed to herself as she looked up, still wary as multiple lifetimes of flying instilling the knowledge that danger can come from any direction. As such, she saw the blazing white blue of Stormlight hurtling towards her and found the Rhythm of Panic just as Kaladin Stormblessed flew past her. No weapon visible nor ready to strike. No sneak attack at risk between the two of them.
Kaladin smiled to himself as he lashed himself multiple times in an arc. Flying out in front of Leshwi and over the plateaus as he slowed. Watching as she swerved in the air. Gracefully sculpting the wind as she made a loop, flying up and over before she dove down into the chasms of the Shattered Plains. Kaladin watched the maneuver, Syl still sat upon his shoulder, before lashing himself after her.
The Chasm’s walls rushed past the two of them, falling away as Leshwi fell towards an intersection, and closing back in as the chasm narrowed. Leshwi wove around the plateaus, sculpting the air around her. Kaladin watched her, followed as best he could. Leshwi flew far better than he could, though with each chase he could feel his understanding of his powers grow and how improved. Kaladin could swear he could see a smirk upon Leshwi’s face as she performed an elegant loop around him. She lashed herself in an arch up before cutting her lashing, the momentum of the action letting her glide through the air as she twisted and turned. Her dark red eyes met with Kaladin’s pale blue throughout the entire maneuver. Kaladin just floated there, watching her movement with a small smile, waiting until she slowed and Leshwi hovered across from him. The two paused there, watching one another in the shadow of a chasm. The sun slowly crawling overhead, illuminating the two of them.
“Uhhh, Kaladin? Are we gonna…stab her?” Syl asked, floating between the two of them as she mimed holding a spear and a jab motion. “Ohhh, are ya waiting on me? You can just think to summon me silly.” Her form shifted to that of a miniature spear, the sun’s rays slowly pass through her rather than glinting off of her.
“She’s unarmed. I think today…we’re flying.” Kaladin replied as Syl returned to her normal form. How odd to think of anything normal when in relation to her. Though as Leshwi heard his words, she gave a bow.
Kaladin hesitated before giving her a bow in return. He watched her closely as she floated to her left, and Kaladin mirrored her. The two slowly circled one another, spiraling closer and closer as the two near the center of the chasm. Soon the two are an at arm’s length from one another and Kaladin could make out the unique marbled pattern on her skin in more detail. He’d already seen it, but Kaladin had always known Leshwi from the way she flew, not the way he did now. Now he could see the intricate patterns of red on white that played across her face. He could remember that pattern on almost a dozen different faces now, each one different, but each face her’s. The way her hair grew from the crown of carapace upon her forehead. He could even see the way her eyes lit as she looked over to him. Not in contempt or disdain as other Fused did, but with obvious respect.
Leshwi hummed to Thoughtfulness before she darted upwards as they passed within a foot of one another, and Kaladin followed close after her flowing robes. The two spiraled up into the sky over the shattered plains, a matched streak of reddish black and blueish white. Leshwi would sculpt the wind this way and that, but Kaladin kept to her, never once letting her out of his sight nor path. And he could feel something different about this chase, about this contest between them. Kaladin could almost hear something. A drum? A pattern and beat to each turn they took, each dip and dive, each arcing ascent.
Leshwi frowned to herself, not that Stormblessed followed, but at her own mixed feelings. Oh, how she wished she could attune to the Rhythm of Winds. How it would be so apt for what she led Stormblessed through now. How it would hopefully encourage him to follow through. How it would be perfect as they danced upon the wind and sky. Not just Winds, but even Excitement or Joy. How long had it been since she had danced upon the breeze with another. How many years had it been since she had flown the path she did with him now? Not since before the betrayal of Man and Spren and Gods. But now, all she could attune was Satisfaction at Kaladin following her. No spear to strike, no weapon or trick. Simply a duet where one lead and one followed. And though she could not hear the Winds, she still moved to its rhythm, she still lashed herself in intricate curves as the beat twisted and turned.
And Kaladin followed.
Their path took them higher into the sky, two ribbons of light and power, until a spiraling crescendo of Winds brought them together. Their paths finally intersected in the strange dance that Kaladin followed Leshwi through, and in panic he reached out and caught her so they would not smack into one another.
At first Leshwi tensed at the feeling, before she let out a sing song laugh. Attuned to Exaltation she grinned over to Kaladin, “You fly with Honor and Passion, Stormblessed!”
Kaladin started a bit, having never heard her speak Alethi before. “I…” He hesitated, glancing to Syl, still holding to Leshwi though neither was in danger of falling. “You…you have Honor as well.” He smiled a bit awkwardly. How else were you supposed to react to your enemy complimenting you?
Syl floated between the two of them, and Leshwi’s eyes flicked to her before meeting Kaladin’s. Syl looked at Kaladin, then Leshwi, then back to Kaladin before a startled look of recognition appeared upon her face and she darted off.
“Syl?!” Kaladin blinked at the sudden departure. “I…” He paused, looking at Leshwi, then where they were. Floating over the Shattered Plains. The chasms and plateaus spread out below them.
“Go after your Spren, Stormblessed. We will meet again.” Leshwi hummed to Satisfaction. She watched him intently as he finally let go of her arms and then nodded. Without another word, Kaladin flew off after Syl. And Leshwi watched him go until she couldn’t see a glimmer of his Stormlight.