Fort opened the door for his bride, and Noble immediately took to the air. The cloudy morning made it feel like a storm had recently passed, but Noble had not witnessed any rain.
She shot straight up, diving into their cover in almost a blink. Inside their icy mist, Noble funneled her essence into her bracelets.
There was no reason for anyone to follow her, and probably Saint Kai was the only one in Ravenheart who could, but she wanted to make certain.
Like the wind, she sped through the dense clouds, eventually coming out on top.
The world above was something few had seen in recent years, especially with aircraft being almost completely unused.
Sadly, Noble was in no mood to enjoy the scenery. The morning sun reflecting off the tiny droplets and creating rainbows continued to go unnoticed by human eyes as Noble raced across the sky.
An hour passed with barely a thought passing through Noble's mind except for finding and retrieving Rain. She would bring back Tamar as well, of course, or drop her off at the nearest citadel so she could make it to the waking world herself.
Wait, would Rain need an anchor too? Could she use the Spell's gateways if she hadn't used the Spell's method to Awaken?
If not, that was fine. Noble could transport her back and forth between Realms anyway. Of course, that would mean admitting to Rain that she was a Saint.
'That's going to be awkward...'
It didn't matter. Above everything, she had to do what was best for Rain. Her daughter had managed to keep Sunny a secret for years, so she could be trusted with another secret to keep to herself.
The clouds below Noble shifted. Something was moving within them. A strange creature that looked like it was the spawn of a killer whale and cotton candy breached the cloud line as it sailed along it.
Instinctively, Noble veered upward, careful to use the sun as a blind spot against the massive monster. The creature had not yet seen her, or it never would have revealed itself like that. The monster was hunting for things below it, not above.
Noble activated her transformation and immediately made herself the color of her surroundings. She held her breath, praying that the shimmering of her change would not alert the abomination of her existence.
Feathers formed around her as her wings extended, and the strange sensation of becoming something else she was always meant to be took hold.
The abomination's gargantuan head began to turn, but when it did, only the sunlight was there to greet its milky eyes. Noble sped away, happy to sense the creature diving into the clouds and away from her.
Normally, Noble would have at least attempted to take down the behemoth, but her time was limited, and the monster was nowhere near a human settlement.
'I'll have to send someone after it another time.'
Noble did not release her hold on her transformation for close to half an hour, and then she only used it intermittently when she felt she was drawing near to people or creatures.
Late into the afternoon, Noble felt a tug to one side. Far in the distance, Crestfall and Ender's Deep lay at the edge of and in the shadow of one of the deep canyons. Noble could feel the people there that she cared about, and her mind lingered on them briefly. It had been so long since she visited Catphine, Fallen, Venster, and so many others that she had come to know while tethered there.
But again she kept from veering off course. All too soon, it would be dark, and Noble wanted to finish her journey before then if possible. So she ignored the temptation to see how the citadels were doing and continued her trek.
While Noble could feel the distance between her and her daughter was becoming shorter, it was still substantial. The mother sighed.
'Just how far South did you go, Rainy?'
Noble was determined to find out.
'At this rate, I'll reach the Stormsea. If Rain is on a boat, I will have a lot of questions…'
The clouds below her finally parted, giving Noble her first look at the ground since her departure.
It had changed considerably since leaving Ravenheart. There was no snow, and the ground was riddled with chasms and trenches deep enough that Noble had to wince.
'Rain fell down one of those… Hopefully it was one of the shallower ones; otherwise Sunny really did save her from certain death.'
Noble was even more impressed that mundane humans and Awakened had been navigating these to make roads at all.
No matter which way she looked at it, the task seemed not only perilous, but impossible.
'But they've done it, or else why would Song be planning to head out so soon?'
Either the roads were done, or the Sovereign would make them be by the time her military arrived.
'Maybe they will have poor navigation skills like me and never make it to the fight.'
That was only wishful thinking, of course. There was no stopping what had begun.
Thankfully, Noble did not have to navigate just now. Rain was her homing beacon, and Noble clung to the connection like a lifeline.
The world continued to whiz by until late into the night. It wasn't until the second moon had already set that Noble finally felt that her goal was in sight.
She had been growing weary of the endless floating, but now her senses became acute once more. The sound and smell of rushing water filled her senses as a sight she had seen once before came into view.
'The Weeping Goddess.'
The citadel was hidden by the cliffside and the falls, but Noble recognized it from her first and only journey to the Stormsea.
Rain was below within the citadel's walls.
'She made it to safety all on her own.' Noble was relieved.
She had felt the young woman go to sleep long before, and Noble was happy to find that it was in the comfort and warmth of a real bed.
Activating her Transformation, Noble descended on the citadel as barely a glimmer of light.
It turned out Rain was inside a tower room in the palace located in the heart of the beautiful scene.
'Tamar has a nice family home.'
Noble could feel that the solemn legacy was also within, but in another chamber. Just like Noble had suspected, they had traveled together.
As Noble landed above the balcony, she checked once more to make sure that no one else was inside the bedroom before releasing her transformation and returning to her human form. Rain's soft, even breathing was barely audible over the rush of the falls, but Noble could hear it as clearly as her own thoughts.
It seemed a shame to wake her, but Noble saw no other way. She brushed off her clothes and then stepped from the balcony into the room, partially blocking the light of the third moon.
Noble tiptoed over to her daughter's bed and reached out her hand to touch the girl's shoulder.
Suddenly, a dark silhouette leapt at her. Two ghostly arms wrapped around her waist, plunging toward her. Noble gasped, only to find she couldn't breathe. She realized instantly what had happened.
She had been dragged into the shadows.