Just popping by to copy-paste a fic in honor of Tuuri that was
posted on Disqus by Wispice:
In the moments before Tuuri came to the edge of the water, she felt strangely liberated. She was among the trees, racing between their arching shadows, the sunlight strobing through their lofty boughs. The ground collided underfoot solidly and mutely with each resolute step forward. The world around her was still. She was moving freely about. This was far different from the long weeks spent in the van, where the metal reverberated hollowly as she made her way about the cabin. Where the landscape rolled past, but she was always confined to the driver's seat, peering through the immobile windows, hands on the immobile dashboard, herself immobile. She'd fought to be here, to have some autonomy of her own, but still it had felt like being in a cage. A cage with treads, yes, but she remained bound to it, even in the rare instances where she was allowed to stretch her wings. Merely getting carried around as the world rumbled past. Now was different. Her tethers were broken. She had nothing to return to, and so she ran. She ran with a freedom she'd never felt before, with nothing to separate her feet from the gargantuan surface of the earth. With no barriers between her eyes and the horizon, nor her ears and the sounds coming off the water, nor her breath and the feeling of crisp, salty air entering her lungs.
...Nor her body, and the horrid sickness that incubated within it.
She slowed to a halt as she neared the water's edge. She'd had a similar view back home on the island. When she'd dreamed of the day she'd make her great escape, stretch her wings and fly. She'd wanted to hop on a boat and set off on a great adventure with her brother Onni. Now was different. These waters would take her to another place, yes, but there would be no returning, and she'd do it alone. This was not the start of an adventure, but rather its conclusion.
It was nice to see the outside world, as horrible as it could get at times. She only wished it could have lasted a little longer, this adventure. There was still so much to see...
She sighed. She took a step. She braced herself, preparing to spread her wings for one last flight, one last taste of freedom.
