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Gryphonflight (writing)
For a long moment, Peta simply stood at the edge of the cliff, staring out into forever, feathery ears perked forward to test the wind. On her back, Ariella double-checked the harness, her legs locked firmly onto that which would normally hold her shoulders.
"I personally think you insane," snorted the gryphon lightly, flicking one of her great wings as she glanced back at her rider. "You've never ridden without the harness. What makes you think you can do it now? You'll fall and kill yourself, and then what will I tell your father?"
Ariella just grinned, stroking the side of the great beast's neck to smooth her ruffled feathers. "Silly creature," she scolded gently. "If I fall, you will always catch me." That caused Peta to snort and warble and Ariella laughed, throwing her arms around the broad neck and burying her face in the feathers. "Please, Peta? I want to do this, just this once. I want to know how you feel when you fly."
Peta made a noise that sounded somewhere between a real noise and a sort of "chyrrt" and nodded, bumping her head up to make Ariella release her. "Well, all right." She sighed and spread her wings once, achieving a span of easily greater than twenty feet. "Keep your legs locked!"
All at once, the gryphon lunged forward, leaping from the ledge and drawing in her wings, resulting in a plummet straight down towards the rocks below. Ariella clung tightly to the ruff of feathers as she always did, bracing herself for the sudden spread of wings that would catch them.
As always, Peta's wings spread at the last possible moment, catching sharply on the wind and bringing her into a sharp glide. It was both exhilirating and frightening for the human on her back, and for her as well, leading her to draw her head back as they soared, letting out a bugle of triumph.
The higher Peta flew, the more bold Ariella became, finally sitting up on her knees on the gryphon's shoulders as she had intended. Laughing, her hair caught in the wind behind her, she threw out her arms like the wings of the fantastic creature she rode.
It was a magnificent feeling. The wind on her face, whipping over her arms, twisting and twirling her hair...
She looked over for a moment as she heard Peta bugle, noticing another pair of wings join hers... and another, and another. Soon, no less than six younger gryphons were flying with the airborne pen, each one with their mother, bugling and shrieking their greetings. It was the first time Ariella had ever seen a flock of pens and fledglings all flying together, even though Peta had often told her of this happening.
Social flocks, she called them. A few of the pens even had riders, who laughed at seeing the young princess and how she rode.
The sky above the mountain was full to the brim with gryphons, sun caught in their sleek tawny feathers and silky fur, creating the illusion of a golden sky in the autumn dusk.
When Peta finally landed, she was panting, a smile curling up her beak (Ariella could not help but remember how amazed she had been when her father had told her how maleable gryphons' faces were where the beak met the face). "Oh, that was a romp indeed!" she chirped, prancing for a moment. "We should do that again... flying with no destination is far grander fun than having to go somewhere."
Ariella smiled, waiting for the gryphon to fold her wings to dismount, sitting down on the ground to try to tame her badly tangled hair. "That isn't to say that Father won't murder me when he finds out I left without telling anyone."
"Oh, I'm sure Knucker knows. He spies on me."
Raising her brow slightly, the princess looked up at the lounging beast. "Spies on you."
It was more a statement than a question, but Peta couldn't resist complaining where she was able, and huffing after lightly scratching at her beak, she grumped, "He watches everything I do. It's why I hate drakes, you know... they're horridly snoopy creatures. Terrible beasts that do nothing but annoy gryphons and their riders. It's a disgrace to the name of any intelligent creature."
"I think you're just being sensitive," the princess jested with a grin. When the gryphon snorted, feathers of her mane ruffling up around her neck, Ariella laughed. Climbing to her feet as she swiftly braided her long hair back, she leaned against the muscular shoulder. "Oh, stop being such a broody old pen. You're hardly twelve. You're young as far as gryphons are concerned. Besides... Knucker only watches me closely because Khors is captain of the guard."
She smiled again, climbing onto the gryphon's back and resting properly in her harness. Peta flicked her ears, glancing back at the princess. "Where to?"
Laughing softly, Ariella stroked the beast's feathered neck. "Let's go home."
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