418. Music of Earth, 5

(Rose)

Yaelun has let me strap some soft linen across his back and first set of shoulders, to help me hold myself for take-off and landing.

The dragon walked along the ponds with me on its back. He doesn’t like it much on land. He probably doesn’t like at all, but puts up with it for the sake of our journey together.

The sun is already quite high in the sky but it’s fine.

It’s a nice day and we’ve bod had a good lunch. Two trees for him!

Yaelun lowered his back for me to climb. I thanked him and soon he was unfolding his wings.

The take off almost knocks me out and blows the surrounding herbs and dust to fly around us and along.

After a minute or so of flight, Yaelun released himself of his faeces. I hope nothing was down there where it landed. It smells of cows a little, but it vanishes quickly up there as we fly.

The wind in my hair is nice. I’m quite happy. I didn’t have any nightmares last night. I’m still somewhat floating... But I slept well along this giant beast. It’s a kind one.

We fly north above endless forests, soon to reach a chain of mountains with unusual shapes to me.

They’re very steep, tall but thin, almost like blades for many of them. There’s visible ice along their summit. I’m not exactly sure of where we are, but I don’t think it’s neither the alps nor the Caucasian mountains. What’s further east again? Carpathian?

They look sharp, with little vegetation along their lower levels.

As we fly above the land before them, we find also deep canyons, unlike anything I’ve seen before. It doesn’t look like European geology to me. I don’t know much about it though, but such gorges with dark cliffs, along sharp peaks, like dark roots spreading across the land, it’s odd.

It’s all too sharp and clean cuts in the edges. I think it’s a fair guess to theorise these mountains are fairly recent.

It looks as if most of these peaks rose from the earth in an abrupt and extraordinarily violent earthquake, shattering the surrounding lands with these deeps crevices or gorges that spread far.

Some show only two plateaux sliding one against another. Others are deep canyons, sometimes large of dozens of metres, and so deep that the sunlight never reaches the bottom.

We’ve flown over such deep fractures or sinkholes a few times already. And I’ve crossed a few before in our city in Türkiye. But they were never as wide and deep, making this landscape quite a new one.

The geologic activity has done something to these landscapes.

Yaelun is flying above these deep crevices that are like void rivers, but he doesn’t like them. He tries to avoid crossing their path when he can I notice, deviating when there’s a natural bridge to fly above it.

As we head straight for these mountains, I feel that they never seem to get closer. We fly over great distances and above hills now, but they stay in the horizon as before. They must be farther and higher than I first thought.

~

We camped along another abandoned castle. I think it’s mostly because of the safe large landing spot, but maybe Yaelun also has a taste for big buildings like that.

Our travel over this part of eastern Europe continued there.

~

There is a new chain of mountains that is a northern continuation of the Carpathian ones. They appear to have sprung around, ranging over hundreds of kilometres from north to south, where they’re ending or starting in the older ranges. But this new range is maybe only fifty kilometres wide on average, from East to West.

Coming from the south, what I saw as a few sharp peaks, like needles sprouting over the land, came out to be more like a chain not unlike the Andes maybe, on a much smaller scale. Where the northern european valleys should have begun, this long new chain of mountains started, like a natural wall between Europe and Asia.

These european Andes we’re reaching from the south, and the first peaks are far from being the highest we can see.

Below us and as far as we look in the distance, whether we fly on the eastern or western side, we see these patterns of deep canyons and rifts spreading and thinning down in the distance the further away from these Andes they are.

It must have been really bad earthquakes occurring when these mountains were born. They were probably along the patterns of the white day spreading from the south.

Cold wings from the summits tend to incapacitate Yaelun, so he keeps his flight a good distance away from them, flying relatively low against them. He will never fly high enough to cross the mountains from above like a plane might. It’s too cold up there for him.

We therefore glide over the valleys of ruptured earth keeping to one side of the european Andes, and sometimes when there’s a clear valley spreading across it from eastern to western side, we travel from one side to the other.

It doesn’t serve any purpose, but it is nice.

It changes the scenery, from these rifts he doesn’t like, to barren lands where only a few scrubs grow erratically.

We fly over new young streams and rivers. It’s quite a sight, a new river beginning to erode and forge its river bed and banks through erosion.

Given the size of the area, we have over the days the chance to admire quite a lot of these new-born mineral and aquatic flowers. New streams and rivers. New waterfalls at the end of these mountains, falling into the deep canyons most of the time.

Sometimes a new river is lucky enough to spread over a plateau and into the distance. But generally the deep crevice swallow them as soon as they leave the slopes.

We both really enjoy these alpine sights. More, far more than the ruptured lands around them.

So although Yaelun can’t fly too high, we go for the inner valleys as much as we possibly can, finding our way between the summits and mountain edges.

Following the blossoming rivers as much as we can.

Upward to wander inside these Andes, to travel inside them.

And even more deliciously, flying along the streams, following the majestic barren landscapes as we know we’re heading for an exit to the steppes of forests we can’t miss.

Each time we exit the chain, we head north until we find a new entry, or head further into the continent to find a place to spend the night.

The days are long, but they’re nice.

~

I sit on a rock, eating some biscuits, watching my friend chomping down a tree. He eats it low, bit by bit, mouthful, on the trunk. It’s chopping it down.

Once the tree has fallen, he eats the stump, and then everything else.

He only east trees I believe, or likes them a lot. The european forests are bountiful for him. This chain of high peals, mountains and valleys would be less appealing for animals of his kind normally.

But nothing in the current situation relates to the old definitions of normality.

The ogre inside of me is currently asleep.

This is a peaceful time for me this journey so far.

One day, as we flew over a valley and its young blooming river, we saw a family of small animals playing around.

Small plants and young trees elsewhere have begun colonizing this new space as well.

These are nice days, flying around these beautiful landscapes.

I’ve been used to flying so much lately, that I begin to wonder if I will still be able to walk the Earth as I used to, when we will part ways.

I already kind of miss it, especially in such landscapes as this, walking.

They’re different pleasures. Riding Yaelun, travelling with him, is quite nice and easy.

It’s soothing for me right now, in these flights.

I enjoy these feelings.

~