BACK TO THE BEGINNING

The spiral returned.

Skyblue let it carry her. She recognized the dizziness, the current, that brief feeling of belonging nowhere. She closed her eyes and trusted.

When she felt the ground beneath her, she took a deep breath.

She was back in the Amethyst Realm.

She moved her paws, spread her wings a little, and looked herself over. Every scale was blue. Light glided across them, changing shade with her slightest movement.

The shadow of a golden eagle stretched across the ground.

Skyblue looked at it without surprise. She recognized herself in her dragon body and in that presence she had come to know as her true self.

She gave thanks for the journey. She remembered those who had accompanied her with love and those who, without knowing it, had brought her face to face with her wounds. She could acknowledge what she had learned without needing to pretend it had not hurt.

Before she could take a step, a new force drew her into the void.

Skyblue burst out laughing.

“Another journey?”

She let it enfold her.