THE FOURTH REALM: GREEN — Toward the peaks

One morning, she knew it was time to go on.

As soon as she told Helio, she felt a faint movement in the center of her chest. The golden eagle emerged from her heart, circled above her head, and took flight. Skyblue spread her wings and followed.

At first, they flew in a warm breeze. Then the ground began to rise. Hills became mountains; the trees grew smaller and farther apart. Higher up, a white covering appeared, something Skyblue had never seen. The few plants growing there wore a fine layer of down, as though they had coats of their own.

Helio taught her their names as they went: mosses, lichens, small shrubs. Still pools lay among the yellow-green grasslands, with rushes rising along their shores.

The breeze became a wind. Skyblue drew her wings in a little, but the cold slipped between her scales, entered her nostrils, and tightened around her chest. The harder she tried to breathe, the less air she seemed to find. She grew frightened, and her fear set her heart racing.

“Land for a moment,” Helio told her. “You don’t have to fight the mountain.”