[i]"If I was not prepared to overcome some problems or get into trouble during my first flight, I would not have taken off at all. Instead I choose to go and fly, and maybe I will fall."[/i] The Great Beast's rounded ears cupped toward the sound of the woman's voice as she explained herself in further detail yet, adding nothing beyond what it was she had said; it needed not to provide any further emphasis. Both she and the divine agent knew the consequences of failure and there was nothing more to that. It then turned, ever so slightly moving its leviathan shoulders, speaking to her once more in this shrouded forest while preparing to depart.

[i]"You may, small one."[/i] The grand jaws parted, air rumbling again at its words.

With one huge paw lifted before another, it set off with incredible silence in the cool night, leading the way but never daring far. It moved with enough urgency that the young woman was not without need to keep up her pace; a walking speed, but one with purpose and direction. It traversed the woodland, stepping over fallen trees, rocks and streams with no issue, only ever slowing as it listened to its companion overcome the same obstacles in her way. It never departed her otherwise except when it came to eat, speaking nothing more upon the matter than that it would return later - to which it always did.

But when it did at last return, the young blind woman knew dawn was upon them and that their travel had been hastened. There was something unseen the regal feline had done, a power she had felt in the air around her, a sensation that was unclear and indistinct but obviously some work of magic. It had allowed them both to move with incredible speed and means between the forest, overcoming days of travel in mere hours; as though the distance between the two points had been reduced. Whatever it was, when its effect ended after the predatory figure returned, the reality set in again that time was behaving normally once more for them.

They were in a foreign land now, far, far from her home and only somewhat closer yet to the edge of the shadow that crept upon the land.

[@Ojo chan 42]