a little out of wing

The horse seemed uniquely equipped for carting things upon her back, quickly retrieving and setting into place a pack that Zephyr immediately envied. He needed to get himself one of those, it must be very helpful for carrying snacks. Climbing up as directed and finding his balance, he awaited the beginning of their journey. Dandelion was a wonderful teacher, taking the opportunity to not only assist him in finding his way home but explaining the subject of star navigation with clarity, the lesson tailored perfectly to his young mind. Zephyr nodded along at her words, his colorful beak tipping with interest with each direction she spun to to indicate.

First was the south cross, a constellation he'd noticed in the sky but never had a name for before now. It looked almost like a sword, and he decided that the irony of the fact that it would likely never lead him home would be enough for him to remember the direction it signified. North of the castle was ocean, the southern cross would only lead him further and further from home.

The next set of constellations were harder to follow and remember, but he did his best as she pointed it out to him in the clear starry sky above. It was a lot of steps to memorize to find the point that would direct him north, and Zephyr was forced to accept that he'd likely need to practice this type of navigation more in the future. Dandelion declared that north was still not the direction they were looking for, they wanted north-west, and that made sense to Zephyr as he knew that the western border of the castle was water as well.

Now that they had a foundation of where both north and south were, east and west were distinguishable even to his inexperienced mind. The next step was, as she explained, to navigate by landmark. He blinked as she explained the process and confirmed his readiness to leave, bracing himself against her pack as they headed off toward the northwest.

"What does the landmark do to help us?" He asked as they walked. "Can't we just follow to the left of the star all the way home?"

"Zephyr"