Brittle Bones

Colors throbbed brightly with the beating of Isa's heart. Vibrant, electric magenta, cerulean, citrine. Within her head, the world swam and it felt as though the woman was being rocked back and forth repeatedly. Snatches of conversation, the whispering of voices, a dark chuckle, the laughter of children, they drifted through the fae's mind as though they were being washed away on the sea, the tones fading as the waters took the voices far away. Away from her, leaving her alone. Wait. Come back!

Isa woke with a start, pulling in a ragged, shocked breath as the soft, colorful world of her mind faded into the stark, harsh reality that was her current state. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. Again that feeling of rocking struck her, but this time she was awake. The confused woman blinked bright blue orbs a few times, eyes widening as she took in her surroundings. She was swinging back and forth in empty air. Fear struck her in the gut like a sword of ice and she fought to keep herself from flailing about. Through the pain, Isa tried to remember what had happened. How did she end up like this?

There was a bear.

Another soft, shuddering gasp pulled from the cyanic fae as everything came rushing back to her. She had been exploring the waterfall, carefully picking her way down an old stone pathway when she heard the roar. A mother bear, child in tow, rushed her, using one massive paw to send the blue woman flying as though she weighed nothing more than a feather. Over the side of the mountain Isa went, crashing into the various stone shelves to collect cuts and abrasions galore. After one particularly long fall, she had tried to catch herself but had failed, the attempt snapping her foreleg cleanly. As she continued to tumble downwards, Isa was in and out of consciousness. And then everything stopped as darkness took her.

Still trying to breath calmly, Isa looked at her broken, dangling foreleg, the right limb swaying in the breeze. It wouldn't be easy to fix. If she even made it out of this mess. Isa's gaze continued up her body, trying to figure out how she was stuck. She could feel nothing but pins and needles in her hind leg and soon realized why. The mountainside had been striped with thick vines, dried and leafless in the winter cold. Somehow during her fall, the fae's leg had become ensnared in these vines. They had saved her life, but at what cost? Would she now starve to death? Freeze to death? Blinking through the pain in her skull as the blood continued to rush to her head, Isa looked below her and that blood ran cold. Empty air. There was nothing but death below her. Death and the smallest of stone shelves. If someone could hear her, maybe she would have a chance. Then again, she could fall to her death during her rescue as well. But... she had to try.

Careful not to move too much, Isa released a pained, pleading howl, calling for the aid of anyone close enough to hear her. All she could do now was wait and see if today would be the day that she dies, or if she would conquer death. Death, whom had taken so much from her already.

"Isa"