Training 2 - Alignak and Siqiniq

“Come on, Alignak,” Siqiniq called out from the floating rock she stood on. Alignak stood on the main island looking up at her with anxiety. 

Unlike when they were younger, in their teenage years Siqiniq took on a more confident leadership role and Alignak became more cautious when it came to their adventures. Siqiniq thought back to the big adventure through the crystal caves and how confident Alignak was, but looking at him now that vayron was nowhere to be found. 

She stamped her foot causing the rock to wobble, but she stood confidently waiting it out before jumping to the next rock. Alignak still hadn’t moved. 

“The rocks move too much, Si!” He yelled to her, unable to move his feet. 

“Just keep moving and it’ll all be okay!” She exclaimed as she jumped higher and higher up the floating rock path. 

Alignak watched her jump higher and further away. He took a few steps back, swallowed, and then jumped after her. He kept all thoughts of falling out of his mind and managed to catch up to Siqiniq. She smiled at him and continued forward. 

There was a section of large islands, each one higher than the next, and the only way to explore each one was to take a precarious path of floating rocks. The rocks in each path varied in size. Some were large and stable, while others were very small, big enough for a paw, so you had to keep moving without pause. 

Siqiniq made it to the next island, which was large enough to have vegetation and animals. She looked around briefly before looking down at Alignak. He was managing, but occasionally, he would get spooked. She watched him stand still, waiting out the shaking rock before he could pull himself together. 

Once he had reached her on the safety of the island in the sky, Alignak collapsed on the ground. 

“Please tell me that’s it,” Alignak whined from the ground. 

Siqiniq looked at him and then to the island above her. The next rock path they were about to climb was much more dangerous than the one they had just climbed. The things that made this one more challenging were the rocks aligned in a spiral shape and the majority of the rocks were too small to stop moving. 

“No,” Siqiniq said, still looking up gauging their ascent. 

Alignak looked at her from the ground and then followed where she was looking to see the next set of rocks. His eyes widened and then he looked back down at the ground. 

“Uh, Si,” he started, “how are we getting back down when we’re done up there?”

Siqiniq ignored him as she looked around at the island, noting the large pointed crystals, the tall trees with their soft leaves, and the small pond towards the middle. She wondered where they would land if either of them fell. She was the more confident one, but only when there was a plan in place. 

Alignak stood up and forced Siqiniq to look at him, “Si, how are we getting down?”

If Siqiniq was being honest, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. She opened and closed her mouth but couldn’t find the words to answer him. Unlike Siqiniq's patient nature, Alignak was quick to anger or irritation. 

“You always have a plan. Why is it that when we take the most dangerous path, you don’t have a plan?!” Alignak exclaimed wildly. He looked around the environment, taking in their surroundings, and a small realization dawned on him. 

“These are tyrian islands, they aren’t meant for vayrons to climb to…” Alignak said mostly to himself. 

“Well if either of us could fly, we could get up here,” Siqiniq added softly, but Alignak just shot her an icy glare. 

“Neither of us has found our spark yet.” He reminded her and then looked around, but neither had come up with a solution to Alignak’s question. 

Siqiniq embraced the ‘we’ll deal with it when we get to it’ mantra as she headed to the base of the floating rock steps. Alignak reluctantly followed behind her; there was a feeling in his gut that they should just go back down, but he didn’t voice it. 

Siqiniq carefully stepped on the rocks, going one by one. She was aware of the dangers of falling as she went higher and higher. She tried not to think about it and carried on. Alignak watched her and found himself thankful the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, making visibility perfect for climbing.

Alignak took three steps up the spiraling rock path. He laughed at himself for being scared of the first section they did. Compared to this one, the first one was a breeze. He managed to keep up with his cousin as they climbed, but one misstep and it would get dangerous quickly. 

Siqiniq was focused, one foot after the other. She wanted to look back to see how Alignak was doing but knew that wasn’t an option. She shifted her focus to try to hear her cousin, and she thought she could hear his heavy steps. However, with her focus momentarily shifted to her cousin, she missed the next step. 

It happened in slow motion for Alignak. He saw his cousin’s ears flick in his direction, then her paw missed the next rock by a hair. He could see the mark her nails left on the rock as her paw went by it. Her weight fell forward, but she managed to shift her weight back onto the legs still on the rocks. 

The rocks, Siqiniq’s three paws were on, shook as she tried to gather her balance. She flicked her tail trying to help counter any imbalance. She felt her muscles tighten as she managed to find the rock with her fourth paw and with a deep breath she was stable again. 

Alignak froze suddenly terrified it would happen to him. He looked down and felt his stomach in his throat. The hairs all over his body stood up and goosebumps covered his body. He couldn’t move. 

Siqiniq made it to a stable rock that could handle her weight shifting as she looked back at Alignak. 

“Ali!” She called, noticing he was paralyzed in fear. 

“ALI!” She cried again, realizing there was no way to make it to him. She would have to help him from afar. With the call, she saw his ears flick towards her. 

“You have to keep moving; look at me!” Siqiniq was near the top by now. She was confident nothing would happen to her, so she considered it a safe place to look. 

Alignak was still fixated on the island far below them, visions of falling in all sorts of ways crossed his mind. He could hear his cousin, but the words she was saying barely made it through the fear and anxiety. He took a few deep breaths, swallowed, and pulled his eyes away from the height. He looked at Siqiniq. 

“Just look at me, nothing else.” She breathed a small sigh of relief, but she still felt a heavy tension in her back and shoulders. 

Siqiniq carefully continued to the safety of the island, and as she predicted, she made it there without any more fall scares. On the island, she looked back to watch Alignak. His eyes were trained on her, and she could see the deep breaths he was taking every now and then to keep himself from getting too fearful. 

It took Alignak a longer time to get to the top, but he made it without much more scaring him. He took several big steps away from the edge and sank to the ground. He didn’t speak or look at Siqiniq. 

Siqiniq came to sit next to Alignak while he calmed down. She looked around the island already trying to think of a way down. She was quietly hoping there would be a kind tyrian able to fly them down, but she didn’t spot any. Instead, she admired the beautiful sparkling crystals and the lush leaves of the trees. They were high in the sky, she couldn’t see the horizon, it was just a spattering of clouds in the blue sky. 

Alignak took a deep breath, feeling the last of fear ebb away. He stood up and shook out his fur. 

“Never again, Si.” He stated firmly. Siqiniq nodded along in complete agreement, but they still needed a way down. 

Alignak was blissfully ignoring that fact even if he was the one that brought it up. He walked over to the small pool, hoping the water would help relax him further. However, once he was at the water’s edge, he noticed a dark shadow in the water. He called for his cousin and as his cousin arrived at his side the large tyrian broke through the surface of the water. 

“Oh, thank goodness!” Siqiniq cheered, ignoring Alignak’s looks. 

Without pause, Siqiniq asked the tyrian for help, “Could you help us down!”

The blue tyrian looked at them, “How’d you make it up here?”

Alignak told the tyrian of their journey up the rock path, and the tyrian chuckled but agreed to help them down. The pair relaxed by the water with the tyrian for a few moments before they were flown down to the true safety of the main island. 

They thanked him for his help and then watched as the tyrian returned to the top platform where they had found him. The cousins realized they never got his name, but neither wanted to make the trek to ask for it. They carried on with their evening in a very relaxed manner. 

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