Silverstream could no longer remember what Terramar’s voice sounded like.
On some nights, she would re-read his letters over and over again under the light of stained-glass lanterns in her bedroom, and try to imagine him reading them aloud. On some days, she would shut her eyes and try to relive childhood memories of the two of them together. She could remember the details of their conversations, and she could remember what spoken words were, but she could no longer match them together. After a while, she’d given up on beak-reading. Her memories of sound had faded into silence, and now it was nothing more than an abstract concept.
She’d stopped receiving letters from Terramar after a while, and she couldn’t help but wonder why. Had a ferocious monster eaten all of the paper? Were the mailponies busy saving the world? Or had he run out of things to talk about?
...Nah. That last one was impossible! If she were around ponies all day every day, she’d never run out of things to observe about them!
So she was absolutely ecstatic when, a few months later, she finally received another letter from Terramar. She opened the envelope so quickly that she almost tore the paper in half. Surely, he’d have months worth of stories to share! This would be the longest letter ever!
Dear Silverstream,
I made a friend called Gallus. He’s a griffon. Can you ask our parents if he can come over for the three days of freedom? I think you'll like him.
- Terramar
...Oh. Was that all?
Gallus had never been on an airship before.
By the time he and Terramar departed from the train in Canterlot and boarded the airship, it was late in the evening. While the clattering of the train had startled him all those months ago, the gentle vibrations of the engine were barely tangible. He spent the first hour or so of the trip holding onto the railing at the edge of the deck, staring in awe at the Equestrian landscapes and orange-tinted clouds rushing below. He wanted to stay up until he saw Mt. Aris - no matter how long that would take - but eventually, he fell asleep. The bed wasn’t as comfortable as his bed at the School of Friendship - the mattress was thinner, and the blandly-coloured duvet was slightly cold - but it was still a million times better than sleeping on the streets.
By the time morning came, they were beyond Equestria. It took a few hours for the airship to cross the desert, and Gallus stopped being interested in looking below. There was nothing to see but empty stretches of sand with the occasional grey rock. In the meantime, Terramar told him the legend of Mt. Aris. It had once been a dragon’s territory, until the first army of hippogriffs banded together and slaughtered it.
As midday came, the airship’s altitude lowered, and a quill-shaped mountain finally came into view. Gallus had only ever seen illustrations of Mt. Aris before, so seeing the real deal was a dream come true. His eyes were fixed on it; he forced himself to not blink as it came closer and closer, until the wind caused his eyes to water.
At the airdocks, two hippogriffs were waiting for them: a pink one around their age, and an older blue one. As soon as Gallus and Terramar stepped off the airship, the pink one rushed towards Terramar and squeezed him in a tight hug. She let go of him when she noticed Gallus, and her enthusiastic expression changed to a frown.
Gallus froze. Was she mad at him?
[Gallus, this is my sister, Silverstream,] Terramar signed, and she waved. He pointed at the blue hippogriff. [And this is my dad, Sky Beak.]
Silverstream approached Gallus and looked him up and down. Then, she signed something. He couldn’t make out what it was; it felt like she was waving her talon in front of his face.
[What?] Gallus asked.
[Sorry!] replied Silverstream. This time, her signs were slower. [What I said was that Terramar told me all about you!]
Gallus tilted his head in confusion. In response, Silverstream simply signed, [A letter!]
Terramar motioned for his sister to step back, then signed to Gallus, [Do you want to have lunch with us?]
Terramar and Sky Beak guided Gallus towards their house, while Silverstream flew ahead. The hippogriff settlement consisted of hollowed-out trees, with stained-glass panels installed as circular windows across the bending trunks, and between the topmost branches... it was beautiful, but Gallus had to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. It was much warmer here than Ponyville, and to make matters worse, the air was still.
Sky Beak’s house was built into one of the largest trees, and its glass was aquamarine. The inside was surprisingly spacious; there was a living room at the base, and the other “rooms” were semicircular, wooden platforms on either side of the inner trunk, at various levels of elevation. There were no stairs.
The dining “room” was on the lowest platform, and they flew up to it one at a time; Gallus went last. In the middle was a large, rectangular table; seashell-shaped kitchen utensils hung on the wall. The teenagers sat around the table, and a few minutes later, Sky Beak plated all four of their lunches: a large, smoked fish each, with rice and seaweed on the side. Gallus had never seen so much meat in one place in his life. He stared blankly at his plate for a few seconds; how was he supposed to eat it?
He looked around the room, and saw Silverstream happily tilt her head back, open her beak wide, and swallow the fish whole. He took a deep breath, and then cautiously did the same. The fish tasted delicious! Its texture was smooth, and it was just the right combination of savoury, salty, and tangy...
And then he started spluttering.
[Water! Water!] he signed frantically. Terramar quickly picked up the blue and purple stained-glass jug and poured some water into Gallus’ cup. He drank its entire contents in one go - then immediately spat it out. [Saltwater?]
[Sorry,] Terramar signed. [You see, we hippogriffs can drink saltwater without a problem. We didn’t realise that you wouldn’t.]
Gallus raised an eyebrow. Terramar shrugged sheepishly.
[Thanks, all of you,] signed Gallus, once they had finished their lunches. [We didn’t have food like this back home.]
Silverstream looked puzzled; she tilted her head. [What did you eat?]
[Mush,] was the only way Gallus could describe it.
[Really? That’s so interesting!] Silverstream’s enthusiasm made Gallus feel mildly concerned. He was about to ask what they were going to do next, but she turned to Terramar. [Why didn’t you tell me about griffons?] she asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
Terramar scratched the back of his neck. [By the time I met Gallus, I’d already run out of things to write about.]
[So you forgot about me?] Silverstream glared at Terramar.
[It’s not like that!] Terramar spread his wings defensively. [I just got so wrapped up in what I was doing that it slipped my mind.]
Silverstream strode forwards, leaning into Terramar’s face. [You broke your promise! You go off to the school I wanted to go to, and then you IGNORE me in favour of someone else!] Terramar stepped back, his eyes wide with shock and his beak hanging open. He didn’t reply. At this point, Sky Beak stepped forwards with a stern expression.
Gallus couldn’t watch any more. He leaped down to the ground floor, curled up against the wall, and closed his eyes. By the time he opened them again, Terramar was gone.
Terramar wanted to be alone.
He’d bolted out of the house - ignoring Dad's calls - flown down to the beach, and lay on a tree growing out of the side of a cliff. He lost track of how much time he’d spent staring at the calm sea below, until he was alerted to the sound of a seagull’s wings flapping as it landed in front of him.
“Go away,” he snapped. His gaze followed the seagull as it flew away as quickly as it came, joining its brethren in the clear, mid-afternoon sky. Their constant squawking got on his nerves; sometimes, he wished he was the deaf one.
...No. He shouldn’t think things like that.
Instead, he looked up. The seagulls glided around in circles, and occasionally swooped down to skim the surface of the ocean for fish. Back when he was small, the ocean’s surface had been the boundary between the safety of Seaquestria and the distant, mysterious, and dangerous surface, but now he lived there. It felt surreal.
He sighed as he thought about Mom.
“TERRAMAR!” a raspy voice shouted, startling him. It was accompanied by the heavy flapping of two pairs of wings, and he turned around to see Silverstream descending towards him, followed closely by Gallus.
Silverstream gracefully landed on the tree trunk, closer to the cliff than he was. [There you are!] she signed. Gallus landed soon after, laying on a sturdy branch on the opposite end. [I’m so sorry for what I said earlier to both of you. I just wanted to know more about griffons, and then I got jealous, and then I started worrying that Gallus had replaced me...]
Gallus gave Silverstream a guilty glance. [Is this what a family does? You fight, and then you make up?]
Silverstream nodded furiously. [Why do you ask?]
[I used to wish hippogriffs would become the family I never had,] Gallus explained, glancing up at the sky absent-mindedly. [I built up the idea that they were so much nicer than griffons, so to see you fighting like that...]
Silverstream flew over to the other end of the trunk and bent down to Gallus’ level. [No-one is perfect, Gallus. But that’s what makes us interesting!]
[Thanks, but it’s not that,] Gallus replied, slouching. [How come you get to have a loving family, good food, and more than one person to communicate with for most of your life, but I didn’t have any of those? It’s not fair.] He punched a branch, causing a few leaves to fall onto the ocean’s surface.
Terramar had no idea how to respond. He and Silverstream simply looked at each other, deliberating about what to say.
[I’m sorry,] he signed.
[Don’t pity me!] replied Gallus, frowning. [I’m just being jealous, too...]
[Don’t put yourself down like that!] Silverstream practically shook her talon in Gallus’ face again. [You’re lucky that you got to go to that school. You’re lucky that you got to meet Terramar. You’re lucky that we shared all of this with you!] She emphasised the sign for “all of this” - holding her talon straight up and moving it in a horizontal circle. [If you’ve never had a family, then we could be the best brother and sister you never had! You might not be able to stay with us for long, but you can still be part of our family.]
Gallus’ posture perked up, and his eyes widened in surprise. He turned his head around, but Terramar clearly saw him wipe a tear out of his eye.
[Thanks,] Gallus signed. [Anyway, what happens on the Three Days of Freedom?]
[It begins tomorrow,] replied Silverstream. [The first day will be in Seaquestria, and we were planning to go there early this evening to visit Mom. You see, she lives-]
[I’ve already told him about that,] Terramar interrupted, gently pushing Silverstream’s foreleg down. She briefly scrunched her face.
[Anyway, the first night is what we’ve always done. We’ll thank the ocean for protecting us from the Storm King, and there’ll be sea-dancing and whale-singing!] After she finished signing this, she threw her forelegs up in enthusiasm... but her expression quickly turned into a frown, and Terramar heard her sigh softly. [I don’t know Seasign. Do you, Gallus?]
Gallus shrugged. [What’s that?]
[It’s Arisign for seaponies,] Terramar explained.
Silverstream lay down. [Not to mention, I’ve never transformed anygriff other than myself, and I don’t know what it would do to a griffon.] She clutched her necklace. [I guess I’ll have to miss the first day...]
Terramar felt torn. He tapped his claws on the tree’s smooth bark, lost in thought. Mom would surely be glad to see him again after all this time - but he couldn’t leave his friends behind...
[I don’t want to let Mom down,] he signed. [Should I go?]
[I’m sure Mom will be fine,] Silverstream reassured him. [Besides, she’ll be coming here the day after. I could use this as an opportunity to get to know Gallus!]
The three of them flew down to a secluded corner of the beach and lay in a circle on the sand, conversing with each other until the sun sank beneath the ocean’s horizon. Terramar would never be able to share the sound of the waves lapping against the shore with his friends, but as long as they were together, that didn’t matter.