Sky diving seemed terrifying to Enoki hir whole life. Jumping out of a plane with only a little piece of fabric to keep you from splattering upon the ground below. Not to mention, the early beginner jumps. Those ones where you strapped yourself to some random person, their junk touching your back through a jumpsuit. You hoped the parachute would deploy. And according to hir cousin, you couldn’t even hear anything like the movies suggested. The whole thing seemed like a very exciting death wish for people that liked uncomfortable closeness with others.

At this particular moment, Enoki would have loved to be worrying if the person strapped to hir was a creep or not. Even hir own screams couldn’t be heard over the wind. Ze flailed hir arms about as hir feet fruitlessly tried to run in any direction but down. 

Oh, creation. I am going to die. Then everyone else will die because I was flatter than last week’s crepe video. I never even got to try this world’s dishes and I—

An unheard scream escaped hir lips as the wind suddenly forced Enoki’s body sideways and upwards through the mostly clear blue sky. Ze tried to make sense of the tumbling as ze was made to go every direction at the mercy of the wind. Even folding in half, backwards. 

Wait, why am I folded in half? With great effort, Enoki tried to focus hir thoughts and turn hir head. A task that was proving far more difficult that it should. That was when ze finally saw it. Enoki was truly flat. Not paper thin, but like something from the old school cartoons Enoki saw as a child. Just a tiny bit of thickness but everything spread out. No wonder turning hir head was so hard.

Just like the crepe I was thinking about. If I just focus, I can fix this, right? There was no choice but to try as ze had picked up speed and was rapidly heading to a still distant thundercloud. Ze could hear the rumbling from here. 

Enoki stared at hir arm, willing it to inflate. A mistake to focus on one part as the increased weight and lack of surface area started making hir spin and head downward once again. Enoki could see the rapidly approaching smattering of green trees and blue rivers. Ze was having trouble focusing on filling the rest of hir body. If this was all in hir mind, then ze just had to focus and have a clear image before hitting the ground. Ze brought their inflated arm to their gingerbread face and carefully put their thumb in their mouth. If it was good enough for a cartoon, it was fine for here. One hard blow and hir whole body inflated, making a small pop as bones and organs fell back into place. 

That was one problem down. One big one to go. 

What was it hir grandfather used to say? ‘If you find yourself falling you might as well flap your arms and try to fly.’ 

Ze closed hir eyes and focused on just the rushing wind and hir own arms. As Enoki pulled hir arms away from hir sides, ze could feel something else pulling out of hir sides as well. Ze wasn’t going to think too hard about it. Just make hir body like a bat or a glider. Enoki then tried to throw hir legs downward so ze could be upright. It was a bit too hard and ze started to tumble some. After some more furious flapping, ze managed to finally slow hir descent. 

A bit more experimenting and Enoki began to hang in place for the most part. A good thing too, since the smattering of green now looked like individual trees. Ze was pretty sure there were some things moving around down below, as well. A careful look around showed no visible roads. There was maybe a trail, but Enoki didn’t know what that meant for sure. Well, the only thing to do now was to try to fly in a direction and hope for the best. There was a lake in the distance. If nothing else, that meant water or maybe a small settlement. 

Ze just had to hope ze had the energy to get there.

**

As evening fell, Enoki felt like ze was still so far away from the lake ze had seen. At least it was bigger, but a growling stomach made hir progress much slower. With a heavy sigh, Enoki started slowing hir flapping down in hopes of landing safely. Safety flew away, startled by an arrow that barely missed hir head. The sudden jolt of fear made Enoki freeze in place. Gravity took advantage as ze started to scream. 

All that hard work and this was how ze was going to die?!

Enoki had an idea and tried to curl into as tight of a ball as possible, like a hedgehog. 

Be a spiky hedgehog ball. A big spiky hedgehog with quills sticking out. Maybe stick to something. Anything!

As hir bones and flesh twisted and contorted to the idea, Enoki hit the first few branches of a tree, bounced around, breaking a few of the branches on the way down. As soon as a bone snapped in two, it became solid again in time for another one to break. Ze could feel the pain from each injury and mending, which made it harder and harder to keep focus as that was replaced with near constant cursing and cries. By the time ze landed on the ground, the concentration needed to keep the form melted away and all that remained was an aching, mostly human form.

Well, that and a dead giant bird landing half on top of Enoki, knocking the wind out of hir. 

“I think it’s over here! It should be a big one!” The rushing footsteps and snapping twigs got closer as Enoki struggled to try and get out from under the bird. 

When ze looked up, hir eyes met with that of a tall, thin person with long pointed ears going out to the sides. They wore green and brown robes that almost made them disappear into the surrounding foliage. Their striking black eyes took in hir form and they let out a gasp.

“You idiots! You nearly killed a human with our dinner! Are you alright?” They started to lift up the horse sized bird, its black beak scraping the dirt as it moved.

“I’m ok. . . I think I, um. . . I’m Enoki. My pronouns are ze and hir.” Ze winced as ze got to hir feet, trying to avoid the pool of blood that was forming from the bird’s fatal wound. “And right now maybe ‘ow’ and ‘fuck.’ What’s yours?”

The being, which Enoki was now recalling was an elf, looked at hir with a mix of amusement and confusion. “Really, you aren’t positive you can tell, little human?”

“I’m not lit—” Enoki paused. Now that ze was standing it was fairly obvious if ze was hir normal five foot nine inch, this elf was at least eight and a half. “Not little, for a human. I’m on the taller side.”

“Mo’ton! Stop teasing the obviously polite human!” Another slightly more tanned elf came up. They tucked their silky smooth ebony hair behind their ear. “That is Mo’ton, and is a male. I am Li’tiana and am female as I assume that is what you are speaking of. It is rare to see a human using dwarven pronouns.”

“Oh, they match my, ah, soul. Technically, had it checked by accident recently.” Ze hoped that would make enough sense. 

Mo’ton just grinned wide, showing perfectly even and straight teeth. Unnaturally so, honestly. He set the bird down and gave a small bow. “How lucky for you. Many don’t get the chance to meet a blessed one to confirm for others what is within their hearts. Are you traveling alone?”

“Yeah. It’s a quest sort of thing, I suppose. I got selected recently.” Enoki started pulling out branches and leaves from hir hair. 

“Then allow us to feed you tonight, dear human. Perhaps you can share your quest. If you don’t mind elven food.” Li’tiana carefully took a leaf from hir head.

Enoki’s eyes went wide, a grin spreading across hir face that could only be matched by a child being given a new pet. “I would love to! I’ve never had elven food before. Maybe I can help a bit?”

Some chuckles came from a bit further behind as more elves dressed in greens and tans and browns came out and started taking different sides of the bird. Within moments they and Mo’ton were all carrying it past Li’tiana, who was putting a gentle hand on the back of Enoki’s head. 

“You are certainly welcome to do so. If you can, at least.” Li’tiana gave a small smile as Enoki’s stomach growled loudly. “In the meantime, you may require something to eat so you don’t get excited and start eating feathers.”

Blushing, Enoki gave a small nod. If only she knew their day. “Heh. maybe.”