The Sentinels caves

---

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.

---

She could feel them, almost soulless lasers picking apart her words. Had she not hastily finished where she could, the Swan would have stuttered, and made even more of a fool of herself. But she could not swallow- he would clearly see the knot that had struck her through. He was precise. Alert. Had he not heard the fluttering butterflies in her stomach? How could he not have? 

His response prompted a gasp from pale lips- he was genuinely intrigued by her tradition? She was pleased to have grown up amongst such a herald- but for it to have impressed the titan here...perhaps her Ancestors legacy would not pass through in vain.

“I- .. I do not know, my lord. It has been a method used many generations before me; it is handed down as young are handed into the Academy for battle training.”

Akira was disappointed in herself. Disappointed she had nothing more to offer the man than absence of an answer. Yet that was all she knew- she had nothing more than such. It almost made her want to sputter more information to him, but he was not one to pester. 

---

Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.

---