Aspen smiled to herself widely, then bit her bottom lip to hide it from view, and turned her head away, leaving a quarter of her face still visible to River.
"Flying." She said honestly "or maybe controlling water."
She turned her head back and looked at River, a small smile on her lips.
"What about you?"
River considered for a moment before answering honestly. "Invisibility."
He hesitated a bit before continuing. "I just think it'd be nice to see the world without the world being able to see you, y'know? I don't know if thag makes sense… I just feel like being invisible would sort of being like seeing everything from a different perspective, since you wouldn't need to worry about anyone having to see you."
He smiled sheepishly at Aspen. "Sorry if I made that too deep."
Aspen nodded.
"I like that." She added honestly, smiling at him warmly.
"Deep answers to questions are my favorite." She added slowly, she pointed up to the left side of the road, to a large Willow tree.
"Would you like to stop there for the day—" she checked her watch, which revealed the time as 7:43 "night I mean— or keep going for a while longer?" She asked him earnestly.
"Stopping here sounds good," River replied. He went up to the huge tree and sat down besides it, sighing in relief as he relaxed into its bark.
"This tree's actually pretty comfortable," he admitted, closing his eyes.
"Willow trees are usually comfortable to sit against, their bark is softer than most trees." Aspen told him knowingly, as she followed him and sat next to him.
Her back against the tree's trunk.
She sat with her knees drawn up, her backpack between them.
"That's a cool fact," River murmured, his body relaxing even more as he felt exhaustion finally win him over and started to pull him into unconsciousness.
"mhm" Aspen said, eyeing him and watching him fall asleep.
She then closed her own eyes and placed her forehead in her palms, thinking of the woman with the golden hair and matching eyes.
As he started to dream, River swore he saw a small golden bird appear in front of him briefly, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
(time skip.)
Aspen slowly came out of her dream and blinked her eyes.
She opened her pack and pulled out a small retractable pan that she had made herself, she looked quickly towards River, who was still asleep and made the few larger twigs float towards her, as well as rocks in her sightline.
She made the rocks form a small circle and then piled the sticks in a teepee shape. She then floated dried leaves to the fire and pulled out a lighter, bringing the flame to the dried leaves, quickly the sticks began to burn and soon there was a small fire in the circle.
She then pulled out a bottle of water from her bag and poured a quarter of it in the pan, which she floated above the fire, she added a package of oatmeal to the heating water and slowly made the oatmeal, she took the pan down from the air and sat it next to her, where she pulled out two wooden carved bowls.
She blew on her oatmeal, hoping River would wake up soon, so his oatmeal wouldn't be cold.
River woke up with a start, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around, his heart hammering out of his chest before remembering where he was and who he was with.
When he laid eyes on the bowl of oatmeal, his stomach growled in anticipation. "Good morning," he said to Aspen, moving closer to her. "This looks amazing!"
Aspen smiled shyly and thanked him very quietly.
"I have blueberries, strawberries and chunks of mango that you can add to it, if you want, I also have sugar and cinnamon." She told him, setting all the ingredients out as she did, she added sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, blueberries and mangoes to her oatmeal, then began to eat silently.
"Thanks," River said, smiling at her. He took a handful of strawberries and a bit of sugar and added them to his oatmeal. He ate his meal in silence along with Aspen.
Once Aspen finished she used the quarter empty water bottle to wash out the bowl she had been using.
She sat it down on the grass to air dry and stretched out her long, coltish legs, crossing them at the ankles.
She snuck a peek of River out of the corner of her eye, then forced her gaze up into the sky, she watched the clouds for a few moments before speaking what had been on her mind since yesterday.
"Why do you wear those gloves?" She asked, not looking at him "I mean it's really hot and I was just wondering, you must be wearing them for a reason."
River went silent for a few minutes, staring at his gloves.
He eventually responded quietly, "I…I'd rather not talk about it. Sorry." He shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, stood up, and smiled down at Aspen, any trace of discomfort or lingering sadness vanished from his face. "Well, should we keep going?"
Aspen nodded and stood up, packing everything back into her backpack.
"yes, I think that's a great idea." She said, clutching the straps so hard her knuckles poked through her skin.
She began to walk after pouring the water on the small fire, then sent the sticks and rocks through the air simply by looking at him, in her nager she had forgotten River was there, and had witnessed her use of her power.
River blinked and didn't move, staring at where the rocks and sticks used to be.
After a few moments he turned his gaze to Aspen, his jaw slack with surprise and disbelief.
"How- what-?" He stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Can you do that again?" He finally asked, a huge grin of pure delight and amazement blooming onto his face.
Aspen had been twisting her hands fast and anxiously, at his words they stopped. She stared at him for a few moments, and then sent him into the air.
She hovered him ten feet off the ground and then lowered him. As soon as he was down, she turned away.
River gave a whoop of delight, feeling a thrill course through his veins as he defied the laws of gravity, even for a few moments.
"That was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my 16 years of existence," River exclaimed, his cheeks aching from smiling so much. "You're amazing."
Aspen's face flushed brightly and she turned her head away for a long time, only turning back when it passed.
"Thank you." She whispered in response, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Thank you." she repeated.
"I should be the one thanking you," River said, still smiling. "I've never been this happpy. I didn't even realize it was possible to be this happy but then you showed up and became the first friend I've ever had. So thank you, for doing all that."
"So now that you know—" Aspen said, wiggling her eyebrows "do you have any weirdly interesting skills?"
She started to levitate some sticks a foot off the ground.
River frowned. "Not that I know of…," he said, trying to remember if anything out of the ordinary happened to him over the years, but he couldn't think of anything.
"Maybe if I have a unique talent then it'll reveal itself eventually?" He suggested, although he doubted his own words.
"Maybe." Aspen said honestly "mine was available since I was a kid, but that's because my dad had the same ability to levitate things or like telekinesis or whatever you want to call it." She informed him, smiling widely.
"So my ability was already there, but it had the chance to grow and distinguish itself because I wasn't scared to do it, because my dad walked around sending furniture and my mother into the air throughout my childhood." Her smile wilted a bit, then flickered away completely.
"I don't know if that makes sense…" She said softly, looking at the ground and rubbing the back of her neck.
"It sort of does," River replied, even if he didn't necessarily understand the concepts of parents or family.
"I think it's super cool though, that you have powers," he continued. "I thought people with unique abilities like that only existed in comics or novels."
"No…" Aspen said, smiling "we exist, or I exist, I don't really know if there are others." She began to walk slowly, easing into her steps.
"but yes, I exist. Though sometimes I spend most of my time wishing I didn't" she admitted.
"Same here," River agreed under his breath but he turned to Aspen with a smile.
"I think we should get going. That dream-vision thing of yours about the golden woman sounded pretty important," he said, already starting to walk down the path.
"I dunno." She said, looking up, as if she could find the woman in the sky.
"Most of my dreams are unimportant and random."
She walked next to him, occasionally sneaking a glance at him from out of the side of eyes.
River was silent for a while, lost in thought. After a while, he decided to bring up what he thought he saw last night.
"I think when I was falling asleep I had a quick vision or something that showed a small golden bird flying, but then it disappeared." He turned his head to look at Aspen. "Do you think that might mean anything?"
Aspen turned her head to look at him, a dark eyebrow raised.
"Yes, I do." She said honestly, she was a firm believer in the idea that everything was intertwined in faith or destiny somehow.
"Did you dream of anything else that I should know of?" she asked curiously, now remebering her own dreams.
The golden woman,
a boy telling a story, that was coming true as he spoke it.
Other kids, all ages, one even about nine or so—
"I had some weird dreams too." She added slowly.
River thought about it for a moment.
"I think I had a dream a few months back about a castle where a bunch of children lived. They seemed really happy and…free," he said, feeling a strong pang of longing for the way he felt in that dream, like nothing could stop him and he could run through that lush green valley forever.
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