This fic is based on Rinan Llyr, a Leviathan that lived appx 1500 years before Dante's time. For those of you wondering the balcony was removed afterwards, which is why Dante doesn't have one.

'Skip, skip, through the valley
Through the valley, through the valley,
Skip, skip, through the valley,
That is where we go!'

My name. That was the first thing that touched back to the ground. My name. Rinan Llyr, of the Llyrs of Aquilae, but of Aquilae no longer, no longer, never again. That's me, you understand. The Emperor's Leviathan, the Emperor's slave, the Emperor's captive pet.

That's what comes next. The basics of my life, is that grasped? My name, my place. My place is here, bound in this gold cage of water and stone, with the sky taunting me from my balcony. This balcony that I wish I could destroy, because it does nothing for me but remind me where I am, who I am, what I am. That I'm captive, a sacrifice for Aidan's madness.

Sacrifice. That word means new things now, to me. I remember when a sacrifice used to be having to spend a day inside because it was raining, or because I would catch cold. I remember when sacrifice was giving my brother my horse because his threw a shoe. I remember when sacrifice meant a day without swimming. But now it's something different, something twisted. Sacrifice.

I read a book once, on sacrifice. The Glacean tribesmen used to sacrifice children in the snow to the protectorate wolf for wisdom and good hunting, back when Glacae was dominated by tribes. The Ardae protectorate demanded a sacrifice for the power he gave his descendants. But they tricked him again. I am that sacrifice.

Rinan Llyr, Emperor's Leviathan, trapped bird, dead sacrifice. Bound, tied, forgotten. In his madness, forgotten. Used.
Sometimes I dream, still, of flying. I'm letting the clouds drift over me, pass over me, my arms outstretched, like a giant bird, and the children's rhyme floating through my head, Skip, skip, through the valley…each word echoes in my head a thousand times over, resonating so beautifully, like the songs of my youth when I was alone, and free.

Hop, hop, through the glade,
Through the glade, through the glade,
Hop, hop, through the glade,
That is where we go!

My Emperor. His name is an eternal weight on my mind, an eternal reminder. Laen Aidan, an elder man, a man who is older, a man who is older than me. His son is my age, we are of an age, and his son is the one who worries about me, who sits with me on my balcony, who converses with me, to keep me on the ground. My Emperor cares, and comes to me once a day, but I fear for comfort only. He asks me how I am doing.

I lie.

I do not tell him that madness is sweeping over me, that I can only sit entranced by my balcony, that I can only sit obsessed by my balcony. He believes me.

He is a fool. His son knows better. His son comes to me three times a day, when his studies allow him, and he sits beside me and watches me with vibrant green eyes, as green as the meadows that I used to ride my horse through. He speaks to me in cautious tones, and I answer as honestly as I can. I'm going mad, I tell him, I want to leave. I miss my brother, I miss my mother, I miss the sky. I am too young to remain locked away, though I've begged and begged and begged to be set free. I'm pining. I just wish to leave for a little while, to ride once more, to feel the breeze on my face.

His son does not reply to me, but only holds me in his arms. His son is beautiful, and kind, and his lips taste like freedom.

'Fly, fly, through the sky
Through the sky, through the sky,
Fly, fly, through the sky
And that is where we stay!'

Me again. My ambitions, my dreams, all gone. My Emperor's son did not come today, and I'm alone. I write in my journal, and watch my balcony, and wonder.

Will they miss me?

I watch the birds. Anything, everything, I give to them. I want my freedom. I want only my freedom. And it's there, waiting for me, for me to take it before I no longer have the strength. I wonder if they will miss me. But I cannot last any longer.

The rhyme from my childhood echoes in my mind, fly, fly, through the sky…

And that is where I'll stay.

-The End-

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