She buried her face in his feathers. Around her, the wind whipped through her long, unkempt hair. Below them, the world rushed by.

It was a dangerous world down there, filled with strangers and monsters, but here, on his back, a thousand feet in the air, they were safe.

He was a griffin, tall and handsome, with a head and wings of soft brown feathers and hind legs covered in even softer cat's fur. He was the one who had watched over her all these years, ensuring she was fed and warm each day. Why this noble beast had decided to take in a weak human child, she had never thought to ask, it was just the way it had always been.

She went where he took her, he waited for her before he left. At night, she slept under his wide wings, during the day the two hunted lesser beasts for their dinner.

He bucked suddenly. Once, she might have fallen due to such a maneuver, but she had long since learned how to hold on to his bareback, and her body twisted with his as he made his sudden turn.

She looked over his wing,...