The wary traveler paused, inching forward with incredible effort. She reached forward, clawing the air with her dainty fingers. There would be the inevitable. "Go," she told her companion: a white bird, unscatched by the trials of the desert. "Reach where I could not." The bird, seemingly understanding, spread its wings and valiently took flight. One by one, stray feathers fell from the now free white bird. It would fly forevermore.