by Katie Pottle
“Of course! I can’t wait to fly!”
After his friends left for school, Cadin practiced flexing his different muscles to spread, contract and tilt his wings. He laughed aloud after noticing Gur was copying everything he was doing. Gur jumped down and hissed, before returning to his normal shoulder spot. He was happy to have the traditional day off school to practice flying.
“Cadin, come get ready,” his mom called.
As he ran into the kitchen his right wing clipped the doorway and he took a spin before catching himself from landing face first into a huge plate of pancakes.
“Nice save,” Tal said with a smile. “Your mom and I have cleared our schedules today to help you figure out your wings. We can go to the Cloud Park after breakfast.”
“Wow, really?” Cadin said. Sara set down a plate towering with food.
“I already ate.”
“You will want to fuel up before your first day of flying.” Cadin was anxious to go, but started eating under his mother’s glare.
“Can we go now?” Cadin asked for the third time. His mother had kept placing more food in front of him.
“That should be enough to keep you going for a bit,” Sara said approvingly. “We can go.”
“Yes!” Cadin shouted as he ran up the stairs and slipped. The entrance to his room seemed larger, and he was beginning to wonder if temporary bouts of discombobulation were a symptom of his wing-coma.
When they got to the Cloud Park they found a nice, private section for Cadin to practice. Sara insisted they start by stretching and warming up. Cadin was getting so antsy that Tal walked Cadin up to a high section of cloud.
“The best way to start is by giving it a try.”
The large cumulous clouds sprawled out before him. He took a deep breath, spread his wings and jumped. Cadin felt even more exhilarated than during his free falls because this time he could fly, or so he hoped.
Cadin opened his wings, but one wing opened faster than the other. The cloud-lands spiraled below at an incredible speed.
What do I do?
“Gurr, hiss!” A flash of blue sped past him. Cadin was spinning too fast to see, but knew Gur was flying right beside him, cheering him on. He closed his eyes and allowed his instincts to take over. He straightened his right wing and tilted back enough to pull out of the spin and began to soar.
It was the most thrilling experience of his life. It was utterly freeing as his wings carried him over the clouds. He slowly turned to keep within the boundaries of the Cloud Park. Gur flapped furiously to keep above his right shoulder, his dad trailing behind him. A gust of wind caught him off guard and marred his beautifully arced turn, raising his high wing up and almost flipping him. Tal angled to catch him, but Cadin isolated the muscles he needed to control his wings to right himself.
Tal smiled at him and pointed down at Sara waiting patiently below at the base of the cloud. Cadin didn’t want his first flight to end so soon, but he realized he had already exhausted much of his energy. Tal flapped to accelerate and Cadin attempted to do the same. His results were not nearly as efficient, but Cadin was glad he wasn’t going too much faster because the small amount of acceleration he had achieved put a great deal more pressure on every part of his wings. Cadin soared down and got close enough to the base of the cloud to see the proud expression on his mom’s face. He marveled when his dad neared the ground and tilted both wings up, landing solidly next to Sara. Tal gave Sara a quick kiss before they both turned to look up at him.
His stomach clinched. He had imagined himself flying too many times to count, and yet he had never daydreamed about landing those fantasy flights. He was frantically trying to remember every time he had ever seen someone land, which made him more panicked. He was nearing the ground, aiming for a spot near his parents, which he overshot by a great deal. He forgot to tilt his wings back and was going too fast as he approached the cloud. His feet skidded on the cloud-land, which soon vanished into natural cloud. Cadin felt the wet cloud surround him as he flew head first into a safety net.
“Are you okay?” he heard his dad call to him.
“Honey, are you hurt?” His mom’s concerned voice followed.
“I’m fine,” Cadin called back as he tried to release himself from the netting. “That was fun; can we do it again—aside from the bad landing I mean?”
His dad laughed as he reached Cadin to help pull him up from the net and back onto solid cloud-land.
“You did great, son!” Tal said as he patted Cadin on the back between his wings.
“But I crashed!”
“Yes, but your first attempt was actually your first flight! And your ‘crash-landing’ was really just an over-shoot—nothing like most beginner crash-landings.”
“That’s right,” Sara chimed in. “You should have seen what a clumsy flier your father was at first—he was a safety hazard to those around him.”
Sara was smiling as Tal playfully pounced on her and took her to the ground.
“Now, I said a hundred times I was sorry for crashing into you at your dad’s house,” he said as he started to tickle her. “So, do you finally accept my apology?”
Sara was giggling too hard to answer.
“Uh, guys?” Cadin peered around.
“Right, sorry.” Tal jumped up and helped Sara up too.
“Oh, you must be famished.” His mom hurried over to her bag.
“Definitely. How can anyone fly across the sky for hours?” Cadin asked, barely able to walk.
“Oh, don’t worry about longevity. You will become stronger in no time. You have to expend a great deal of energy when you first use your wings because you are actively flexing and depending on muscles that you have never used before. Plus, your technique isn’t efficient. You can also extend your flights by gliding. This will help.” She handed him a small cake which appeared to be a condensed yellow brownie and a small cup of green, congealed liquid.
“Those look disgusting! What are they?” Cadin asked as he took hold of the yellow brownie in one hand and the pond-scum looking drink in the other.
“That is called a buka shot,” Sara said indicating the green drink. “It is readily available in stores in vials and is often used to boost energy on long flights. The cake is something I made and was thinking of selling. It has similar ingredients to a buka shot, however is much more convenient for traveling and will not spoil as quickly. I figured you can be the first to try it out and give me some feedback. I think I will call them buka cakes.”
Cadin wasn’t sure about being his mom’s guinea-pigeon; however, he was willing to give it a try.
“You should have both of these after your first flight to recover your energy,” Sara said seriously. “Then, throughout the day you can try one or the other and let me know the differences between the cakes and the shots!”
His mom beamed, and Cadin could only smile back and down the shot and cake as quickly as possible without thinking about it.
“Well, what do you think?” Sara asked, leaning in as if to better here his praise.
“Umm, the shot is bland and slimy. And, well…your cake is…dry and…a little biter.” Cadin blushed, not wanting to hurt his mom’s feelings, but knowing that this was too important to her to not tell her the truth.
“Okay, thanks. I will try and tweak the recipe. How do you feel?”
Cadin hadn’t expected to feel any difference so soon, but now that he was thinking about it, he was less sore and warmer in places—almost like the energy from the cakes and shot were flowing through his system, trying to reach every aching muscle.
“There is a warmth radiating through my body.” He looked at his mother to confirm that that was what should be happening.
“Good. Let me know when it reaches your toes, and then you will be ready to fly again.”
They flew for the entire day. Every time Cadin thought his body couldn’t handle more, he would rest for a bit and eat a buka cake or drink a buka shot. He found that his energy r
eturned faster with the buka shot; however, it did not last as long as when he ate a cake. Gur kept up with him the whole time, and enjoyed a nibble of buka cake every so often, but was quite offended by the drink.
Sara cloud-shifted a large target that could be seen from above to practice accurate landings. His parents took turns flying with him and offered advice as needed. He hit the target towards the edge a few times, and once hit the wrath’s-eye by stopping his flight short and landing on his butt.
At least mom cloud-shifted the target to be somewhat soft, Cadin had thought at the time.
He sat at the top of a cumulous mountain, preparing for his final flight of the day. He had asked for more buka but was rejected; Sara informed him he had already consumed the maximum amount allowed to an adolescent. Even though he did not get an extra hour or two of flying, his parents agreed to let him have the last flight of the day be his first ever solo free of his parent’s flying next to him.
All alone, with the exception of Gur poised on his shoulder, Cadin stood on top of the cloud looking out over the gentle curve of Earth. The sun had started to set, and the clouds were dancing in the gentle gloaming light. Cadin took a deep breath and jumped while flapping his powerful wings. Within seconds he was well above the top of the cloud, and the large landing target looked tiny from so high. Spreading out his wings, Cadin soared lazily for a few minutes, taking in the beautiful sunset. Gur burped from above and broke Cadin out of his serene trance.
Cadin laughed and shouted up to Gur, “wanna race?” They had raced a few times already, and Gur was catching on.
“Guurrr, burp…gur,” Gur answered, folding his wings and shooting towards the wrath’s-eye like a little arrow.
“Cheater!” Cadin said as he flapped hard to follow.
Cadin knew he was already flying faster than he ever had, yet he pumped his wings again to try and catch his dragon. Cadin tapped Gur on the butt in mid-air which shocked Gur so much he not only burped, but spit out a ball of fire as well, singing Cadin’s hand.
“Ouch.” Cadin couldn’t worry too much about the flame as he looked forward and realized that he was approaching the target rapidly. Grabbing Gur to ensure his safety, Cadin arched his back, opened his wings, flexed them up and gave two painful flaps. His progress quickly slowed, but his muscles were aching. Cadin landed gently in the middle of the target and then laid down on the soft cloud.
Cadin opened his eyes to the familiar surroundings of his room. It must have been a dream, He thought, feeling thoroughly disappointed. He tried to get up and moaned, his back and chest muscles tight and burning. Cadin flexed, and his wings popped up.
“I did get my wings!” Cadin exclaimed.
“Squeak!” was Gur’s response from his nest by the window.
“You must be tired and sore too.” Cadin walked over to pet Gur under the chin. “It was your first day flying too! I guess you were just waiting for me, huh?” Gur cuddled Cadin’s finger for a moment and then fell back asleep.
“Cadin, are you up?” Sara called from downstairs
“Yeah, Mom. I’ll be right down.”
Cadin put on some new clothes his mom had bought him at Peye’s Style a couple of weeks earlier. The shirt and jacket both had slits in the back which snapped closed around the wings. It took a long time to get everything situated before Cadin opened his door to the hallway to find that the house had completely transformed. The halls were wider, the ceiling was more than double in height and the stairs were gone.
“Hey, mom?”
“Yes, dear?” Sara called from the kitchen.
“What happened to our house?” Cadin asked as he peered down from the top floor into the living room.
Sara poked her head around the corner and looked up with a big smile. “Isn’t it great? We transformed it to aid in your flight training.”
“How?” Cadin was utterly perplexed. Cloud-shifting was one thing, but transforming a house overnight must have been a massive job.
“Fly down and we will tell you. I’ll go get your dad.”
Cadin thought back to everything he learned in his first flight lesson, opened his wings, flapped twice and hit the ceiling before falling and landing hard on the couch.
“Next time, jump and then glide,” Tal said as he walked over and helped Cadin up.
“Thanks. How did you guys change the house over night?”
“Oh, we have been preparing for weeks. Had to obtain a permit to tap into the Thunder Channel which supplies the house with energy, and then we had to prep the house. We got everything primed and programmed to change and then flipped the power switch last night. The house had to endure some structural changes before any of this could happen,” Tal said as he plopped down on the couch and waved his hand across the living room ceiling and missing stairs. “It is still not done, and your mother and I have been making tweaks along the way, but I must say I quite like it. Our energy bill will be crazy this month, though.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that,” Cadin said.
“What do you mean? Cloud-structures shift all the time, or have you really not noticed?” His dad gave him a hard look.
“I just mean I didn’t know it could happen so fast.”
“Good, you had me worried there. The gradual transformations happen based on the main angel Auras most present in a cloud-dwelling. Most changes we don’t actively think about—the dwellings just feed off the energy and adapt slowly over time to the angels’ needs. When you want it done more quickly, you need more energy and have the option of tapping into the main power source of the cloud-land—the Thunder Channel. You can use portable liquid energy—though that’s a usually a much more expensive option. However, if you’re on the fringe lands or far away from a Thunder Chanel, hauling in a few canisters of liquid lightning would actually be more economical. You can also gather dozens of angels with nothing better to do than cloud-shift for a few hours.” Tal got up to greet Sara who skipped into the room with freshly baked brownies, Cadin’s favorite.
Cadin jumped up, grabbed one, put it in his mouth and was shocked to taste buka instead of brownie. Sara must have read his face as she said, “If you would have waited a second before grabbing, I would have told you what they were.”
“Sorry, I am just sooooo hungry.”
“Let’s eat a good breakfast before you head off to school.”
“You’re both back!” Sun said with a big smile.
Cadin swiveled around to see Lep sporting a pair of wings with new curly feathers. They made Lep look bigger, more confident and even more intimidating—especially with the scar over his eye. Cadin wondered if the wings did the same for his image.
“It stunk having both of you gone yesterday.” Sun kicked the dirt and cloud at her feet.
“No wing-coma for you?”
“Nope. After we left you yesterday, I stumbled up the school stairs and my wings ripped through my back. I was released to go back home to practice. I thought I saw you for a moment at the Cloud Park but we had to stay near the pink end because Charlie had the day off school and had to come with us. I wanted to fly over to see you, but my mom insisted that I practice where she could watch both me and Charlie at the same time. Flying was awesome! Awesome and exhausting.”
Lep sat down and gazed up at the sky.
“Stinks we missed each other. I didn’t even know you were there. Oh, here, try this.” Cadin handed him one of the many buka cakes his mom had packed for him. “I warn you it doesn’t taste great. But it will help with your energy.”
Lep looked at the lumpy cake skeptically.
“It’s okay, my mom made it.” Lep’ brows furrowed further.
Gur flew to the ground and stole a little piece before Lep could get the buka cake out of his reach.
Sun giggled. “You learned how to fly too did you, Gur?”
“Did your house transform?” Cadin asked Lep who was choking on the cake.
“Just my room. Charlie still needs the stairs. But ma
ybe we can practice in the Winged Gym.”
“Right you guys weren’t here. We are not in the Gym today because we are going to the Cloud Park!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cyclones
Cadin’s heart jumped when their airship approached the gates of the Cloud Park. Standing in front of the closed wrought-iron gates, as if he were the Guardian of The Park, stood Master Emilio, holding Cadin’s gin-blade in one hand and his white dragon’s hide bag of gins in the other.
A flash of an uncovered memory surfaced. Master Emilio’s voice wafted through his wing-coma haze. “He competed with the Tsuyo and the gins?”
“Yes, and his friend Leptan was injured,” Tal’s voice answered.
“Disappointing. Hmmm. How long has he been unconscious?”
“Two days, already. He should pull out of it soon.”
“I imagine he needs another day yet.” Master Emilio’s voice tickled his hears.
“Why do you think that?” His dad’s voice was stony.
“His subconscious has too much to take on—his journey is unfurling and this recent mistake may be consuming him. I will confiscate these for now. Please inform me when he awakens.”
“Oh no,” Lep said upon spotting Master Emilio. “He can’t take you away from us again—we really need to practice as a team today!”
“You’re right, Lep. I’ll go talk to him,” Cadin said with a victorious smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
“You were busy in my absence, young Cadin of Glade,” Master Emilio said, staring into Cadin’s eyes. “You can inform me of your adventures in The Park before we begin training.”
“Um, sir?”
“Yes?”
“Well, I…uh actually need to train with my team today so we can be prepared to place in the Final Qualifier,” Cadin said quickly.
“I see. In that case, bring them along.” Master Emilio turned to the closed gates separating them from the Cloud Park. Master Emilio raised his hands, the clouds building under the gate and rolling inwards, taking the gates with them. A Cloud Park attendant came running to the entrance, confounded by the gaping gates.
