As the ground raced up to crash into the three Wind’dancers, Twirl screamed “NOOOOOO.”
“Afraid?” asked Looper with an evil grin.
“Of course I’m afraid. I’ve seen you fly since you were three. And you still look like a Tumbler in a Tempest.” A Tumbler was kind of like a dandelion on Earth.
Since they had accomplished their mission of scaring a girl half their size, the boys pulled out of their dive (at the last possible second just to be really obnoxious) and released Twirl. Their momentum allowed them to climb back up with relative ease. The girl, on the other hand, had to sail close to the ground till she could catch a thermal to take her back up. It took a long five minutes.
In case you missed it, a Wind’dancer wasn’t a birdman. They couldn’t flap their wings. What they could do was to glide . . . they called it sailing . . . using air currents and thermals to take them where they wanted to go.
“Nice of you to join us,” kidded Styxx.
“You’re such a creep,” she answered as she stuck out her tongue.
They were sailing above the Sun-Seeker Trees of their village . . .
. . . enjoying the afternoon thermals. It was Skye who suggested, “Let’s head for the Endless Sea (we would call it an ocean) and check out the Tea Kettle.” That was an active underwater volcano that had reached the surface of the water. The hot lava mixed with cold seawater caused it to spew bilious steam clouds into the air.
For the bravest of the Wind’dancers, the air currents at the Tea Kettle were akin to riding the best, scariest rollercoasters at Disney World or Six Flags.
But just like some kids on Earth, for BreeZee, rollercoasters weren’t her cup of tea . . . especially so from this particular teakettle. “That’s a terrible idea.”
“Don’t be such a Wind-Miller (the nickname given to very young Wind’dancers that were first learning to sail. They had a tendency to wave their arms – completely forgetting they had wings). If we’re lucky we might spot some of those sea serpents.” The not-quite-yet intelligent serpents enjoyed the heat given off by the lava.
BreeZee liked that idea even less. Those leviathans were so strange, so large and so terrifying. She couldn’t even imagine what might happened if she were to fly too low and be grabbed by one. It made her shiver in fright.
“I’m in,” said Styxx. As the de facto leader of the group, it meant that everyone else would also ‘be in’. “Let’s get going, we don’t have that much sunlight left.”
BreeZee was now in full panic mode. To fly to the Tea Kettle, ride its thermals above the sea serpents, way out in the Endless Sea, as it was growing dark was way too much for her to handle. “No, I can’t.”
“Why not?” asked Twirl.
“Um . . . I promised my dad that I’d do some chores,” she said unconvincingly.
That was greeted with a chorus of “Liar.”
“You are such a Timid Tissel’twix (a bird-like creature that was literally afraid of its own shadow). How are you ever going to Ascend?” Nyxxie was BreeZee’s least favorite friend. The older the girl got, the more self-assured and superior she became.
“Leave Bree alone,” said Skye coming to her defense.
“Ohhhhh. Silly me. I should have known you two are a couple.”
Skye blushed a bright red . . . but not quite as red as BreeZee. This time Windy came to the rescue. “They are not a couple.” What she didn’t say was that she wished she and Skye were. But that was her secret.
“Enough of this jibber-jabber,” said Looper. “Let’s just go. Bree will catch up to you later.” The boy didn’t have a mean feather on his wings (being occasionally obnoxious like any young man didn’t count. Regardless of the planet, that was just hard wired into their DNA).
But peer pressure was the same throughout the galaxy and the girl was now too embarrassed to leave. “Um . . . I guess I can go with you.” Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid the others would hear it.
“Great. Let’s do this thing,” and Styxx caught an updraft, spiraled skyward past a layer of clouds, and was soon out of sight. Everyone followed one by one. BreeZee and Windy were the last two.
“Are you sure?” Windy asked her friend.
The other girl hesitated then answered as bravely as she could, “Of course. It’ll be fun.”
And once again, the response was “Liar.”
BreeZee managed a short, sad laugh. “I never was very good at fibbing.”
“Keep practicing. You’ll get the hang of it.”
*****
The thing about riding the thermals inside the Tea Kettle was that they were very violent. On Earth, you might call it a Tempest in a Tea Pot. It really was a dumb thing to do. But if you were young and foolish enough to want to experience the thrill, the best place to enter them was about a hundred feet above the surface of the water. Any lower and the temperature was too hot and the force of the steam could break your wings. If you entered any higher . . . well, it just wasn’t as risky – so what was the point.
With Styxx leading the way, he dove almost straight down just outside the steaming mass of air, his wings tucked close to his body. At the last second, he unfurled the wings, and changed direction from down to up – but at an angle so that he would enter the wind stream. With an air-splitting yell, he was yanked skyward, spiraling around and around the grey vortex.
The others followed close behind.
Well, not everyone. BreeZee did dive down but just couldn’t bring herself to enter the fast rising column of air. Instead, with all of her friends lost in the mist, she climbed higher then entered the Kettle at about five hundred feet. It was much less violent at this altitude but still outside her comfort zone. If she hadn’t been so embarrassed, she would have just gone home.
Like Styxx, she screamed as she entered the thermal. Unlike Styxx, she did it from fright and not delight. It was all she could do to keep herself from tossing up her lunch.
When she finally reached the top, her friends were all waiting for her. “Way to go, Bree,” yelled Looper. “This time, let’s do it in formation. Everyone hold on to the ankles of the one in front of you. Ready?”
Embarrassed or not, BreeZee just couldn’t do it. “Sorry, I’m out.” Sometimes, if you are really smart, you take the good advice of your brain over the emotional call of your heart . . . and do what you know is right for you. Better a little short-term embarrassment then suffering the long-term effects from a dumb decision.
“Come on, girl,” said Nyxxie with a malicious grin. “You can hang on to your boyfriend’s feet. Oops, I mean Skye.”
“Leave her alone,” said Looper.
“She’s such a bore. Why do we even hang with her?”
“She did it once. Give her a break.”
“No she didn’t. I saw her enter the Kettle like half way up.”
Everyone turned to look at the girl who just hung her head to avoid eye contact.
“At least she had the guts to try,” said Skye.
“And don’t call him her boyfriend,” added Windy.
“Whatever. Come on, it’s getting dark. Let’s do it again,” and she dove down like Styxx had done.
“Bree,” said Skye, “just wait for us by the cliffs. Will be finished in a few.”
“Okay. Thanks.” And the girl sailed away – embarrassed by her own actions and inactions. As she made her way to the safety of the cliff, all she could think about was how in the world she could ever sail into a Tempest. How would she ever Ascend?”
By the time the others got back to the cliff overlooking the Sea, the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. The sky was lit with brilliant hues of orange and red while the water took on a lovely purplish glow. The others were so exhausted by their sailing that they couldn’t be bothered when BreeZee tried to get them to admire the beauty of the sunset.
“Come on Bree,” yelled Skye. “If we hurry we’ll just make it back before dark.”
Like so many other things, sailing at
night was not one of the girl’s favorite activities. She sighed deeply. Whether it was from having to leave the beautiful sight or because of her timidity in the face of anything that might be the slightest bit dangerous was unclear.
*****
Styxx and Looper took the Tempest and Ascended. And despite their promise to the contrary, they left the group. “It’s just time to move on,” said Looper when the others asked.
*****
Nyxxie Ascended the following Tempest as did Twirl, three months later. They, too, left the group. This time BreeZee wasn’t as sad as when the boys had left.
Chapter 7 – The Nauti Get Naughty
About a Month Ago
Skye and Windy had both Ascended on the same Tempest . . . six months before BreeZee had taken the Rite. But they had both promised that afterwards, they wouldn’t abandon their friend as the others had.
In truth, Windy only said it because Skye had. Even though she was very close to Bree, her feelings for the young man were just getting more and more intense and confusing. Normally she would have discussed such things with her girlfriend, but she obviously couldn’t in this case. Windy was pretty sure that BreeZee was also feeling a not-so-childish attraction to Skye.
Having both Ascended, it would have been simple and almost expected that the two would go off on their own – presumably to be with other newly minted grown-ups. In reality, she would have used the time alone to explore her feelings and see if Skye felt the same way.
When he made the promise to stick with Bree until she Ascended, it kind of blew those plans. But now there was another opportunity.
BreeZee had totally and spectacularly lost her mind.
The Wind’dancers called such a condition a ‘brain-squall’ and a person with this condition, a Winged’Nut. It usually occurred to someone who crashed while sailing and hit their head really hard – like a Wind ‘jammer. Maybe that’s what happened to the girl, but if it did, she didn’t remember it.
More than likely, it was probably the stress from the terror she experienced in that terribly violent storm. And Windy could sympathize – she knew that her friend was afraid of just about everything. Whatever the reason, however, the silly girl now believed she had talked to Zynnia.
Yikes!!!
To be fair, she and Skye had tried to discuss the subject with their friend. It would be really embarrassing for everyone – especially Zephyr – if this delusion became common knowledge.
“Bree, you know how crazy it sounds, don’t you?”
“Why? It was always assumed that the old stories were just that – a children’s fable. But obviously, they were true. Why is that so hard to believe?”
Skye tried a different approach. “Why would she come to you? Why not every ‘Dancer or ‘Nauti who was in trouble? What makes you so special?” Realizing that sounded a little harsh, he quickly added, “Well, you are special to us . . . but you know what I mean.”
The girl put her face in her hands and mumbled, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“Why can’t you just accept the fact that you found your own courage and did what you had to do to survive? Why give credit to anyone else?”
“Because I had given up.” She never meant to admit that, but it seemed like now was a good time to come clean.
“What do you mean – given up?” asked her girlfriend.
“Just what it sounds like. I was terrified . . . being tossed around like a leaf, and the wind was so loud, so deafening, it made it impossible to think. I couldn’t get myself to do any of things I was supposed to do. So, I stopped trying.”
The other girl was kind of horrified by that revelation. But Skye, always the good friend, saw it differently. “That proves you’re wrong, Bree.”
Both girls looked at him . . . waiting impatiently for an explanation.
“Don’t you see, if you really and truly gave up, Zynnia wouldn’t have raised a finger, or whatever, to help you. Why would she? If she only helps a few people, don’t you think she would only help someone who was trying really hard? And if you were trying really hard to do what you already knew what to do, you wouldn’t need Zynnia’s help.” He smiled triumphantly at this bit of mental gymnastics.
It took both girls a minute to digest that garble of wisdom. But it was Bree who answered for both of them. “WHAT?”
“Look, there was no Zynnia. It was you, and only you and we are all really proud. Can’t you just accept that?”
“That’s sweet. But no. She was there and saved me. I’m sorry if you can’t believe me.”
There was nothing left to say. Windy and Skye left on some pretext and over the next few weeks found reasons not to spend time with their former friend. They did, however, spend a lot more time together.
And, to no one’s surprise, they happily announced to the village that they were getting married.
Skye asked Looper to be his best man.
Windy asked Nyxxie to be her maid of honor.
BreeZee waited for her invitation.
But as days stretched into weeks, she had to accept the fact that she wasn’t getting one.
*****
She had changed.
It wasn’t just the beautiful wings . . . though she couldn’t help but admire them in the mirror every night before she went to bed. Vanity wasn’t the reason. It was just that she never, ever expected to Ascend. Like the Timid Tissel’twix, she was afraid of everything. And getting the courage to face a Tempest didn’t seem very likely.
It also wasn’t because she now had no friends to hang with. Oh, everyone was very polite. And, she would occasionally get invitations to join in some activity since her father was still clan leader. But when she declined, she could tell the others were greatly relieved.
Who wanted a Winged’Nut as a friend?
The answer was pretty obvious. No one.
The real change was her newfound confidence. She now believed in her ability to face any challenge and to succeed. To prove it to herself she had flown to the Tea Kettle, on her own, and spent a half day riding the violent thermals.
She spent another day searching the Endless Sea for serpents. She found them in a shallow bay. There were large ones (well, enormous ones) and smaller versions that must have been their offspring. They were feeding on small fish and kelp. And, much to her surprise, she was pretty sure that they were playing like any Wind’dancer family at a picnic.
She even got up the courage to land on a crescent shaped reef . . .
. . . and wade out to where some of the very small serpents were swimming around. When they came to investigate, her first instinct was to get the heck out of there. Then she thought of the blue light and her fears seemed to evaporate like a bad dream upon wakening.
The tiny serpents came up to her and nudged the girl with their snouts. Tentatively at first, then with enthusiasm, she started to pet each one in turn. When one of them brought her a leafless, water-soaked branch, she took it and threw it as far as she could. Three of the kids (strange, that’s how she thought of them) made a mad dash and splash to retrieve it. The one who returned it to her she named K’oral because the serpent’s coloring reminded her of seashells and sand.
This went on for almost an hour and she was beginning to tire. When one of the leviathans came over to investigate (maybe it was K’oral’s mom), BreeZee decide that discretion was the better part of valor and retreated back to the reef. She caught the sea breeze with her wings and slowly spiraled skyward.
So distracted by the serpents, she hadn’t realized how late it was. If she hurried, she could still be home before dark.
Instead, she flew to the cliff to watch another beautiful sunset. Then, with only the moon to guide her, BreeZee sailed home at a leisurely pace.
There was no hurry.
Some twenty or so minutes later . . . about half way home . . . something caught BreeZee’s attention and she looked skyward. It was a ball of flame and it was streaking towards the sea at an incredible rate.
She watched it with fascination never having seen anything like it before. A moment later, it hit the water and in the moonlight, she could just make out a plume of steam as the object disappeared from sight.
After a minute of watching to see if anything else was going to happen, Bree turned around and resumed her flight home. She wondered if she should tell anyone what had happened. It might be important.
No . . . they probably wouldn’t believe her. They’d think she was just hallucinating about yet another visit by Zynnia.
*****
Current Day on Zynn-Zaz’zia
The tallest Sun-Seeker Tree, the one with the Ascension WingStone, housed many of the community activities of BreeZee’s village. There was a medical clinic, the Institute of Knowledge (we’d call it a school or university), a bunch of governmental departments, some businesses . . . and the Hall of Consent.
Once a month Zephyr, as clan leader, would call a meeting of the Village Elders (they weren’t necessarily elderly . . . the term Elder meant an elected official) to discuss whatever business concerned the welfare of the people who had elected them.
Besides Zephyr, there were four others seated at the round table. On his left were Bluster and Fl’air (the only female member). On his right were Puffer and Gusty.
Normally these meetings were opened to the public . . . but not today’s. The doors were shut and locked, and a Guardian (think policeman) was standing just outside to further ensure their privacy.
When everyone had settled in, Zephyr began the meeting. “There have been so many incidents that I can’t keep it secret any longer. We need to formulate a plan then present the facts to the people.”
“There’s going to be a panic,” observed Fl’air.
“Can you blame them? This is unprecedented. Whoever heard of one clan showing aggression against the others?”
Box Set #2: Zynn-Zaz'Zia: [The 4 book 2nd Adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood] Page 17
