Fly (2nd in the feather series)

Three

Eventually, the portal stopped swirling, disapeered and mum and I landed in Nyk, Srrin. I was looking around when I spotted Amy, The Bird Girl, in a corner with a friend of hers. I blinked and suddenly Amy had teleported over to me. She looked at my mum and I before asking,

"Why did you travel by portal dust? If I had teleported you here the journey to Srrin would've been a whole lot quicker!"

I smiled at my friend, brushing the portal dust off myself and said,

"You can't be in two places at once you know."

Amy grinned and replied jokily,

"Oh yes I can - just watch me!"

Then she started rapidly teleporting to locations all over Nyks town centre.Next, waving goodbye to me, Amy went back to talk to her other friend.

I breathed in the fresh air, and looked around Nyk. I could sense magic everywhere, for spells worked in Srrin. Srrin was very different to Atlo, Naturally and Modernly. Almost everywhere in Srrin, you would find a tree or shrub of some kind. There were no supermarkets or cars and planes. Srrin didn't need them - it didn't take up influence from Atlo, it was itself, a quirky, colourful country. I wanted to rediscover Srrin again, fly around but mum appeared to have other ideas.

"Layla, I know you want to look around but we can't. We need to allow time to get to Toplir woods on the mountain."

Mum handed me a backpack and it was only then that I realised we would be going there by foot. Not that I was surprised or anything but once you've lived in a world like Atlo, where you go by car to many places , it's a big change. I put on my backpack and we set off to go and hike up the mountain.

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When we had climbed up the mountain, I spotted a large woodland, full of young trees. Mum led me into the wood, past slivery trees with papery bark, large trees with yellow-green leaves as large as umbrellas and tall, thin bushy trees with triangle shaped leaves. Srrin trees were strange but somehow they managed to go well with each other, creating a shady but warm spot. All through the wood, there were feathers mixed in with the leaf litter. Mum finally led me to a clearing and stood in the centre of it, instructing me to do so too. Then mum shouted out some Srrin words. They meant - Bring the flock to the centre, Eagle. Shortly after she'd said those words, about 40 people came to the centre, kids, teens like me, elderly people, young adults and finally, the leader of them all. The leader approached us carefully, seeming interested in my mum and I. He seemed to be a scary character, though he had kind eyes and he walked like a king. Well, he was the leader after all.

The leader asked my mum,

"Is this girl here to start her Mrjk?"

Mum nodded and told him my name, age and that I was a Fyincher - although I had no idea what a Fyincher was.

The leader then told mum and I to transform at will to prove we were Aviars. I looked at my long-sleeved top and realised it would make transformation more difficult unless I got rid of the sleeves. So I dashed to the nearest tree, found a sharp rock and hacked away at my top until the sleeves slipped off, landing limply on the forest floor. Then, I relaxed and held out my arms, transforming into my winged form. Soon, I had fully transformed and waited for my mum to do so too. My mums wings, unlike my chestnut,blonde,brown wings were black-grey, with black shades along her wing tips. The leader looked at us both and smiled approvingly.

"Very good." He said. "She's part of a very succesful family, so Layla will be sure to pass with flying colours." He then instructed us to sit down with the rest of the Aviar flock while he got information from the other teens who were signing up for their Mrjks. After a while, the leader, preferring to be called Eagle, told the other teens and I to come to the centre of the clearing. He then told us,

"Greetings Fyinchers, from our flock and from elsewhere. It is here in the mountains that you are to start your Mrjk - a traditional task done by every Aviar to win ' The Feather '."

I suddenly remebered how in Srrin, passing your Mrjk was so much more than winning the mysterious 'feather'. It was something to be proud of and previous winners of 'the feather' had been great heroes, law changers, succesful people. Winners of 'the feather' were highly respected by all.

"The Mrjk will consist of 3 parts, 1st part knowledge, 2nd part comunity test and the 3rd part is the most important - the final challenge. You will be sitting the knowledge tests today, the community test will be in 3 days and The final challenge will not be until next week. Does anyone have any questions?"

A nervous boy asked,

"What happens if we fail?"

Eagle answered,

"It depends. If, for instance, you are 12 and fail, you get to try again until you are 14 1/2. But if you are 14 1/2 and fail, you've failed - The main Aviar council doesn't allow any more tries after that unfortunately. Also, bear in mind you have to wait at least 2 months until you can try again after failing - so you have time to revise. But I don't think any of you will fail, so no need to worry."

Eagle then turned around and walked away, telling us that we would be sitting the knowledge test in an hour. Once he had gone, all of the teens started chatting with each other, me included. We talked about what we wanted to be when we were older. I wasn't certain on what I wanted to be, although I wanted to have a good job in Srrin so that I could make Srrins government listen to me. I wanted to make Srrin a better place for its residents and make sure we wouldn't have another civil war. I was suddenly snapped out of my daydream though because Eagle returned with the 1st test of the Mrjk.

Now it was time for one of the most important tests in my life.