Airborne Wings

Chapter four- Ember

Ember smiled at his mother as she stretched, "what is it, Ember?" She asked, shaking her feathers out.

"Nothing; I'm just happy that you FINALLY woke up! Can we practice flying now? You know I don't really know how!" Ember shifted his weight from talon to talon, as he remembered what she'd said the night before. "If you behave and stay away from humans and that girl Grace, and always stay by my side and listen to me and only me, then I will teach you to fly, and I will love you and only you." He'd scowled, "not like I even want to be around lowly creatures like them," Ember had pointed at the blobs of the kids and teachers running away, "and besides, Grace doesn't matter; she's just another leaf on a tree." He'd wrinkled his beak, "a rather rotten one too," Hera had smiled and waved a talon over to a grassy field a few hundred feet across from them, "We'll rest there for the night." And here they were, on the grassy clearing, Ember grinning and Hera yawning.

"I did, didn't I? Well, we'll practice after breakfast. I'm sure you'll like it, especially since the last time you tried to fly, you fell... Maybe I should have taught you sooner." Last night, he'd tried to protect his mother because the humans tried to kill her. He'd leaped down on the first one, claws outstretched. He realized it was an old friend of his. He swerved away from her out of reflex. She had betrayed him. Grace. Of all people, why her? They got away, and his mother gave him a present. She said it would protect him from a curse the humans put on him. He gladly accepted it, happy that his mother had tried to save him. It was a pretty black ribbon. He felt fine; happy, actually, "okay, Mother! Where is breakfast? I've only had meat, and I don't see any steak," Hera laughed. He remembered the meat Grace had given him when he sneaked away from home with a stab of pity. When he was back to his senses he thought, I don't need to have a huge pity party over a stupid human. "Well, there aren't any edible animals here. Let's go hunt for some berries, okay?" She smiled at him.

"Ooo, Mother, look!" Ember held out his white berry excitedly. Hera wrinkled her beak, "Ember, that has bird poop on it, put it down." Ember looked down at the grass below him sadly, "okay..."

By late morning, Ember and his mother had both of their wings full of blackberries. When they reached their small sleeping area, Ember dumped all the berries he was carrying in his wings on a clean patch of grass. Hera did the same, making a huge pile of berries to eat. Hera looked down at her blackberry stained feathers and sighed. "So much for the 'pearly white feathered Princess Hera'..." She mumbled to herself, "okay, eat to your heart's content, this'll last us for the day before we head back to Terrarian," she said, "which you have never been to, so it'll be exciting, for both you and I. Did I tell you I am a princess?" Hera asked. Ember shook his head. "Peasants say I do Queen Daffodil's 'dirty work,' and then I tell them, 'well, that OBVIOUSLY isn't true, because I do it out of my own authority,' and then they must say 'you're missing the whole point.'" She huffed, "If Queen Daffodil hadn't stopped me, I would stuff their faces! They REALLY deserved it. Don't you agree, Ember?"

Ember looked at her mother skeptically, she is such a baby at times. Ember shook his head, "no, I don't, they were just stating their opinion, and to kill them for that is uncalled for and rude." He plucked a berry from the pile and put it in his mouth. "So much like his father..." Hera said under her breath loud enough for Ember to hear. She took a berry too and started chewing slowly.

After breakfast, Hera looked for a nice big, sharp rock. It was for launching them up in the air enough to start flying, which Ember thought was extremely smart and cool of her to think of.

"Found one!" Hera called from a few feet away. Ember happily skipped over to her side. It was about the size of all four talons and legs together, perfect for a launching pad. "I need you to stand on that rock and copy exactly what I do." She bent over and flattened her wings, and pushed off the ground, swooping in a loop and touching back down to the ground, "can you do that?" She asked Ember.

"I don't know, but I certainly can try," Ember said, copying exactly what Hera did. He swooped in an arc and instead of landing, kept swooping. He laughed as the wind whipped past him, making his eyes water. He then noticed the wind tilted him toward the ground. Or so he thought until he realized that wasn't the wind; it was him falling.

After he was bruised and knew how to fly better, they decided to set off for Terrarian. He saw many things in his afternoon adventure including spiders, birds, people (scowl), and even lizards. But what he enjoyed the most was the fiery sunset. How its oranges, pinks, and magentas flashed across the sky, showing off to those who looked. How it was bright and warmed him from the inside, making him want to fly right inside it. Making him feel proud. Proud of himself. Proud with his mother. Proud of the world and it's natural beautiful life and structure. It was perfect in every way. As Hera and Ember watched the stars appear in the sky, Hera smiled. "Finally. Almost home. Are you ready to leave Iregelan and enter Terrarian?" She asked. Ember looked around himself. There wasn't a huge sign saying, 'Terrarian this way!' Or 'Terrarian opposite way from here!' Or even a portal leading the way. There wasn't even a hint of a phoenix world anywhere.

"I am, but where is it, Mother? Are you talking about that old shack?" He glanced uneasily at the small wooden shack he'd gone to the bathroom in. Hera barked a laugh, "Oh heavens no!" She sighed happily, "it is much, much, much better than you could EVER imagine, and let me tell you, it's nothing like a small shack, but the shack is the entrance to it, in a way. Come," Hera said, walking over to it. She took one big step up onto the shack, which to Ember's surprise, didn't even dent. Hera watched Ember's gaze and smiled, "I was surprised too, when I saw this sturdy old thing. But after all, this is the only way phoenixes get back home, so it's held many phoenixes before." Ember gulped, hopping up on the shack with his mother. "Now, since you are pretty good at flying, I hope you know that we're leaping off this shack and flying there, right?" Hera asked.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! I can't do that! I'm not good at flying! What if I die in the process of getting to my world? What if... What if.... His mind whirled with self-doubt and what-ifs. He gulped again and squeezed his eyes shut, leaped off the shack next to his mother.

"Ember," Hera started, "can you turn on your camo?" Ember remembered that he could change color just by imagining that color seeping into all of his thoughts. He did as he was told, blending as well as he could with the sunset. "Hmm, pretty good; you phens are lucky... I remember when I was a little phen, I used to play hide-and-seek and change colors quite a bit..." She tilted her wings to catch an incoming breeze.

"What do you mean you 'used to change colors'?" She was quiet. Ember sighed, and kept his mouth shut. They were quiet for quite a while listening to the cicadas chirp and scanning the ground for any deer or elk or even a rabbit or other bird to roast and eat. They had only eaten half of the berries that had been collected that morning, and Hera said they couldn't bring them to eat later, which he now understood. "Almost there," Hera said. She flexed her talons, "we might have a little bit of a 'burn' on the way." She grinned, "But we'll be fine, we are built for this!" She dove down toward the treetops and Ember followed.

They dodged trees and scanned the ground for 5 or so minutes until Hera put on an extra burst of speed, leaving Ember struggling to keep up. Hera went a little higher, and so did Ember. Straight inside the sunset.

Ember struggled to stay aloft at a strong burning sensation that made his limbs and brain hurt excessively. He and Hera were walking on a flaming road that seemed to float in the air. Ember looked over the edge and soon after wished he never looked. He saw clouds and trees very, very, very far below him. The road he was walking on seemed to continue on forever.

Hera suddenly stopped moving. "Almost there!" Hera said excitedly. She jogged forward, her tail swishing rapidly. The club on the end of Hera's tail came within a hair of his front leg. He jumped back with a yelp. Hera took a deep breath and slowed to a walk, "Ember, welcome to Terrarian," She moved to the side of the flaming road and held out a wing to the floating planet of Terrarian. Ember's eyes went wide with shock. Terrarian's a planet?! INSIDE OF THE SUN?!?!