Sunshine and shadows

Wings of change

Bharani placed her leg on the ground and pushed, sending her skateboard zooming across the cracked pavement. As per her daily routine, she skated over to the Dumpsters, a name that belied its prowess as an impressive skatepark.

As a Gairmoh, she was unfortunate enough to be one of the few people in this world who didn't have magic bursting at her fingertips. So while her mohini friends practiced their earth magic during their free time, she had to make do with boring hobbies like skateboarding. 

Just thinking about that made her mad, so she pouted and propelled the board forward, using her leg to go faster until she crashed into a pile of boxes that fell on her with a huge thud.

She surfaced with a grunt and shook her head, feeling woozy due to the impact. A rapid fluttering caught her eye and she pushed the boxes around to reach it, coming to the conclusion that it was a helpless bird that was caught in the boxes.

However, the cause of the fluttering was anything but that.

"Wings?" she muttered in shock, extracting them from the pile with gentle fingers. The pair of human-sized wings in her hands seemed alive, and were shivering with what Bharani could assume was fear.

So, even though she felt silly, she whispered soothing words and stroked its mangled feathers until it began to warm up to her. To her delight, it wrapped around her arms in unmistakable affection.

When she laughed in response, it jumped up and down in joy and gave her a huge hug. Before she could hug it back, it vanished before her eyes. Or rather, it seemed to melt into her.

Bharani blinked in surprise  when she felt the wings flutter on her back instead. Was it trying to take shelter there instead?

"Her, come back here," she called, reaching out and stretching her back when the wings curved inward and released powerfully, lifting her off the ground.

She squealed in surprise and tried to trash around by instinct, but when she wobbled dangerously, she righted herself and focused on staying aloft. It was a strange experience, hovering above the ground like a bird. Before she could experiment, she felt herself getting tired with the effort of flying and lowered herself to the ground. As soon as her sneakers touched the ground, the wings folded inwards.

Bharani's mind still whizzed as she struggled to process everything. Even as a Gairmoh, she'd been made to learn about magic and the various artifacts through which they could be channeled. It was an incredibly risky process and quite unreliable, due to which they were rare.

Then she took another minute to process the fact that she wasn't a Gairmoh anymore. She had magic now. Magic that wasn't like all the earth magic that everyone else performed. That fact alone gave her a surge of adrenaline, and she got on her skateboard and rushed to her friends.

She found them in the neighboring park, practicing earth magic just like she'd expected. She barreled into them like a cannon and started jumping up and down and describing her experiences. 

To her delight, they were just as excited as she was, and insisted on giving them a demo of her newfound powers. She complied and spread her wings, making everyone gasp in awe.

By now she'd learnt to have basic control over them, and flapped them experimentally. Her feet left the ground and she hovered in the air, whooping and hollering all the way. To the delighted shrieks of her friends, she rose higher and higher until she was over a feet high in the air. This time, exhaustion didn't  creep up on her to her surprise, and she felt as refreshed as ever.

She was just beginning to ponder on the ways to move forward when Pari fell to her knees and clutched her stomach. Bharani descended in a hurry and ran to her friend, who had begun to breathe heavily. 

"I... I don't know what happened to me." She gasped. "I just felt my energy depleting until it began to physically hurt me. I don't think I can do magic until I've had rest now."

Her words sent the others in a panic as they tried to use their powers and failed. Bharani's heart skittered as all her thoughts and guesses caught up with each other. And when her friends' accusing stares turned to her, she knew for sure.

"G... guys," she took a step back and ran a hand through her short hair. "I'm sure there's another explanation for this."

"Bharani," Alia placed a hand on her shoulder. Alia, whom everyone considered the mother hen of the group. "I understand what a terrible blow this must be for you. To live your whole life without magic, then get a taste of what it feels like, only to realize that it'll cost you the magic of everyone around you."

Bharani muffled a sob and covered her face with her hands. She felt Alia wrap her in a hug and pat her back soothingly. "Go home, dear. Think about everything and take a good rest. Then, if you want us to, we'll figure out a way to deal with this."

Bharani nodded and picked up her skateboard, choosing to walk home instead. When she reached, she didn't offer her usual greetings to her parents and ran up to her bedroom. She'd been worried that they would spot the wings, but luckily, her wings didn't seem to be visible to everyone else until she chose to expose them.

She flopped on her bed and pressed her pillow to her face, and thought. Just thought about everything. When she began to sort out her feelings, the fact that she could steal powers from mohinis didn't fill her with the dread that she'd expected. 

Instead, she felt the first thrill of power creeping up her spine. It was even greater than the power she'd felt when she found the wings. It made her think of a future where everyone would be equal, and nobody would have to feel inferior for being a Gairmoh.

The possibilities were almost endless. She would have to chalk out plans, find similar Gairmohs to support her... there was a lot of work to be done if she was really going through with her crazy plan.

"Bharani!" her mom yelled from the kitchen. "Come down for food."

"Coming!" she yelled back and climbed out of bed. Her mind was still not made, but as she walked down the stairs, the pros began to outweigh the cons.

The scene before her was something she saw everyday, and despised with her heart. Her mother bustled around with her superspeed and placed all the vessels on the table, while her dad used his magic to play around with the flowers in the vase and try to come up with new combinations. Looking at them, she finally made up her mind.

"Ma, pa," she said, reaching out to unfurl her wings. "Shall I show you something?"