Of Fairies and Noontime

Trust

"Use your legs!"

"Arch your back just ever so slightly...!"

"Dip your head down and place your eye on the spot you want to reach. Eventually, you'll drift all the way across."

"Ellabelle, don't you think this is a bit..."

"A bit what?" Ellabelle asked, practically screaming over the roaring waters beneath them.

"Uh... dangerous, for one thing. If these mechanical wings fail, I'm down this waterfall in two seconds flat!" Hadley called out, trying not to look down at the foggy death sentence below.

Ellabelle giggled. "You're so dramatic! Come on, let's do some lunging and retreating." She said, joining Hadley in hovering above the giant cliff side waterfall. Ellabelle noticed that her hovering was seeing some major improvement, which made her smile inside. "Alright, let's take it slow. To lunge forward, like if you're trying to pass another fairy in traffic, you simply lean forward quick, pushing your legs back behind you with your knees, as if you're being jolted by lightning."

Hadley crossed her arms. "That's a terrible analogy." She complained jokingly. Ellabelle shushed her.

"Well, let's try it. See if you can lunge forward."

Hadley tried doing what Ellabelle had instructed her to do. She leaned forward and began to drift, so she pushed her legs out. She ended up going quite a bit further than she wanted to, face planting on a large, jagged rock that stuck out from the top of the waterfall.

"Don't get your wings wet!" Ellabelle called out, laughing.

Hadley regained balance, shaking her head from the impact. "I suppose you thought that was funny?" She asked, returning to their starting position.

"It was a little bit amusing, I must admit." Ellabelle smiled. "But hey, that was only your first try, and I'm here to help you with your form. Try keeping your legs together, and really push your legs out to propel yourself forward."

"Ok," Hadley nodded.

"To stop, just return to your hovering position; upright." Ellabelle explained. "Try again."

Hadley tried swallowing her nerves away, but they immediately returned to the back of her throat. The way that Ellabelle talked so passionately about flying was the way that the people back home talked about playing sports. She loved trying new things, but learning how to maneuver mechanical wings proved to be quite the challenge.

Hadley squoze her fists together, took a deep breath in, and tried another lunge forward. The beginning part of the process wasn't bad; the stopping part is what got her. She ended sideways or just a few feet above where she started from. Ellabelle placed a calm hand on her shoulder.

"Now, retreating," she began. Her voice sounded like a lullaby. She was better than any teacher that Hadley had ever had, that was for sure. "It's basically the same thing as lunging, just backwards. It's like lying on your back to fall asleep, just less horizontal."

Ellabelle waited for Hadley to try it. She gave several attempts to retreat, and they seemed to work out slightly better than the lunges did.

Hadley practiced twirling in the air and even tried dancing while flying. By the end of their second round of training, she completely forgot that they were above a waterfall, and so did Ellabelle.

"Look!" Ellabelle exclaimed, pointing.

Hadley looked in the direction she was pointing. In the distance, the sunset painted the sky in different shades of pink and orange. Ellabelle and Hadley sat just next to the waterfall on the cliff, watching the sunset unfold and, one by one, seeing stars appear.