I know you.

Ian II

This is a pretty long chapter, sorry i haven't been active in a while. Anyway i'm going to change a couple of things in the older chapters.
Hope you guys like it!
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Nothing is better than waking up to your whole family shouting at you.
I mumble an excuse and leave the room, bringing with me a pair of big trousers from my father's wardrobe.
I'm eager to see Ian again.
As I approach the woods riding my horse, I hear a distant melody which slowly transforms into a song I know too well.
I sing along to it, recognising the voice at once.
"... have faith in your dreams and some day,
Your rainbow will come smiling through.
No matter how your heart is grieving,
If you keep on believing,
The dream that you wish will come true."
The beautiful melody takes me to a secret place where there's a waterfall covering a cave only two humanoids in this world know.
"You have a beautiful voice, Ian."- I tell him while looking up to a couple of legs hanging from a rock on top of the cave.
"Well...-he starts while standing up on the rock-...I learnt from the best. Or didn't I ?"
I blush noticeably.
"I see you brought your horse. What for? I've always wanted to ask you. Why do you keep your wings tied with that...- he jumps from the rock and lands beside me.-...this thing?"
"First of all, that -thing- is a harness. And second of all, that is none of your business."- the smile on his face suddenly disappears.
"There is no need for you to be that-"
"I said none of your business."
I realise too late that i'm being to hard on him. He really just wants to know.
I can sense he feels a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry, I've had a hard week."
Silence.
"I brought my horse for an exchange."
His head tilts like an owl's.
"I'll show you how to ride a horse. How to understand it. Don't look at me like that. I know you want to. I've seen the way you look at him."
"You got me there. "
"In exchange, i want you to first, put on these clothes i brought you. Those shorts you stole from our trash don't suit you at all. They belonged to my sister."- I smirk. . He just looks down to the small flower shorts he has been wearing for who knows how long.
When i hand him the pair of trousers, our hands touch, and i can feel how warm he is, even for a second. I'm so cold compared to him.
"Deal. But what do you want?"
"I want you...-"
"Yes, go on..."
"..to teach me...-"
"For god's sake, just say it!"
"...how to fly."
Silence again. I can't hear anything else apart from the blood pumping in my ears.
"Go on, say something, Ian."
Suddenly, he jumps behind me and grabs my harness.
"Ian! What are you doing?!"
He doesn't answer, but a moment later I can't feel the tip of my tied wings brushing against the back of my knee, the way they normally are.
"What have you done?"- I ask, when I stop feeling the pressure on my back.
"You want to learn how to fly. Well we have to start with something."
"Yeah I know, but-"
"Shh..."- he places a finger on my lips, making me stop talking instantly. He's back to being himself, and I'm not completely sure i can deal with that.
"Just follow me. There's no need for you to talk at all."
I am terribly confused, and this really isn't the way I'm used to being treated. In the end I don't' say anything and just enjoy the warmth of his hand while I try to keep up with his fast speed.
We run around the waterfall hill, and I can't feel anything but freedom. My wings help me keep my balance incredibly well, but they are very big and it takes a lot of effort not to hit Ian in the head with them.
With the sun light, I can now confirm what I saw last night: his wings are white with brown streaks and are round-shaped on the edges.

We climb to the top of the hill; from up here I can see the waterfall underneath us, and the whole forest.
Surprisingly, we're not out of breath at all. I must be in better shape than I thought.
He looks down, pointing at the lake under us and starts giving me a speech about something I'm not listening to because I just realised how incredibly soft my down feathers are. They're completely white, like snow. I can't see my back, but I recall what my mother said about my family yesterday morning. I am the first generation of a Golden Hawk and an Imperial Eagle. Looking at the edge of my wings, they really do look like a mixture of those two animals; kind of pointy like a hawk's but also round on the bottom part, like an eagle's. I wonder what colour they are on the back.
"PIPER!"
"Wha... What?!"
"Have you not been listening at all?"
"Sorry this is really new for me and I'm kind of lost. Can't you just... Say it again?"
He looks at me kind of annoyed; I don't know how much time he's been talking to himself.
Sighing, he starts all over again.
"Okay so, flying is not like walking. You can't stop mid-air, just because you're lost or tired. Only some eians are able to stay put while flying. I'm not sure you're that kind. But we'll talk about that later..." -I wonder how he knows about eians if he was abandoned in the forest when he was younger. I decide to ask later.-" ...you have to picture where you're going before-hand. First, show me your wingspan."
I open my wings slowly, and realise it's as easy as raising a hand or a leg.
As I finish completely unfolding my wings,he stands back, and he looks genuinely impressed.
He also has his wings stretched out, and I realise my wingspan is so much bigger than his.
He quickly runs around and stands behind me. Then i suddenly feel his hand on my left wing, brushing slightly over it.
A shiver runs through my whole body, and I blush.
'I don't think you realise what you've got here. Piper, your wings are golden."
What.
"Well, they have some brown feathers and streaks, just like mine, but for the rest they are completely golden. But like, shiny golden. They're beautiful Piper."
I don't think anyone has ever blushed this hard.
"Thanks, Ian."
He runs around me again and looks at me in the eyes.
"There's no need to thank me, sweetie."
"Okay, too close to my face. Back off."
I can't look at him, I'm too embarrassed right now.
I'm just not used to being treated this way.
He, too, seems a little embarrassed. Looks like he didn't expect me to act that way.
"Well, sweetie, it's time for flying. Are you ready?"
"Nope."
"Great, okay. Do you see that rock on the edge of the lake? We're going to land there. Just open your wings and feel the wind under them. It's only a little branching, just like little birds do. But instead of a tree, we'll land safely on the ground. I'll go first. Just watch what I do and follow me."
"No! But I don't-"
"You'll land on water. Don't worry. It'll be alright."
He looks at me with those mesmerising yellow eyes and I just stare at them, convinced that it'll be okay.
Without saying anything else, he walks and steps on the edge of the cave, and turns around to face the lake.He stretches out his wings even more, and steps on air. He doesn't even flap his wings, gliding through the space between us and the end of the lake. In a couple of what seems like seconds he lands near the rock, and folds his wings back into place. He turns around to look at me from the distance, signaling me to try it myself.
I step on the edge, nervously looking down at the water. It seems easy, but I know it isn't.
What if i fall?
What if i can't fly? If we hadn't had to escape from our home, I'd probably know how to do it with my eyes closed. What if I'm not meant to ever learn? I could easily die from a fall like this one, even if I land on water.
"Piper don't think about it! Otherwise you'll never jump!"
He reads my mind.
All this questions can be answered with just one more step,
But i'm too scared to jump.
I finally decide not to think about it.
Just jump.
I open my wings wide.
One more step and... Air.
I can't feel anything under my feet.
The wind under my wings feels like a blanket keeping me from falling.
I don't have the words to express the feeling that flying gives me.
It's a mixture of excitement, but I also feel very relaxed, although it's my first time and I'm very nervous. I really can't decide how I'm feeling.
Turning is easier than I thought. You just have to tilt your wings in order to control the wind that goes under you.
But then realize that... I don't know how to land, and i'm getting very close to were Ian is standing.
"Move!"
He doesn't understand me and I when  I realize how quickly I'm moving, it's too late.
I knock him down, landing on his chest.
Great.
"Oh, sorry I'll just..."
"No, no. It's okay, I'll l move."
Very awkwardly, I try to stand by pressing my hands against his chest, because his arms are all around me.
More blushing, great.
"You tell me to back off, and now you land on top of me? I don't think you really want me to stay away from you."-he says with a grin.
I awkwardly stand up and look up towards the cliff I just took off from, while pretending I didn't hear what he just said.
I did it.
"Oh my god! I did it!"
"Yeah you did."- he says laughing like it wasn't such a big deal.
"I want to do it again."
"Okay, but try not to land on me again, sweetie."
I feel his hands on my wings again. I don't like the way he treats me. At all.
I turn around, angry and uncomfortable.
"Okay let's get one thing clear. I have no idea how you got that personality, growing up all alone in the woods, but I have my own problems, as you can see, so please don't treat me like if I was some childish girl anxious to crush on you."
Whoa.
His face shows a mixture of different colours, and i'm guessing his feelings too. Maybe i've gone too far? I just wanted him to stop talking, acting... Like that. I don't really know him. Maybe his personality is like that. Maybe I have gone too far.
Or maybe I'm overthinking this. Yeah I probably am.
"Sorry. I didn't know that bothered you."
I feel ashamed now.
"It's okay. It's just... I've never met another one like me apart from... My family."-I say, trying to excuse myself. He really needed to be put into place, but maybe I should've done that a little bit more... smoothly?
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Wow."-he doesn't sound impressed at all.
"What?"
"Me neither."
"Are you sure? Because you must have come from somewhere..."
"I know. I mean, no, I don't know were I came from."- he turns while saying this; looks like he doesn't want to talk about it.
"Well, then we have more in common than I thought. I only remember what I saw the day I was born, and that same day we left our home. We both have pasts we don't want to talk about, and that's okay with me. Right now, I just wanna focus on learning how to fly, and I really do need you. As you already know... I'm not allowed to fly at all."
Slowly, as I talk, his smile starts to come back.
"I'll teach you how to ride a horse, but it's not as difficult as flying."
With a fully recovered smile, I wait for him to answer. He doesn't. He just turns around, and with a single bat of his wings he's up in the air, making no sound. The wind that this creates nearly throws me to the ground, but I manage to stay put and watch him silently land on the hill top I just took off from.
"Try to catch me!"
This guy I swear...
I repeat in my head his exact movements, and open wide my wings to try and copy them.
Inhale, exhale. Here we go.
One flap of my wings, two, three. My feet no longer touch the ground. I slightly lean forward, and start flying over the lake.
I can feel his gaze on me, and that intensifies my anxiousness to get to the top.
The top.
I realize I need to get to the top, but I'm too tired. I'm going to try anyway.
I face the top of the hill and flap my wings even harder to win altitude.
Sweat covers my whole body, and I'm breathing heavily now.