I know you.

The biggest branch of the biggest tree.

"Excuse me?!"- my sister tries to be polite even when she's scared or alarmed.
"I did. Sorry I lied to you. When I fell from the rocks, my harness broke and fell in the water, that's why I can't find it. My wings were free and I couldn't help but to glide through half the lake until I fell in the water."
My sister's mouth is wide open.
"Sorry."
I thought she was going to hit me, or cry or I don't even know, but instead her face lightens up and she just shouts at me.
"Can you teach me?"
"I need to try again."- I say after a while, laughing.
"Okay, sis. Promise?"
"Promise."
She hugs me and jumps on her brown horse again.
"I better go now, I'll tell mum and dad you'll be late."
"Thanks. "
"Okay."
She kicks her horse.
When I see her leave through the forest, I turn, ready to call him back.
Before I can even shout out his name, I feel the wind whirling around me, and I turn around to find Ian landing behind me.
"Did you hear it?"
"You're such a bad liar."-he interrupts me with a grin.
"I know."- I answer, laughing.
There's an awkward silence and I start looking at the floor again.
"We better try again."- he says looking at the hill top.
"Okay"
_______________________________________

"I'm so not ready for this."
"But you have to."
"But I'm not ready."
"But you have to."
"Ian, you've seen it. It's only been a day."
"But you have to, otherwise you'll never do it again."
"I know."
We're standing on the edge of the cliff where I met Ian for the first time.
We had some pears he found for lunch and then continued practising.
I actually got to the top of the hill twice, but I still think I'm not ready to fly over a cliff.
He wants me to visit his house.
"I'm so not ready for this."
"But you have to."
"I know."
Silence.
"I'll go first then."
"No, no, no, wait!"- too late.
Ian faces me as he lets himself fall backwards into the abyss.
"IAN!"
"No need to scream, sweetie."- I hear him shout some seconds later as i see a white figure fly towards the other side of the cliff.
"My turn."- I say to myself. I get closer to the edge and look down. I can't see the bottom.
You can do it.
I try to calm down, but my heart beats so hard I think it'll implode.
Finally, I let my body fall towards the abyss as I feel the now familiar blanket of wind under me.
I'm not scared of heights at all, but still adrenaline rushes through me watching the hundreds of metres of air beneath me. I think of just trying to focus on getting to the other cliff.
I'm halfway through when a gust of wind pushes me aside , making me loose control of my giant wings.
"PIPER!"
I can't get back up now. Suddenly I feel another gust of wind as I'm falling, but I realise it's just Ian beside me.
He flies under me and pushes me slightly so I can face him.
I don't even try to regain balance, I don't know why but right now fear has left me completely, I feel at peace.
I face the top of the hill while we fall, feel the wind around me as we continue to fall and close my eyes.
I sense Ian looking at me, and I smile.
"Piper... I don't know why you're... Acting like this... but if you don't try to regain the control of your wings, you'll crash..."- he's screaming at me but still his voice sounds so calm.
I open my eyes only to see that he's doing exactly what I'm doing, letting himself fall; he closes his eyes and I can tell he has the same feeling I have: peacefulness.
My brain suddenly seems to come back to life, and I panic.
I feel something touching my hand and at first I pull back, just to realise it's just Ian.
He looks at me and I feel hypnotized by his...very yellow eyes.
I stare right into them as he grabs my other hand too, and in just a few seconds he's on top of me, without me noticing anything.
I feel his grasp tightening around my arms, and suddenly he pulls back and I feel myself looping all the way around him, and thrown up in the air like a cannonball, my face flying near his.
I realise that I have to flap my wings very hard in order to recover all the altitude we just lost, but I'm so much more concerned about Ian.
Just when I consider going back down for him, I feel a rush of silent wind on my left.
"Come on Piper, you can do it!"

His face shows just how tired he is, it must have taken him a lot of effort to help me like that.

Finally, I'm able to gain altitude, although with a rather unstable breath. I try once every while to glide through for a couple of minutes, because trying to fly upwards without resting is exhausting.
Little by little, I manage to breath normally, and suddenly I realise that I'm nearly back at the top of the cliff, but not on the side I took off from.
Ian flies by my side, and I can feel him looking at me from time to time.
We get to the top; Ian lands first and takes my hand while I try to fold my giant wings without hitting him. I carefully watch the land in front of me. A dense forest, and in the middle of it, a wooden house built on the biggest branch of the biggest tree.