Just Spread your Wings and Fly

Chapter one

Two angels were sitting on a cloud, drifting in the winter breeze. One was Jorah.

I was the other.

Jorah took one my feathers in his hands and ran a finger down the stem and onto my skin beneath it. “Your feathers are so beautiful,” he said in awe.

I sighed and moved his hand off my body. “Please refrain from touching me, Jorah. You know how much I hate it.”

He bowed his head. “I cannot help myself, forgive me.”

“Yes, you can. You are seventeen Jorah, stop acting like a child.”

“I was only admiring your feathers, my dear,” he said smoothly.

I shivered and scooted farther away from him. Jorah was a handsome angel who believed that if he married me he would somehow acquire my wings for himself. He was too persistent for his good.

The clouds above us were thin enough to see another group of angels who were singing and dancing merrily to a tune I did not recognize. Jorah’s eyes, however, lit up as he muttered, “Juliette’s Delight.”

“What was that?”

He glanced at me and repeated, “Juliette’s Delight. A wedding song.”

Wedding…

I was suddenly struck with an odd question. “Do you think the men have weddings too?”

“The men? You mean the one’s who dwell on earth? Fairies? Dragons?”

I groaned, exasperated. “No, you idiot. The one’s with no feathers, who dwell in houses made of stone and brick.”

Jorah raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” he asked. “You think that they love as we do?”

“Yes, well, I’ve wondered. Those who live in our capital don’t tell us anything, only that there are others who are not sophisticated enough to live where we do,” I told him.

His eyes darkened. “Do not be a fool, Celestine. You know that we are the most advanced species in this world. It is what we've been told our whole life-”

“But don't you ever wonder,” I interrupted, "that the men are different than we believe? What angel has truly gone below the clouds and seen them? They're depicted in the holy scriptures as worse than demons and yet I cannot believe they are so."

Jorah stood slowly, his blue eyes flashing. “If I were you, I’d watch my back with that kind of talk,” he warned. “You wouldn’t want them casting you into the Chambers of the Gone, like your father."

That hit a nerve. “The Chambers of Gone are much more appealing then spending any more of my precious time with you!” I spat at him as he rose off the cloud. The look he gave me over his shoulder made me immediately regret what I had said. Jorah’s mother was a council woman in our capital, if he said something was off about me, I would be in the judgement hall in mere hours.

I looked down at the rolling hills sparkled with cloud-white snow and thought. How I wish to be rid of such a chore as him and his family. I'm sure the men have it much easier, wouldn't it be lovely to be one of them, just for a day?

A shiver passed through me. Why was I thinking such things? I shouldn’t complain. One rotten angel was not enough to make be shun the rest. My family was here, my mother and my sister. There was no reason to be cynical.

And yet…

“I want to go down there,” I said to myself suddenly, “I want to climb the highest mountains and see the clouds at my level, to know that I am powerful enough to scale rocks as old as time itself. I want to do all this as a human. I want to feel lighter than air, to shed these wings of azure and leave my responsibilities to the empire behind.”

I stood up, wiping drops of water from my wings and the back of my pants. I should get back to mother. They will worry for me when they notice Jorah is back and not I.

The clouds stilled.

I had always wondered why angel wings were always so pastel, so light and unnoticeable, while those on earth lived with colors as bright as the northern sky. My wings were white and blended in with the clouds. Mother said this was a blessing, beautiful wings made for a beautiful angel.

And yet…

The city floated before me, with its towering white cathedrals and smaller blue houses that littered the space around the town hall. It was a happy place, and everyone there wished never to be anywhere else. They were all joyful, as angels should be.

And yet…

If only I could be free from these ivory wings.