Romantic Short Stories

A Passion for Wings (#FLA2018 Contest Submission)

All her life Tandi wanted nothing more than to become a Royal Flyer. Tandi's dream was, of course, entirely impossible. Her trouble was two-fold: one, she wasn't a royal; and two, she didn't have a pair of wings. Only royals were born with wings. Tandi was just an ordinary commoner.

Well, not exactly ordinary. Most commoners never dreamed of being anything at all, let alone something as unattainable as a Royal Flyer. It was not as if wings were waiting to be purchased from storefront windows! No, no, even if someone could magically procure a pair of wings for the girl (in a society without magic mind you), only a select few royals could hone their skills to such perfection that they might be considered for the role of Royal Flyer.

Tandi's dream was pure lunacy.

At first, everyone in the village where she grew up thought her dream was sweet. The villagers smiled and laughed good naturedly when, as a 4 year old, she came home from the annual Festival of Sky & Light in Capital City telling everyone she was going to be a Royal Flyer.

The Royal Flyers were the highlight of the festival. The best of the best of Royal Flyers were chosen each year to perform the most spectacular and dangerous acrobatic aerial feats anyone had ever seen. The flyers were practically celebrities, even among other royals. So, no one took little Tandi's determined proclamations seriously. They all knew she would come to understand when she was older that only royals could be flyers.

However, when her desire did not fade during her teen years, even with the explicit knowledge that she didn't have wings and couldn't possibly hope to fly, the villagers thought she was crazy and laughed at her openly. Her family, who desperately tried to talk some sense into her, were increasingly ashamed to be seen with her in public. By the time she was twenty years old Tandi didn't have a single solitary friend to call her own. All she had was her dream of flying with the Royal Flyers.

Consequently, she was, for all intents and purposes, the town lunatic and everyone avoided her.

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You might imagine everyone's shock the day they saw her don a pair of beautifully crafted metal wings while standing in the village square.

First came little gasps, then snorts of disbelief, and, finally, hysterical laughter. The villagers thought for sure that Tandi had gone quite mad and the whole town was going to be in for a real show that afternoon.

There was so much noise and so much fuss that not one villager saw the first flap of her metal wings. It wasn't until Tandi was a meter off the ground before people really took notice.

A hush, so great and so profound as to be nearly holy, fell over the entire village. Not a breath was taken, not a muscle moved and not an eye blinked while everyone watched in utter amazement as Tandi was lifted high above the village square on her hand-crafted metal wings.

The village lunatic was no lunatic after all but a bonafide genius!