Steel Ethereal

Ch. 33 Capture

            

Rob

            It was Tuesday, the day Luciana was to train me. Jenna usually observed our activities mostly to make sure I wasn't being pushed to match Luciana's seemingly ludicrous speed. Today she wasn't present.

"Hey, Rob..." Luciana says as I warm up.

"Yup?" I answer.

"Let's um... Let's go get some field training today."

"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously.

"I mean, I'm taking you on a field trip. We're going outside Promenade today."

"Should we? I mean, is that out of bounds."

"You can come and go any time you'd like. We're just going to go for a little flight and come back. Can't even fly in the city anyways. Why not fly around in the great outdoors?"

I nod. The first day I flew, Jenna promptly informed me it was strictly prohibited to fly around Promenade unless it was an absolute emergency. Our alto-mitters picked up when we flew and would warn us to return to the ground.

Luciana wound up leading me to the same elevator we had taken as a group months before. Before Bastion.

Luciana seemed to creep a bit, as if being watched. I look to her and slowly walk to match her pace.

Luciana giggles a bit as she pushes the button to raise up out of Promenade.

After what seems like half an hour later, we're met with the same old shack built around the entrance of the elevator. I wondered if anyone outside of Promenade had accidentally stumbled across the entrance.

There were no signs of human presence since our last incursion. I could have sworn I noticed our footsteps from months ago still etched in the dust.

Luciana opens the door and we're in the same forest as before. Blue sky seeps through the tree branches.

Three rabbits flee form us as Luciana leads me to a clearing.

The nature around me comforts me from the thought that we aren't supposed to be here.

"Come on! You'll see much more in the sky!" Luciana says excitedly.

She leaps and ascends into the sky. It wasn't before in Rook's forest, but out in the open. Luciana arced her sleek body through, fluttering her feet like an otter. It was like watching someone swim underwater.

I looked to my own two feet. I was grounded, safe and sound, but I'd never learn this way.

Soon I'm soaring into the sky myself. Several tree branches brush my pant legs as I flew. I couldn't help but start laughing hysterically. I'd practiced flying in the closed setting of the training hall, but out here, where there was danger and wonder, nothing topped it. I felt as if I had no bounds, as if there were no rules to chain me.

I caught up to Luciana but she darts off in an effort to tease me. I laugh and take off after her.

A month and a half of training and I've caught onto most of the basics of flight. Thanks to Luciana, I know more as well. She was the ultimate teacher when it came to the ways of the sky. She taught me how to maneuver my body, how to remain calm when a wind current, how to avoid mid-air collisions... She watched over me with emerald hawk eyes that monitored my progress.

We fly through the afternoon sky. Our eyes are a mezzanine view to the glory of nature below us. We're so high up, we see everything below clearly. Luciana looks as if this is an everyday occurrence. Maybe it is. I assume that she escaped regularly to fly. As free a spirit as Luciana seems, it makes sense she'd sneak away.