The Kingdom of Dawn

Chapter 6: Flying Lessons

"Estrella, no!" Tarvill ran over to the edge of the cliff just as Zephyr dove over the edge. Powerfully snapping his wings open, he soared down towards Estrella, ready to grab her out of the air. But no rescue was necessary. Just as Zephyr's claw was about to close around her back, it was slapped away by a grey blur as her wings unfolded seemingly of her own accord.

Estrella was sure Zephyr was trying to say something to her, but she had absolutely no clue what he was trying to say.

"He's telling you to flap hard." Tarvill must have noticed the counfsion on Estrella's face. "But flap harder with one wing than the other."

Following his instructions, Estrella performed a rather sloppy yet serviceable turn, carving an arc in the air until she was facing the edge of the cliff.

"Good, now flap hard." Tarvill yelled over Zephyr saying exactly the same thing.

"Not quite that hard." Tarvill and Zephyr both yelled as her wings pumped furiously and she shot up about five hundred feet in the air.

She slowed down her wings and slowly and steadily moved through the air until she was above the ledge.

"Now slowly slow down your flapping."

Estrella stopped flapping, then started again, then stopped again, the started again, eventually coming to a very bumpy yet mostly safe landing on the ledge. She landed rather hard though, and her feet slid out from under her and left her staring up at the sky.

"Good job. You successfully managed to land yourself without any major injuries." Tarvill reached down to help her back onto her feet. "Now I would suggest folding your wings unless you want to be constantly bumping them on everything."

Estrella winced as her face   contorted into a mask of concentration. The bones in her back grated against each other as her wings folded into a hollow on her back. She jumped in surprise as the tips of her wings broshed against the rough stone ledge. "Woah, those wings are super sensitive."

"I bet they are." Tarvill's laugh bubbled and tinkled through the air like music. "Hope that doesn't get you in trouble in a fight."

"I hope that I never have to find out if they do."

"So do I, my princess." Tarvill stepped back from the edge and turned to face her. "Considering the current situation of this country however, you likely will end up having to do so however."

Estrella knew exactly what Tarvill meant. Edmund had been sending small groups of soldiers at their border every few weeks. "You mean the war we're in?"

"Exactly." Edmund casually checked the fit of his sword in its scabbard as he turned and led Estrella back through the tunnels into the mess hall.

"More please." When Tarvill looked back at the table, Estrella's food was gone.

"How hungry are you?"

A loud growl rumbled through the room. "I think that was my stomach."

Tarvill sighed as he placed another serving of food in front of her.

Her hands scraped across the rough oaken table as her food flew into her mouth. She wiped her sleeve across her mouth as a burp escaped her lips.

"I'm full now."

"Good. We need to work more on your weapons skills."

"Really... then what have we just spent the last four hours doing?"

"Other than you falling off a cliff and wasting one and a half hours of training time?"

"Yeah, other than that." He gripped his arm as her fist returned to her side. "That's for bringing that up."

"Well, at least you know how to throw a punch. That's definitely going to leave a bruise." Tarvill winced as his fingers brushed over his arm.
"I'm going to have to get a medic to take a look at this."

"Of course you are." She followed him down a long, well lit, and extraordinarily familar corridor, leading to a small, clean, well lit, and again very familiar cave.

"What happened Tarvill? Who's attacking?" The medic took one look at Tarvill's arm and drew his weapon.

"Woah Patrick, calm down." Tarvill grabbed the medic's hand and forced his sword back into its scabbard. "Estrella and I were just training."

"She definitely knows how to throw a punch." Patrick  gently examined Tarvill's bruise. "I might even have to expedite the process."

"Please do. You won't get tried for it. You have your healer's pardon, correct?"

"Of course I do." Patrick pulls out a scroll as he sends a small stream of light into the bruise, returning the limb into its former undamaged state.

"Thank you Patrick." He relaxes his jaw as the bruise vanishes. "A fantastic job, as usual." Patrick smiles as Tarvill praises his work.

"It's nothing special. Just following my training."

"Well, you're doing a good job following your training." He gets up and leaves the cave, motioning for Estrella to follow as he does so.

"Where are we going?" Their footsteps echo through the corridor.

"Back to the training room of course. We still need to get your weapon's skills up to par."

"But Tarvill, do we have to do it today? I'm sore and tired and I just want to sleep." Without even waiting for his response, she spun around and began striding back to her room. Tarvill didn't even make a move to stop her as she stomped down the hallway. His brow furrowed in thought as he spun lightly on his heels striding quickly towards the dragons ledge.

"Do you think she'll be able to learn?"

The purple dragon lowered his head as his sharp talons scratched lines into the rough rock. Finally, Zephyr spoke. "Of course. It will definitely take a while, but I don't see a reason why not.

"Try the fact that her species isn't meant to defy gravity."

"Neither is yours, half-elf. And yet your kind does it some what regularly." A long loud laugh escaped the dragons throat.
"The sight of elves flying is just so funny."

Tarvill couldn't help but laugh as a picture formed in his mind. An elf, one of his classmates was sprawled out on top of a cloud, windmilling his arms to try and regain his feet. However his expression quickly returned to its usual calm, yet serious look. Then a mischievous glint formed in his soft brown eyes.

"But that's not as funny as a reptadrake hatching attempting to fly in a forest." They were still laughing when the bell rang for dinner.