Air Born | Generation Icarus #1

Victoria - Changing

I turned my attention to the dark-eyed guy to the other side of the campfire. "What about you, Miguel? What name would you take?"

He huffed out a breath. "I have no idea."

"Not necessarily a superhero name ..." My imagination was tumbling along at full speed now. "Just something to reflect the fact you've changed. We've changed. Seems like it's weird for such a major thing to happen and then we just keep waddling along, pretending to be the same people."

"I don't waddle," Tyler objected, without opening his eyes.

"No," I agreed. "You fly."

He couldn't control the smug look. "And it's fan-freaking-tastic." Finally he levered himself upright and met my gaze across the fire.

I nodded, my wings flexing along with my gesturing arms. "It's brilliant! I think we should celebrate it, somehow, looking ahead to the future, instead of mourning for the past. We need to mark the occasion."

"Uh ... how, exactly?" Miguel said, but Tyler was looking more animated by the second.

"I like the new names idea," I said, trying not to let awkwardness creep into my voice. "In recognition of our new identities." When I saw the black-winged boy looking doubtful, I quickly added, "Not necessarily to replace your actual name, I mean, but as like a ... a ... spiritual title?" I sent a pleading glance to Tyler. Help me out, here!

"Like your favourite bird," he blurted. It might have been the glow from the fire, but I thought he might have blushed slightly. He began twisting a twig between his fingers. "Mine would be the hawk ... that's what the alternate identity I was making up earlier was called. The Hawk."

"You look like a hawk," I offered shyly, and the colour in his face deepened.

"What about you, Victoria?" he asked, obviously trying to shift the attention away from himself.

I screwed up my nose when I heard my name. "Ugh, don't call me that. Only my step-sister calls me that, or other people if I'm in trouble."

"Exactly, you don't like your name. So why don't you take a new one?"

"Do you have a favourite bird?" Miguel asked.

Scratching around on the ground, I let my mind drift to see what floated to the surface. "I did a school project on the kestrel once, years ago," I said eventually. "We were using birds as a focus topic, and I liked the sound of it best."

"Kestrel," Tyler said slowly, and a shiver ran through my skin, my hair and feathers rising slightly. "Kestrel. Hawk." His gaze flicked up to Miguel. "What about you?"

"I can't say I've ever felt a particular attachment to birds before now," Miguel said, "so I don't have a favourite. I'd have to think about it."

Watching his large black feathers resettling behind him, I ran through a mental list of large birds with dark plumage. "What about condors?" I suggested after a while. "They're amazing birds."

He shrugged. "Sounds okay but I'm in no hurry." He smiled at me. "If you want to take on a new name though, I promise I'll do my best to remember to use it instead of Tori."

"I think Kestrel is the perfect name for you," Tyler said cheerfully but with an odd note in his voice. If it wasn't for the confidence oozing from every pore, I'd have thought he was almost feeling shy. "Assuming you still like it."

Biting my lip, I sounded it out in my head. Hi, I'm Kestrel. Every part of me hummed with excitement as I tried on the name. "You think it works?"

"Definitely," Tyler said, nodding. Miguel agreed.

I hesitated just a moment longer. "Okay. Hi, guys. I'm Kestrel. Nice to meet you." As my mouth formed the words, they felt familiar. Right.

Both boys laughed, Miguel clapping his hands a couple of times. "It definitely suits you," he said.

"Cool," I said, my heart feeling lighter and warmer in my chest. "I was worried you'd think I was weird."

Tyler shrugged all four of his shoulders, his brown wings rising and falling as they flexed slightly in emphasis. "When we all have wings growing out of our backs? What's weirder than that?"

"Good point." I laughed, my shyness easing. "What about you then, Tyler? Do you want to be Hawk as an everyday thing, or just on special occasions?" I teased lightly.

He hesitated, scraping at the embers of the fire with a long stick and not meeting my gaze. "I think you're right, about what you said before. We're new people now. And it was completely out of our control. I want to take back control. Changing my name is ... important. Symbolic. You know?"

"Yeah," I said encouragingly as he hesitated again.

"So ... yes." Tyler awkwardly put the stick down. "I think I do want to change my name."

"Hawk?"

He finally looked up, and I don't know if it was the flickering of the fire or the darkness around him, but he looked vulnerable and uncertain for the first time since I'd met him. His bronze eyes seemed golden in the firelight. "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect."

Tyler grinned. "Hi, Kestrel. I'm Hawk."