Finding yourself

Long days of travel. Or not

The scene where Sipher and I said good bye plays through my mind again, even though its been a week sense she left. The group and i are still at the house in Ohio, but Sipher haunts my thoughts.

•"Please stay with me, Sipher. I dont want you to go..." I plead, and Sipher gives me a small smile.
"I have my own place and my own things to do, sweet girl. But its time for you to go and do your own things too." Sipher said with a small smile, her eyes tearing up. One thing about it, we truly cared about each other. She was my sister. My mama...
"But I don't want you to go..." I mumble, tears slipping down my face for the first time in years, which shocked Sipher to the bone.
"Oh! No, honny don't cry! We will see each other again, we just have to go and be somewhere else for a while." She hugs me tightly, and i sob into her shoulder, and suddenly she is crying too.
Good thing the group isn't anywhere near us, i would have to kill anyone who saw me cry. But as it was, Sipher and i sobbed and clung to each other until our tears receded into hiccups.
We pull back from the hug and smile embarrassed at each other, cleaning the wetness from our cheeks and noses. Sipher looks like she is about to cry again, which I've never seen, so i hug her again tightly, and pet her tail, which usually cheers her up. It works, she laughs and pulls away.
"Look at us, blubbering like a couple of babies. I'll see you some time. If things get bad, make yourself known in New York City. Ill find you." Sipher kissed my forehead like she use to when i was a kid and nightmares had woken me, which made me smile, and then she was gone. Her jeep Cherokee vanishing in the shadows of the woods, following the road out of town.•

"Come on! you are not even trying to train!" Dusk, who i finally found out her name, throws another stone at me, which i dodge quickly, and toss one back at her, it landing in front of her with no force and she looks scornfully at me. "You will never be a good fighter if you hide your strength."
As she spoke, she stretched her wings out and caught the sunlight on her silver and gray wings, making the silver shine and seem to shimmer. My own wings stretched to match, but my wings were longer than hers, which i was proud of.
"Lets fly and try hand to hand while in the air." Dusk grinned wickedly, putting her hair in a braid so it didn't tangle around her face. I didnt even think about that, but i had adopted the hair style, and my silky soft blond hair now stayed tangle free.
I grimace and braid my own hair, still surprised when my fingers don't get tangled in snarls, my wings stretched out making me feel strong. I can beat her.
I flap my wings, leaping 3 foot into the air, and I'm off. Leaving Dusk to catch up, i speed through the air into the clouds, breathing the sweet smell of clean air, unsoured by human and technology.
A hard blow made me gasp and fall a hundred yards, but my wings straitened and i regained the height quickly, seeing Dusk above me, i speed toward her. Synching my wings with hers, i catch her around the stomach and pull her down, folding my wings around her and she screams as we free fall two hundred yards, before i shove her away and fly higher again.
Dusk cusses me out as she climbs the sky again, her face ashen, but her eyes curious. "How did you do that? You caught my wings exactly right and i couldn't do ANYTHING. Not even hit you."
I grin and shrug. "Surprising what you can do when you are mad at someone for making you drop a few hundred yards. Now lets see what else we can do up here in the sky." I dive forward, dropping into a cloud and flying through it, the mist soaking my hair and cloths, but i feel invigorated inside the cloud, no one could see me, and i was free.
In the silence of the cloud, I heard Dusk's wings, my hyper sensitive hearing recognizing the flutter of her feathers, and i dive down again just as she zooms in the space where i had been a second before.
A strike from below knocked the breath from out of me. And my wings buckled, sending me spiraling down four hundred yards, my wings unable to work for lack of oxygen.
A hand caught my wrist, and i look up into the hazel eyes of Tigerlily, her blond hair whipped into knots from the wind, and her mouth twisted with the effort of keeping me airborne as well as her.
I take a deep breath and flash my wings out, bolting up into the air and flying as fast as i can back to the cloud, my wings burning from the strain of diving and gaining altitude so quickly so many times.
Lily followed me, Dusk nowhere to be seen, and suddenly its Lily defending against me. I dive and flip and take her down many times, leaving bruises on both of us. She fights just as well, her quick jabs leaving my arms aching and difficult to move. She jabbed one of my wings and pain exploded in my wing and down my back, making me snarl and kick her away.
I dive down toward the ground, my wing feeling like its on fire, the agony pulsating down my back and making my legs curl a bit, and I feel my face twist into a grimace of pain. My wings shoot out at the last second, and I almost scream at the pain, but it worked, I slow before I hit the ground.
I land awkwardly, my wing radiating pain, and Dusk lands beside me, Lily landing a few feet away. "Thanks guys." I say sarcastically, Rollin my shoulders and grimacing at the pain. I put my hands on my knees, bent at the waist, trying to breath through the pain.
"Oh, you did quite well. Lily is a good hand to hand fighter, you held your own against her. You have some potential yet." Dusk says, rubbing between my wings, and suddenly the pain in my wing melted away. Sighing in relief, i relax my wings, letting the pain flow out as Dusk works the muscle.
"She does that to me too. The only thing that helps it is this nerve right here between the wings. If you rub it, it relaxes the wings and helps you heal. Its a very good thing." Dusk grins at me, moving away. A dull ache is all that remained of the agony that had stabbed my wing, and I'm grateful.
"Thanks, Dusk, Lily, I'll be going back to the house now." I grimace at them, the closest i can come to a smile, and hurry away, back toward the house.
Blaze was sitting beside my laptop, scanning the net for any other sightings for admans. Honestly once he was introduced to my equipment he never left it. Always carrying at least one of my satellite phones or laptops, always scanning for something to help us. I got to say, at least he is dedicated.
Shay played with a phone, her eyes changing from blue to green and back again, her fuzzy tail flicking back and forth. Im not sure what she is doing, or who she is talking to, but she is one fast texter.
Pitch was out back swinging a long pale stick with the bark rubbed off, his movements fluid and swift. Curious I go to see what he is doing, but he won't tell me. So I'm left watching him. It seems the faster he swings, the higher pitched the noise, the angrier or more agitated he got. Unsurprising. High pitched noises always agitated Sipher as well. I guess it's a nineman thing.
I look over my shoulder as Dusk and Lily walk out of the trees, grinning at each other. I smile as I remember the fighting in the air, and I flex my wings, wincing at the dull ache, but I'm proud at the same time. Feeling a kinship with the avimans, I move closer to them, and smile at them. Lily smiles back, a bit timidly, but Dusk hooks her arm through mine and smiles comradely.
"You did well in training, Mia. More tomorrow?" Dusk smiles, her teeth flashing bright white against her pink lips, and I grin back.
"Nothing could keep me away. You and Lily are awesome to train with. Most of what I know is fighting a canine-human." I explain, thinking again of Sipher with a pang of longing for my friend.
"You know how to fight doggie-boys?" Lily asked, surprise in her voice. I look over to see her eyes wide on my face.
"Yea, Sipher taught me. She said I should always know how to defend myself." I answer, looking at Pitch again, he was listening intently, his tail wagging slightly.
Pitch glanced at me, his eyes sharp and excited, he run his hand through his purple hair. "Come fight me little birdy."
I look at the others who had suddenly become wary, and Lily steps forward, her fists clinched. "No, Pitch. She isn't ready to fight you."
I smile and step forward, unhooking my arm from Dusk's arm as I step away. "No, I can do it. I always fought well against Sipher." I keep out the fact that I beat Sipher so many times and so bad that she stopped training with me, and left me to fight other admans in the random cities we had been to.
Pitch grins and throws his stick down, it sinks deeply into the earth and he points at it.
"If you get this, and yank it out, you win." He grins, his teeth suddenly sharp and his body bending into a crouch. He suddenly looked feral, sending a shudder up my back.
Energy zinged through me, my wing suddenly not aching, and I grouch as well, wings extending half way, giving me better balance as my body moves smoothly across the ground. I can feel my feathers fluff up, making my wings look bigger, but I also know it won't intimidate him.
Suddenly he launches himself at me, and I twist to the side, and my wing slams down on him as he sails past me, slamming him onto the ground, and I leap forward, grabbing the end of the stick.
The wood was slick, and when I jerked my hand back, the stick stayed still, but my hand felt sticky. Sudden noise from behind made me leap up into the air, and Pitch flew past, under me. He lands on his hands and feet on the other side if the stick as I hover, my wings beating strongly against the air.
I dive, aiming for Pitch, he yelps and leaps to the side, and I pull up in an arc, not touching the ground, and zoom back up into the air, I hover again, ready to launch at him.
He snarls up at me, his face livid at being unable to reach me, then he looks around, finding a rock, he launches it at me. I have to dive down to dodge, and he grabs my ankle with strong, iron-like grip, and jerks me down.
I go limp and fold my wings just in time as I slam into the ground, the breath knocked out of me. Pitch swings me, his grip still on my foot, an I feel the air whistle as I swing through the air. I realize what he is doing as he does it, he swings me closer and closer to the stick, planning on swinging me against the sharpened end of the stick.
I flash my wings out, wincing as the knock the ground, but the momentum jerks me out if his iron grip, and I fly backward, landing in a pile of feathers and dust. I leap to my feet as he comes at me, wings throbing, but they are unbroken. I open my mouth and utter a high pitch Shriek, one close to what an eagle does, but more peircing. Pitch gasped and dropped to his knees, hands over his ears, and the look of agony in his face. I see through the windows of the house, Shay and Blaze both do the same. I feel bad, but I have to win. I jump forward and grip the stick in my hand, digging my nails into the slick wood, and I yank it out if the earth.
I look at Dusk and Lily, who both had their eyes wide and on me, shock and awe in their faces. I look at Pitch, who's face was the image of disbelief and shock, but he stood up, and offered his hand.
"Good job." he mutters stiffly.
I take his hand and we shake once, and I grin. I really do belong here.