[Flashback] Repercussions (solo)

[Sairque]

47, Spring 503 AV
Afternoon

Sairque shifted in the saddle, looking at the landscape spread out all around them, hundreds of feet below. They were flying over the beaches of Stormy Bay, the mountains were to their left, while the intimidating vast space of the ocean was on their right. She couldn't look that way, out to sea, it was like she would get sucked out with no mountains to hedge her in. There was nothing to break up the flat blue, no plants, gullies, cliffs, ravines, hills...even though she could see the large undulating waves moving around, to her it was level, smooth. A death trap she didn't belong in or over.

The heat rising off the ground is what does it, Catabasis cut in to her thoughts. Well, he didn't actually interrupt, he was continuing his answer to a question she had asked about flight. After ridiculing her for not knowing to begin with, he had finally got to informing her of how flight works in certain situations. When we glide like this, we are actually gliding downward but we are doing it on air that's rising. That is why we prefer to start extended flights in the afternoon, we can save energy by riding these. But there are always breezes coming off the ocean.

"Oh," she responded oh-so-intelligently, already moving on. "What's up with your feathers?" She really should have paid more attention to falconry. He looked feathery all over the place, but he wasn't. The feathers were really growing in patterns with soft fuzz between them. She parted the feathers right above her saddle, tugged on the little feathers underneath, petted the soft down, and then poked at his skin.

That itches! What do you mean, 'what is up with your feathers? He didn't sound like he appreciated her questions. In fact, he would prefer it if she bothered someone else with them. Really, she should know these things already. Didn't the Inarta children learn about birds before they learned to walk?

"Why do you always preen, and forbid me from touching your wing feathers?" Most children did learn about birds, but Sai had been too busy not listening. That and once her sister had shown a definite interest, Sai had deliberately purged the knowledge from her brain. But now that she had a Wing Eagle, interest was flaring like a red needled pine tree on a hot, dry day. It certainly was a lot easier to learn these things when she had a huge living model to poke and play with.

If our feathers are not clean and in proper place, our flight is hindered. That, and we are vain. Catabasis informed gravely. Sai grinned, so he did have a sense of humor after all! After a couple of weeks with his stodgy self, she was beginning to wonder. How about I give you a lesson in the important stuff you need to know about flying?

"I already know everything I need to know. Put the saddle on, climb up, and ask you to please jump off a cliff," Sai replied glibly, loosening her hold and spreading her arms out wide, enjoying the resistance against her tough coat, and the breeze in her loose, long and flowing hair.

Very well, Catabasis responded. If you get a question wrong, there will be repercussions. Sai stiffened, he had to be joking! Repercussions? That was an awfully serious word. I am not joking. You need to know these things. The young, newly minted Endal, gulped. But honestly, what could he do to her? He couldn't kill her or anything. ...yes he could. He had killed his previous rider. It couldn't have been over something so stupid, right? He would never answer her questions about the death, none of the Eagles would. Ignorance was easily fixed with a little time, it wasn't an incurable offense, no need to kill, just teach. No need to kill her. No need to get answers wrong. All she had to do was get all the answers right. She could do this. Oh Gods, she didn't want to die over this. Falling off a cliff or being mauled by a bear was so much cooler.

Let us begin. This one is easy. Can Wind Eagles swim? In what plane of existence was that an easy question? Every time she had been to the lakes or beaches, no Eagles had joined the Inarta in the water. Wouldn't the wet feathers make them too heavy to fly afterward? And wouldn't their wings move incorrectly for any hope of swimming? Okay, so maybe it was an easy question.

"No-ooOH!" That's right, she hadn't even finished the response before Catabasis had started pumping his wings furiously, the appendages bending on the upstroke and splaying on the down stroke to maximize efficiency and lift. The bird tilted back to a vertical angle immediately, Sai's body laid back horizontal with the ocean, and then progressed to being horizontal with Catabasis' body. The rear of the saddle and her back collided sharply with every pump of his wings, and despite her clamping thighs she was sliding down, out of the saddle. All she could see was sky, pure uninterrupted sky. It was worse than looking out over the ocean.

Falling out of the saddle wasn't particularly frightening, she had plenty of time before she would hit the ground, or water, and be smashed into a billion chunks. The thought of her Eagle betraying her trust was the bitter part, and being sent to her death over something so trivial was just as acidic.

What do we use our tails for?

Aha! That was an easy one, and he didn't specify that she had to give every single thing they used their tails for. "Slowing down, helping with lift, turning," she listed off quickly. The tail was fanned out while they were gliding, maintaining lift, and turned side to side when they needed to turn, catching the air that helped maneuver. Thankfully, she had been listening to that part of his lecture.

"I think I should get a reward when I get something right," Sai told Catabasis, sitting up and squirming into place on the saddle after he had leveled out. Yes, this was much more comfortable.

I stopped flying straight upward, that was your reward," he responded dryly.

"No, no, I mean, if I get something right first."

"What do you have in mind? Making it home safely?"

"We'll play a game," she decided, trying to figure out how to put a spin on her idea that Catabasis would approve of. After all, saying 'I'm going to jump off your back and you're going to catch me before I splat on the ground' wasn't very persuasive. "Called Fetch!" Ooh, that was good.

You are going to jump off my back and require me to dive and save you before you...splat...on the ground? Sai could feel his skepticism, and her own disappointment was blossoming. [i]I can read your mind, Sairque.[i] Oh yeah.

"I know you can do it, it's how we met, after all," she pressed, already squirming with excitement. Catabasis banked to the right, heading out to sea, but Sai didn't care.