Landed Wings

chapter 2: VOLAR HIGH



ASHLYNN

When I am not dreaming, flying or singing, I am forced to live the hopelessly unchanging life of a teenager. My days all start the same. Get up, brush and wash my feathers, brush my teeth, warm up my voice for 30 minutes (really low so my mother can’t hear – not that I care but her yelling annoys me), and fly to school. My morning flight is my release in an otherwise severely structured day. Most kids with their solo flying license just take the straight path to school. Not me. I swoop, loop-de-loop, fly up, fly down, spiral, brake, roll, drift, float, and stream, until my hair is black steel wool and my feathers are falling and out of place. None of that matters to me. All that matters is how the wind feels, its currents rolling against my wings, like little rivulets of angles' kisses, greeting me good morning.

At Volar High, some of the kids look at me with disdain. Singing is not a career pursued by SkyBound. They all believe we should leave that to the lowly people below. Never one to shy away from confrontation, after a few choice encounters, they all know better than to say it to my face so they just have to settle for sending me dirty looks. Still, every day, their high-handed attitude and sickening pride irks and infuriates me. Even though I don’t know any LandBound personally, I still can’t help but feel a kinship with them. I figure, if they are singers, they can’t be that bad.

Only a few kids are brave enough to ignore the mass

ignorant prejudice and they are who I spend my days with. Some days, I just have to leave and fly, and sing, my flock accepts that. They accept me for who I am, for the most part, and even though I’m young, I still know that has to be rare. These sometimes annoying but always brave souls are Obsidian, Raven, Persimmon, Sangria, Cyanne, Bramble, Pepper and Ivory. Most kids are named after the color of their wings. Me, Obsidian, and Raven have black wings, the least common wing color. Pepper, Persimmon, Cyanne and Sangria are reds, and Ivory is a white. Bramble has chocolate brown wings, like my mother. Most people have red or brown wings, with black and white wings being the rarest. I got my black wings from my father, Gneiss. I’ll just take a moment now to say a small prayer that my wings are all I’ve inherited from him.

My flock is special to me. I get along best with Ivory. Despite her soft sounding name, she is one of the most outspoken people I know. She will stick up for you in a heartbeat, that is if you don't do it yourself. Bramble is next, because he is funny and kind, and the one who will listen. But he won't just listen; he gives advice and if you are in the wrong he will let you know; albeit gently. Persimmon only hangs out with us because of Sangria, who is her boyfriend. Cyanne is our flock bookworm who doesn't talk to anyone but us. Obsidian is the one that all the girls lust after. He is the strong one, the one who will dare us all to jump off the cliff with him, swoop down, and open our wings at the last second. Raven is his twin sister, and just like him she’s gorgeous and dangerous. Pepper....she is different. I'm not sure why she hangs out with us, but Obsidian is cool with her so I deal - barely. I’m waiting for the day I catch her doing something evil so I can tell everyone and kick her out of our flock.

Usually we talk about philosophical topics like the civil war between the SkyBound and LandBound that separated us 100 years ago, the ethics of stripping wings, and the lives of the people below. Despite what my mother thinks, I do think about the world I live in. I know all about the SkyBound but we are taught almost nothing about the others below us. They hold a certain fascination for us. None of us can imagine not having wings. We have so many questions…what’s life like for them? How do they live without wings? How do they live without being able to fly? They walk everywhere, cars were banned during the war, we know that much. There are bikes, but we hear that they don’t use them; most below are there because they weigh too much for their wings to support them or they’ve committed a crime serious enough to have their wings stripped. We often wonder at their difficult lives, but we do not understand what it means to be LandBound. None of us knows but secretly, I’ve already decided that I want to know. Are they really so limited, so sad and powerless? There is no way to know unless I find out for myself. How can a falcon know what it feels like to be a penguin?

Volar High is very strict. We all have to follow a strict schedule, down to bathroom times and wing stretches. The most used word at Volar High is "precisely". Despite my wings, and my so called freedoms, it’s hard not to feel trapped. Everything is perfectly restricted. In the bathrooms, you have to wait five minutes after the last person is finished so that the whole stall can be sanitized. When ordering food at school, you have to wait ten minutes for your order, even if it takes less time, so that everything can be orderly. When I get older, I’m going to invent fast food. No more waiting ten minutes for your meal, people will be able to get their food in ninety seconds or less, AND it will be a mess. Just the thought makes me smile. I have a restless soul, always have, always will. Sometimes, I just can’t bear this so called order. Is this what I can expect for the rest of my life? I don’t know if I can survive like this. I have to do something different. Everyday in school our teachers talk about how we should be grateful to be free. I want to know how free I really am. I’ve decided, I’m going to see the LandBound – up close and personal. I don’t know why I never thought of it before. It should be easy and if I time it right, no one will even notice I’m gone. Yes!