Landed Wings

chapter 4: MOCHA



ASHLYNN

As I watch the feather drop I realize that my life has just changed, irrevocably. It lands and a small child swoops by me and snatches it up. I look up in alarm, about to cry out and run after the child but something stops me. Oww! What was that? Blinding pain in my head one second and nothing the next. Really weird. I rub my head anxiously, but the pain doesn’t come back. I don’t know how long I should stay down here - things don’t seem to be going well. I’m only going to stay a couple more minutes and then I’ll leave. I look around and see a boy, no older than me, maybe even a year younger walking closer to me with a fierce, proud expression on his face, like that of an eagle. There is something not too far from distaste in his eyes. He makes my feathers squirm. Why is he looking at me like that? I squash the impulse to check my reflection in the nearest shop window. Maybe there’s something on my face. As he gets closer, I realize that he is older then I first thought and Oh my… he is beautiful. His face is almost elfin. Upturned eyebrows, pure jet black - beneath them, the lightest brown eyes I've ever seen. They are caramel, or butterscotch, or amber. Indescribable and beautiful. I know I should probably go but I get the feeling that something is happening that I don’t understand. This perfect specimen is lean, and I cannot understand why he doesn't have wings. He’s taller then me, but only by a few inches. I am pretty tall myself, about 5'6'' which is tall for the SkyBound. I would guess he’s about at 5'11''. His mouth is wide, but not too wide, firm and plump, but not too much so. His ears are slightly pointed and his hair is jet black, brushing the tops of his ears, his bangs brushing the tops of his eyes. His skin is caramel too. He is gorgeous. I wish he would stop staring at me with that hardened line of a mouth and fierce expression. Why does this LandBound remind me of an eagle, or a falcon? I can’t help but smile, if he doesn’t want to talk, fine by me, I’m good just looking at him. I wonder if…

"What are you doing here, SkyBound?”

He spits out the word and looks as if he has a bad taste in his mouth.

“Come to mock us?”

Boy this guy isn’t as nice as he looks, who does he think he is, talking to me like that? No one talks to me like that.

"What? No!”

I look at him with my (fiercest?) expression in my eyes. I stop myself from saying anything else because I can feel my wings straining for release and I can’t let that happen here. If he keeps grinning at me with that nasty evil grin though, I’ll show him why no one at Volar High tests me.

"Yeah, right. So, what, you just wanted to come gawk? We’re not animals in a zoo."

"What’s your problem? You don’t know me, or what I know. I don't know you, so why are you talking to me like that?"

He steps closer to me invading my personal space.

"Leave."

Seriously? Who does he think he is?

"No. I’ll leave when I’m ready."

"Allright, stay where you’re not wanted SkyBound, I’ll go. But you should know that your kind is hated down here. When the LandBound are done with you, I’ll make myself and family some new pillows - with the down of your feathers."

Okay, I thought the evil laugh was something they made up in the movies but that sound coming out of this boy’s mouth – that’s definitely the evil laugh.

“What family you have must be ashamed to have a boy,” I spit the word out at him, “like you be a part of it.”

Okay, maybe that was a little harsh, he looks like he’s just been slapped but I’m not going to stand here and let him talk to me like that. On the other hand, maybe we just started off on the wrong wing. I start to feel sorry for him, but then that disdainful look comes back into his eyes…

“They would be more ashamed of you then me. Look at you, pampered, snotty, and proud when you shouldn’t be. Have you done anything in your life Princess, anything, that you can be proud of? I doubt it. You’ve probably never been in danger, or worried about anything but whether or not your hair or feathers would frizz in the morning. You say I don’t know you but you’re wrong. I know all about you and your kind. I know that you rely on us to pick your food but then turn around and look down on us. I know that you leave us just enough to survive but not enough to thrive. I probably know more about you and your kind than you do. The truth is you like the way you live so much you’d rather close your eyes and fly, free…and untethered. You disgust me.”

I disgust him? That’s it, I’m going to show him how we

SkyBound handle people like him. I drop the coat and snap my wings out displaying their full wingspan …is that the evil laugh again?

"Those won't help you down here, Princess. Why don’t you use them to go back to where you came from."

Who is this boy? How can he just walk up to me and talk to me like that? Is that how everyone is down here? What the H E double hockey sticks? Is he really just going to walk away from me, all cocky? He has no right to say the things he said to me. I’ve never done anything to him and whatever happened between the LandBound and SkyBound happened years ago. The more I think about it, the angrier it makes me. They hate me because I have wings!? I don’t hate them because they don’t have wings so what’s the problem? I’m going home. I don’t know if it was a good idea to come here. It’s nothing like I expected.

MOCHA



I turn around and walk away. I can feel her staring at my

retreating back - her thoughts a roiling mass of anger and hurt. It’s more intense that I expected. She’s taller than I expected. When I walked into the field, I didn’t know it would be her. Yes, I’d sensed something, a disturbance I’d been warned only I would feel. I knew it was the powerful SkyBound Ginger told me about. And it was. What Ginger didn’t tell me was that she is just a little girl. Even though I couldn’t see her wings, I knew it was her. Our savior and the only daughter of the cruelest woman alive. She didn’t look like her. It was a good thing, because my animosity would be too much to disguise. What a joke. She’s clueless, coming to watch LandBound like we are pets. I can’t stall any longer. I’m calling Ginger. Ginger has a lot to explain. I know Ginger has never been completely honest with me but that’s going to have to change. Even so, I still don’t want to make the phone call. Ginger makes me nervous. I wonder if I stare at the phone long enough, I can make it explode in my hand, taking the responsibility I have to call her with it. Didn’t work. I don’t really have a choice but to dial the number and wait. Ginger, always orderly and precise picks up on the fifth ring.

“Ginger?”

“Mocha. How did it go?”

How did she know? I don’t want to tell her that I’d lost control. That’s not who I am anymore. There’s no point in lying though, she would find out anyway. Her mind is strong. Maybe not as strong as it used to be, but still keen and wise.

“I got angry.”

“Mocha.”

Ginger just says my name, softly, but I knew what she wasn’t saying. I swallow hard.

“I won’t apologize for it.”

“I don’t care. Fix it.”

She hangs up. I hang up the phone and stare at it for a while again. I walk into the fields on a path only I know about. I tear off my shirt, unbuckle my harness and take off. I need to fly.