The Dawn’s Dusk - 15. Chapter 15- The Walkers

Warning: Rhyad being hit hard with the feels? Feelings.

Emery had been able to lift off with just the strength of his wings; I had witnessed it firsthand. Shire had left to bring us food. He said I'd definitely need it the most. As I stretched out my wings, I felt the scar tugging on my back.

I snapped my wings closed and began to pace. My gaze lifted to the sky out of habit. Did it matter if it was cloudy or not when I was a lightning remnant? The sky was bright blue without a speck of white. Why did I still feel the fear building inside? Being unable to fly like my brother had always felt like a heavy burden.

::

"...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with his wings," one of Owin's Scholars told our parents.

He briefly glanced my way, and I could have sworn I saw him rolling his eyes. The Eld had praised Owin's flying techniques as if he had been the one who showed him how. But, I knew that my brother had learned most of it himself.

"His wings are plenty strong enough to hold his weight," the Scholar insisted. "It's all in his head. No Scholar would train a whelp that can't force himself to try."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you're just not patient enough to be the right instructor for him," Owin retorted as he scowled at the Eld. "Come on, Rhy-Fry. I'll help."

::

Owin really had tried his best to encourage me to fly. When he realized that I feared climbing trees after the incident, he took me to other high places that were easier to reach. Not once did he ever shove me off the edge. 'You'd only hit the ground if you don't believe in your own strength.' He'd said. 'You're stronger than you think, Rhy.'

With a frown, I forced my wings back open and gave them a shake. I stretched them as far as they could go and took off at a run. I felt the air lift me briefly, but I didn't tuck both of my legs in fast enough, and I ended up smacking my foot against a boulder. The pain had me contracting and I ended up falling on my face.

Angry at myself and my body's reactions, I tried again. The second time, I was able to glide for a while before dropping back down. Gliding itself was progress for me, and it should have made me happy. But, I wasn't. The impatience had me once again pacing in frustration.

'No, keep trying. You're doing well,' the unfamiliar voice came from a female omega. She was a rich purple hue that faded into shades of lavender, and her eyes were a bright blue with an inner green ring. Her mate was a dark gold hue all over. Their children were speckled with both their parents' genes.

The oldest of the four whelps rushed over to greet me, her words rushing right out in Kedoryn. 'Hi! I'm Lia. My parents are Sir snd Lady Walker. My brothers are Ven, Vun, and Von. Are you Rhyad? Do you really not know how to fly?'

'Yes. My name is Rhyad...and, no, I don't know how to fly.'

'Wow, I've never seen someone so big that couldn't fly. I thought this was all a trick or a test to see if I knew my stuff. Uncle Shire's a sneaky sneak sometimes.' Lia continued as she circled around me. 'So why didn't you try flying before? You can glide alright, though that could use a little work, too.'

Feeling overwhelmed with the consistent questions and fearing overstepping my boundaries, I glanced up at Lia's parents. The two merely nodded towards me with patient smiles. Then, her other three siblings joined in.

'Yeah, how come you didn't fly before?'

'Were you sick when you were little?'

'Does being sick affect flying?"

I sat down on the field, and the four whelps immediately copied me. 'Well, when I was smaller than you, I was struck by lightning in mid-flight.' I explained.

'Whoa!'

'What!?'

'Did it hurt?'

'I heard you got a cool-looking scar!'

'It did hurt,' I responded and turned slightly so that they could see the scar. 'I was hot all over, and it was scary.'

'Which part was scary?' Ven asked.

I frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'When I first found out I could talk to plants, the grass ended up making me trip by hugging my feet for too long,' Ven elaborated. 'But, it wasn't really scary.'

'Were you scared of being up high?' Lia asked. 'I once made a water spout that lifted me so high that I ended up falling on dad.'

'Was it the heat?' Von mused aloud as he glanced at his brother. 'Do you ever feel the heat with your lightning, Vun?'

'I've only been able to gather static so far, and it wasn't hot. It just sorta tickled. But, wait,' Vun countered. 'Fire doesn't really do much to us compared to squills.'

'No,' I responded slowly, feeling a sense of camaraderie with them. Their empathy and curiosity were a welcome change. 'It wasn't being up high that was frightening, and it wasn't because it was hot…'

The whelps made me realize that I hadn't really thought about it to that extent. What was it that I feared the most? Growing up, I was wary of storms because of being struck again. But, the lightning itself no longer bothered me. The heat that scorched through me had been painful but not scary.

I closed my eyes and thought back to what I felt as a mere whelp so long ago. Air...not being able to breathe, no! Not being able to control my own body! I hadn't been able to suck in air or move...the feeling of being paralyzed and being unable to break the fall was frightening. That was what haunted me...it still haunted me.

'When the lightning coursed through me, it paralyzed me to the point that I couldn't move...I couldn't even get my lungs to breathe.' I told the little ones. 'That is what scared me the most. I'm afraid that if something happens while I'm flying, I'll freeze up and do nothing when I fall.'

The siblings looked at one another before four sets of eyes peered back up at me.

'Then, it's easy, isn't it?' Von responded.

'Yeah,' Vun agreed.

'If you're afraid of freezing up while flying, then all you need is to have someone fly with you so they can help you not fall!' Lia explained.

'And you can also fly close to water, so if you fall, you only end up splashing!' Ven decided only to frown afterward. 'You do know how to swim, right?' He seemed relieved when I nodded in response.

'If you fly low, falling doesn't even hurt too bad!' Vun added. 'Dad says we can fall from up to 20 feet or more cause we're made of tough stuff. Someone as big as you can probably fall from even higher.'

'Hey, we can show him how to practice falling!' Lia suggested.

The whelps before me began to blur as my vision obscured. Tears fell down my face, and I couldn't pinpoint exactly why. Part of it was a relief, and another part was gratitude. Was I mourning the childhood that Owin and I never really had, of caring parents that taught their whelps to trust and support one another?

While Owin and I always supported one another, as a child, I never fully trusted anyone. Not even him. I wanted to. But, I was too afraid to. My brother had been there, after all, at the soaring grounds, and he hadn't helped me break my fall. He had been too far away. Though it wasn't his fault, I still partially blamed him. The event had been engraved in my whelpish mind that way, and then it warped to the point that I had forgotten how to trust.

I needed to learn how to trust again. I owed it to myself, to Owin, and to everyone I cared about. Trusting the whelps that were offering help without anything in return would be a good start. As I drew in a shaky breath, it felt as if some of the doubts I had latched onto as a whelp were released when I exhaled.

'Thank you,' I managed to finally reply to the whelps that had gone silent from the moment that they noticed my crying. I wiped the tears away with one of my wings. 'All four of you really know what you're doing. I'd be honored if you showed me how to practice falling.'

::

By the time that Shire caught up to us, the Walkers showed me how to tuck in my legs and wings in mid-jump to then roll around on the ground. As promised, he brought with him a barrel full of fish and another full of water. His squill mate, Violet, eagerly distributed the food evenly. I chose not to eat until after I braved falling from higher levels.

The first time we glided from the top of a hill and dropped in mid-air caused my heart to thump so hard that I had to take a good several minutes to calm down before trying again. For me, the sensation of falling, the vertigo, was never pleasant. But, the more I kept at it, the more I was able to anticipate it. After the twentieth time, I was beginning to understand how the whelps did not fear falling from such heights. Our wyvern bodies were tough enough to withstand a lot more than I realized.

'You're going to need more energy soon,' Shire insisted as I was urged to sit down and eat. 'Gliding doesn't require much strength...and it is possible to glide nearly all the way to the Nere region. But, you need to be able to lift up if you don't want to swim the whole way there.'

'I didn't realize lifting off from a body of water was possible,' I admitted before having a drink of water.

'Yes. Gotta be strong enough to lift off using only your wings. You might be able to withstand six hours on your first flight if you're determined enough,' Shire responded. 'But there's no guarantee that you won't want to take a break on the water. I'm just making sure that you know what you need to know before sending you off.'

'Thank you.'

'Yeah, just don't forget to visit us every now and then,' Shire replied. 'We're happy where we are, but that doesn't mean we don't still miss our other remnant brethren out in the mainlands.'

'The Walker family has many variations of elements,' I mused aloud. Aris Sir Walker could manipulate metals deep in the ground, and his mate could manipulate earth. But, their children had variations of water, plant, ice, and lightning. 'But, I've never asked yours or your mate's.'

'My mate can make violets grow from nowhere so long as there is soil,' Shire stated. 'As for me,' he added as he moved his hand over the water barrel. Pieces of ice began to float to the top. 'They wanted me to change my name to Frost or something. But, I prefer the name my mother gave me. There's nothing wrong with that. What about you? You gonna let them call you Sparky or something?'

'They can call me whatever they wish,' I answered honestly. 'Though, I admit that right now, all I want is to hear the sound of my mate calling me.'

My Enthale.

My heart gave a pained throb as I recalled it...when Emery gave me an intimate name. 'Show me,' I prompted, feeling more determined than ever to get back. 'Please, show me how to lift off from the ground.'

'If you think you're ready...just know that you're going to be so sore tomorrow.'

::::

I was indeed sore and exhausted by the end of the ordeal. Muscles that weren't used to the strain protested avidly every time I stretched. Though I had every intention of flying back home after learning, my body needed time to recover. No one, not even the Walker whelps appeared surprised when I said as much.

"We were all excited when we first learned how to fly," Lia pointed out as she stretched, as well. We were all in squill form by then. "We were knocked out after almost an hour. It's just like running for the first time in squill form. We were too little to remember, but our parents were the ones that had to carry us to bed after we fell asleep. As much as we wanted to run everywhere we could, we weren't used to it yet."

"I will take the rest of the day to rest," I decided. "But, tomorrow I have to go. Even if I collapse when I get there."

A slight pout formed on her face. Was she worried about me? Lia rushed over to her parents. I couldn't hear what they talked about, but a moment later, she stood before me.

"If going back is what you really want, then we're all going to take the trip with you," Lia declared. "Mom and dad can take turns carrying you in your squill form when you're too tired, and the rest of us can help pull you back out of the water if you fall!"

"Are you sure?" I asked. "It doesn't feel right to have all of you waste a quarter of a day just to help me get back."

"Well, we already spent a quarter of a day teaching you to fly. What's another quarter? Think of it as a flying final exam and don't worry so much about it."

"Thank you. Thank you so much!"

That night I tried to force myself to sleep and rest my aches, but my mind was too active to shut itself down. I thought of my brother and how he had done his best to protect me during Troth Season and of Emery, who had fought for me. Did Owin force him to see to his injuries? Sometime amid turbulent thoughts, my body finally gave in to the need to sleep.